ACCOMMODATIONS. Step 1 Expect students with disabilities to achieve grade level academic content standards.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Step 1

Expect students with disabilities to achieve grade level academic content standards

EQUAL ACCESS TO GRADE LEVEL CONTENT

Remember that equal access to grade level content is the goal

Collaboration between general and special educators is key

BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION

Definition: General and special education teachers working as a team for the benefit of students with disabilities

Promotes understanding of general and special education teacher roles and responsibilities

COLLABORATION

Provides opportunities to gain new skills (e.g., general educator’s knowledge of content—special educator’s knowledge of specialized instructional techniques)

Serves as a support building process that fosters the creation of a collaborative school culture

Step 2

Learn about accommodations for instruction and assessment

ACCOMMODATIONS

Definition: Accommodations are practices and procedures in the areas of presentation, response, setting, and timing/scheduling that provide equitable instructional and assessment access for students with disabilities.

Accommodations reduce or eliminate the effects of a student’s disability and do not reduce learning expectations.

ACCOMMODATIONS APPLICATIONS

The use of accommodations is linked through each of these areas:

Classroominstruction

Classroom assessments

State & district assessments

Content standards

ACCOMMODATIONS CATEGORIES

Presentation Accommodations – Allow students to access information in ways that

do not require them to visually read standard print. These alternate modes of access are auditory, multi-sensory, tactile, and visual.

ACCOMMODATIONS CATEGORIES

Response Accommodations – Allow students to complete assignments, tests,

and activities in different ways or to solve or organize problems using some type of assistive device or organizer.

ACCOMMODATIONS CATEGORIES

Setting Accommodations – Change the location in which a test or assignment

is given or the conditions of the assessment setting.

ACCOMMODATIONS CATEGORIES

Timing/Scheduling Accommodations – Increase the allowable length of time to complete

a test or assignment and may also change the way the time is organized.

MODIFICATIONS

Changing, lowering, or reducing learning or assessment expectations

May result in implications that could adversely affect a student throughout that individual’s educational career

Examples include– Requiring a student to learn less material– Revising assignments or tests to make them

easier

Documenting Accommodations

Accommodations can be documented in 3 areas of the IEP– Consideration of Special Factors—

assistive technology devices and services– Supplementary Aids and Services—

aids, services, and other supports– Participation in Assessments—

how a student will participate in state and district-wide assessments

WHAT DOESN’T WORK

Checking off every accommodation available on the IEP form, hoping “something” will work

What else doesn’t work?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

What are the student’s learning strengths and needs?

How do the student’s learning needs affect the achievement of grade level content standards?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

What specialized instruction (e.g., learning strategies, organizational skills, reading skills) does the student need to achieve grade level content standards?

What accommodations will increase the student’s access to instruction and assessment by reducing the effects of the disability?

REVIEW CURRENT ACCOMMODATIONS

What accommodations are currently used by the student during instruction and for assessments?

What are results for assignments and assessments when accommodations were used and not used?

Are there effective combinations of accommodations?

REVIEW CURRENT ACCOMMODATIONS

What difficulties did student experience when using accommodations?

What is student’s perception of how well accommodations “worked”?

What are perceptions of parents, teachers and specialists about how well accommodations “worked”?

BASED ON THIS REVIEW

Decide whether the student should– Continue using an accommodation “as is”– Use an accommodation with changes– Have an accommodation discontinued

OF THE ACCOMMODATIONS THAT MATCH THE STUDENT’S NEEDS, CONSIDER

The student’s willingness to learn to use the accommodation

Opportunities to learn how to use the accommodation in classroom settings

Conditions for use on state assessments

PLANNING USE OF NEW ACCOMMODATIONS

Plan how a student will learn to use each new accommodation

Be certain there is sufficient time to learn to use instructional and assessment accommodations before test day

Plan for the ongoing evaluation and improvement of accommodations use

INVOLVE STUDENTS

Involve students in selecting, using, and evaluating accommodations

The more input students have in selecting their accommodations, the more likely the accommodations will be used

Students should see accommodations as adding value to their daily life—not only in school—but for postsecondary, career, and community life

Accommodation and Modification

" I have too many students in my class to follow the I.E.P. and make special accommodations for your child !”

"It's not my job to read and follow the I.E.P. That's only for the special ed teacher" !

These types of comments are unlawful and violate a student’s rights.

Office of Civil Rights

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) enforces Section 504 in programs and activities that receive financial assistance from ED. Recipients of this assistance include public school districts, institutions of higher education, and other state and local education agencies. ED maintains an Office for Civil Rights (OCR), with ten regional offices and a headquarters office in Washington, D.C., to enforce Section 504 and other civil rights laws that pertain to recipients of ED funds.

Legal Protection and Mandate

"No otherwise qualified individual with handicaps in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance....“

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq5269.html

Repercussions of Refusal

Regular classroom teachers employed by a school district will have very limited liability exposure in special education so long as the duties assigned to them regarding implementation of the IEP are executed in a legal and appropriate manner. 

Failure to implement the IEP as specified could result in disciplinary action, criminal charges, and civil lawsuits that could result in personal liability exposure. 

Repercussion of Refusal

Accommodations, modifications, behavior intervention plans, and supplementary aids and services are examples of IEP items that are typically the responsibility of the regular classroom teacher. 

IF a parent believes these items have not been implemented, they may file a complaint with the state department of education alleging noncompliance with the IEP. 

Repercussion of Refusal

The state department will launch an inquiry and possible investigation.  Typically, if the school district is found to be in noncompliance, a corrective action plan will be developed and the matter is resolved. 

If, however, the parent elects to pursue a due process hearing, one will be held to determine if the district did, in fact, fail to implement the agreed-upon IEP and denied the special education student the entitlement to a "free, appropriate public education" (FAPE). 

Costly Repercussions

If the hearing officer decides that the school district denied the student FAPE, the district will be required to implement the IEP as written, pay attorney's fees and other costs the parent may have incurred and may be required to pay the cost of compensatory services.

http://www.ci.maryville.tn.us/mhs//MCSSped/teachtools.htm

The regular education teacher who got sued for not following modifications:

The case is Doe v. Withers (W. Va., Cir Ct. 1993). $15,000 was awarded a student with a Learning Disability from a public school History teacher who refused to implement the IEP, when he refused to allow the student to take his exams orally and untimed. This decision alerts teachers that they must be serious about the knowledge, understanding and implementation of the IEP. Students and their families often sue ISDs or School Boards, but this case highlights that an individual teacher may also be targeted.

Litigation

Complaint NO. 03-14 8th grade student

with learning disabilities denied FAPE in part due to failure to implement appropriate accommodations.

Corrective action plan: 1) district must submit massive documentation for a period of years 2) training for staff regarding IEP and accommodations 3) compensatory education

 With how much of the IEP should I be familiar?

As a regular classroom teacher, you are required by law to have knowledge regarding the contents of the IEP for each special education student enrolled in your classes, and you are legally obligated to implement any portions of an IEP that apply to you.  To successfully meet this obligation, you should read the IEP for each special education student for whom you deliver instruction in order to fully understand the student's education condition, their instructional needs, any specific activities that have been assigned to you and your classroom, and what, if any, accommodations or modifications you should be implementing.