Larry P. v Riles

This case was the first of several cases that challenged the assessment process for identifying children from minority backgrounds for special education services. Larry P. was a young African American child who was diagnosed as having educable mental retardation (EMR) and was receiving services in a self-contained classroom for children with EMR. The evaluation for eligibility used the IQ test results as the sole criterion for placing children in classrooms for children with EMR.

The plaintiffs claimed that the standardized intelligence tests used to determine eligibility for special education services were racially biased and identified an undue number of children as EMR. The palintiffs contended that the IQ tests were culturally biased towards white middle class children because they were developed, tested, and normed on that population. In addition, in the process of norming the test items that did not correlate with achievement for that population were discarded.

1. The court held that:
   1. tests that do not account for cultural background and experiences cannot be used as the sole criterion for eligibility for special education services.
   2. school districts are requird to use other measures besides an IQ test to determine placement
   3. schools are required to justify the use and relianc on tests that lead to an imbalance in the number of minority students placed in classrooms for children with EMR.