Fact Sheet: Legal Rights to Obtain High-Quality Education Parents whose children are in schools that don't measure up and don't provide a uniformly high quality education to all students need to know about the rights they can use to bring about change. First, many laws protect a student's right to be in a school that does a good job of helping him or her to meet high standards for what all students should know and be able to do. For example: In schools receiving federal "Title I" funds, students have a right to a high quality education that will help them master high standards for what all students should know and be able to do. For example, students must get an "accelerated" and "enriched" curriculum so that students move ahead at a faster pace, not fall further behind. Teachers must be "highly qualified" and get lots of training on a regular basis about how to teach this way. Students must be given effective extra individual help whenever they are having a hard time meeting any of the standards. Schools must make enough progress each year so that every student will reach the high standards. Students with disabilities have rights to a program designed to help them meet the same high standards expected for all students. The written "IEP" (individualized education program) should spell out how the child's special needs will be addressed so that it does not pose a barrier to reaching these high standards. An IEP which assumes lower goals and does not focus on these standards is generally not legal. Nor is it generally legal to assign a student with disabilities to a low track which does not teach to these standards. These rights are protected by federal laws - the "Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act" (IDEA) and "Section 504." Students from a different language background with limited ability to write, read, or speak English have rights to an effective program which will overcome these language barriers so that they can meet the same standards expected for all students. These rights are also protected by federal laws - the "Equal Educational Opportunities Act" of 1974 and "Title VI" of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In schools which get federal aid for vocational or school-to-work programs, students have a right to a high quality program which integrates high-level academic and vocational skills so that students are prepared to enter four-year college as well as work. The programs must provide the students with strong understanding and experience in "all aspects of the industry" they are studying - such as planning, finance, management, and labor - not just the skills to do a single job that may not be there when they graduate. Students also have a right to the help they need to succeed in the program if they have special needs because of low income, low achievement, a disability, or limited English-language skills, or because they are trying to enter a field is not traditional for their sex. These rights are protected by the "Perkins" vocational education act and the "School-to-Work Opportunities Act." In many states, all students are guaranteed rights to high quality education to allow them to reach the same standards expected for all students. These rights may be found in the state constitution, in school-reform laws passed by the state legislature, and in the plans the states and school districts draw up to get federal "Goals 2000" funds. Second, parents also have rights they can use to make sure that their children get this kind of high quality education. For example, In "Title I" schools, parents have the right to develop the program plan together with the school. Exactly how that happens should be spelled out in a parent involvement policy which the parents and the school develop together and the parents approve, including a parent-school "compact" which spells out what both the school and the parents will do to make sure the student gets a high quality education to meet the standards. Parents also are supposed to get good training and information about the program, their rights, and how their own child is doing in meeting the standards. Parents of students with disabilities must be fully involved in deciding on the program for their child, including a full part in the evaluation of their child and in working out and approving the child's "IEP." If a school does not agree to provide the high quality education the law calls for, the parent can recover the lawyer's fees and other costs involved in winning their case in a hearing or court action. Under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, parents have rights to speak out, pass out literature, form an organization with others, peacefully demonstrate, and petition for change. Various federal laws and state procedures also spell out ways to file complaints. Under "FERPA" (the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), parents have the right to see the information the school system and its staff keeps about their child. In most states, parents and others can also see "public records" - the information that is not specific to an individual. These are just a few of the rights that parents can use to make sure their students get a high quality education. In future issues of the newsletter, we will discuss some of them in more detail. CAPS members can also get CLE "fact sheets" and other information on some of these rights.