Free Appropiate Education

Free Education

means that a school district cannot charge the parents of the students with disabilities and can not refuse any special education services or related services included in their program.

The school may face legal problems if they do not follow some financial restrictions that they must follow when they are doing the special education program among with the IEP.

This is very interesting. Where I am from, Lima, Peru, there are public schools and also private schools. The public schools down there do not provide FAPE for students with disabilities. And the private schools also do not provide FAPE, they do not even provide just general education if cannot provide the appropriate education to them, that is why there are only specific schools for students with disabilities but there are mostly for students with blindness. It is really interesting how it works there, I would love to make some changes when I will get my master's degree. Like in the Department of Education, and make a lot of changes and provide FAPE.

If the students use assistive technology devices owned by the school, and because of the student's negligence or abuse, they might get charged if it is allowed under the state law.

Public Education

includes a preschool, elementary, or secondary educations that meets the state standards.

If the school district personnel decides that a student needs to attend a private school or facilitate to receive FAPE, they should provide a FAPE and also pay the costs of placement.

When the parents have decided to place their children in a private school or facility, then the children no longer have a right to FAPE, unless the school district made a FAPE available for the students.

In case that the parents place their child in a private school, because in the school district they did not get the appropriate FAPE, then they can potentially collect a tuition reimbursement from the school district.

Appropriate Education

The special education and related services a student receives are delineated and must be provided in conformity with, the student's IEP.

The school district is responsible for developing the student's IEP in collaboration with the parents.

State Standards

Providing an education to the citizens is the responsibility of the state rather than the federal government.

Arkansas, Iowa, and New Jersey have higher FAPE standards than the federal government, but the state legislatures amended the state statutes to bring them into line with the federal standards.

IDEA requires that states submit special education plans that assure qualified students with disabilities the right to a FAPE. The plans must meet the requirements set forth by the federal government in the IDEA.

They are free to impose more demanding standards than those contained in the federal law.

Special Education

IDEA = Specialized Design Instruction (at not cost), that it intended to meet the unique educational needs of a student.

It must address academic needs, social needs, behavioral needs, emotional needs, health needs, and vocational needs.

When I decided to choose Special Education as my major, I understood that it is more than just education. It is also the social needs, behavioral needs, and vocational needs. I have learned the importance of how to address these different needs for my future students. For example, I learned that it is important to make sure that you are building a good relationship with your student too, to know which needs they might be required.

Regulations from IDEA include if needed providing a FAPE, education in a variety of settings outside the typical school environment, as well as physical education and vocational education.

According to Tatgenhorst, because FAPE is premised on meeting the unique educational needs of each student, the IDEA does not further define what types of curricula, methods, materials, procedures, and resources make up a special education.

Tatgenhorst and his colleagues asserted that special education can be best thought of in terms of what it is not: Special education is not regular education.

Parent Participation

It is essential in the development of FAPE for two reasons:

The congress recognized that the receipt of special education services by children with disabilities depended in part on their parents' abilities to advocate on their behalf when it passed the EAHCA in 1975. And they created the procedural safeguards.

It is shown that when parents of the students with disabilities actively participate in the programs, students develop greater achievement and less problem behaviors.

Definition

Primarily procedural rather than substantive.

Procedure requirements

providing notice to the parents when their child's education program is discussed so the parents can participate in the discussions in a meaningful way.

inviting parents to participate in meetings to develop their child's educational program.

securing parental consent before initiating evaluations of their child's educational program.

allowing parents the opportunity to examine their child's educational needs.

permitting parents to obtain an independent educational evaluation at public expense if the parents disagree with the school's evaluation.

I wonder where the parents can get the person to get an independent education evaluation. Are there any like agencies maybe where they can get it? Also, can it be recommended by the MDT? Like the MDT can also provide a suggested IEE personnel? I just wonder since the parents are the ones that would like a different opinion.

including dispute resolution procedures that would allow a child's parents to request mediation, an impartial due process hearing, and to file a suit in a federal or state court to resolve the issue.

Special Education and Related services

provided at a public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without any charge.

should meet the standards of the State educational agency.

include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education in the state involved.

are provided in conformity with individualized education program.

IEP

When an IEP is developed, it should address the unique needs from what are the student's needs in a full and individualized assessment.

