ABSTRACT
The intent of this chapter is to illuminate the educational policy context in which special education leaders must operate in order to achieve the goals and promise of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Perhaps the greatest challenge that confronts special education leaders is how to ensure that children and youth with disabilities have access to an education that prepares them for successful lives as adults within school systems with vastly different resources. As powerful a mandate as the IDEA represents, it cannot overcome the underlying inequities that exist between schools and districts. The goals of IDEA will only be met within the context of a larger K-12 system that provides an equal educational opportunity to every child. Over a half century of reforms have been tried in the attempt to improve children’s success in life through education, including the key federal K-12 legislation, the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as efforts at the state level through school funding litigation. In this chapter the authors present the history and context of those efforts and their impact on current school structures and practice. The chapter concludes with a summary of the challenges facing today’s special education leader.
