47 Years Later, Are We Delivering on the Promise of IDEA?

IDEA -- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- 1975 > Present
By Valerie C. Williams, Director, Office of Special Education Programs

Forty-seven years ago, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) opened the doors for children with disabilities. At the time IDEA was passed in 1975 (originally named the Educational for All Handicapped Children Act, or Public Law 94-142), Congress found that children with disabilities were excluded entirely from the public school system. The passage of IDEA meant that no more children with disabilities could be turned away from school and required that they have available to them “a free appropriate education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs.”

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New OSEP 2022 Discretionary Grant Awards

In fiscal year 2022, OSERS’ Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) provided over $101 million to fund new programs that help educate children and youth with disabilities to assist states and local districts to improve results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21.

Please read about these programs below ( ALN# | Title ). Please note that all amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

You can search all OSEP grantees by accessing the Office of Special Education Program’s Discretionary Grants Public Database (the FY 2022 new grant awards listed below will be added to the database by the middle of November).

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (ELs) Served under IDEA Part B

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Office of Special Education Programs. OSEP Fast Facts: Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (Els) Served under IDEA Part B. Approximately 1.6% of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools are dually identified as a student with a disability under IDEA Part B and an English Learner. 13.74% = national percentage of school aged children served under IDEA, Part B. Pie Chart Shows 11.85% of students served under IDEA, Part B are English Learners while 88.2% of students served under IDEA, Part B are non-English Learners. Source: U.S. Department of Education, EDFacts Data Warehouse (EDW): “IDEA Part B Child Count and Educational Environments Collection,” 2020-21. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems, 1980-81; Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1985-86 through 2019-20 and 2020-21 Preliminary; and National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment Projection Model, through 2030.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP is excited to release a new OSEP Fast Facts: Students with Disabilities who are English Learners (ELs) Served under IDEA Part B, which explore our IDEA, Section 618 data with the specific lens on one of the fastest-growing populations of students with disabilities served under IDEA.

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Welcome to New OSEP Director, Valerie C. Williams

Valerie C. Williams  Director, Office of Special Education Programs  Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Valerie C. Williams
Director, Office of Special Education Programs
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Valerie C. Williams joins the Department as director in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the administration of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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IDEA46 | Transcending Barriers, Past and Present

IDEA 46

By Katherine (Katy) Neas, Deputy Assistant Secretary
Delegated the authority to perform the functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services


This month marks 46 years since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted. I couldn’t let this anniversary pass without sharing some reflections about the importance of IDEA, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and reaffirming the commitment of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to upholding this landmark civil rights law.

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on the Race and Ethnicity of Children with Disabilities Served under IDEA Part B

Screen cap: OSEP Fast Facts on Race and Ethnicity OSEP Hand in Hand on Race and Ethnicity

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP is excited to release a new OSEP Fast Facts: Race and Ethnicity of Children with Disabilities Served under IDEA Part B and new supplemental tool, Hand In Hand, which explore our IDEA, Section 618 data with the specific lens on race and ethnicity.   

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ED Welcomes Katherine Neas

Katy Neas

OSERS Acting Assistant Secretary Katherine Neas

The U.S. Department of Education welcomes Katherine “Katy” Neas as the new deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

“The pandemic has been hard on all of us, but children with disabilities and specially those of color experienced great challenges. I am over the moon to be at the Department of Education at this historic time and to be part of the team of individuals who are working to ensure all students succeed in the upcoming school year.”

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on School Aged Children with Disabilities

Introducing a Supplemental Tool to Help Stakeholders Engage with New Fast Facts

Source: U.S. Department of Education, EDFacts Data Warehouse. Data from 2012-2018 includes ages 6-21 and 2019 includes ages 5 (in kindergarten)-21. SY 2019-20 was the transition year for reporting 5-year-olds in Kindergarten in FS002 - Children with Disabilities (IDEA) School Age. States/entities had the option to report children that are 5 years old in the reporting categories "Age 5 (School Age)" and "Age 5 (Early Childhood)". The permanent change takes place in SY 2020-2  Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs. Hand in Hand. A supplemental tool to help parents and other stakeholders engage with OSEP Fast Facts: School Aged Children 5 (in kindergarten) Through 21 Served Under Part B, Section 618 of the IDEA.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP is excited to release a new Fast Facts on School Aged Children 5 (in Kindergarten) Through 21 Served Under Part B, Section 618 of the IDEA along with a new supplemental tool, Hand In Hand, which is intended to be used alongside the new OSEP Fast Fact.

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OSEP Releases Fast Facts on Part C and B New Data Files and Part B Personnel

Go to OSEP Fast Facts: 2018–19/2019 IDEA Section 618 Data. Image description: 2.95% to 3.7% is the increase in the percentage of the population of infants and toddlers receiving early intervention services under IDEA, Part C, birth through 2 years, from 2014-15 to 2019-20. 8.85% to 9.86% increase in the percentage of the population of school age students served under IDEA, Part B, from 2014-15 to 2019-20. Infants and toddlers with disabilities exiting Part C were more likely to be Part B eligible than any other basis of exit.

OSEP Fast Facts:
2018–19/2019 IDEA Section 618 Data.

Go to OSEP Fast Facts: Part B Personnel. Number of special education teachers and paraprofessionals employed or contracted to work with children with disabilities for ages 3 through 21 in school year 2018-19. 520,637 special education paraprofessionals. 429,486 special education teachers. 228,805 related services personnel. In school year 2018-19, 7,278,380 children with disabilities were served under IDEA Part B.

OSEP Fast Facts:
Part B Personnel.

By the Office of Special Education Programs

OSEP is excited to release two new Fast Facts that take a closer look at our newly released 2018–19/2019 state level data files on the IDEA Section 618 Data Products website.

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IDEA45: Happy Birthday IDEA!

George Sugai
IDEA-45 logo. IDEA 45. #IDEA45 Years. 1975-2020. Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.

Happy Birthday, IDEA!

By George Sugai
Professor Emeritus, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut


The 45th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is particularly meaningful to me and to students with disabilities for four main reasons.

First, my career as a special educator began in Aurora, Colorado in the Fall of 1974. Although we were definitely “attempting to figure things out,” we developed the district’s first IDEA-shaped resource rooms for elementary, middle, and high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders; we wrote many of the first IEPs; and we created and implemented some of the first behavior intervention plans. IDEA gave us the vision, expectation, accountability, and responsibility to greatly enhance our special education efforts. For the first time, the education of students with disabilities and their families became a protected right and a reality rather than an informal afterthought. In addition, special education became an integral component and priority in general education.

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