That is something that Brother Cloward mentioned, students should not have the same IEP. It should be unique needs and assessments to progress in their education. If the students do not have a proper IEP then they will not have the proper progress in their grade level, and that will be regression. I wonder what happens if a school has the problem of providing the same IEP to all the students in the special education program, would that also be a denial of FAPE or just illegal to make? Or are they the same thing?

FAPE will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

It is essentially the blueprint of a student's FAPE.

The IEP should have eight components:

PLAAFP (Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance)

Annual Goals and Short Term Objectives

Student's progress towards the annual goals

Related Services

Date of when it will begin, and the frequency, duration, and location of the services

Accommodations and Modifications

Monitor student's progress

Statement of how the student's parents will be informed about their progress

1. Involve the parents as full partners in the IEP process

2. Provide administrators, teachers, and staff training on their responsibilities under the IDEA

3. Develop educationally meaningful and legally sound IEPs.

4. Provide access to the general education curriculum

5. Place students in the least restrictive environment

6. Fully implement the IEP was written.

The high court announced a new FAPE standard, based on the Supreme Court's decision in Endrew, to determine an educational benefit.

IEP must now be developed for a student to make progress appropriate in light of the student's circumstances.

When a school has failed to the implementation of the IEP, this can lead to a denial of FAPE.

FAPE denial it is substantive, not procedural.

Students are no longer eligible for a FAPE under IDEA because:

He or she reacher the maximum age to receive services under the IDEA (21 years old)

I wonder what happens to the students that might have an intellectual disability mentally like three or four years less than what they are, or that they will always have a mental age of three or five years old. Would they still apply to FAPE? Or, they would not?

He or she graduates from high school with a regular diploma, whichever comes first.

A student that met the graduation criteria can graduate even if they did not met the IEP goals.

If a student met the IEP goals but did not meet the graduation criteria, they cannot receive their diploma.

Factors:

Facilities

Equipement

Location

Personnel required to deliver the special education and related services

It is an MDT, IEP team, decision

Also, it is important to have the Parent's Participation in the entire decision-making progress.

Student's have to evaluated and have their IEP developed.

Lack of substantive

Leads to frequent disagreements between parents and schools regarding the constitutes an appropriate education for a particular student.

Now I have a better understanding of procedural and substantive. And this is because I couldn't recognize that there is a big difference between both. Procedural means that the rights and the students have failed under IDEA. On the other hand substantive, it is more about the content of what is going on in the IEP, it is failed, then that's a big problem.

Litigation is Instructive

Schools have to ensure the develop and implement appropriate special education programs for students with disabilities.

Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson School District vs. Rowley

Amy Rowley was a deaf student at the Furnace Woods School in the Hendrick Hudson Central School District, entitled to a FAPE under the IDEA.

The court decided to develop a two-part test:

First, has the school complied with the procedures of the Act?

Second, is the individualized education program developed through the Act's procedures reasonably calculated to enable the school to receive educational benefits?

Post-Rowley Litigation

1. Rowley test stressed the importance of schools adhering to the procedural requirements of the IDEA when determining if a school had provided FAPE.

Reasons for school district losses were as follows:

failing to include the classroom teacher in developing a student's IEP.

delaying conducting a student's evaluation and developing his IEP for 6 months.

changing a student's placement prior to developing an IEP

failing to notify a student's parents of their rights under the IDEA.

2. Rowley test was substantive, it required that courts examine a student's IEP to determine whether the IEP developed by the school was reasonably calculated to enable a student to receive educational benefits.

To calculate whether or not a student is eligible for receiving educational benefits, the hearing offices and judges have to have sufficient interpretations of what degree of educational benefit is sufficient for a school to meet the second prong, and provide FAPE.

The Higher Educational Benefit

In Rowley's case, the judges would decide that Amy should receive an appropriate education if she were one of the tops in her class or advanced in a level forward.

The court can only determined a meaningful education based on the light of a student's potential

The Lower Educational Benefit Standard

In the Endrew case, the court noted that the school's district program conferred FAPE because Drew's IEP was calculated to provide educational benefit was "merely more than minimus".

Endrew F. vs Douglas County School District

Endrew F. is a kid that was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, his IEP did not help him progress through the years from preschool through fourth grade. His parents decided to place him in a private school as the lack of progression with his IEP.

First, the court rejected the de minimus or trivial standard that requires that IEP teams should offer a reasonable IEP, that will enable the student to have appropriate progress in their education.

