When I’m not blogging, I work as a reporter for the fine newspaper that hosts On Special Education. Now I’m reporting a story for Education Week and could use help from some of you.
The article is about the transition from high school to postsecondary school for students with disabilities--specifically, a provision in the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Act that requires districts to give graduating students a “summary of performance.”
This is the entire provision as outlined in the law:
Summary of performance.--For a child whose eligibility under this part terminates under circumstances described in clause (i), a local educational agency shall provide the child with a summary of the child's academic achievement and functional performance, which shall include recommendations on how to assist the child in meeting the child's postsecondary goals.
Replace the phrase “whose eligibility under this part terminates under circumstances...” with “graduates,” and you get the picture.
Predictably, with a provision this broadly defined, every state is tackling this requirement in a slightly different way. Some give “summaries of performance” that are expansive, while others are much more sketchy. I’d like to talk to parents and students who are going through this process in preparation for college admission, and include your stories in my article, with your permission. My e-mail address is right under my smiling face on the upper right, so let’s talk! And thanks very much in advance.