High Stakes Testing

I found several interesting artifacts that I wanted to present for this section of my blog. I found several articles that I thought would be important for both educators and parents. These articles provide information that is important to know about high stakes testing and how this information is affected by federal law. I also found a specific article that I wanted to present for parents and students in the state of Texas.

The first artifact that I found is an article called: The Next Wave of Special Education Litigation. This is an article that describes how high stakes testing can interfere with the rights of students with disabilities and it provides information on a case that has already been litigated because of these types of assessment. This article also brings an outside interpretation of Federal laws to help parents and students understand their rights when it does come time to take a high stakes test. If you would like to look at or read this article you can use the link below to access it.

http://www.harborhouselaw.com/articles/highstakes.litigation.wright.htm

The next artifact that I found is on the website called Fair Test. The informational page that I would like to present to you is called: The Case Against High Stakes Testing. It provides links to information about the effect that high stakes testing has on students and it provides lots of links to other information about high stakes testing. I would recommend that you scroll to the middle of the page and find the heading: Testing Special Needs Students. This is informative because it could help parents and students to better understand the strengths and weaknesses that high stakes testing can present. To access The Case Against High Stakes Testing click on the link below.

http://www.fairtest.org/arn/caseagainst.html

The final artifact that I found is an article about the SDAA. This article will be specifically directed to parents and student in the state of Texas. It describes the SDAA, and lets parents and students know about the ramifications of taking this test as an alternate to the TAKS. If you would like more information on the SDAA please click on the following link.

http://www.essortment.com/all/specialeducatio_tvjm.htm

Due Process Hearings

Due Process Hearings are an essential part of the special education process for parents and students with disabilities. Due process is the system in which a family is given the opportunity to challenge the contents of an IEP or the whole IEP. It also gives the family and the student the opportunity to challenge the placement of the student or the students program. I found several great artifacts to provide information about Due Process Hearings.

The first artifact that I found is a video. This video provides information on due process and why it is important. It helps better under stand the importance of these hearing and the benefits that can be gained form them. This video helps to explain that without the parents right to due process the rights provided to them to help resolve issues would be “Meaningless”. I hope you find this video as informative as I did. This video will help students and their parents see the importance of these hearing and hopefully they will be able to use this information to guide them if they need future help with a due process hearing. The following link will take you to the Due Process video.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/special-education-due-process-proceedings/2158095535

The second item that I found for this Blog is for students and parents of student who live in the state of Texas. This link: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/hearings/ will take you to a page of the Texas Education Agency. This page provides you with information about past due process hearings in the state of Texas, it provides you with a link to due process mediators or officers in the state of Texas and it also gives a link to a page of frequently asked question. This information could be very important to Parents of students with disabilities by giving them a way to find out information on due process hearings in the state of Texas.

The third item that I found is also from the Texas Education Agency. It is located at: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/hearings/hodfaq.html The information that can be found on this page includes general information about due process hearings, what to do before due process hearings, what to do at the hearing and what to do after the hearing. It gives several links to more information about each of the steps that I listed above. The information under these links will help parents become prepared for the hearing and it will also help them better understand what to expect from the hearing. I really think every one should find this information for their parents to help them better understand their rights.

IEP Development/ Diagnostic Testing

There were several important resources that I found on diagnostic testing and IEP development. For my blog I chose resources that would be more directed toward use by parents and educator of students with disabilities. The resources that I found are the: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standard-Based Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development: Question & Answer Document, IDEA 2004 Close Up: The Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Harcourt Assessment Launches Online Version of Stanford Diagnostic Tests for Reading and Math. Each of these documents provides information that will be beneficial to educators and parents when it comes to finding out more information on the subjects of diagnostic testing and IEP development. I also found an informative article that I will provide a link to that is specifically directed to inform student with disabilities about their IEP. The name of the on-line article is: A Student's Guide to the IEP.

The first document that I am going to provide a link to is: IDEA 2004 Close Up: The Individualized Education Program (IEP). This document provides a look into IEP development for parents of children with disabilities. It explains the new legal information about IDEA 2004 for parents. The information that this article covers information that should be considered when writing an IEP including: factor to consider when developing an IEP, contents of an IEP, who the IEP team consist of, procedural safeguards and what to do when moving.
The information in this article will be very beneficial for parent and provides them with specific tip on how to address situation that may come up in an IEP meeting. I think that this article is a great resource for parents because it can help guide them through the IEP process. The following link will take you to this article.

http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/2978

The next article that I found is about diagnostic testing for reading and math. It is called: Harcourt Assessment Launches Online Version of Stanford Diagnostic Tests for Reading and Math. This article provides information on an alternative to a pencil and paper test. These tests provide teachers with immediate feedback and give information that they may have previously had to wait weeks for instantly. I think that parents could use this information to help educators search for alternatives to the old pen and paper assessment that we are all used to. Teacher would also appreciate the instant feedback provided form an assessment like this because they can intervene sooner which would in turn benefit the students greatly. The following link will take you to the article described in this paragraph.