Second, the court rejected the higher maximizing type standard sought. The judges focused their idea on how students with disabilities should progress in light of the education of their unique disabilities and circumstances.

Third, the court's decision in the Endrew case did not replace the Rowley decision. They clarified Rowley by adding a new standard to their two-part test Rowley/Endrew.

Fourth, the court settled the split among the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal with respect to the educational benefit question by rejecting the lower or the minimus educational benefit standard and embracing the higher educational benefit standard.

Fifth, the Endrew's decision needed to be more cleared, but until the hearing officers and judges would apply the new Rowley/Endrew two-part test to the facts presented in the future FAPE litigation.

Endrew Decision on Remand

The judge found that the IEP team had not provided Drew with programming to address his problem behavior, which failed to enable Drew to progress toward his academic and functional goals.

The judge also ordered the school district to reimburse Endrew's parents for tuition in Firefly Autism House, transportation costs, and attorney's fees and court costs.

The U.S Department of Education and the Endrew Decision

Section 1: An overview of the Supreme Court's ruling in Endrew

Provide meaningful opportunities for appropriate academic and functional advancement and to enable the child to make progress.

I am working on how to develop an IEP, one of the things that I like the most is that we can have a lot of imagination on how to provide the opportunities providing an appropriate education. For example, during a class last semester, I had the opportunity to make multiple IEPs, and in one of them I had the case of a second language learner, and I provided multiple activities and interventions where the student will enjoy learning a second language and not have fear of learning.

Section 2: Clarification of FAPE requirement of the IDEA

a student's academic and functional needs,

the views of the student's parents,

a student's disability,

a student's potential for growth, when developing his or her IEP.

Section 3: Consideration for implementation of the Endrew ruling

According to OSERS, the court's decision that they would clarified that the standard for determining whether an IEP is sufficient to provide FAPE is whether the child is offered an IEP reasonably calculated to enable the child to make progress that is appropriate in light of the child's circumstances.

The Endrew decision would increases the likelihood that if special educations collect data on student progress and do show appropriate progress, a school district in prevail.

As long as the school offers an appropriate program, the choice of educational methodology is up to the school district.

To prevail in such situations, school districts need to provide a FAPE that confers progress that is appropriate in light of a student's circumstances and must have formative evaluation data to show that a student is making progress in the school's programming.

IEP must contain

"A statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, base on peer-reviewed research to the extent-practicable, that will be provided to the child".

IEP teams should have strong evidence of the effectiveness of instructional programs and other services before they are included in the students' IEP.

Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs), behavioral interventions, and professional development activities.

PRR should apply

Selection and provision of special education metholodogy

Selection and provision of related services

Selection and provision of supplementary aids, services and supports provided in general education settings

Officials in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

Qualified reviewers to ensure that the quality of the information meets the standards of the field before the research is published.

They determine whether particular services are peer-reviewed might require that teachers review the literature or other information on the use of evidence-based practices.

Definition

Supportive services, as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education.

No cost

Must be included in the IEP

Include:

Transportation

Speech-language pathology

Audiology services

Therapeutic recreation

Physical, Occupational, Recreation therapist

Orientation and mobility services

Rehabilitation counseling

Medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes

Parent counseling and training

Health services, and school nurse

Social work services

The U.S. Supreme Court and Related Services

The IEP team must consider what related services a student needs to benefit their special education and when such relate services are necessary, they should be included in his or her IEP.

The only limit to related services are those services that must be provided by a licensed medical doctor.

The IEP team should determined if the on an individual basis, that these services are needed to provide a FAPE.

The courts have clearly stated that if ESY services are required to ensure the provision of a FAPE, they must be provided.

Some students require it because they want to avoid to have a regression in their progress:

Academically

Emotionally

Behavioral status

I have an experience in regression. Last semester in a practicum, one of the student's parents did not want him to continue with the interventions. So, the student had a big regression in how he would control his behavior as he had behavioral problems. Although, with the help of the teachers, and the principal, the parent changed their minds and accepted again the interventions and the special education teacher recommended ESY to have consistency in his education.

Physical skills

Self-help skills

Communication

ESY policies:

clearly define the ESY program and objectives

Develop eligibility criteria

Generate a systematic referral process

Construct a detailed plan for monitoring and data collection