Least restrictive environment

In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a special education law that mandates regulation for students with disabilities to protect their rights as students and the rights of their parents. The IDEA requires that all students receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and that these students should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). To determine what an appropriate setting is for a student, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team will review the student's strengths, weaknesses, and needs, and consider the educational benefits from placement in any particular educational setting. By law the team is required to include the student's parent or guardian, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a representative of the local education agency, someone to interpret evaluation results and, if appropriate, the student. It is the IEP team's responsibility to determine what environment is the LRE for any given student with disabilities, which varies between every student.^[1] The goal of an IEP is to create the LRE for that student to learn in. For some students, mainstream inclusion in a standard classroom may be an appropriate setting whereas other students may need to be in a special education classroom full time, but many students fall somewhere within this spectrum. Students may also require supplementary aids and services (such as an interpreter, resource room or itinerant teacher) to achieve educational goals while being placed in a classroom with students without disabilities, these resources are provided as needed.^[2] The LRE for a student is less of a physical location, and more of a concept to ensure that the student is receiving the services that they need to be successful.

If the nature or severity of their disability prevent the student from achieving these goals in a standard classroom, the student would be withdrawn from the standard classroom and be placed in an alternate environment that is more suitable for the student.^[3] Schools and public agencies are required to have a continuum of alternative placements for students with disabilities. These alternative placements include separate classes, specialized schools, and homebound instruction (not to be confused with homeschooling). This is to ensure that schools are capable of meeting the needs of all students with disabilities. This continuum of placements is not always full inclusion or complete separate schooling, but can be a mix of both standard classes and alternative placements.^[2]

Four of the most common types of LRE are general education classroom with support, partial mainstream/inclusion classroom, special education classroom, specialized program outside of the school district.  In a general education classroom with support the student is in a general education classroom all day, with added services like an aid, assistive technology, or accommodations/modifications to the curriculum.  In a partial mainstream/inclusion classroom the student spends part of the day in the general classroom and part of the day in a special education classroom.  In a special education classroom the student spends the day in a specialized classroom with students with similar needs. In a specialized program outside of school district the student could attend a private school, specialized program, or residential program.^[4]