Opinion ID: 609180
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the mainstreaming requirement of idea

Text: 27 The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (IDEA's predecessor statute) was enacted in 1975 in response to a Congressional finding that more than half of the children with disabilities in the United States do not receive appropriate educational services. 20 U.S.C. § 1400(b)(3); see also S.Rep. No. 168, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 8 (1975), reprinted in 1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1425, 1432. The Act provides federal funds to participating states for the education of children with disabilities. 15 As a condition of receiving these funds, states must have in effect a policy that assures all children with disabilities the right to a free appropriate public education. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(1). 28 In Board of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 188-89, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3042, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982), the Supreme Court held that a free appropriate public education under the Act consists of educational instruction specially designed to meet the unique needs of the handicapped child, supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child 'to benefit' from the instruction. This court in turn interpreted Rowley to require the state to offer children with disabilities individualized education programs that provide more than a trivial or de minimis educational benefit. Polk v. Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit 16, 853 F.2d 171, 180-85 (3d Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1030, 109 S.Ct. 838, 102 L.Ed.2d 970 (1989). 16 29 In addition to the free appropriate education requirement, IDEA provides that states must establish 30 procedures to assure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities ... are educated with children who are not disabled, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.... 31 20 U.S.C. § 1412(5)(B). 17 As numerous courts have recognized, this provision sets forth a strong congressional preference for integrating children with disabilities in regular classrooms. See, e.g., Devries v. Fairfax County School Bd., 882 F.2d 876, 878 (4th Cir.1989); Daniel R.R. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1044 (5th Cir.1989); A.W. v. Northwest R-1 School Dist., 813 F.2d 158, 162 (8th Cir.1987); Roncker v. Walter, 700 F.2d 1058, 1063 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 864, 104 S.Ct. 196, 78 L.Ed.2d 171 (1983); Board of Educ. Sacramento City Unified School Dist. v. Holland, 786 F.Supp. 874, 878 (E.D.Cal.1992). 32 One of our principal tasks in this case is to provide standards for determining when a school's decision to remove a child with disabilities from the regular classroom and to place the child in a segregated environment violates IDEA's presumption in favor of mainstreaming. This issue is particularly difficult in light of the apparent tension within the Act between the strong preference for mainstreaming, 20 U.S.C. § 1412(5)(B), and the requirement that schools provide individualized programs tailored to the specific needs of each disabled child, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1401, 1414(a)(5). See Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1044; Greer v. Rome City School Dist., 950 F.2d 688, 695 (11th Cir.1991). 18 33 The key to resolving this tension appears to lie in the school's proper use of supplementary aids and services, 20 U.S.C. § 1412(5)(B), which may enable the school to educate a child with disabilities for a majority of the time within a regular classroom, while at the same time addressing that child's unique educational needs. We recognize, however, that [r]egular classes ... will not provide an education that accounts for each child's particular needs in every case. Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1044; see also Devries, 882 F.2d at 878-80 (holding that 17 year old autistic student could not benefit from monitoring regular high school academic classes and was appropriately placed at county vocational center). 34 We also recognize that [i]n assuring that the requirements of the Act have been met, courts must be careful to avoid imposing their view of preferable educational methods upon the States. Rowley, 458 U.S. at 207, 102 S.Ct. at 3051. We are mindful that the Act leaves questions of educational policy to state and local officials. Id. On the other hand, as the Supreme Court recognized in Rowley, the Act specifically requires participating States to educate handicapped children with nonhandicapped children whenever possible. Rowley, 458 U.S. at 202, 102 S.Ct. at 3049; see also Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 311, 108 S.Ct. 592, 597, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988). 19 It is our duty to enforce that statutory requirement. See Polk, 853 F.2d at 184 (We do not read the Supreme Court's salutary warnings against interference with educational methodology as an invitation to abdicate our obligation to enforce the statutory provisions [of the Act].). 20 35 In Daniel R.R., the Fifth Circuit derived from the language of 20 U.S.C. § 1412(5)(B) a two-part test for determining whether a school is in compliance with IDEA's mainstreaming requirement. First, the court must determine whether education in the regular classroom, with the use of supplementary aids and services, can be achieved satisfactorily. 874 F.2d at 1048. 