| IDEA 2004 and AHEAD |
|
 |
|
Information you should know to understand the changes
to the law and its impact on postsecondary education.
Q & A - Frequently Asked Questions about the SOP
Historic Perspective and
Process
Significant Changes in IDEA 2004 with Potential Impact on Higher
Education
AHEAD’s Involvement
Your Involvement
Q & A - Frequently Asked
Questions about the SOP
Q: What is SOP?
A: Section 614 of the IDEA 2004 indicates that as of July 2005
all special education students who leave secondary education
through graduation or exceeding state age eligibility are to
be provided with a Summary of Performance (SOP) to use as they
pursue their transition goals. The SOP is to be developed in
lieu of an exit IEP, with which many DSS personnel are familiar,
and is designed to provide useful information to agencies and
schools to which the exiting student might go next.
The language in Section 614 mandates secondary personnel to
provide “recommendations on how to assist the child in
meeting the child’s postsecondary goals” IDEA § 614,
H.R.1350, (c)(5)(B)(ii).
Q: What is the SOP Template?
A: A multidisciplinary group of secondary and postsecondary
education representatives developed an SOP template to address
concerns raised by IDEA 2004. They wanted to attempt to ensure
that secondary
educators would develop a
thorough SOP, and not just some cursory comments verifying a
student’s disability.
Please see the next section, “Historic Perspective and
Process” for a full explanation of the development of the
SOP Template.
Q: Is the current SOP Template at the AHEAD website a final
draft?
A: Absolutely not; that is why AHEAD is involved and wishes
all concerned individuals look at it closely and submit thoughts.
Q: Is an SOP Template absolutely needed?
A: Section 614 of IDEA
2004 requires the SOP for students exiting the special education
system but does not spell out what is
needed in the document. Post-secondary education is not subject
to this legislation; however, it may be impacted by it. As
each state and/or local educational agency works to define
the SOP for its own purposes, AHEAD feels it is in the best
interest of exiting students, their parents, and disability
professionals to be involved in a collaborative effort to
identify what to include in an SOP to facilitate the transition
from
secondary to postsecondary education. A rubric for the SOP
is not mandated by the federal government nor by any other body,
including AHEAD.
Q: Does use of a SOP Template force postsecondary professionals
to:
- lower their standards for disability documentation?
- provide students with the accommodations and modifications
offered in public school or those that would maximize the student’s
success?
A: Absolutely not. The laws that govern postsecondary are ADA
and Section 504, which are not at all special education related;
they are access and non-discrimination based. The SOP is seen,
however, under IDEA as a guidance document that students who
have received special education services during their K-12 education
will take with them to their next destination, which for many
will be a college or university setting.
Q: The current draft of the SOP Template uses terms related
to students’ “success” throughout the document.
Isn’t the role of the DSS professional to ensure access
and not success?
A: The SOP Template was composed by a multidisciplinary team
and reflects language used by K-12 and postsecondary entities,
thus the use of words like “success.” While DSS personnel
have traditionally focused on access to higher education in following
the mandates of 504 and the ADA, many have also become involved
in their campuses retention efforts, and have played a kind of
role in students’ success, even if it has been peripheral.
AHEAD encourages its members to explore this concept, while continuing
to support a thorough understanding of the ADA and 504 in higher
education.
The SOP Template is a work in progress; your comments about
the language and format are encouraged.
top of page
Historic Perspective and Process
Background:
In advance of the reauthorization of IDEA, AHEAD wanted to be
proactive and monitor the process closely knowing that changes
in the K-12 special education arena typically have had, at least
indirect if not direct, impacts for disability professionals
in higher education. AHEAD followed the legislation through the
services of a professional firm in Washington, DC that regularly
attends hearings and meets with congressional members on educational
topics and was also in dialogue with other organizations that
shared interest in the reauthorization proceedings. Some of you
may have been aware about the activities of some of these other
organizations such as the National Joint Committee on Learning
Disabilities, the Council for Exceptional Children and PACER.
Much discussion, as is often the case, centered on the proposed
changes as they would relate to students with learning disabilities.
President Bush signed the reauthorization, which
took well over 18 months to finalize, in December 2004. Following
signature,
the period to develop regulatory language that would form the
basis of guidance and mandates for the states as they implement
IDEA 2004 began. The regulations came out recently and can be
reviewed at www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html The
National Center for Secondary Education and Transition at the
University of Minnesota put together a wealth of information
including a comparison of the language between IDEA 1997 and
IDEA 2004, available at http://www.ncset.org/idea.asp We encourage
you to read the particulars of the new regulations.
In the summer of 2004, at the AHEAD Conference in Miami, representatives
of 12 national organizations, representing a broad compliment
of stakeholder groups, met to discuss expected changes to IDEA.
Again AHEAD was at the table as a leader and active participant
regarding an issue that directly impacts our field. Additionally,
(1) since AHEAD members around the country are active on state
transition committees, (2) AHEAD conferences typically have a
number of sessions addressing transition issues, and (3) AHEAD
members often express concern about secondary personnel and parents
not understanding the requirements of postsecondary education,
the AHEAD Board of Directors saw this collaboration as an opportunity
to impact and educate. It was generally known at that time that
the new regulations would include features specific to documentation
and transition.
