Special Education

K-12 Online Learning

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Special education and online learning

The flexibility and accessibility of an online learning class may help implement modifications and/or accommodations for students with special learning needs.

Special education students may enroll in online learning to supplement their educational plan or as a comprehensive program.

When enrolling it is imperative that you inform the online learning school of your child’s Special Education status. A student is considered a special education student if they have been identified as qualifying for special education services and most likely have had an IEP in the past. If you are unsure of your child’s status you should consult with your previous school about your child’s special education status.

Special education terms

Special education uses a variety of terms that can be confusing to those new to the field of special education. Here are a few acronyms and what they mean.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Act

IEP - Individual Education Plan

IEP Team - Individual Education Plan members who make decisions about the IEP

ESR - Evaluation Summary Report prepared every three years for students on an IEP

DI - Direct Instruction outlined in the IEP

Supplementary online course enrollment

Students who enroll in supplementary online learning courses can replace one or more courses at their local school with courses delivered on the web. This means a counselor can assist the student with completing the Online Learning Supplemental Notice of Student Registration form to request enrollment in an online learning program.

This involves parents and the student completing section A, the online learning program completing section B with discussions about academic planning and in consultation with the Individual Education Plan (IEP) team and then the form is sent to your current school.

When a student enrolls in supplementary online learning classes, the enrolling school district will continue to provide special education services. Including keeping all IEP records up to date, monitoring progress on IEP goals, completing the Evaluation summary report every three years, and case management of the student.

The OLL provider is responsible for consulting the enrolling district for appropriate services as needed.

Comprehensive online program enrollment

Students who chose to enroll full time in an online school or program can open enroll to another district that offers full time online learning or enroll in a cyber charter school. To enroll in another district the student must complete their admission packet which may include and open enrollment form. This will be determined based on the online learning school you decide to attend.

Enrollment in an online charter school can occur at any time pending acceptance into the charter school through an application process.

After a special education student is accepted into a comprehensive online learning program the school will need to call an Individual Education Plan Meeting to write a new Individual Education Plan (IEP) for the student in their new setting.

If a special education student enrolls in a comprehensive online school (in another district or with a charter school), they will receive special education services from that district and receive a high school diploma from that school.

What is a 504 plan?

It is a plan designed to accommodate the unique needs of an individual with a disability, as required by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Please note that if your child is on a 504 Plan for (definition) this is not considered to be a special education status student. Instead you should inform your online provider of the 504 status so they can obtain a copy of the 504 plan for your previous school and work with you on any needed accommodations.

Special education in an online setting

Some Online Learning Schools are prepared to conduct Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings at a distance using conference calling and other technology where other schools prefer to meet face to face for these meetings. Based on the current IDEA a parent can request a conference call meeting for the IEP if traveling to the physical location of the school is a burden to them.

The IEP Team consists of a variety of members who are there to make decisions in the best interest of the special education student. Members will often include a regular education teacher, a special education teacher in the area of the student’s disability, an administrator, the parent and student, and other resource staff. Resource staff may include people such as school psychologists or behavioral specialists who can add expertise to the IEP meeting process.

Direction Instruction (DI)

Special education for many students involves the use of a variety of activities referred to as Direct Instruction (DI). The goal of DI for students is to increase their knowledge in a subject area such as spelling common words or money counting for examples.

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) team will decide how best to provide DI to each individual special education student. They will consult with the IEP goals and work out a plan to offer the needed DI to each student.

One important consideration to make when looking at an online learning program is the way in which they deliver DI to special education students. Some online schools have decided to offer DI completely at a distance and use a variety of technology measures in order to accomplish this.

Other online learning schools offer DI in a very traditional manner which usually means that the student must be physically present in the school building a number of days each week.

Many of these schools that offer traditional DI instruction will use the traditional model of 5 days a week of instruction. It is important to ask these questions prior to applying to an online learning school since traveling to a school 5 days per week may be impossible if the family was originally looking for a completely distance experience.

It is important to note also that many measures of progress on the IEP may need to be conducted at school. The evaluation summary report as well as numerous probes and evaluative tests must be conducted under strict accountability measures in order to be accurate.

It is important to understand all the components around the DI and the physical place where this DI occurs as you apply to online learning programs as students identified as special education students.

Online resources for college-bound students with disabilities

"Preparing for College: An Online Tutorial" - an online tutorial produced by DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology). It links to online resources for college-bound teens with disabilities. Information about how parents can assist their teens in exploring these resources is included.

College: You Can DO-IT!

This video offers advice from students with disabilities and school staff about how to succeed in college. The video is designed for high school students with disabilities preparing for college. The presentation is open-captioned and audio-described so that viewers who are deaf or blind can access the content. (Run time: 13:43 minutes.)

DO-IT is a collaboration of Computing & Communications and the Colleges of Engineering and Education at the University of Washington.

Sources:

Tracy Quarnstrom, Trio Wolf Creek Charter School and Martha Spires, Spring Lake Park Distance Learning Program
Resources for Students with Disabilities provided by the University of Washington and the Digital Learning Commons

Page last updated in July 2008.