IDEA requires public schools to provide special education and related services designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities and support meaningful educational progress.

In Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, the Supreme Court clarified the standard schools must meet:

"To meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA, a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances. "

The Court further emphasized that minimal progress is not sufficient: 

"When all is said and done, a student offered an educational program providing “merely more than de minimis” progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all. "

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)  →

Individualized Education Program (IEP)  →

Measurable Annual Goals and Progress Monitoring  →

Evaluations and Reevaluations  →