Frontline Blog

Believe it or not, data wasn’t always a factor in decision-making in schools. A lot of decisions were made subjectively. Lacking efficient digital records, educators didn’t have the data needed to make objective decisions. Fortunately, teaching has evolved into a science based on facts.

COVID-19 created extraordinary circumstances in education. Closures and remote instruction isolated students, required novel IEP implementations, and raised significant questions about whether student needs were appropriately met. Those extraordinary circumstances raised extraordinary questions about school legal exposure under conventional legal requirements.

Unexpected school closures happened so quickly in the early days of the pandemic. Managers of Section 504 programs faced — and still face — a great deal of uncertainty because closures and hybrid learning don’t change the fact that schools are responsible for preventing discrimination and providing the appropriate supports for students with disabilities to ensure they enjoy equal opportunity to access education. However, making sure students receive the services they’re entitled to during a global pandemic isn’t easy and introduces a lot of questions from a compliance perspective.

In today’s culture, schools do more than just educate. They are outreach centers, health care providers, and community leaders who are integral to connecting families to services. Much of this is rooted in the development of schools as health care providers and Medicaid outreach organizations. 

A school’s ability to provide special education remotely — including services like occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy, among others — is critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. And not just to meet school obligations under IDEA and Section 504, but because providing these services makes a huge difference in the lives of students.

In the world of IDEA, documentation is a requirement. However, documentation practices in school districts have no universal standard. This can lead to major problems both for students and districts ― like due process hearings and issues with continuity of service. So, in the absence of universal standards, your district should create best practices of its own. Here is some information to help you get started.

Dyslexia, a neuro-biological disorder that affects language processing, has no bearing on intelligence, but complicates a student’s ability to learn by making both reading and verbal communication difficult. Because dyslexia notoriously flies under the radar, a child can go years with the disorder unidentified and with no answer for why schoolwork is so difficult ― or worse, with teachers and parents assuming that laziness is to blame for poor performance in school.

Excitement is in the air as a new school year begins! Students find out who their teachers will be, discover which friends are in their classes, and of course, shop for new school supplies! But there is a particular group of students who might not be quite as excited as some of the others to start school, and that group might surprise you — I am talking about students identified as gifted.

An Individualized Education Program has the potential to “tell the right story” for each student with a disability — to describe the student’s strengths and assets, identify areas of need and chart a pathway for a successful school year.  But to be relevant and meaningful, the IEP must be based on current, reliable and valid information.