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THE IMPACT OF ENDREW F.: AN UPDATED ANALYSIS OF RESULTING JUDICIAL RULINGS
by Perry A. Zirkel, Ph.D., J.D., LL.M.
In contrast with those commentators in the public media and education or law journals who characterized the Supreme Court’s decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1 (2017) as dramatically raising the legal standard for the substantive appropriateness of IEPs under the IDEA, the judicial rulings that have applied Endrew F. during the six most recent full years have continued the same trend found during the immediate two or three years directly after its March 22, 2017 issuance–a 4:1 ratio in favor of school districts (i.e., approximately 20% for parents, and 80% for districts).
The article explains the methodology and discusses the findings. And in a follow-up article, which I’m currently writing, I found the same 4:1 ratio for the outcomes of the corresponding court rulings for the eight years preceding Endrew F., which applied the legal standard for appropriateness of IEPs under the predecessor Supreme Court decision–Board of Education v. Rowley (1982). Thus, the outcome odds of judicial rulings for this central issue under the IDEA strongly favored school districts at the same level before and after Endrew F.