How large agriculture/supermarket companies artificially keep prices high.
Slippery Rock University
College of Education, Special Education Department
SPED-611-89 – Special Education Law
Spring 2024
Unit 3: FAPE – Short Essay Assignment
Scenario:
The year is 2017, and you are a special education director for North School District. North
School District is located within a state using the "some benefit” test for FAPE (Chevrolet). It’s
all the buzz that a case was just decided by the U.S. Supreme Court to give a national FAPE
standard. You know that the new FAPE standard is that “a district must offer an IEP that is
reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's
circumstances.”
You are a proactive special education director and are involved in monthly meetings with special
education directors in your area. At an upcoming monthly meeting, your colleagues have asked
you to discuss how the more stringent FAPE standard could impact special education cases in
your school district. You plan to make a short verbal statement about the history of the FAPE
standard, the Chevrolet v. Cadillac FAPE analysis, and to discuss how the new U.S. Supreme
Court case will impact your school district.
Directions:
In 3-4 pages (may be double spaced or single spaced with 1 inch page margins and using a
reasonable 12-point font), write out your presentation to the local special education directors.
You may research this topic from sources not included in the course materials, just please
remember to cite your sources in APA format. Give a short hypothetical example of a fictional
student and compare their special education progress using the “some benefit” standard and
the new U.S. Supreme Court standard from Endrew F.
With regard to the discussion of how the Endrew F. decision will impact your school and the
fictional hypothetical, there are no right or wrong answers. I am looking forward to your
analysis, effort, and thoughts on this topic.
Please put your name and the date of submission at the top of each page of the essay.
A grading rubric is provided below.
Grading Rubric:
This assignment is worth 30 points and will be graded as follows:
10 points – Accurately state the FAPE standard from the Endrew F. decision.
10 points – Provide background to your colleagues about the history of FAPE. What law(s) were
enacted indicating that students must be provided a FAPE and how did those laws evolve in
courts? Essentially, how did we get to Endrew F.? Why do we need a national FAPE standard in
the U.S.?
10 points – Provide a hypothetical example of a fictional student and compare their special
education progress using the “some benefit” standard and the new U.S. Supreme Court
standard from Endrew F.
2 point bonus – At the end of the essay, cite to the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) section of
the IDEA that states students are entitled to a FAPE.