IEPs vs. 504 Plans

When I first started teaching, I had no idea what IEPs and 504s were.  I came in halfway through the school year at an independent all girls high school and while I knew that many of the girls had accommodations (mainly extended test time), I never heard the words IEP or 504 plan come out of a teacher’s mouth.  That being said, I decided (with the encouragement of an assignment from my Master’s program) to do a little research on the difference between IEPs and 504 plans.  You can see my findings in a Venn Diagram below.  Basically, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is meant for children that have an identified disability that impedes learning to the point that the child needs to have specialized instruction.  This plan is written up in an IEP meeting, which must include a special educator, a psychologist, a parent of the child, a general teacher of the student’s, and a representative of the school agency.  There is a list of necessary items that the plan must address.  A 504 plan is also for students with a disability.  This disability does not need to be one of the thirteen listed in IDEA, like the IEP does.  504 plans are meant for students that have a disability, but does not necessarily interfere with a student’s progress in the general curriculum.  A 504 plan does not have the rigid guidelines and restrictions that the IEP has, and has a recommendation of what should be addressed, but there are no legal requirements on what should be included in the 504 plan.

References:

Special Education Process: IEP vs. 504 Plan. (2009). Retrieved July 15, 2015 from 

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10671.aspx.

The Difference Between IEPS and 504 Plans. (2014). Retrieved July 15, 2015 from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/504-plan/the-difference-between-ieps-and-504-plans.

Personal Assessment Philosophy

Popham (2014) defines authentic assessment as “performance assessment in which the student’s tasks resemble real-life tasks.”  Most teachers can agree that assessments are the best way to monitor a student’s progress.  Often used in place of the phrase “performance assessment,” authentic assessments challenge the students to demonstrate their knowledge through a project or writing.  

Authentic assessment goes hand-in-hand with STEM learning.  They both strive to make real world connections to what is learned in school.  It is no secret that students perform better when they are motivated.  By relating the lesson to a real world application, students see the benefit of that topic and are motivated to learn.  The Common Core focuses on “developing the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students need to be successful.” (CCSS, 2015).  These problem solving and critical thinking skills can and will be developed and measured using authentic assessment.

Authentic assessment can take place in both formative and summative evaluations of learning.  When students go through an exploration in class that helps students derive the formula for acceleration from riding a skateboard, that is authentic assessment.  Another example is a classroom discussion of breaking vectors into components and what the i vector and j vector refer to when throwing a ball up in the air (vertical and horizontal components), students begin to understand the importance of that topic.

I think that most teachers are too focused on summative assessment.  While summative assessment is important to gauge how well students have grasped a concept, I think that formative assessments are important to monitor that progress.  If a teacher does not catch a misconception or a student struggling until after a unit test, it can be harmful to the student’s learning.  By implementing formative assessments, teachers can have a better understanding on an individual student or a class’s progress.  Teachers can use this information to modify unit plans- add an extra review day in, spend less time on topics that students understand, offer some individual support to a struggling student.

I think that one thing that has come to my attention about assessment is the need to have a valid assessment (Frisbie, 2005).  It would not be difficult for a teacher to write an assessment that allowed everyone in his/her class to get all of the questions right.  But that doesn’t truly test the students on what they have learned.  It is not an accurate representation of their progress.  I know most teachers start off with this mindset of inspiring all of their kids and having everyone in their class pass.  But I know that realistically, this is not likely.  There will be a student or two that won’t pass, regardless of how hard the teacher tries.  With programs like No Child Left Behind, it forces teachers to lower their expectations.  With so many standardized tests, teachers end up teaching to the test, instead of teaching the content.  I remember in high school, we learned tricks for beating the SATs or how to write a DBQ (Data Based Question) that the College Board wanted for the AP US History exam, not necessarily what a good essay should be.  Now, more than ever, students are tested on multiple subjects every year.   MSAs, HSAs, PARCC, SATs, APs, the list goes on and on.  While I think it is important to test students and measure school/county/state scores against other schools/counties/states, it ends up taking away from the students.

