Assessing Special Populations in High School (Secondary Grading and Reporting)

Students Receiving Special Education Services 

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) team determines service delivery options and the appropriate placement for students eligible to receive special education services. Teachers/teams who work with these students need to consider students’ individual needs when assessing performance, utilizing accommodations and reporting to families. The following guidelines are used in assessing the progress of students receiving special education services:

• All students, including those with disabilities with an IEP or 504 plan receive the High School Report Card when reporting grades for students receiving special education services.
• Instruction for students receiving special education services should be guided by the Program of Studies (POS), which includes the SOL, and the goals and objectives defined in each student’s IEP. Students receiving special education services in the general curriculum are required to meet POS objectives. Accommodations and modifications to instruction are provided based on student needs as defined by the student’s IEP or 504 plan.
• Accommodations are instructional techniques and additional supports designed to help a student make progress or demonstrate learning.
• Modified instruction occurs when content and performance expectations are adjusted for individual students’ needs and prevent the student from accessing or demonstrating grade level knowledge.
• The grades of students receiving special education services will reflect achievement of defined grade-level expectations selected from the general curriculum based on student need. In addition, students are assessed according to individual rates of progress toward attainment of IEP goals and objectives.

Multilingual learners

School divisions must provide equal access and opportunities for multilingual learners, ELP levels 1-4, and ELP level 6 to meaningfully participate in the core curriculum. Multilingual learners are placed in age appropriate classrooms and provided access to the same rigorous grade-level curriculum as their English proficient peers. Multilingual learners with developing English proficiency require deliberate scaffolds and targeted English language development instruction to support their understanding and use of emerging language as they engage in grade-level content.

FCPS High School services for multilingual learners are designed so that in a reasonable length of time, multilingual learners can attain both:

• English language proficiency and 
• Equal participation in the standard instructional program.

Federal guidance describes a “reasonable length of time” as one year. A recently arrived EL being able to earn a high school diploma in four years.  Per Regulation 2442, Credit for Secondary Students with a Home Language Other than English, ELD courses may be used to satisfy certain World Language or elective requirements. In addition, multilingual learners and students with a home language other than, or in addition to, English may be awarded credit for courses taken in international schools. All multilingual learners have the opportunity to submit international transcripts for review by the school counselor and/or an FCPS Student Registration office staff member.  The school counselor and/or Student Registration office staff member will award credits toward graduation based on transcript evaluation guidelines.

Courses

In addition to earning a high school diploma, multilingual learners must also be provided the same educational opportunities as their English proficient peers so that they are competitive in meeting college entrance requirements. Thus, FCPS High School Programming for multilingual learners provides equal opportunities for multilingual learners to meaningfully participate in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular programs and activities so that they have access to the same rigorous curriculum as their English proficient peers. Services are offered to all multilingual learners until they are designated English proficient (ELP level 6).

High school programming is intentionally designed to provide more intensive support at the lower proficiency levels and to provide less intensive support at the upper proficiency levels. To achieve this, students at the lower proficiency levels may be enrolled in English Language Development (ELD) and sheltered content courses. Students at the intermediate and advanced proficiency levels are enrolled in ELD and courses with their English proficient peers.

To provide equal access to and opportunities within educational programs, grade-level content instruction is scaffolded using sheltered instruction strategies and techniques. Sheltered instruction strategies and techniques make rigorous classroom instruction comprehensible for multilingual learners. Multilingual learners access rigorous grade level curriculum, with content-certified teachers, through various instructional models like:

• Designated sections for multilingual learners
• Co-taught general education sections
• General education classes using sheltering techniques so that students develop English language proficiency and content understandings in tandem.

Teachers and families should maintain realistically high expectations for multilingual learners. When provided with appropriate scaffolding and differentiated resources, multilingual learners can master and demonstrate an understanding of rigorous content. Regular collaboration and consultation with ESOL teachers can apprise content teachers, teams, and families of the student’s language development goals and language expectations. By attending to students’ English language proficiency levels, the WIDA Performance Definitions, and the WIDA Can Do descriptors, teachers adjust instruction and assessment to the multilingual learner’s specific language development needs.

Accommodations and Supports

Appropriate accommodations or alternative assessments increase equitable access to instruction and assessment and are used to ensure that evaluations are true measures of what a multilingual learner knows, understands, and is able to do. Scaffolds, supports, and accommodations should be a routine part of instruction and assessment practices. Accommodations may include changes to the process, the response format, or the task itself. The goal of the accommodations is making the assessment accessible to and leveling the playing field for multilingual learners.

Accommodations provide linguistic support such as the use of dictionaries, read aloud, and plain English versions of assessments. Specific testing accommodations for multilingual learners are published annually by the Virginia Department of Education.  For large scale assessments, the English Learner (EL) Committee makes and documents assessment participation decisions for multilingual learners (ELP levels 1-6b) on the English Learner Student Assessment Participation Plan (ELSAPP). The accommodations offered on these assessments should be regularly practiced in classroom activities to determine effectiveness.

Homebound and Home-based Instruction

FCPS Policies and Regulations set policy and procedures regarding homebound and home-based instruction.

• Policy 2140, Homebound Instruction
• Regulation 2140, Homebound and Home-based Instruction for Students