In education law, an application to a higher court to rectify the decision of a lower court.
In the court system, a formal request for a higher court to review the judgment of a lower court; if errors are found in the conduct of the earlier trial, the lower court may be overruled and a new trial may be granted. Outside the traditional court system, as in an administrative procedure involving education and many family-law issues, the right of appeal was not always available, but in recent years it has been extended to many such areas. If parents disagree with a school’s individualized education program for a child, for example, they can follow an established appeal procedure. This is often called due process, the constitutional right that is now being applied to non-court areas.