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Independence High School strives to meet all unique needs of students with disabilities through creating individualized plans. We have a responsibility of knowing the plans, implementing the plans and accommodations with fidelity, and monitoring students’ progress. Please keep all plans in the appropriate tab within a resource binder. This information should be available and brought to planning meetings, Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings, etc. Additionally, all information should be kept secure in an effort to protect students and families under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
A plan developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives accommodations that will ensure their academic success and access to the learning environment. 504 plans often include accommodations. These can include changes to the environment, changes to instruction, or changes to how curriculum is presented. Accommodations don’t change what kids learn, just how they learn it. The goal is to remove barriers and give kids access to learning.Many students come to Independence with existing 504 plans. Each plan has an annual review to determine if a plan is necessary to continue.
Important Notes:
Contact a counselor, for more information on 504 Plans.
English language learners have unique and varied instructional needs. Some students come to the United States with an impressive command of the English language and have had consistent schooling throughout their lives. Others speak little or no English, yet have strong content knowledge. Others may come to us with little or no English language skills and have had little, or interrupted (SIFE) education because of the instability within their country of origin. Depending on their abilities, English language learners may qualify for testing accommodations, or, in some cases, exemptions from state and national testing. These students require a set of instructional strategies where scaffolding of language acquisition occurs concurrently with content instruction. The research-based and validated instructional model that has proven effective in addressing these unique needs is Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). You will need to provide the LEP Committee with periodic updates on individual student progress and provide documented testing accommodations on classroom, local, and state assessments. Contact Trina Poythress or Stacey Ferriell for assistance or locate a SIOP course.
Inclusion of students identified as Exceptional Children is a federally sanctioned practice and can be extremely successful for students in regular education and for students who are part of the EC Department. NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act make it imperative that those students with disabilities, no matter what their level of functioning, access the general curriculum to the maximum extent possible. Independence must make sure that all students and student sub-groups (including EC) make adequate yearly progress (AYP). The best way to do that is often by including EC students in the regular education classroom.
Each staff member is expected to teach students with exceptionalities. Faculty and staff roles may range from co-teaching or serving as a mainstream teacher to supporting students as they move around the school campus.
A plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services. Contact Kristin Milroth, EC Compliance Facilitator, for more information concerning Exceptional Children.