Determining a Child's LRE

• The IDEA has a strong preference for educating students with disabilities in regular classes with appropriate aids and services.
• The student's placement in the general education classroom is the first option the IEP Team must consider.
• Considering just the student, the IEP Team answers the question: What supplementary aids and services would ensure that the student's IEP can be appropriately implemented in the regular classroom?
• If the IEP Team decides that the student can be educated satisfactorily in the regular classroom, the that placement is the LRE for that student.
• The IEP Team may decide that the student cannot be educated satisfactorily in the regular classroom, even with appropriate aids and services are provided. The IEP Team must then consider other placements.
• The public agency must have other placements available to the extent necessary to ensure that the student's IEP can be implemented. These might include: instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions.
• The IEP Team decides which of these other placements is best for the student, given the student's individual needs and the importance of being educated, to the maximum extent appropriate, with students who do not have disabilities.