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Landmark Court Case Analysis

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There are a number of landmark court cases of special education in the country that have become the basis of how we currently provide services to students with disabilities. Diana v. California State Board of Education (1970) and Larry P. v. Riles (1984) are two of these landmark court cases that highlight nondiscriminatory assessments. Below is the analysis of the two court cases in four major sections: The Legal Cases, Summary, Future Practice, and Comparison and Contrasts.
A. The Legal Cases According to Best (2011), Diana v. California State Board of Education (1970) is about a class action lawsuit on behalf of nine Mexican-American children, ages 8-13, including Diana, against the Soledad Unified School District, State Superintendent Wilson Riles, and members of the California State Board of Education. Best (2011) mentioned that Diana was a student in the Soledad Unified School District who had academic problem in the class, was assessed by a school psychologist using the Stanford Binet Intelligence …show more content…

Comparisons and Contrasts Diana v. California State Board of Education (1970) and Larry P. v. Riles (1984) have many similarities. Both cases fought for nondiscriminatory assessments for special education placements. Both were class action lawsuits on behalf of minority students (Mexican-Americans and African-Americans respectively) who took IQ tests – the Standard Binet Intelligence Tests – and were placed in the EMR classes based on the IQ test results alone. Both cases argued that the IQ tests were discriminatory to students. In both cases, the students won. Furthermore, the two cases are different in some aspects as well. In Diana v. California State Board of Education (1970), the students involved were Mexican-Americans and the issue being settled was IQ testing in students’ primary language. In Larry P. v. Riles (1984), the students involved were African-Americans and the issue being settled was the racial disproportionate placement in special

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