21 Second, if the court finds that placement outside of a regular classroom is necessary for the child to benefit educationally, then the court must decide whether the school has mainstreamed the child to the maximum extent appropriate, i.e., whether the school has made efforts to include the child in school programs with nondisabled children whenever possible. Id. We think this two-part test, which closely tracks the language of § 1412(5)(B), is faithful to IDEA's directive that children with disabilities be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate, 20 U.S.C. § 1412(5)(B), and to the Act's requirement that schools provide individualized programs to account for each child's specific needs, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1401, 1414(a)(5). See Greer, 950 F.2d at 696 (adopting the Daniel R.R. test); Liscio v. Woodland Hills School Dist., 734 F.Supp. 689 (W.D.Pa.1989) (same). 36 The district court in this case adopted the somewhat different test set forth by the Sixth Circuit in Roncker v. Walter, 700 F.2d 1058 (6th Cir.1983), the first federal court of appeals case to interpret IDEA's mainstreaming requirement. See Oberti II, 801 F.Supp. at 1401. In Roncker, the court stated: 37 In a case where the segregated facility is considered superior [academically], the court should determine whether the services which make that placement superior could be feasibly provided in a non-segregated setting. If they can, the placement in the segregated school would be inappropriate under the Act. 38 700 F.2d at 1063; see also A.W. v. Northwest R-1 School Dist., 813 F.2d 158, 163 (8th Cir.1987) (adopting Roncker test). We believe, however, that the two-part Daniel R.R. test is the better standard because the Roncker test fails to make clear that even if placement in the regular classroom cannot be achieved satisfactorily for the major portion of a particular child's education program, the school is still required to include that child in school programs with nondisabled children (specific academic classes, other classes such as music and art, lunch, recess, etc.) whenever possible. We therefore adopt the two-part Daniel R.R. test rather than the standard espoused in Roncker. 39 In applying the first part of the Daniel R.R. test, i.e., whether the child can be educated satisfactorily in a regular classroom with supplementary aids and services, the court should consider several factors. First, the court should look at the steps that the school has taken to try to include the child in a regular classroom. See Greer, 950 F.2d at 696; Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1048. As we have explained, the Act and its regulations require schools to provide supplementary aids and services to enable children with disabilities to learn whenever possible in a regular classroom. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1401(a)(17), 1412(5)(B); 34 C.F.R. § 300.551(b)(2). The regulations specifically require school districts to provide a continuum of placements ... to meet the needs of handicapped children. 34 C.F.R. § 300.551(a). The continuum must [m]ake provision for supplementary services (such as resource room 22 or itinerant instruction) to be provided in conjunction with regular class placement. 34 C.F.R. § 300.551(b). 40 Accordingly, the school must consider the whole range of supplemental aids and services, including resource rooms and itinerant instruction, Greer, 950 F.2d at 696, speech and language therapy, special education training for the regular teacher, behavior modification programs, or any other available aids or services appropriate to the child's particular disabilities. The school must also make efforts to modify the regular education program to accommodate a disabled child. See 34 C.F.R. Part 300, App.C. Question 48. If the school has given no serious consideration to including the child in a regular class with such supplementary aids and services and to modifying the regular curriculum to accommodate the child, then it has most likely violated the Act's mainstreaming directive. The Act does not permit states to make mere token gestures to accommodate handicapped students; its requirement for modifying and supplementing regular education is broad. Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1048; see also Greer, 950 F.2d at 696. 41 A second factor courts should consider in determining whether a child with disabilities can be included in a regular classroom is the comparison between the educational benefits the child will receive in a regular classroom (with supplementary aids and services) and the benefits the child will receive in the segregated, special education classroom. The court will have to rely heavily in this regard on the testimony of educational experts. Nevertheless, in making this comparison the court must pay special attention to those unique benefits the child may obtain from integration in a regular classroom which cannot be achieved in a segregated environment, i.e., the development of social and communication skills from interaction with nondisabled peers. See Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1049 (a child may be able to absorb only a minimal amount of the regular education program, but may benefit enormously from the language models that his nonhandicapped peers provide); Greer, 950 F.2d at 697 (language and role modeling from association with nondisabled peers are essential benefits of mainstreaming); Holland, 786 F.Supp. at 882 (benefits obtained by child with mental retardation as result of placement in a regular classroom include development of social and communications skills and generally improved self-esteem). 