LRE (Least Restrictive Environment)
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LRE is the IDEA requirement that students with disabilities learn alongside peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate for each student.
Topic: IDEA, law and procedure
In plain terms
Under LRE, the general education classroom with supports is the starting point. A student moves to a more separate setting only when the nature or severity of the disability means education in regular classes, even with supplementary aids and services, cannot be achieved satisfactorily. Placement is decided for each student, at least yearly, based on the IEP, not on the label or available space.
How it shows up in an IEP
The IEP must explain the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with nondisabled peers in regular classes and activities (34 CFR §300.320(a)(5)). Data from that setting informs later placement decisions.
Example
Before moving a fifth grader to a separate math class, the team tries co-teaching with guided notes and a daily check-in, and tracks accuracy for six weeks.
Not the same as Inclusion
LRE is the legal requirement. Inclusion is a practice and a philosophy of educating students with disabilities in general education. Read the definition of Inclusion.
The rule
Federal reference: 34 CFR §300.114, 34 CFR §300.116.
Related terms
- Continuum of alternative placementsThe continuum of alternative placements is the range of settings, from general education to home or hospital instruction, that districts must have available.
- InclusionInclusion is the practice of educating students with disabilities in general education classes, with the supports they need to learn and belong.
- Supplementary aids and servicesSupplementary aids and services are supports that let a student with a disability learn in general education classes and activities alongside peers.
- FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education)FAPE is the right of every eligible child with a disability to special education and related services, at no cost, designed around the child's needs.
- Self-contained classroomA self-contained classroom is a special education class where students with IEPs spend most or all of the school day with a special education teacher.
On IEP Atlas
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