Characteristics and outcomes of special education hearing and review officer cases.

In this article the authors analyzed 347 special education cases from Pennsylvania.  These cases, drawn from a 16-year period, included decisions made at both the due process level and the appeals level.  The authors’ examination identified three variables that were significantly related to due process hearing outcomes, these variables include: hearing officer’s occupation, student’s classification, and primary issue in the dispute.  They also identified three variables related to appeals level outcomes, these include: student’s gender, district urbanization, and primary issue in the dispute.