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{
    "pk": 57183,
    "title": "In Whose Best Interests? Finding a Role for Student Voice in the Development of IEPs",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "Although IEPs are meant to serve students’ best interests, student feedback is rarely incorporated into their development. This lack of student voice would not pose a problem if IEP teams were consistently providing students with plans that appropriately served their needs. However, existing research indicates that this is not always the case. In this note, I argue that IEP teams often struggle to (1) balance necessary accommodations with minimally restrictive learning environments, (2) incentivize student investment in education, and (3) assess mental and emotional disabilities that present more limited physical manifestations. Furthermore, my research indicates that increased opportunities to share student voice in IEP meetings can at least partially remedy these deficiencies.\nIn Part I of this note, I examine students’ rights in the context of IEP law. I begin by outlining the basic legal requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I then assess the current state of children’s rights in the United States. After that, I discuss some potential benefits and barriers related to increased participation. In Part II, I describe a series of three student interviews that I conducted to evaluate my hypotheses. I start by outlining my methodology and the demographic data of the three student interviewees. I then describe each student’s interview, along with a related benefit of increased participation, in three separate subparts. Finally, in Part III, I touch on the major limitations of my analysis. I conclude by discussing the structure of a hypothetical, comprehensive study of student participation in the context of IEPs.",
    "language": "en",
    "license": {
        "name": "",
        "short_name": "",
        "text": null,
        "url": ""
    },
    "keywords": [],
    "section": "Student Notes",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2b25n0jx",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Aidan",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Brice",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": "2025-08-11T21:56:01Z",
    "date_accepted": "2025-08-11T21:56:01Z",
    "date_published": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "render_galley": null,
    "galleys": [
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            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/ucladlj/article/57183/galley/43380/download/"
        }
    ]
}