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/5762143-1.html

The final document that I found for parents and educators is called: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standard-Based Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development: Question & Answer Document. I found this document to be very informative. It gives parents of student with disabilities in the state of Texas an guide to help them better understand what TEKS are, standards that they may want to consider, what standard based goal are and much more. This guide has lots of information that is essential for parents of students with disabilities in Texas, and what they need to know about their child’s IEP. This document can help them in a variety of ways when it comes to developing an IEP that will be beneficial for their child. The link below will take you to the article.

http://portal.esc20.net/portal/page/portal/doclibraryroot/SpecEdAGCNav/455A8DE8D9D1A915E040640A0487182E

The final article that I found is called: A Student's Guide to the IEP. This article is geared to help student with disabilities understand what an IEP is and why it is important to them. It also helps students to better understand why it is so important for them to be involved in the IEP process. I really think that this document will benefit parents as well. It will help all understand why it is so vital to have student input in the IEP meeting and in setting their own educational goal for their futures. The link to this article is provided at the end of this paragraph. I really found this article to be very informative.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/5944

Assistive Technology

For this section of my Blog I found several terrific resources to help guide parents and educators in their search for assistive technology laws and regulations. Specifically I found three resources that I thought would be very useful in helping to guide this search. The three on-line resources that I found are:

1. Assistive Technology Training Online Project (ATTO) http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/Laws/index.php
2. Legal References Related to Assistive Technology
http://www.texasat.net/docs/Legal%20Ref_IDEA2004%20Feb%202007.pdf
3. Providing Assistive Technology: A Legal Perspective http://www.texasat.net/docs/Legal.Persp.Guides.pdf

The first resource that I found was called the Assistive Technology Training Online Project and can be found by clicking the link at the end of this paragraph. This link will direct you to an interactive module that guides you through assistive technology laws and helps you to better understand how assistive technology is addressed in different laws. You simply click on one of the colored keys on the screen and it will give you information about how this law addresses assistive technology. I thought that this site provided information that was easy to understand and could be used to help introduce assistive technology laws and regulations in a fun and meaningful way. This page would be very beneficial for families because it provides a way to understand how assistive technology relates to different laws. It would also be great for a person new to special education because it gives a “beginners” look at the laws that relate to assistive technology. I also thought that this would be a fun learning activity for people in need of assistive technology law instruction.
http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/Laws/index.php

The second resource that I found was through the Texas Assistive Technology Network. This document, Legal References to Assistive Technology, provides you with references to IDEA 2004 and how it relates to assistive technology. You can use this document to find different references to assistive technology in IDEA 2004. This document describes different areas of assistive technology like: what an assistive technology devices is, what an assistive technology service is, rights and responsibilities of states, and other vital information about assistive technology and its relationship to IDEA 2004. For parents and students in Texas it has a specific section on a state regulation of instructional materials and what the publishers and commissioner of education must do to meet these legal standards. Use the link below to take you to the Legal References to Assistive Technology document.
http://www.texasat.net/docs/Legal%20Ref_IDEA2004%20Feb%202007.pdf

The final document that I found is also at the Texas Assistive Technology Network website. This document is titled: Providing Assistive Technology: A Legal Perspective. This guide gives important information on what school districts must do to comply with assistive technology guidelines, assistive technology evaluations, common issues when it comes to assistive technology and copyright concerns when it come to using assistive technology devices. This document also gives information about addressing assistive technology in a student IEP, evaluation timeline information and again issues that will be specific to parents and students in Texas. It is important for parents and students to know why assistive technology has or should be addresses in an IEP, what they should be looking for and how to address assistive technology for themselves or their child and this document can help guide them in their search for assistive technology answers. The following link will direct you to the document: Providing Assistive Technology: A Legal Perspective. http://www.texasat.net/docs/Legal.Persp.Guides.pdf

This Blog will be used to explore legal issues in the following areas:

1. Assistive Technology
2. Diagnostic Testing/ IEP Development
3. Due Process
4. High Stakes Testing (State Achievement Testing)
5. IDEA 2004
6. Inclusion/ LRE Requirements
7. No Child Left Behind
8. Parent Advocacy
9. Schools Behaving Badly (Not Following the Law)
10. Special Education Case Law