In the fall of 2004, AHEAD was one of a number of organizations
that addressed the transition features of the expected IDEA reauthorization
in detail. Through continuing collaboration, a template for a
model Summary of Performance (SOP) that would be helpful to students,
parents and disability service providers in postsecondary settings
was developed. After a series of revisions, the SOP Template
was posted to the AHEAD Website for comment and in anticipation
of refinement. The SOP Template attempts to address 1) the recognized
need to have comprehensive information on the SOP, 2) the trend
that indicates that diagnostic testing will be less and less “fresh” over
time, 3) the fact that information contained in the SOP will,
in many cases, not be sufficient to meet the standards of postsecondary
disability documentation and/or documentation of the sort required
by testing agencies.
top of page
Significant Changes in IDEA 2004 with Potential Impact on Higher
Education
These changes have been made and are included
in the new legislation (emphasis added):
1. Triennial assessments: In part to address
realistic concerns that special education teachers and others
involved in assessments
spend an inordinate amount of their time on paperwork and to
reduce cases of unnecessary testing, IDEA 2004 continues the
removal of the mandatory requirement for testing children
in special education every three years established in the 2000
reauthorization. Assessments will now be
done, not on a cyclic basis as in the past but when deemed
appropriate by the special education team.
2. Transition: IDEA has for some years included the requirement
that students have a transition component to their
IEP. IDEA 2004 continues this but now says that it should begin at
age sixteen (16) rather than fourteen (14).
3. Specific Learning Disabilities: IDEA 2004 has changes in
this domain. While in previous legislation a child had to demonstrate a severe discrepancy between achievement and aptitude,
the new
language removes this requirement in recognition of the
fact that often students had to fail repeatedly before they
could be identified as having a specific learning disability.
For more
information on this you may want to go to www.ncld.org
4. Exit assessments: IDEA, while strongly endorsing and mandating
that all students in special education have transition plans
as they conclude their K-12 education, has never stated that
complete reassessments would be routine for exiting students.
In higher education we have often encouraged parents to ask
for such a reassessment to obtain updated diagnostics; parents
have
had varying degrees of success in making these requests.
5. Summary of Performance: The IDEA 2004 language indicates
that all exiting special education students are to be provided
with a Summary of Performance (SOP) to use as they pursue
their transition goals. The SOP would then be in lieu of an
exit IEP and designed
to provide useful information to agencies and schools to which
the exiting student might go next.
top of page
AHEAD’s Involvement
Consistent with AHEAD’s mission, “…promotes
leadership and exemplary practices”, intentional effort
was made to be at the table as a participant in the IDEA reauthorization
process. The other option was to passively accept the results
determined by others. AHEAD’s involvement in drafting a
template for the newly required SOP:
As an outgrowth of the Miami meeting of organizations monitoring
the IDEA changes, AHEAD began to ask how the new SOP would impact
disability services in postsecondary institutions. Through a
close examination of the language in Section 614, it became clear
that the SOP portion of the regulation was brief and open to
considerable interpretation. Recognizing that many students coming
to colleges and universities in upcoming years would come without
recent IEPs or test results, the national organization reps/participants
thought it wise to draft a proposal of what a comprehensive SOP
should include. AHEAD was active in the crafting of what has
come to be called the SOP Template; again, mindful that this
document would be just one piece that students would bring to
colleges and universities for review in the disability determination
process. Those who drafted the SOP did so attempting to address
the K-12 mandate while keeping in mind the needs of postsecondary
understanding that the SOP alone may not satisfy documentation
requirements for eligibility under 504/ADA in the higher education
arena.
The SOP Template that is posted on the AHEAD Website at http://www.ahead.org/resources/idea2004.htm stems from the detailed discussions and collaborative efforts
among many professionals in the fields of disability services
and special education.
Both AHEAD members and non-members are invited
to review the SOP Template and contribute feedback via email
to IDEA2004@ahead.org The
other organizations involved in the development of the SOP
Template are, like AHEAD, asking for input from their
stakeholders on it.
What will AHEAD do with the SOP feedback it receives?
Richard Allegra, the Associate Executive Director
of AHEAD, is compiling comments on this vital topic. The semi-qualitative
report of these comments will be posted to the AHEAD Website
when completed for all to view. In addition to a summary analysis
of these comments, he will gather input at two open forum sessions
at the upcoming AHEAD Conference. Those forums will be on Wednesday,
August 3, 12:45 - 2:00 pm and Thursday, August 4, 7:30 - 8:45
am. Members wishing to express their thoughts, and listen to
those of others
on the
reauthorization of IDEA and its implications for disability professionals
in postsecondary education are encouraged to attend. The Board
of Directors will review the comprehensive summary of responses
and share its thoughts with the membership; this will likely
occur by the end of September.
top of page
Your Involvement
After taking time to review the resources presented and the
draft SOP, please take time to e-mail your feedback on the content
of the draft SOP to IDEA2004@ahead.org
In addition, people who attend the upcoming AHEAD
Conference in Milwaukee will have an opportunity to discuss IDEA
reauthorization
and the new required Summary of Performance as well, of course,
the proposed SOP Template. There will be two open forum sessions
at the Conference on Wednesday,
August 3, 12:45 - 2:00 pm and Thursday, August 4, 7:30 - 8:45
am. Come to
a session, listen, learn, and contribute. We are all made better
through collaboration.
To learn more about IDEA 2004 and the SOP,
visit http://www.ahead.org/resources/idea2004.htm
top of page
|
