Teach Effectively!

Among the presidential actions for which the late Gerald R. Ford probably will not be remembered in news accounts of his public life is the signing 2 December 1975 of Senate Bill 6, making it Public Law 94-142. However, for millions of American children and their families, the law—entitled the “Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975″—stands as a landmark. It and the reauthorizations that have followed it have changed education in the US and, arguably, around the world, for both students with and without disabilities.

However, President Ford was concerned about the potential impact of PL 94-142 on education, as he indicated in his signing statement. In his statement, he questioned whether the law would accomplish the objective of educating students with disabilities. He expressed reservations about whether (a) fiscal authorizations under the bill were realistic, (b) “costly administrative requirements” appropriately balanced federal and state authority, and (c) complex requirements would place more emphasis on “administrative paperwork [rather than] educational programs.” As my colleague Hal McGrady has commented, these concerns were consistent with the political positions of President Ford’s political party at the time, but they also remarkably foretold some of the problems special education has encountered in the 30 years since they were published.

According to some, such as a group of advocates with ties to school admininstration as well as the President’s Commission on Special Education, despite many benefits, the law has had negative repercussions. For example, in a 2005 editorial celebrating the signing of the law, Freedman, Bisbicos, Jentz, and Orenstein wrote this:

The law of unintended consequences has been at work. The IDEA has evolved into the most prescriptive law, telling teachers, parents, and administrators what to do and triggering adversarial relationships and a lack of trust among stakeholders. These conditions have a negative impact on education for all children. The situation hamstrings schools, confuses and angers parents, and entraps educators. The IDEA has produced a system of rights that is cumbersome, inefficient, and overly procedural. Reportedly, it is now the fourth most litigated federal statute. Is this the educational condition we want for our children and teachers?

In the 1990s and 2000s, the US has witnessed a multi-roped tug-a-war about the direction of education. Different interest groups have pulled in diverse directions. Special education is only one of the tuggers; there’s accountability, finance, and maybe a zillion others. I gotta hope that the enterprise isn’t torn apart.

Read the full text of President Ford’s signing statement here. Follow this link (registration required; limited access) to the editorial from Education Week by M. K. Freedman (an attorney with Stoneman, Chandler & Miller of Boston, MA), M. E. Bisbicos (a former school administrator for public schools in Arlington and Cambridge, MA), C. B. Jentz (executive director of Massachusetts Administrators for Special Education), and Edward Orenstein (executive director of the Concord Area Special Education Collaborative, in Concord, MA.