This article provides a current, comprehensive, and concise overview of the law specific to students with dyslexia in K-12 schools. It consists of (a) an overview of the applicable legal framework, which includes the federal foundation in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, (b) a compact…

The purposes of evaluation, as shown in its definition in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) regulations (2019, § 300.15), concern eligibility and free appropriate public education (FAPE). For the initial evaluation, the focus of the IDEA legislation is to determine whether the child is eligible and, if so, the nature and…

Teachers and parents often find special education law complex and confusing. As one step for a basic foundation in special education law, a previous "TEACHING Exceptional Children" article (Zirkel, 2005) provided a snapshot of the "top five case concepts" based on 10 decisions from the Supreme Court. Each of these decisions…

To provide a missing piece to the legal foundation of professional development and practice for the individualized education program (IEP) process, the authors report the results of a comprehensive systematic analysis of court decisions specific to IEP-related procedural violations after the 2004 amendments of the Individuals With Disabilities…

The special education literature has included a continuing line of articles and chapters that have translated for practitioners the legal meaning of the progress monitoring provisions in the successive versions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This article examines this line of publications in light of the language of the…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) obligates school districts to identify students with disabilities and provide them with a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), which includes specially designed instruction. Identification, FAPE, least restrictive environment (LRE), and various other issues under the IDEA sometimes…

A previous exploratory analysis revealed that students with autism were notably overrepresented in published court decisions concerning the IDEA's core concepts of "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) and "least restrictive environment" (LRE). More specifically, for the period 1993 to 2006, the proportion of this…

Children with autism accounted for almost one third of a comprehensive sample of published court decisions concerning the core concepts of free appropriate public education (FAPE) and least restrictive environment (LRE) under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. The other major, and more significant, finding was that when comparing…

As shown by a West Virginia case involving allegations of student touching, principals are challenged to provide a safe environment for both students and staff members. Although court decisions generally favor school districts, they reveal the importance of a documented warning, a prudent investigation, and a sound board decision. (MLH)

Discusses a federal district court decision ordering a trial to determine if the New York City Public Schools created a "hostile work environment" in violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act by not protecting a Sri Lankan-born teacher from repeated ridicule and harassment by students. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)