Bureau of Indian Affairs' Progress in Providing Special Education Services to Indian Children

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 provided for the identification and assessment of handicapping conditions in children. The identification of the number of handicapped students, their location, and their handicapping conditions are vital first steps in providing special education services. A review was made to determine the progress made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in its elementary and secondary schools to: (1) provide free and appropriate public education to all handicapped children between the ages of 3 and 18 not later than September 1, 1978, and (2) hire 202 special education teachers and specialists provided for by appropriations of an additional $5 million in fiscal year 1979.

Review at the Navajo and Phoenix area schools showed that some progress had been made under the requirements of the Act, but not all handicapped children were being served. Nineteen schools were visited with a total of 883 handicapped children, and it was found that 38 percent of the children were receiving full special education services, 13 percent were receiving partial services, and 49 percent were receiving no services. The Bureau was slow to comply with the mandate of the Act because of poor leadership and a lack of emphasis placed on the program. The following problems were noted: a late start on student assessments, limited efforts to hire special education personnel, and the expenditure of funds for purposes other than hiring teachers.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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