The United States Supreme Court will decide the fate of millions of special education students in America when they rule on a controversial case regarding what the appropriate amount of FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) is for students with disabilities. The landmark case, Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District, could have major consequences for special education students.
According to Disability Scoop:
The Supreme Court’s decision to take up the matter comes at the urging of the Obama administration. In a brief issued last month, the U.S. solicitor general agreed with the parents that the IDEA requires schools to provide more than minimal benefit to students with disabilities.
“This court should hold that states must provide children with disabilities educational benefits that are meaningful in light of the child’s potential and the IDEA’s stated purposes. Merely aiming for non-trivial progress is not sufficient,” the solicitor general indicated.
This could be a moment of triumph or severe disappointment. With the rise of Common Core and a transition from teacher-led instruction to constant bombardment of education technology and a competency-based education environment, students with disabilities have suffered the most from the constant education reform that has taken place over the past twenty plus years. As their numbers rise, so do the corporate profits. They have been forced to take a litany of state assessments that have the same results, year after year: these students tend to perform the worst on these tests. The amount of parents choosing to go the home school route for their special needs children has risen dramatically in the last decade.
A free appropriate public education, in its current landscape, comes with a very steep price for students with disabilities. Unless the Supreme Court clearly defines what FAPE should be, in the face of the overwhelming corporate-driven changes in our schools, these children will continue to be lost in public education. Personalized learning, in the modern-day era meaning, would gear all students towards their own individual education plans which strips the special out of special education. This flies in the face of what disability advocates fight for every single day.
The Season Of Myths 