Before a bipartisan crowd of supporters on the White House South Lawn, President Bill Clinton signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 on June 4, 1997.
This Act strengthens academic expectations and accountability for the nation's 5.8 million children with disabilities and bridges the gap that has too often existed between what children with disabilities learn and what is required in regular curriculum.

The Progress
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has a long history. Prior to its implementation in 1975, approximately 1 million children with disabilities were shut out of schools and hundreds of thousands more were denied appropriate services. Since then, the legislation changed the lives of these children. Many are learning and achieving at levels previously thought impossible. As a result, they are graduating from high school, going to college and entering the workforce as productive citizens in unprecedented numbers.

Ninety percent of children with developmental disabilities were previously housed in state institutions. Today, they are no longer in those settings. As compared to their predecessors, three times the number of young people with disabilities are enrolled in colleges or universities, and twice as many of today's twenty-year olds with disabilities are working.

Quoted from the Web Site

Disability Association(s): All Disabilties

Internet Location: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA/

Internet Resource Type: Web Site

Resource Type: US Legal and Policy Resource, Educational Resource