Legislation in Providing Education to Students with Disabilities
Legislation in Providing Education to Students with DisabilitiesLegislation has played a key role in providing education to students with disabilities because laws define the parameters of students with disabilities, their specific needs and situation, as well as their right to education. In doing so, legislation creates a framework that identifies key agencies that will execute provisions in the law such as schools that offer special education and teachers that specialized in this field (Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen 2007). Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA), all children and young people with disabilities are granted the right to appropriate and free public education. The implications of IDEA is that each state in the US must be involved in identifying children and youth with disabilities towards the goal of including them in the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) program.
States are mandated by government to diligently identify those with disabilities so they may not be excluded from the program. State agencies are required to collaborate with parents and guardians, establish learning environments that meet the needs of students with disabilities, and facilitate training for personnel to manage the needs of this population (Hardman, Drew, & Egan 2013). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act aims to provide equitable education to all. Through the NCLB, schools and partner agencies are mandated to offer assistance to disadvantaged students. The NCLB also mandated annual assessments to determine how well the education program facilitates learning (Hunter 2006). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines the appropriate treatment of individuals with disabilities so they may not be subjected to discrimination in the workplace and public spaces. The implications of this act include the mandate for public and private organizations to nurture a culture of acceptance and anti-discrimination in the workplace, and acceptance, and appropriate, respectable treatment of people with disabilities in the workplace and public spaces (Goren 2006).
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Response to Intervention (RTI) is essentially a tool or measure used to determine a student with disability’s response to instruction (Shapiro, Zigmond, & Wallace 2011). Schools and educators use the RTI to determine the appropriate program for students with disabilities. Adopting the RTI model begins with instruction. The student with disability must undergo instruction. After the completion of the instruction, the student with disability’s performance will then be assessed to determine if learning and improvement took place. The main objective of the assessment is to determine if the student with disability is benefitting from the education program. If outcomes of assessment show that the education program does not assist or facilitate learning and improvement in the student’s performance, then the student will then be transitioned to the special education program. In a way, the RTI ensures that special education programs are maximized and would be able to accommodate the students who really need specialized programs.
The RTI is a multitiered model that has different components. The first tier represents universal screening. The goal of which is to identify students with …
