Special Education Law, Topical Paper
Topical Paper:
Each student will write a seven (7) page minimum topical paper, not including the abstract or reference page(s). The theme of the paper must focus on a direct and specific facet regarding special education law.
Sample ideas for your paper’s special education law focus:
For example: You may choose your own special education law topic or you might consider writing your paper on one of the following suggestions provided below. However, this paper must directly address a special education legal/legislative topic to be acceptable as a fulfillment of this assignment.
• What is a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and why have so many law suits addressed this principle?
• What is the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirement as related to IDEA? Why can this be such a divisive issue?
• Tuition reimbursement, for students unable to benefit from the education offered at their home school. Why does this happen? Is it expensive? If so, why do we do it?
• Discipline, disruptions and consequences for students with disabilities.
• On-going Progress Monitoring: (i.e., definition and purpose; legislative requirements; relevant case law summaries; state (Kentucky) Individualized Education Program (IEP) relevance, requirements, and placement w/in the IEP; and examples of acceptable and best practice fulfillment of on-going progress monitoring data collection and reporting)
• Describe the components, in detail, of an individualized education program (IEP).
o Why is each section of the IEP important to the process of developing a “meaningful” education?
o Give examples of the kinds or types of information, data and/or test scores that the IEP Team or Multidisciplinary Team (M-Team) uses to make meaningful and educationally relevant decisions. Describe how IEP meeting participants come to consensus for each section and then again at the end of the meeting?
• Generally speaking, who are the key participants in an IEP Meeting, how are the educational decisions made and present key considerations that must be discussed and consensus reached before IEP’s are finalized?
• Public school responsibilities relating to IDEIA 2004
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• The use of assistive technology for students with disabilities
• Or maybe there is a particular special education law topic or issue of great interest to you, a friend, a colleague, or to your school system. Some benefit might result from an extensive study on your special issue as it relates to federal and state special education statutes as well as your local school district policies.
If appropriate to your topic, the following information must be thoroughly described in the paper:
1. A thorough description of the special education law issue.
2. A thorough description of the legislative history of the issue.
3. How does this issue affect students with and without disabilities while in school? Are there out of school implications? Are teachers affected by the issue? Is the school system in general and its administration affected by this issue? Please be thorough in your answers to these questions and provide copious (detailed) examples.
4. Provide substantial descriptions of case law addressing the chosen issue as well as describing how the outcome of the case law affected your chosen issue. Don’t forget to provide the official case citations.
5. What student populations will benefit from the legal topic you’ve chosen (students with LD, physical impairments, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), hearing impairments, general education students, etc.). Why? Provide substantial examples.
6. What expenses are associated with the topic you have chosen as well as the implementation of the law as it relates to your paper’s topic. How did you arrive at these figures? Don’t forget to cite your sources.
7. In summary, thoroughly reflect upon how you believe this issue benefits or diminishes the educational program of students with disabilities in Western Kentucky. Provide substantial evidence (actual examples, without names or identifying information, appropriate case law, educational statistics, basic financial expenditures, and/or other objective data to support your position.
Paper Mechanics:
1. This paper should be written in APA style, with abstract and reference page.
2. You must use and cite a minimum of ten (10) peer-reviewed scholarly articles while developing this paper.
a. In addition to the ten (10) peer-reviewed scholarly articles, you may also include additional, quality peer-reviewed, resources as you feel appropriate to fully explain your topic of choice.
3. If needed, you may like to use the APA Style Guide web link(s) below for quick APA style support. Or if you are interested in a hard copy version of the APA style guide, it is available from the university bookstore or from websites like amazon.com.
4. Your papers will be graded on the depth/detail and quality of your writing in addressing the requested information delineated above.
5. Of course, you may also include additional information, as you feel necessary, to improve the presentation of your topic.
Your paper will be reviewed for quality of writing and depth of content. Your writing should be clear, concise, grammatically correct, and professional in appearance. Cite your references both in text, in APA style, as well as in the reference list following your summarizing remarks. You must include all the points listed above (that apply to your topic) and adhere to the length requirement. To receive an outstanding grade, 90 – 100, you must submit, on time, a truly outstanding paper.
APA Help – OWL at Purdue:
1. The APA formatting and style guide – http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/#General%20Format
2. OWL, Reference list help – http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/
3. Citing Legal Materials in APA Style – http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/legalapa.htm
