State education agency LRE policies cluster around three goals: influencing out-of-district placement, controlling institutional programs, and deinstitutionalization¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The report organizes the state policies it surveyed into a three-goal taxonomy. It states that despite wide variation, most SEA policies "are directed toward one of the followingthree goals: influencing the process by which handicappedChildren are placed out of district:gaining greater control over the educational programs of children placedi.n State institutions; and participating iii effortsto deinStitUtiohalize handicapped Children." Each goal is illustrated with named state examples: Connecticut and Maryland for placement review, Louisiana, Florida, and California for institutional programs, and Colorado for deinstitutionalization.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

SEAs must work through other jurisdictions (LEAs, IEUs, and state human service agencies) because they lack direct supervision of most handicapped children

Constraints¶

An SEA's ability to issue specific policies varies from state to state according to the strength of the SEA, its relation to local districts, historical patterns of care, and how each state interprets LRE

Target Learners¶

Handicapped children educated by LEAs, intermediate education units, and state human service agencies

Target Learning Objectives¶

Education in the least restrictive environment statewide

Claims¶

Colorado's financial incentives for community alternatives and an interagency agreement were followed by a decline in residential institutional placements [+W]

Least restrictive environment defined by two components: proximity to the regular educational environment and opportunity to interact with non-handicapped children

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

Farrow, Frank, and Cheryl Rogers. (1983). Policies Which Address Out-of-District Placements and Assure Education in the Least Restrictive Environment. A Report of the Handicapped Public Policy Analysis Project, Volume 3. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED245469

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`theory`
`title`	`State education agency LRE policies cluster around three goals: influencing out-of-district placement, controlling institutional programs, and deinstitutionalization`
`description`	`The report organizes the state policies it surveyed into a three-goal taxonomy.`
`status`	`review`
`canonical`	`True`
`generated`	by `claude/unspecified` on `2026-09-25`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `farrow-1983`

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