Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
November 30, 2000, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A10
LENGTH: 402 words
HEADLINE:
Disabilities Education Act Lauded On Its 25th
BODY:
Shirley Swope feared that her son Michael, who has had a severe
hearing loss since infancy, would grow up to be a tax burden rather than a
taxpayer.
Today, the 21-year-old is a natural resources major at
Colorado State.
Swope credits a federal law passed four years before her
son was born that brought him equipment, well-trained teachers and the right to
learn alongside other children. More disabled children than ever are earning
high school diplomas and high school equivalency certificates and are receiving
instruction with nondisabled peers, the Clinton administration announced
yesterday.
"Schools are more accountable to children with disabilities,"
Shirley Swope said yesterday in a telephone interview from her home in Manitou
Springs, Colo.
In the 1997-98 school year, the most recent for which
states reported figures, 55.4 percent of students with disabilities who were
eligible to graduate earned a diploma, compared with 53.5 percent the previous
year, the Education Department said.
Both the number of special
education students who graduated--147,942--and the graduation rate have risen
since the early 1990s.
Among the country's adult population, the
graduation rate exceeds 80 percent. But advocates say the special education
numbers are a victory for disabled children's inclusion in the educational
system.
"With more opportunities for success than ever before, we must
ensure that all of our children have the education that will allow them to go to
college, get good jobs, and play active roles in their communities," President
Clinton said in a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
Under that
law, more than 6 million children and young adults with disabilities--physical,
learning, emotional and behavioral--benefit from special education instruction
and other services, at an annual cost of $ 60 billion, about $ 5 billion of
which the federal government provides. The rest comes from states and local
districts.
Since July, states have been required to design alternatives
for students whose disabilities are so severe they cannot participate in tests
required to advance a grade or to graduate.
Such rules allowed Michael
Swope extra time to complete his college entrance exams.
"He was always
behind; reading didn't even click for him until halfway into second grade,"
Shirley Swope said.
LOAD-DATE: November 30,
2000 
