Supreme Court sets higher bar for education of students with disabilities

[DonViejo]

By Emma Brown and Ann E. Marimow March 22 at 12:53 PM
The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously raised the bar for the educational benefits owed to millions of children with disabilities in one of the most significant special-education cases to reach the high court in decades.

The opinion rejected a lower standard set by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and used in a subsequent case by President Trump’s nominee to the high court, Neil Gorsuch, during his tenure on the appeals court. The high court’s ruling quickly became the focus of questions on Wednesday at Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing.

In its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court said a child’s “educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances” and that “every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives” even if the child is not fully integrated into regular classrooms.

The justices said the standard used by the 10th Circuit set the bar too low for students. A student offered such a minimal level of education “can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in the court’s 16-page opinion.

“It cannot be right,” he continued, that federal law “generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom, but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-sets-higher-bar-for-education-of-students-with-disabilities/2017/03/22/fcb7bc62-0f16-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.e60450b9ac1d&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

[JudyM]

1. This is great:unanimous! "Appropriately ambitious" is a decent standard, certainly better.

What is up with Thomas. A kindhearted vote.

[Igel]

3. And if the kids fails to meet

"Ambitious" goals, you'd better have spent hours documenting all the things you did for that kid.

Wife spent 50, 60 hours a week doing this snd in the end faced shit from parents and administrators. Why?

Because how do you document "appropriate"? The standards were suddenly too high why? The kid failed. Take-away: pass the kid. But if he passes, maybe the objectives were too low! Catch-22.

Most of these kids I have in the classroom want to be told that their kid's fine. The kid with an IQ below 80 convinced her son belongs in AP chemistry and is med school bound. The parents of the kid convinced that her son at a 7th-grade reading level is normal and denies him services and ignores their psychologist who says he'll never even be able to live on his own, much less have a normal job or even comm college.

Irresistible court decision. For the "think of the children, screw the workers" crowd, great. Parents are bosses, teachers the workers. Beyond that it's parents are citizens, teachers are serfs." With "serfs" in lieu of other words. Like "natives" or "sergeants" or "slaves". Yes, it's a choice. Like being a factory worker or service worker.

[Lil Missy]

2. As a parent of a special needs child, I find this decision shocking, but wholeheartedly welcome. ;)