Creeping judicialization in special education hearings?: An exploratory study.

This article describes an exploratory study using data from the Iowa Department of Education.  The authors examined outcomes of 145 hearing officer decisions and seven judicial variables.  Outcomes revealed that parents were successful in 32% of the cases, defendant in 60%, and 8% had mixed outcome.  Six of the seven judicial variables demonstrated a trend toward an increased use of court related activities. Authors discuss possible causes and ramifications of this trend.