Accommodations in College and the RISE Act

 

Hello and Happy New Year!

I hope the beginning of 2023 is off to a wonderful start for you and your family! This week, we are going to continue our focus on post-secondary education. This blog is an excerpt from the Family Matters Winter 2022 Newsletter regarding accommodations in college and the RISE Act. This article was written by the Family Matters Executive Director, Debbie Einhorn, M.Ed. We hope you find it helpful!

Stay warm!

Megan 

Preparing for Transition to College 

When a student with a disability is preparing to attend college it is important for them to understand their rights. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) strongly encourages students with disabilities to know their rights and responsibilities and the responsibilities of institutions of postsecondary education under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Institutions of postsecondary education have no legal obligations under IDEA. IDEA requirements apply to state education agencies, school districts and other public agencies that serve IDEA-eligible children. 

Disability supports and services in college differ significantly from those a student may receive during elementary and secondary school. During elementary and secondary school a student with an IEP may receive accommodations and modifications. Once a student graduates from high school and receives their diploma the IEP expires, meaning the IEP does not follow a student to college. Colleges are required to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, but are not necessarily required to provide the same type of services that were in the high school IEP. 

Some common college accommodations may include extended time, use of a calculator, copies of notes from a classmate, use of audiobooks, or use of speech to text programs. 

It is important for students to understand what supports and services are part of their IEP during high school. Students also should understand the difference between an accommodation and a modification. An accommodation allows a student to complete the same assignments as other students, but permits a change in the timing, formatting, setting, scheduling, response or presentation. An accommodation does not alter what the test or assignment measures. A modification adjusts the expectations for an assignment or a test. It permits a change in what a test or assignment measures. Examples include: a) a child is permitted to complete only part of a standard; b) a child is given an alternate assignment at a different level instead of the standard assignment.

Families and students should maintain copies of high school records. These records are important when requesting accommodations at the college level and obtaining other disability related adult services. A Summary of Performance (SOP) must be completed during the final year of a student’s high school education. The SOP along with additional documentation may be necessary as the student applies to a college or university. To learn more about the contents of the Summary of Performance, contact Family Matters. 

For several years, advocates have been pushing a bill called the Respond, Innovate, Support and Empower (RISE) Act. The RISE Act would make the transition to college a little smoother by requiring colleges and universities to accept students’ individualized education programs (IEPs) and evaluations from school districts as proof of the need for accommodations and supports. This would eliminate the need for students to again undergo expensive evaluations just to provide evidence to the post-secondary schools that they have a disability and need certain supports in order to participate in college coursework. Students who have disabilities such as cognitive impairments, dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing disorders, autism, and other learning disabilities, will still have those disabilities when entering college and there should be no need to have to go through the time-consuming process of re-evaluations to show that they still have those learning differences. 

Although the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) which requires IEPs for students with disabilities during primary and secondary school, no longer applies after high school graduation, there are other federal disability rights laws that entitle adults with disabilities to reasonable accommodations in education and employment. Those laws include the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

Recently released federal data shows that among college students who were ever diagnosed with a disability, just 13% informed their college of their disability status. Some undergraduate students don’t disclose their learning disabilities to their colleges and universities because they never learned to advocate for themselves while in high school, or may be unaware of the services that could be available to them in postsecondary schools, or because they fear disclosing a disability might count against them. 

In addition to requiring colleges to accept students’ primary and secondary school records as proof of disability, the RISE Act would create a $10 million technical-support center for college faculty to learn more about the needs of students with disabilities, provide a centralized source of information about accommodations for students with disabilities and their families, and require colleges and universities to report more data on students with disabilities. 

After years of advocacy efforts, this year for the first time, the RISE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives, the furthest it has advanced in the legislative process. There is no vote yet scheduled in the U.S. Senate. If you would like to see this legislation passed by both chambers and sent to the President to be signed into law, you can contact your state senators to encourage their support of the RISE Act. 

If you need help finding the contact information for your senator, visit this website: https://www.congress.gov/ members/find-your-member 

Helpful Resource: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/parent-20070316.html