Throughout the semester, I have gotten some experience writing various forms of assessment.  I think that writing assessments is one of the most challenging parts of teaching.  How can a teacher successfully measure the progress of her students?  Is using binary questions (true/false) enough?  Multiple response (multiple choice) are another option.  Free response/open ended questions are another choice.  Or does the teacher decide to use another form of assessment like a portfolio?  There are benefits to all of these assessments.  I believe that using a variety of these is the most beneficial to both the students and the teacher.  It is not secret that students have different learning styles.  And test anxiety is becoming more and more common.  By varying the forms of assessment, teachers can get an accurate idea of a student’s progress without subjecting them to the “torture” of taking exams.  I do feel as though exams are extremely important, but I don’t think that a grade should be based solely on exams.  I have taken college level classes in which 85% of my grade is determined by midterms and the final exam, with only a small portion of my grade influenced by homeworks, discussions, and labs.  With this model, teachers seem to be assessing a student’s ability to take tests more than they are assessing the understanding of the content.

References:

Frisbie, D.A. (2005, Fall). Presidential address: Measurement 101: Some fundamentals

Revisited. Educational Measurement Issues and Practice, 24(5), 21-28.

Holler, F. W., Gareis, C. R., Martin, J., Clouser, A., & Miller, S. (2008, September). Teacher

        made assessments: Getting them right. Principal Leadership, 9(1), 60-64.

Kingston, N., & Nash, B. (2011, Winter). Formative assessment: A meta-analysis and a

call for research, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 30(4), 28-37.

Popham, W. James. (2014). Classroom assessment: what teachers need to know. Pearson

Education, Inc.

Sternberg, R. J. (2007/2008, December/January). Assessing what matters. Educational

        Leadership, 65(4), 20-26.

The History of Special Education

Current Status of Special Education and the challenges that it presents:

Special Education is a topic that all teachers will encounter in their career.  Unfortunately, I feel as though most teachers feel ill-equipped to handle whatever comes their way, including any challenges that might be presented with Special Education.  To understand a bit about the history of Special Education, I made a timeline of Special Education that dates back to the 1950s.

For an interactive version of my timeline, check out this link.
One of the main challenges that is faced with Special Education is the inequality still found in the school system.  There have been many attempts to get rid of this inequality on the government's behalf, and there have been great strides in the past 50 years, but there is still a long way to go.  It is mandatory for all students, even those with disabilities to be included in assessments and have access to the general curriculum, due to IDEA and the No Child Left Behind Act (Current Challenges, 2004).  But how can students with disabilities get the support that they need?  It's hard enough to reach a classroom full of kids if they learned the same way.  But if you add in students with ADHD, behavioral issues, learning disabilities, etc, and it is overwhelming to think of the lack of support that each student gets.  There are often assistants that are hired to assist students with IEPs and 504s.  But the funding is often not there and those assistants are overworked and have a much larger workload than they should.  There are also challenges in making sure that students have the training and ability to participate in postsecondary education and employment.  I believe that the important part of improving some of these issues is to acknowledge that there is a problem with the current system.  Once a teacher has accepted that there are issues with what is currently happening, they can remember that a teacher's main goal is to provide a quality education, regardless of any challenges they may face.

References:

The Right to Education | Disability Justice. (2015). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from    

http://disabilityjustice.org/right-to-education/

Pittman, A. (2012). The History of Special Education. Retrieved July 8, 2015.

The History of Special Education in the United States. (2009). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from

http://www.specialednews.com/the-history-of-special-education-in-the-united-states.htm

Current Challenges Facing the Future of Secondary Education and Transition Services for Youth

with Disabilities in the United States. (2004). Retrieved July 8, 2015, from

http://www.ncset.org/publications/discussionpaper/