This document does not offer formal policy guidance from the Office of Special Education Programs at the United States Department of Education. Sample Fact Sheet About Special Education Mediation Article reprinted courtesy of the Maryland State Department of Education 1.
Mediation is an alternative method of resolving special education disputes.
Mediation attempts to help parents of children with disabilities and school officials reach mutually agreeable solutions concerning the identification, evaluation or placement of a student with a disability. Mediation is designed to avoid the cost of litigation and the adversarial relationship between parents and school personnel which can result from protracted due process proceedings. Mediators are administrative law judges selected on a rotating basis by the Office of Administrative Hearings based on their availability. All mediators have received training in mediation skills. They are not employees of state or local education agencies and are impartial.