Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional IEP test accommodation not followed for 2 years

My son has an IEP for speech. On his IEP there is a box is checked that says he will "participate in district wide assessments WITH ACCOMMODATIONS." Under that there is a box that says "due to speech difficulty, an alternate assessment should be used for oral reading"

I just learned they have been administering District-wide, oral reading assessments without accommodations 3x a year, for the last 2 years!

I'm alternating between angry and crying in frustration ... it took a year to convince them to add the accommodation.

Any ideas what I should do besides pointing out the error? These test scores are part of my son's school record.

I would also ask them to change the school record to reflect that that testing was done without the necessary accommodations.

They keep the IEP records separate from the regular student records. Also, the records are electronic so I don't know that they can make a notation or add comments to the record.

First question - how did you find this out? Did a school staff person tell you, your ds, someone else? I'm just curious about the situation that caused it to come to light.

Re following up, regardless of where specific records are kept within the district, you can document this by sending an email to every member of your ds' IEP team, quoting the accommodation directly from the IEP, state the date the accommodation went into the IEP, state the tests that have been given since without accommodation, state that you expect the IEP accommodations to be followed. You can end by giving the school staff the opportunity to reply if there is something you've stated that is not what they understand the situation to be (i.e. give them a chance to respond if they feel your information is incorrect).

By writing this out and sending it in via email you've created documentation. If the school wants to refute what you've said, they can do that by responding.

Re the scores being on your ds' school record - is he in elementary school? If so, I'd try not to worry too much over it. Absolutely document this and request a flag be added to those test scores, but if nothing happens retroactively don't get caught up in worry over it. For the most part (other than possibly academic group tracking) elementary school scores don't matter once your child has moved on and up in school. Instead just keep focused on making sure accommodations are followed from this point forward. If there is a score that's prevented him access to some type of program because it was too low, then I'd request (in writing) that he be retested for admission to the program, with accommodations in place.

Even if there is no "flag" added to your ds' test records, be sure to keep your own list of which tests did not include accommodations, so you'll have the data for any future discussions you're involved with the school in which test results are discussed or used as data.

We had difficulty with our school following accommodations - and although I don't know that this will happen with your school, the thing that was the biggest issue for us ultimately (aside from the simple fact that ds didn't receive his accommodations) - was that the school tried to use his *not* using them as reason to take the accommodations away. Even though it wasn't ds' choice not to use them (picture me banging my head repeatedly into a big brick wall over this!)..... I hope the same doesn't happen at your school!

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - I wonder if you need to request that there be more specific wording added to the IEP for "alternate assessment"? I'm not familiar with what that would be, and I know that it's best to not be too specific on an IEP in order to not make an accommodation so specific it becomes impossible to accomplish (for instance, my ds had an accommodation for use of a word processor, but we were cautioned not to specifically say "iPad" or "computer" etc because he might be in a situation where one or the other wasn't available - hope that makes sense). Do you have a local parent advocate group (either school advocate group or disability law group) that offers advice at no charge? If you have access to such a group, I'd ask about what they recommend for the specific words used in the IEP. You can also ask them if it's possible to flag tests already given to show that accommodations weren't provided.

[quote=polarbear]First question - how did you find this out? Did a school staff person tell you, your ds, someone else? I'm just curious about the situation that caused it to come to light./quote]

First, I was talking to the Director of the GATE program. She brought up the district oral reading assessments as evidence that DS's reading wasn't at a high enough level for the program (this is a 2nd grader who reads middle school books and has a VCI in the 99%). She was completely unaware that he had an IEP.

I then got his school test records and talked to DS. The reason he has an accommodation is because, according to the the assessment's manual and scoring guide, oral reading fluency assessments are not valid for children with speech fluency disorders (stuttering, apraxia etc.). This is because you cannot distinguish reading disfluencies from speech disfluencies and also because the disorders can slow the rate of oral reading. Therefore, what you end up measuring is the child's speech ability rather than the child's reading level. There are no alternate assessments or tests in his school record. There is also no record or notation of any accommodation. When I talked to DS, he said he had to read out loud and was given the tests the same as everyone else.

I agree, in hindsight, that the accommodation should have been written clearer (I wasn't the one who wrote it). It's probably a bit contradictory - participate in assessment with accommodations but then the accommodation is to use an alternate assessment (which wasn't done).

I completely understand why the oral assessment isn't appropriate for your ds, was just curious how you'd found out he'd been given the oral assessments


Did the district let your ds into the GATE program once you'd pointed out this issue, or are they still saying he's not eligible?

Have you informed your ds' IEP team that he's been given oral assessments and asked them to address this? I'd suggest calling an IEP update meeting asap to add clear language to the IEP and to find an alternative assessment for him.

How frustrating!

polarbear

How strange that they would use an oral reading fluency measure as part of the entrance criteria for a gifted program. Our district does these assessments, but it seems to mainly be to identify kids in the bottom 20 or 25th percentile. The schools we've been to focus on scores like MAP when it comes to achievement.

It's possible you can get the scores completely spoiled and taken out of the records. I had this done w/ the CogAT when my DD w/ ADHD left half of it blank. I had to email about 5 people in admin, though.

Hi Polarbear & blackcat:

I'm sorry if it wasn't clear. The district says they use MAP and CogAT as entrance criteria. However, if you try to point out how these may not give the full picture, they then claim that they "look at all data points".

I was asking the director of GATE questions trying to understand why DS did not get into the GATE program. During this conversation, she brought up the oral reading scores as justification for why he didn't get in (as in, look at how low he scored on these other tests). After I pointed out the issue, she just told me "he's close, maybe next year"

My DS's
Cogat at 97% age / 84% local (he left many questions blank)
MAP Reading: 94% national / 86% local
MAP Math: 97% national / 92% local

His WISC-V he has a 133 FSIQ with an even profile. However, this was done privately so they refuse to consider it.

While his local percentiles are lower, 18% of students in the district get into either the self-contained or pull-out GATE programs!

I've requested a meeting. I'm going to try to get the scores removed. I'm also left wondering if his reading has ever been properly assessed.

So he didn't get into either program? If they accept 18 percent, it seems like he should have.