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Placement and Least Restrictive Environment

How and where will your child’s IEP be served?

Placement decisions are made by your student’s IEP team after the IEP has been developed. The term “placement” in special education does not necessarily mean the precise physical building or location where your student will be educated. Rather, your student’s “placement” refers to the range or continuum of educational settings available in the district to implement her/his IEP and the overall amount of time s/he will spend in the general education setting.

One of the defining principles of special education law is that students with disabilities should be included in the general education program and with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent possible, and that removal from the general education environment only occurs if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in the general education classes with the use of supplementary aides and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. This is the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and is determined by the IEP team.​​

The LRE is unique to your student’s individual needs. Thus, the selection of an appropriate placement for your student must take into account the following four factors:

  1. The content of your student’s IEP;
  2. The LRE requirements;
  3. The likelihood that the placement option will provide a reasonably high probability of assisting your student to attain her/his annual goals; and
  4. The consideration of any potentially harmful effects that the placement option might have on your student or on the quality of services that your student needs.

The consideration of any potentially harmful effects that the placement option might have on your student or on the quality of services that your student needs