Opinion ID: 398788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 50% Discrepancy Standard

Text: 19 The defendant Ambach promulgated a regulation requiring that a learning disabled child exhibit a discrepancy of 50% or more between expected achievement based on ... intellectual ability and actual achievement in order to qualify as handicapped under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Regulation 200.1(d)(4). The federal statute requires that those children who show a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability be classified as handicapped. 20 The District Court concluded that the Committees on the Handicapped cannot translate into the '50% discrepancy' standard the criteria that they are required to consider by the federal definition of children with specific learning disabilities and that, accordingly, enforcement of the rule results in the failure to identify, locate and evaluate children with such disabilities required by 20 U.S.C. § 1412(2)(C). The District Court based its decision on its finding that the local Committees on the Handicapped reach their decisions on the basis of quantitative tests and grade scores and that a standard relying on standardized tests is inappropriate given inadequate and inaccurate testing procedures. The Court found that the 50% rule was more restrictive than the severe discrepancy standard, and would deny special education to children otherwise qualified to receive special education under federal law. 21