Rowley Deference in the Circuit Courts and the Influence of Endrew F.

Teresa Killmond*

This Note will analyze the effects that judicial deference to school administrations’ educational methodology decisions has on parents’ lawsuits under the IDEA. Parents can sue schools under the IDEA for allegedly failing to provide FAPE for their child.⁵ These lawsuits span from procedural violations such as failing to include parents in decisions about their child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP)⁶ to substantive violations such as failing to provide an appropriate learning methodology for their child.⁷ When parents allege that the school used an inappropriate educational methodology, however, courts typically defer to the school administration’s methodology choice.

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*J.D. Candidate, Notre Dame Law School, 2026. I am grateful to Professor Christina Jones, who took on advising me on this Note in her first semester at Notre Dame, Professor Francisco J. Urbina, who helped me hone my legal research skills, and the Notre Dame Law Review staff, who provided me with this wonderful opportunity.

5 See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(A) (2018) (providing cause of action in federal court).

6 See, e.g., Deal ex rel. Deal v. Hamilton Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 392 F.3d 840, 857 (6th Cir. 2004) (“The evidence reveals that the School System, and its representatives, had pre-decided not to offer Zachary intensive ABA services regardless of any evidence concerning Zachary’s individual needs and the effectiveness of his private program. This predetermination amounted to a procedural violation of the IDEA.”).

7 See, e.g., A.M. ex rel. E.H. v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Educ., 845 F.3d 523, 530 (2d Cir. 2017) (alleging that “the IEP failed to provide a placement in a 1:1 classroom that ‘implement[ed] an [ABA] or substantially similar methodology’”) (alteration in original) (citation omitted).