A Year Ago the Supreme Court Raised the Bar for Special Ed. What's Happened Since? (Education Week)

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools must offer students with disabilities an education reasonably calculated to enable them to "make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances," what has changed? On one hand, not much, if evaluating the dozens of special education cases that have cited the decision. School districts are not losing cases because of the new standard, said Perry Zirkel, professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University. In several situations, judges said local practices already met the standard. "Any way you slice it, it hasn't changed the trends," Zirkel said. "The same folks are still winning — the districts." (April 27)