Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/2679

 118 STAT. 2649 PUBLIC LAW 108–446—DEC. 3, 2004 policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self sufficiency for individuals with disabilities. ‘‘(2) Before the date of enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94–142), the educational needs of millions of children with disabilities were not being fully met because— ‘‘(A) the children did not receive appropriate edu cational services; ‘‘(B) the children were excluded entirely from the public school system and from being educated with their peers; ‘‘(C) undiagnosed disabilities prevented the children from having a successful educational experience; or ‘‘(D) a lack of adequate resources within the public school system forced families to find services outside the public school system. ‘‘(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the Edu cation for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this title has been successful in ensuring children with disabilities and the families of such children access to a free appropriate public education and in improving educational results for children with disabilities. ‘‘(4) However, the implementation of this title has been impeded by low expectations, and an insufficient focus on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and learning for children with disabilities. ‘‘(5) Almost 30 years of research and experience has dem onstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by— ‘‘(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the maximum extent possible, in order to— ‘‘(i) meet developmental goals and, to the max imum extent possible, the challenging expectations that have been established for all children; and ‘‘(ii) be prepared to lead productive and inde pendent adult lives, to the maximum extent possible; ‘‘(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of par ents and ensuring that families of such children have mean ingful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home; ‘‘(C) coordinating this title with other local, educational service agency, State, and Federal school improvement efforts, including improvement efforts under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in order to ensure that such children benefit from such efforts and that special education can become a service for such chil dren rather than a place where such children are sent; ‘‘(D) providing appropriate special education and related services, and aids and supports in the regular class room, to such children, whenever appropriate; ‘‘(E) supporting high quality, intensive preservice preparation and professional development for all personnel who work with children with disabilities in order to ensure that such personnel have the skills and knowledge nec essary to improve the academic achievement and functional

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