Tenth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Education of the Handicapped Act.

Tenth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Education of the Handicapped Act. The Tenth Tenth can mean:In mathematics: 10th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order ten places from the beginning, following the ninth and preceding the eleventh. 1/10, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts. It is written 0. Annual Report to Congress examines the progress beingmade to implement the requirements mandated by the Education of theHandicapped Act (EHA EHA European Hematology AssociationEHA Economic History AssociationEHA Emmanuel Hospital AssociationEHA Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975EHA Empty Homes AgencyEHA English Hockey AssociationEHA Electrohydrostatic Actuator ), and its subsequent amendments. The purposes ofthe act, as stated in Section 601(c), are:1 . to assure that all children with handicaps have available to them a free appropriate public education;2. to assure that the rights of children with handicaps and their parents are protected;3. to assist States and localities to provide for the education of all children with handicaps; and4. to assess and assure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with handicaps. This report provides a detailed description of the activitiesundertaken to implement the act and an assessment of the impact andeffectiveness of its requirements. The following highlights providebrief summaries of the information presented in the body of the report. STUDENTS RECEIVING A FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION Chapter I presents national statistics which are reported annuallyto the Office of Special Education Programs by the States. Number of Students Served * During the 1986-87 school year, 4,421,601 children with handicapsbetween the ages of 0 and 21 were served under Chapter I HandicappedPrograms of the Education and Consolidation Improvement Act-StateOperated Programs (ECIA ECIA European Council of Information AssociationsECIA Engineering Construction Industry Association (UK)[SOP]) and Part B of EHA. This represented anincrease of 1.2 percent over the number served in 1985-86. * The most frequent handicapping For "handicap" as it refers to disabled persons, see Disability. For the evolutionary theory proposed by Israeli biologist Amotz Zahavi, see Handicap principle.Handicapping conditions were learning disabled(43.6 percent), speech impaired See assistive technology. (25.8 percent), mentally retarded Noun 1. mentally retarded - people collectively who are mentally retarded; "he started a school for the retarded"developmentally challenged, retarded (15.0percent), and emotionally disturbed (8.7 percent). The greatest changesfrom the 1985-86 year were in the categories of learning disabled (anincrease of 53,760) and mentally retarded (a decrease of 21,653). * Forty-eight percent of the handicapped children served underEHA-B were between the ages of 6 and I I with 41 percent between theages of 12 and 17. Related Services Received * Students received 4,630,368 related services in 1985-86, whichwas an average of 1.2 services per handicapped child in those Statesreporting. (Eight States and three Insular insular/in��su��lar/ (-sdbobr-ler) pertaining to the insula or to an island, as the islands of Langerhans. in��su��laradj.Of or being an isolated tissue or island of tissue. Areas did not report data.)The most frequently used service was diagnostic services diagnostic services,n.pl the imaging and laboratory capabilities available for determining the cause of an illness. , which werereceived by 777,436 students. Deaf-blind students and orthopedicallyimpaired students received the largest number of services per child-and3.36 2.7 1, respectively. Least Restrictive Environment As part of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the least restrictive environment is identified as one of the six principles that govern the education of students with disabilities. * During the 1985-86 school year, the majority of students withhandicaps received special education and related services in settingswith nonhandicapped peers. Over 26 percent received special education inregular classes. An additional 41 percent were served primarily inresource rooms, while over 24 percent were served in separate classes inregular education buildings. * Significant variation in placement patterns existed acrosshandicapping conditions. Students with learning disabilities or speechimpairments were served primarily in regular classes or resource rooms(77 percent and 92 percent, respectively). Nationally, 56 percent of thementally retarded students were placed in separate classes. Personnel Employed and Needed * States reported that 291,954 special education teachers wereemployed during 1985-86, an increase of approximately ap��prox��i��mate?adj.1. Almost exact or correct: the approximate time of the accident.2. 