Common Core and FAPE: On a Slippery Slope
I am reposting this excellent piece by AMY SKALICKY on Common Core. Please read:
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and it means your child has the right to a public education that is free and that emphasizes special education and related services that are “designed to meet their unique needs” and to “prepare them for further education, employment and independent living.” 20 USC 1400(d).This means that children with IEP’s need to receive “meaningful educational benefit.” Before I go any further, I want to help clarify what that means.On June 28, 1982, in the .S Supreme Court decision, Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District, Westchester County et al., versus Rowley by her parents Rowley et ux., the Court held that the requirement of FAPE is met when a child is provided with personalized instruction with sufficient support services to benefit educationally from that instruction.DB v. Sutton, 07-cv-40191-FDS (D.Mass.2009)required that at a minimum the school district must provide students with “a meaningful, beneficial educational opportunity.” Polk v. Central Susqehanna, 3rd Ci. 1988, further defined it by stating