Complaints, prayers, and relief: An analysis of special education class action litigation from inception to completion

Because of perceived inequities, class action cases are frequently brought on behalf of students with special education needs. Class action cases involving special education issues such as Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania (PARC) and Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia (Mills) have had significant impact on national education policy as well as the districts where they were filed. And, class action litigation has grown over recent decades as a tool to bring about wide scale change. This study analyzes a group of claims to determine how closely the use of the class action vehicle resulted in an outcome that is closely related to initial complaint.;Contemporarily, class action continues to be a vehicle whereby groups of similarly situated individuals can come together as a group to bring a claim against a defendant. School districts are often the subject of class action claims. The expansion of the role of litigation and its impact on influencing and creating educational policy and practice bears further study particularly in the area of class action cases regarding special education issues.;This case-study investigates the motivations of and resolutions of sample federal class-action special education cases. The overall goal of this study is to determine if class action litigation is successful in bringing about resolution that is substantially similar to the original complaint by asking: "What, if any, links exist between the original motivations (complaint/notice of claim) for litigation and the eventual outcome (decision and order/settlement agreement/consent decree) in federal class action special education litigation?".;This study conducts an in-depth examination of five federal complex, class-action special education cases to determine the relationship between plaintiffs' original requests in pleadings (complaints and amended complaints) and the ultimate outcome of the litigation itself, whether there was a settlement reached or if the case was fully litigated.