Transition to College presented by Dr. Deborah Anne Banker Angelo State University

1. Transition to Collegepresented by Dr. Deborah Anne Banker Angelo State University

2. You may ask why I present this to you….. • Please remember that many, many of the individuals that your students will encounter at the postsecondary level will have had absolutely NO training in special education or special education issues. • Unfortunately, our K-12 folks do not necessarily know what documentation the postsecondary folks require for special needs students; and conversely the postsecondary folks don’t always know how to read the K-12 paperwork.

3. Most postsecondary institutions are using the AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability) guidelines for documentation. • Those guidelines can be found at: • www.ahead.org/aff/ctahead/docguidelines.htm primarily Section III

4. Two Important Components of the Guidelines • Comprehensive Evaluation Documentation • Accommodations may be granted (sometimes they will not be granted) and modifications will never be granted

5. Comprehensive Evaluation Documentation • Disability documentation must verify the nature and extent of the impairment • The credentials of the examiner/evaluator must be valid for the condition being diagnosed • Must be in accordance with current professional standards and techniques • Must clearly address the need for all of the student's specific accommodation requests

6. In addition: • Documentation should support the need for services based on the individual's current level of functioning in the educational setting. • Students requesting accommodations for the manifestations of multiple disabilities must provide evidence of all such conditions.

7. Accommodations at the Postsecondary Level • Specific accommodations are required when necessary to enable the student to access his or her education.  Cf. PGA Tour v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661 (2001) • It is not uncommon for evaluators to recommend a range of accommodations and services for a particular student

8. It is important to remember • Private schools are not required to provide any sort of accommodations for students with disabilities. • Public schools must provide accommodation services to students with disabilities, but it is at their discretion as to which accommodations are made. • Private schools which receive any sort of federal funding must provide some sort of reasonable accommodations (up to them to decide what “reasonable” means)

9. What happens then? • The postsecondary provider will need to sort through these recommendations with the student to determine what accommodations are indeed necessary • This is to avoid giving the student an unfair advantage over his or her classmates or promoting accommodations that could substantially modify a program’s standards.

10. In other words: • The documentation must be very clear as to: • Qualifications of the evaluator(s) • Exactly what the diagnosis is (no weasel words) • Specifically what accommodations the student needs and why (students will not receive modifications) • A majority of postsecondary institutions require that a complete evaluation has been done within the last three years from the date of enrollment at their institution

11. College Admissions Exams • SAT • Requirements for documentation to receive accommodations are located at: • http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ssd/application/guide/guidelines • Students must have evaluations within: • 5 years for LD • 12 months for ED/BD • 2 years for VI • 12 months for OHI

12. ACT • Requirements for documentation to receive accommodations are located at: www.act.org/aap/disab/policy.html#doc • Students must have evaluations within: • 3 years of the date of the request for accommodations for any disability