CADRE Resources
Cover memo from Kenneth Warlick of OSEP in PDF format; OSEP approved training materials on Q&A available in PDF format.
Question 1: What is Mediation?
Answer: Mediation is an impartial system that brings the proper parties who have a dispute to confidentially discuss the disputed issues with a neutral third party with the goal of resolving the disputes in a binding written agreement. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mediation is voluntary on the part of parties. A party can include the parents of a child with a disability or representatives of the local education agency (LEA), or, as appropriate, the State education agency (SEA), or other public agencies that have responsibility for the free appropriate public education (FAPE) of children with disabilities. See, 34 CFR § 300.506.
The mediation process offers an opportunity for parents and public agencies to resolve disputes or complaints about any matter involved in proposals or refusals to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provisions of FAPE to the child with a disability. 34 CFR § 300.503(a)(1) and 34 CFR § 300.506.
Question 2: When is mediation available?
Answer: IDEA provides for the option of mediation whenever a due process hearing is requested and each party may end the mediation process at any stage and proceed with a due process hearing for any reason consistent with the IDEA. However, public agencies are strongly encouraged by the Office of Special Education Programs to offer mediation or other alternative systems of dispute resolution prior to the filing of a request for a due process hearing, and whenever other disputes regarding a child’s educational program arise.
Question 3: How is mediation different from due process hearings?
Answer: Mediation and due process hearings under the IDEA are similar in that both may be initiated for similar disputes and the goal of both is to achieve resolution of the disputed issues.
Both processes are initiated by either a parent or a public agency and in each process both are conducted by an impartial individual. Both mediation and due process hearing procedures may be about any matter in proposals to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of a child with a disability or the provisions of FAPE to the child. Also, both mediation and due process hearings may be about refusals to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child with a disability. See, 34 CFR §§ 300.506, and 300.507.
While mediation and due process hearings have similarities,
they are different in many important ways. Under mediation, parties
establish the ground rules and identify their potential remedies
and the process is voluntary at every phase. In a due pro
