 
         CHAPTER 33--EDUCATION OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
 
SUBCHAPTER IV--NATIONAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH 
                              DISABILITIES
 
 Part A--State Program Improvement Grants for Children with Disabilities
 
Sec. 1451. Findings and purpose


(a) Findings

    The Congress finds the following:
        (1) States are responding with some success to multiple 
    pressures to improve educational and transitional services and 
    results for children with disabilities in response to growing 
    demands imposed by ever-changing factors, such as demographics, 
    social policies, and labor and economic markets.
        (2) In order for States to address such demands and to 
    facilitate lasting systemic change that is of benefit to all 
    students, including children with disabilities, States must involve 
    local educational agencies, parents, individuals with disabilities 
    and their families, teachers and other service providers, and other 
    interested individuals and organizations in carrying out 
    comprehensive strategies to improve educational results for children 
    with disabilities.
        (3) Targeted Federal financial resources are needed to assist 
    States, working in partnership with others, to identify and make 
    needed changes to address the needs of children with disabilities 
    into the next century.
        (4) State educational agencies, in partnership with local 
    educational agencies and other individuals and organizations, are in 
    the best position to identify and design ways to meet emerging and 
    expanding demands to improve education for children with 
    disabilities and to address their special needs.
        (5) Research, demonstration, and practice over the past 20 years 
    in special education and related disciplines have built a foundation 
    of knowledge on which State and local systemic-change activities can 
    now be based.
        (6) Such research, demonstration, and practice in special 
    education and related disciplines have demonstrated that an 
    effective educational system now and in the future must--
            (A) maintain high academic standards and clear performance 
        goals for children with disabilities, consistent with the 
        standards and expectations for all students in the educational 
        system, and provide for appropriate and effective strategies and 
        methods to ensure that students who are children with 
        disabilities have maximum opportunities to achieve those 
        standards and goals;
            (B) create a system that fully addresses the needs of all 
        students, including children with disabilities, by addressing 
        the needs of children with disabilities in carrying out 
        educational reform activities;
            (C) clearly define, in measurable terms, the school and 
        post-school results that children with disabilities are expected 
        to achieve;
            (D) promote service integration, and the coordination of 
        State and local education, social, health, mental health, and 
        other services, in addressing the full range of student needs, 
        particularly the needs of children with disabilities who require 
        significant levels of support to maximize their participation 
        and learning in school and the community;
            (E) ensure that children with disabilities are provided 
        assistance and support in making transitions as described in 
        section 1474(b)(3)(C) of this title;
            (F) promote comprehensive programs of professional 
        development to ensure that the persons responsible for the 
        education or a transition of children with disabilities possess 
        the skills and knowledge necessary to address the educational 
        and related needs of those children;
            (G) disseminate to teachers and other personnel serving 
        children with disabilities research-based knowledge about 
        successful teaching practices and models and provide technical 
        assistance to local educational agencies and schools on how to 
        improve results for children with disabilities;
            (H) create school-based disciplinary strategies that will be 
        used to reduce or eliminate the need to use suspension and 
        expulsion as disciplinary options for children with 
        disabilities;
            (I) establish placement-neutral funding formulas and cost-
        effective strategies for meeting the needs of children with 
        disabilities; and
            (J) involve individuals with disabilities and parents of 
        children with disabilities in planning, implementing, and 
        evaluating systemic-change activities and educational reforms.

(b) Purpose

    The purpose of this part is to assist State educational agencies, 
and their partners referred to in section 1452(b) of this title, in 
reforming and improving their systems for providing educational, early 
intervention, and transitional services, including their systems for 
professional development, technical assistance, and dissemination of 
knowledge about best practices, to improve results for children with 
disabilities.

(Pub. L. 91-230, title VI, Sec. 651, as added Pub. L. 105-17, title I, 
Sec. 101, June 4, 1997, 111 Stat. 123.)


                            Prior Provisions

    A prior section 1451, Pub. L. 91-230, title VI, Sec. 651, Apr. 13, 
1970, 84 Stat. 186; Pub. L. 100-630, title I, Sec. 106(b), Nov. 7, 1988, 
102 Stat. 3300; Pub. L. 101-476, title VI, Sec. 601, title IX, 
Sec. 901(b)(150), Oct. 30, 1990, 104 Stat. 1138, 1149; Pub. L. 102-119, 
Sec. 25(b), Oct. 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 607, related to the purposes of 
former subchapter VI of this chapter, which included promoting general 
welfare of deaf and hard of hearing individuals and visually impaired 
individuals and educational advancement of individuals with 
disabilities, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 105-17, title II, Sec. 203(c), 
June 4, 1997, 111 Stat. 157, effective Oct. 1, 1997.


                             Effective Date

    Section 201(c) of Pub. L. 105-17 provided that:
    ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), part D of 
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [20 U.S.C. 1451 et 
seq.], as amended by title I, shall take effect on October 1, 1997.
    ``(2) Exception.--Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 661(g) of the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [20 U.S.C. 1461(g)(1), (2)], 
as amended by title I, shall take effect on January 1, 1998.''


                          Transition Provisions

    Section 202 of Pub. L. 105-17 provided that: ``Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, beginning on October 1, 1997, the Secretary of 
Education may use funds appropriated under part D of the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Act [this subchapter] to make continuation 
awards for projects that were funded under section 618 [20 U.S.C. 1418] 
and parts C through G of such Act [former subchapters III to VII of this 
chapter] (as in effect on September 30, 1997).''

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 1413 of this title.