23 As IDEA's mainstreaming directive makes clear, Congress understood that a fundamental value of the right to public education for children with disabilities is the right to associate with nondisabled peers. 24 42 Thus, a determination that a child with disabilities might make greater academic progress in a segregated, special education class may not warrant excluding that child from a regular classroom environment. We emphasize that the Act does not require states to offer the same educational experience to a child with disabilities as is generally provided for nondisabled children. See Rowley, 458 U.S. at 189, 202, 102 S.Ct. at 3042, 3048-49. To the contrary, states must address the unique needs of a disabled child, recognizing that that child may benefit differently from education in the regular classroom than other students. See Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1047. In short, the fact that a child with disabilities will learn differently from his or her education within a regular classroom does not justify exclusion from that environment. 43 A third factor the court should consider in determining whether a child with disabilities can be educated satisfactorily in a regular classroom is the possible negative effect the child's inclusion may have on the education of the other children in the regular classroom. While inclusion of children with disabilities in regular classrooms may benefit the class as a whole, see supra n. 24, a child with disabilities may be so disruptive in a regular classroom that the education of other students is significantly impaired. 34 C.F.R. § 300.552 comment (citing 34 C.F.R. part 104--Appendix, Para. 24); see Greer, 950 F.2d at 697; Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1048-49. Moreover, if a child is causing excessive disruption of the class, the child may not be benefiting educationally in that environment. Accordingly, if the child has behavioral problems, the court should consider the degree to which these problems may disrupt the class. In addition, the court should consider whether the child's disabilities will demand so much of the teacher's attention that the teacher will be required to ignore the other students. See Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1049. 44 We emphasize, however, that in considering the possible negative effect of the child's presence on the other students, the court must keep in mind the school's obligation under the Act to provide supplementary aids and services to accommodate the child's disabilities. See Greer, 950 F.2d at 697. An adequate individualized program with such aids and services may prevent disruption that would otherwise occur. See id. With respect to the concerns of nondisabled children in the regular classroom, we note that the comment to 34 C.F.R. § 300.552 (citing 34 C.F.R. part 104--Appendix, Para. 24) reads: [I]t should be stressed that, where a handicapped child is so disruptive in a regular classroom that the education of other students is significantly impaired, the needs of the handicapped child cannot be met in that environment. Therefore, regular placements would not be appropriate to his or her needs.... On the other hand, a handicapped child who merely requires more teacher attention than most other children is not likely to be so disruptive as to significantly impair the education of other children. Greer, 950 F.2d at 697. 45 In sum, in determining whether a child with disabilities can be educated satisfactorily in a regular class with supplemental aids and services (the first prong of the two-part mainstreaming test we adopt today), the court should consider several factors, including: (1) whether the school district has made reasonable efforts to accommodate the child in a regular classroom; (2) the educational benefits available to the child in a regular class, with appropriate supplementary aids and services, as compared to the benefits provided in a special education class; and (3) the possible negative effects of the inclusion of the child on the education of the other students in the class. 25 46 If, after considering these factors, the court determines that the school district was justified in removing the child from the regular classroom and providing education in a segregated, special education class, the court must consider the second prong of the mainstreaming test--whether the school has included the child in school programs with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate. See Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1048, 1050. IDEA and its regulations do not contemplate an all-or-nothing educational system in which handicapped children attend either regular or special education. Id. at 1050. The regulations under IDEA require schools to provide a continuum of alternative placements ... to meet the needs of handicapped children. 34 C.F.R. § 300.551(a). As the Fifth Circuit stated: 47 the school must take intermediate steps wherever appropriate, such as placing the child in regular education for some academic classes and in special education for others, mainstreaming the child for nonacademic classes only, or providing interaction with nonhandicapped children during lunch and recess. The appropriate mix will vary from child to child and, it may be hoped, from school year to school year as the child develops. 48 Daniel R.R., 874 F.2d at 1050. Thus, even if a child with disabilities cannot be educated satisfactorily in a regular classroom, that child must still be included in school programs with nondisabled students wherever possible. 49