6 percent over theprevious year. * An additional 27,474 teachers were needed to fill vacancies andreplace uncertified un��cer��ti��fied?adj.Not officially verified, guaranteed, or registered; not certified: an uncertified teacher.Adj. 1. staff. The greatest number of teachers were neededfor the learning disabled, mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, andspeech or language impaired. * The number of personnel employed other than special educationteachers was 229,872, which represented an increase of .5 percent over1984-85. Over half of these personnel were teacher aides. * An additional 13,720 staff other than special education teacherswere needed in 1985-86. In proportion to the number employed,occupational and physical therapists were the most needed personnel. STUDENTS WITH HANDICAPS IN TRANSITION: THE EXITING BEHAVIOR OFSECONDARY STUDENTS AND SERVICES ANTICIPATED TO MEET THEIR NEEDS Chapter11 presents data on the circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or under which students withhandicaps exit from secondary school, and on services anticipated tomeet their needs. * The majority of special education students (60 percent) graduate from high school with a diploma or certificate of completion. Students who are visually handicapped, hard of hearing, deaf, or orthopedically impaired are most likely to graduate with a diploma. Students who are deaf-blind, multi-handicapped, or mentally retarded are most likely to graduate with a certificate of completion. * An average of 312 students with handicaps drop out of high school each day. A total of 56,156 students with handicaps dropped out of high school during school year 1985-86. * About 2 percent of the total exiting population of students with handicaps "age out" of the system by reaching the maximum age for which services are provided by individual States. Mandates for upper age limits vary by State. * Approximately 524,000 separate services were anticipated to be needed for handicapped children and youth exiting in the system. The most frequently needed services were vocational training services (16 percent of all anticipated services), counseling/ guidance (14 percent), and vocational placement services (14 percent).ASSISTING STATES AND LOCALAGENCIES IN EDUCATING ALLHANDICAPPED CHILDRENChapter III focuses on the provision of servicesto infants, toddlers, and preschool children withhandicaps. * Many States are targeting a portion of their EHA-B set-aside to meet the needs of preschool children with handicaps. ECIA (SOP) funds are used by States to provideearly intervention services for children agedbirth through 5. * Funds earmarked for services to youngchildren with handicaps were available toStates through the old Preschool IncentiveGrant Program and the new Preschool GrantProgram. All States have elected to participatein the Preschool Grant Program andwere awarded a basic grant of $300 for each3- through 5-year-old child receiving serviceson December 1, 1986. In addition,States received $3,270 for each newlyidentified child. * All States have elected to participate in thePart H program for infants and toddlers. Stateawards for FY 1987 ranged from approximately244,000 to 5,735,000. Approximatelyone-third of the States have designatedState educational agencies as leadagencies, while another third have selectedthe State department of health. * Funds are available to States to initiate,improve, or expand special education andearly intervention services for children belowschool age through the EHA discretionaryprograms. Funds have been provided throughState Implementation Grants and the EarlyChildhood State Plan Grant Program. TheHandicapped Children's Early EducationProgram (HCEEP) provides support formodel development and replication. ResearchInstitutes funded under HCEEP aredesigned to improve services by expandingthe early childhood knowledge base. Projectsfor preservice and inservice personnel developmentand technical assistance have alsobeen supported.EFFORTS TO ASSESS AND ASSURE THEEFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMSEDUCATING HANDICAPPED CHILDRENChapter IV presents the results of Federalmonitoring activities and discusses ongoingevaluation efforts.Program Review * To receive EHA-B State Grant programfunds for FY 88, States had to comply withadditional State Plan Requirements resultingfrom the enactment of the Education of theHandicapped Amendments of 1986. AllStates submitted State Plan amendments tofulfill the new legislative requirements addressinginteragency agreements, personnelstandards, nonsupplanting of funds, use ofthe State's 20 percent portion of its set-aside,and reduction of other assistance. * The staggered State Plan Review schedulerequired 22 States to submit complete plansfor FY 88-90. More than half of the StatePlans reviewed required no changes or onlyminor-mostly technical- additions or corrections.Ten State Plans presented problemareas requiring more intensive scrutiny priorto approval. These areas included dueprocess and procedural safeguards; right toeducation and definitions of handicappingconditions; IEP requirements; and privacyand confidentiality. * Comprehensive compliance reviews of the29 States visited in the last two yearsindicated that States are having the mostdifficulty in meeting requirements in thefollowing areas: State Educational Agency(SEA) monitoring, SEA review and approvalof local educational agency applications,least restrictive environment, complaint management,and general supervision of specialeducation programs. Program Evaluation * Congressionally-mandated studies which arecurrently underway include a Special Studyon Special Populations, a Study of Programsof Instruction ill Day and Residential Facilities,a Longitudinal Study of Secondary andPostsecondary Handicapped Students, anda Survey of Expenditures for Special Educationand Related Services. * New studies recently undertaken under theState Agency/Federal Evaluation Programinclude: an investigation of the outcomes oftransition planning; the impact of separateclass and separate school secondary specialeducation programs; outcomes of specialeducation programs in terms of studentbenefits; the impact of special education inregular education settings; prereferral interventionsfor students experiencing learningproblems in regular education; and normativeand quality indicators that measure theeffectiveness of special education.