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Page Number: 6.0

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ENDREW F. v. DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DIST. RE–1 

Opinion of the Court 

change  for  the  funds,  a  State  pledges  to  comply  with  a
number  of  statutory  conditions.    Among  them,  the  State
must  provide  a  free  appropriate  public  education—a 
FAPE, for short—to all eligible children.  §1412(a)(1).

§1401(9).

A  FAPE,  as  the  Act  defines  it,  includes  both  “special
  “Special
education”  and  “related  services.” 
education”  is  “specially  designed  instruction  . . .  to  meet
the  unique  needs  of  a  child  with  a  disability”;  “related 
services”  are  the  support  services  “required  to  assist  a 
child  . . .  to  benefit  from”  that  instruction.   §§1401(26),
(29).  A State covered by the IDEA must provide a disabled 
child  with  such  special  education  and  related  services  “in
conformity  with  the  [child’s]  individualized  education 
program,” or IEP.  §1401(9)(D).

The  IEP  is  “the  centerpiece  of  the  statute’s  education 
delivery system for disabled children.”  Honig v. Doe, 484 
U. S. 305, 311 (1988).  A comprehensive plan prepared by
a  child’s  “IEP  Team”  (which  includes  teachers,  school
officials, and the child’s parents),  an IEP must be drafted 
in  compliance  with  a  detailed  set  of  procedures.
§1414(d)(1)(B)  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).  These 
procedures  emphasize  collaboration  among  parents  and 
educators  and  require  careful  consideration  of  the  child’s
individual  circumstances.    §1414.    The  IEP  is  the  means 
by  which  special  education  and  related  services  are  “tai-
lored  to  the  unique  needs”  of  a  particular  child.    Rowley, 
458 U. S., at 181. 

The IDEA requires that every IEP include “a statement 
of  the  child’s  present  levels  of  academic  achievement  and
functional performance,” describe “how the child’s disabil-
ity  affects  the  child’s  involvement  and  progress  in  the
general  education  curriculum,”  and  set  out  “measurable
annual  goals,  including  academic  and  functional  goals,” 
along  with  a  “description  of  how  the  child’s  progress
toward  meeting” 
gauged.
§§1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(I)–(III).  The IEP must also describe the 

goals  will 

those 

be