Best Evidence

School districts and parents disagree over students' special education plans all the time. Next week, one such case makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Potomac, Md.

Before there was ever Schaffer v. Weast , a closely watched education case of the U.S. Supreme Court term that starts next week, there was Brian Schaffer, an affable, sports-loving student from suburban Washington.

Brian, now a 21-year-old college junior, spent prekindergarten through 7th grade at Green Acres School, a 320-student Rockville, Md., private school where his parents say he had the benefit of small class sizes and teachers who could accommodate his needs, which included attention deficit disorder, speech and language delays, and other learning disabilities. In a situation with too many distractions, he would start to lose track of what was being asked of him. But in smaller groups, “he was able to participate more like a regular class member,” his mother, Jocelyn S. Schaffer, says teachers told her.

But by the 7th grade, school administrators told Schaffer and her husband, Martin P. Schaffer, that Brian would be better served in a special education program. He was struggling academically as classwork shifted toward...