The Supreme Court Wednesday seemed ready to increase the educational benefits the country’s public schools owe to millions of children with disabilities, as the justices considered one of the most significant special-education cases to reach the high court in decades.

At issue is whether schools must provide disabled children “some” educational benefit — which several lower courts have interpreted to mean just more than trivial progress — or whether students legally deserve something more.

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Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor representing the family, suggested several different formulations for a new and higher standard, including that schools be required to provide services that are “reasonably calculated to provide substantially equal educational opportunities.” Irv Gornstein, a lawyer for the Obama administration, supported the plaintiff’s position that the “some educational benefit” bar is too low and suggested wording that the services be “reasonably calculated to make progress that is appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.”