Special Education in Middle Schools

Special education is specialized instruction designed for students with disabilities in order to help them benefit from education. Students who receive special education services are identified as having a disability that adversely affects their educational performance. To receive special education and related services, students must go through an eligibility process to determine if they meet federal and state requirements for special education. If a multidisciplinary team agrees that they are eligible to receive special education and related services, the students receive an Individualized Education Program.

Prior to the 1970s, educational services for students with disabilities were limited. Several states allowed public school systems to deny educational services to students with disabilities if the school systems felt the students would not benefit from education (Martin, Martin, & Terman, 1996). However, advocates began to fight for legislative protection for students with disabilities and were influenced by court cases in which parents fought for public education rights for their children with disabilities, such as Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia in 1971 (Itkonen, 2007).