Final Examination
Category A–40 (Answer both of these questions)
1. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) contains a number of major principles
concerning the education of children with disabilities. Six of these principles are as follows:
Zero reject, protection in evaluation, free appropriate public education, least restrictive placement,
procedural due process, and parent participation. Explain these principles and how they influence
special education practice.
2. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a comprehensive and complex
education law that is the most significant expansion of the federal government’s role in education
in our nation’s history. The law increased federal funding to the states and also increased
requirements of states, school districts, and schools. Explain the purpose, structures, and major
principles of the ESEA and how it is affecting general and special education. In your answer,
discuss how the federal government’s role in education has evolved.
Category B–60 (Answer 3 of the following questions)
3. Currently, one of the more highly litigated areas in special education concerns placement of
students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. Define the term least restrictive
environment. Explain the continuum of placements. A number of court cases have clarified the
meaning of LRE. Explain the important aspects of these cases. What should school districts do
to make certain they are in compliance with this aspect of the IDEA?
4. What is the meaning of free appropriate public education (FAPE)? Discuss the US Supreme
Court case of Board of Education v. Rowley, paying particular attention to the twofold inquiry.
Discuss the development of individualized education programs and why they are important to
FAPE. Finally, discuss how the concept has evolved from the passage of the education of All
Handicapped Children Act in 1975 to the reauthorization and amending of the IDEA in 2004.
How can school district officials ensure that IEP team members meet their responsibilities under
the IDEA?
5. A student’s individualized education program (IEP) is the blueprint of his or her FAPE. Explain
the IEP development process. Who are required to be on the IEP team? What are the content
components of an IEPs? How can school districts ensure that their IEP teams develop
educationally meaningful and legally correct IEPs?
6. Litigation concerning the discipline of students in special education has seemingly created a
system that is different from the system for students in regular education. Why are they different?
Explain the discipline sections in IDEA 1997 and IDEA 2004. In your discussion consider the
three major categories of disciplinary procedures, the manifestation determination, disciplining
dangerous students with disabilities, the interim alternative placement, providing educational
services and the behavior intervention plan.
Final Examination Answers