Individualized Education Program

History

Prior to federal legislation in the 1960s, students with disabilities had no legal right to a public education; therefore, many public schools denied access to students with disabilities. In 1966, Congress first addressed the inability of students with disabilities to obtain a public education. Revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act established a grant program “for the purpose of assisting the States in the initiation, expansion, and improvement of programs and projects … for the education of handicapped children” (Public Law [P.L.] 89–750, 161, 80 Stat. 1204). Congress followed by adding additional demonstration goals to the 1970 Education of the Handicapped Act to stimulate states' development of educational resources and training of personnel for educating students with disabilities.

Ideas from Professors Lloyd Dunn from Peabody College, Evelyn Deno from the University of Minnesota, and James Gallagher from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provided the foundation for today's special education policies. Dunn wanted instructional practices for students with disabilities to [Page 518]focus on measurement of skills and progress. Deno conceptualized special education as a means to meet the learning needs of children with disabilities. She believed special and general educators need to work cooperatively to maximize learning opportunities for all students. In 1972, in his article “The Special Education Contract for Mildly Handicapped Children,” James Gallagher advocated for the creation of a 2-year renewable special education contract between parents and educators that would contain instructional goals: “The contract, composed after a careful educational diagnosis, would commit the special educational personnel to measurable objectives that would be upgraded on a six-month interval.” These ideas pioneered the foundation of the IEP included in the 1974 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94–142), which in 1990 Congress renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The reauthorized 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (P.L. 108–446), as with previous reauthorizations, fine-tuned the IEP.

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