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Stacked Books

Secondary Resources

Treatises

There are a finite number of treatises available that focus on Special Education Law solely. Many of the available treatises look at School Law generally, with a section of the treatise dedicated to Special Education Law. However, there area few treatises that are Special Education Law specific.

  • Special Education and the Law: A Guide for Practitioners is a treatise that focuses on both important sections of special education law, including IDEA, the American with Disabilities Act, Act Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This guide seems incredibly user-friendly and is rather brief in comparison to some others. Additionally, it is available in an e-book for a relatively low cost. For a sole practitioner or for a parent who needs to better understand how the law if effecting their student, this guide seems to be a great choice. However this resource is only available in print.  (Osborne, Allan G and Russo, Charles J., Special Education, and the Law: A Guide for Practitioners. 3d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press 2014)

  • Special Education Law is a treatise that is ideal for individuals who are looking to obtain information about special education law in a way that is broken into sections and is more conceptually drafted rather than entirely black letter law. Different from other legal treatises, this resource looks at how other laws impact education students with special needs, including acts such as No Child Left Behind, or the impact of FERPA on an exceptional student. However, this resource is only available in print. (Latham, Peter S., Latham, Patricia H. Mandlawitz, Myrna R., Special Education Law. Bostin, MA: Pearson 2008. )

  • Wrightslaw: Special Education Law is not a treatise, per se, but is a valuable resource that clearly lays out several aspects of special education law, language from relevant statutes, SCOTUS Cases, and more. This is a great resource for everyone who is interested in learning more about Special Education law. 

Practice Guides and CLE Materials

There are several practice guides that could be helpful for a practitioner looking to learn about practicing Special Education Law. There are no practice guides dedicated to Special Education Law, but there are guides that could be helpful in other areas.

- Americans with Disabilities: Practice and Compliance Manual, which is available on Westlaw, is a comprehensive guide to federal and state disability laws. This is a user-friendly guide. However, it covers a substantial amount of material not related to Special Education Law, see chapter 11 for information on IDEA. 

- Moore's Federal Practice is a guide that provides information on all aspects of practicing law in federal courts. The Index is useful in finding specific areas of Education and Special Education. This guide is available on LexisNexis.

- The American Bar Association offers a CLE on Special Education Law 101. This resource, while not free, would be great for practitioners to use to become better introduced to Special Education and the laws surrounding it. This is marketed as a CLE for attorneys with little to no education experience and looking to be a better advocate. 

Agency Resources

Both the United States Department of Education and the Pennsylvania State Department of Education offer substantial information, guidance, policy, and opinions on statutory language surrounding special education. Federal regulations surrounding IDEA  can be found here. 

Databases and Research Guides

Additional Database:

Case Maker is a great additional resource that can be helpful to a practitioner in finding primary law, jury instructions, and other important information for a case. While this database is not free, some bar associations offer this as a membership benefit, but it is a low-cost alternative to the big law databases, such as Westlaw or LexisNexis.

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Research Guide

There are very few Special Education Law specific research guides, however, there are a few Education Law research guides.

  • Georgetown Law Library has created a fairly comprehensive and very helpful research guide for Education Law. This link should help guide a practitioner, educator, or parent on how to begin researching education law. 

  • University of Chicago Loyola Law Library also created a helpful guide for researching Education Law. This guide offers a significant amount of resources on Illinois education law, and less information on federal. This guide is still helpful as a starting place. 

  • University of Connecticut School of Law Library created a useful Education Law research guide which is a great resource for people of all backgrounds when beginning to research education law. 

  • Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Library created a special education law resource guide. This guide provides links to relevant materials including books, articles and other legal analysis.

  • Harvard Law Library offers a treatise guide for Education Law treatises. 

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