| 504/Section 504 |
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act |
One section of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 provides civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities in programs that receive federal funding (e.g., public schools). Students with disabilities are afforded many education al rights through Section 504 that overlap with IDEA. |
| ADA |
Americans with Disabilities Act |
Passed in 1990, the ADA is a broad civil rights act that extends the civil rights and discrimination protections provided to individuals with disabilities under Section 504 to employers, state and local governments, and privately owned businesses and facilities open to the public. |
| ADAA |
Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended |
The ADA was amended in 2008; among the primary changes was a broadened definition of disability. |
| AYP |
Adequate Yearly Progress |
AYP is indicator of adequate student achievement under NCLB. To make AYP, schools must meet standards of achievement in reading and math for all subgroups of students (e.g., students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students), test at least 95% of students in each subgroup, and meet standards related to graduation (secondary schools) or retention (elementary and middle schools) |
| EAHCA |
Education for All Handicapped Children Act |
The original name of IDEA when passed in 1975, also referred to as Public Law (PL) 94-142. |
| ESEA |
Elementary & Secondary Education Act |
Originally passed in 1965, ESEA provides categorical grants to states to support education. Title 1 of the Act provides funds to schools that serve a high proportion of students in poverty. The most recent reauthorizations of the Act (i.e., NCLB) have required that states enact standards-based and accountability reforms to receive funding. |
| FAPE |
Free Appropriate Public Education |
A guiding tenet of IDEA, students with disabilities are guaranteed FAPE. What constitutes an appropriate education has been the subject of considerable case law (e.g., Rowley). |
| IDEA |
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act |
The guiding federal legislation for special education in the US. It was originally passed in 1975 as the EAHCA and was most recently authorized in 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act. |
| IEE |
Independent Educational Evaluation |
Parents have the right to obtain an independent evaluation for their children and have it considered by the multidisciplinary team in determining eligibility for special education. |
| IEP |
Individualized Education Program |
All children served in special education under IDEA receive an IEP (young children receive an IFSP, or Individualized Family Service Plan), which details individualized goals and the special services they will receive in order to achieve FAPE. |
| LRE |
Least Restrictive Environment |
As stipulated in Section 504 and IDEA, students with disabilities are to be educated in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent appropriate. Restrictiveness refers to the degree students are educated in environments without their nondisabled peers (e.g., special classes, special schools). The LRE mandate in IDEA requires that students be educated in the LRE in which FAPE can be provided. |
| NCLB |
No Child Left Behind Act |
NCLB is the name of the most reauthorization of ESEA (in 2001). NCLB requires that to receive federal funding, states (among many other requirements) must set academic standards, assess student proficiency on those standards, and hold schools accountable for their student’s achievement. |
| RTI |
Response to Intervention |
RTI is a multi-tiered approach to instruction and assessment that provides varying levels of supports and intensity of instruction to students based on their response to instruction. The 2004 reauthorization of IDEA allows schools to use RTI approaches to identify students as having a learning disability (e.g., did not show adequate improvement to intensive instruction). |