Appeals Court Upholds Black Parents' Rights To Learn Child's I.Q.

By Mark Walsh

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that allows parents of African-American students in California to seek intelligence testing of their children to determine whether they belong in special-education classes.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected an appeal by the California education department and a group of private plaintiffs in long-running litigation over I.Q. testing of black schoolchildren.

The panel upheld a 1992 ruling by a federal district judge, which said an earlier decision in the case deprived black parents of the full range of assessment opportunities for their children solely because of their race. (See Education...