Opinion ID: 551748
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the IEP was reasonably designed to provide

Text: 20 educational benefit. 21 EAHCA requires the school district to provide each handicapped student a free appropriate public education. A free appropriate public education 22 consists of educational instruction specially designed to meet the unique needs of the handicapped child, supported by such unique needs of the handicapped child, supported by such services as are necessary to permit the child to benefit from the instruction. 23 Rowley, 458 U.S. at 188-89. An appropriate education under the Act focuses on the procedural requirements of assessing individual needs; it does not mandate any substantive standard prescribing the level of education to be accorded handicapped children. Id. at 189. When a child, such as Tara, is mainstreamed, the benefit of the services is monitored by the system itself in its regular exams and advancements. Id. at 203. Automatic advancement does not necessarily mean that a child is receiving a free appropriate public education, but it is an important factor. Id. at n. 25. Another important factor is the child's performance on standardized tests. Hall v. Vance City Bd. of Educ., 774 F.2d 629, 635-36 (4th Cir.1985). 24 Although Tara's case does not present as strong an example of educational benefit as that of the deaf plaintiff in Rowley, who performed above average in her classes and who was described as very well adjusted, Tara did receive a free appropriate public education. Tara completed the necessary requirements to graduate from high school with her own class. Although she failed a number of courses, she mastered the material, except for Algebra II, prior to graduation. Tara did not learn all of the 504 Essential Words that her speech therapist sought to review, but she did effectively use the coping techniques necessary to learn material on her own. Tara also passed the Tennessee Proficiency Test in the ninth grade and performed within the average range on the Stanford Test of Academic Skills. Her ACT scores were far below average, but Tara, unlike most students who took the test in both their junior and senior years, took it only once, during her junior year. Based on her academic achievement and standardized test scores, Tara did receive educational benefit. 25