Free and Appropriate Education

Free Education

This includes evaluations conducted to decide FAPE

Contains only to the parents

Special education and related services with no charge.

School districts may not refuse to provide special education services because of the cost of those services.

Public Education

Must meet state standards

When school staff choose a private school for a student's FAPE, the local or state education agency must provide both FAPE and cover placement costs.

When parents opt for private schooling, their children forfeit the right to a FAPE, provided the school district offered one.

Placement

Must consider the students IEP

Must be reconsidered annually

This involves elements like (a) facilities, (b) equipment, (c) location, and (d) personnel necessary to provide the special education and related services stated in an IEP.

Follow LRE

Peer Review Research

According to NCLB peer-reviewed research is “research that has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review”

According to the IDEA, a student’s IEP must contain: “A statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable—that will be provided to the child”

Litigation

Rowley

The Supreme Court also ruled that the special education services provided to a student had to be “sufficient to confer some educational benefit upon the handicapped child”

There is no substantive definition of FAPE

Parent Participation

"Researchers have shown that when parents of students with disabilities actively participate in their children’s special education programs, students show greater achievement and fewer problem behaviors"

Federal and State law requires parent participation

Appropriate Education

The IEP is like the heart of a student's FAPE, and it's the main thing that shows if the program is right for them.

It's the school district's responsiblity to create an IEP

the IEP does obligate the school to deliver the special education and related services outlined in it and to genuinely strive to attain the goals

It's a collaboration of educators and parents