May 7, 2020 TEA Updates Regarding Special Education and COVID-19

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Considerations during COVID-19 Pandemic

New TEA guidance released on May 7, 2020 provides the following responses to frequently asked questions surrounding special education during the COVID-19 pandemic.  To view the full FAQ guide visit disasterinfo@tea.texas.gov.

Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) Committees

How should ARD committees approach transition services, such as Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) that are not able to be provide due to issues related the COVID-19 pandemic response?

ARD committees will need to review each student’s situation individually and consider what alternative or additional transitional services could be provided so that students’ goals for transition can be appropriately met.

 

How should ARD committees proceed in making determinations about graduation for an individual student who received modified curriculum and was therefore graduating through the completion of activities related to graduation required by the IEP and who, due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic response, has not completed all of those required activities?

The ARD committee has the authority to determine whether a student who received modified curriculum has successfully completed an IEP in order to graduate and be awarded a regular high school diploma. The student must also meet one of the conditions set out in 19 TAC sec. 89.1070(b)(2)(A)-(D) or (g)(4)(A)-(D).

These conditions include:

  • Consistent with the IEP, the student has obtained full-time employment, based on the student’s abilities and local employment opportunities, in addition to mastering sufficient self-help skills to enable the student to maintain the employment without direct and ongoing educational support of the local school district.
  • Consistent with the IEP, the student has demonstrated mastery of specific employability skills and self-help skills that do not require direct ongoing educational support of the local school district.
  • The student has access to services that are not within the legal responsibility of public education or employment or educational options for which the student has been prepared by the academic program.
  • The student no longer meets age eligibility requirements.

The ARD committee should review all relevant data to determine whether sufficient learning has been achieved with the services that were provided prior to school closure to constitute successful completion of the IEP. The ARD committee must also ensure that at least one of the conditions listed above has been met. If one or both of these requirements has not yet been met, the ARD committee would need to identify a way for the student to successfully complete the IEP and/or fulfill a required condition in order to meet the graduation requirement. In such a situation, the ARD committee must also make any necessary amendments to the transition or graduation plan in the IEP.

 

How should ARD committees approach compensatory service provision for students who are graduating in the spring of 2020?

As a general rule, a student’s eligibility to receive special education and related services ends when the student graduates with a regular high school diploma. Therefore, the LEA may not be required to provide compensatory services after graduation. However, the federal guidance requiring LEAs to consider a student’s potential need for compensatory services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic response did not specifically exclude students who graduate in the spring of 2020 but who may have lost skill as a result of the LEA’s inability to offer services during school closures. Therefore, in absence of additional federal guidelines, LEAs are encouraged to consult with local counsel if they are unsure how to proceed.

 

If an ARD committee had begun the process of evaluating a student for exit from special education services prior to school closures, but is not able to complete the evaluation due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic response, are they allowed to move forward with exiting a student without completing the evaluation?

No. Federal regulations [34 CFR sec. 300.305(e)] require the LEA to evaluate the student in accordance with IDEA’s evaluation procedures before determining whether the student is no longer a student with a disability. Thus, the decisions to exit the student from special education services must be informed by a complete evaluation of all relevant areas of student performance. Once school resumes, the ARD committee may continue the evaluation process and make determinations about exit from services once all the relevant information has been collected.