[Miss_Mary_Mac]

Thoughts on non- IEP students receiving IEP accommodations such as small group testing or oral administration. In my inclusion/co-teaching classes, I often take students out for either small group testing or to have the test read. Several non IEP students also want to go as well, but I don't take them. My colleagues do. Wrong? Right?

[Haley23]

I don't do these accommodations, except for state testing. I have four grade levels and 12 gen ed classrooms, so if I did small group/test read aloud for every test that's all I'd ever do. My only experience with this is back in my student teaching (different state where one sped teacher per grade level was common).

All of the teachers I worked with allowed gen ed students to come to the small group testing if they wanted. I think part of the idea was that it reduced stigma for the students with IEPs who had to go. Before tests, they'd simply ask students who wanted to have the assessment read aloud to raise their hands.

The only issue I could see with it is if the gen ed students won't be allowed to have the same accommodations for district or state testing. I don't see the small group thing making a big difference, but the test read aloud thing could be a big deal if they're used to getting it and then suddenly don't have it for a big test.

Here, any student can get accommodations for state testing as long as the gen ed teacher documents that they're regularly used and needed, so that wouldn't be a factor. My state has actually now said that test read aloud for math isn't even an accommodation- it's an "accessibility feature" that any student can have, and no student, IEP or not, can have any part of the reading assessment read aloud.

[readandweep]

The head of the math department at our school was recently told something similar to what Hayley is talking about regarding our state math assessment.

If a student scored in a certain percentile on the reading assessment last year, they can have the math test read to them on the computer regardless if they have an IEP or 504.

Most of our school qualifies for this.

To answer OP's question, not at my current school, 30 percent of our population has an IEP and we are stretched too thin to even consider this.

At my previous district some regular-ed teachers would try this (send non-IEP kids to another room for tests) and would often get away with it, depending on the administrator.

This was usually with high-maintenance parents who did want their child to have an IEP, but wanted all the special ed help.

[whatever]

I am in MO. Recently, some changes occurred-unsure what all exactly off the top of my head. General ed students are now allowed some of the accommodations as well.

I only know because we were told that we no longer need to indicate it on the IEP forms. I do think "Testing in a separate setting..." was one of those.

I don't know about the read alouds and I don't think it needs to be a SpEd teacher supervising necessarily. There may also be rules in place on having gen ed students within the SpEd classroom while SpEd students are there.

You don't want to get into a situation where your "small" group is the same size or larger than the gen ed group.

[Peacenik74]

In my state, federal guidelines permit 504 to have small group administration but since students with IEP accommodations, our general education students are not allowed to be part of those particular programs.

[angham]

Hi Miss Mary, As a fellow SpEd. teacher, it is hard to determine right or wrong when dealing with these instances. I guess I would ask if anyone has been tracking the non-IEP student's grades and test scores. If there is an indication that small group may help them to demonstrate understanding when taking test, then perhaps that differentiation could be provided to them. Accommodations can be for all students, but it warrants a discussion between yourself and the gen. ed. teachers to determine who, when, and based on what specific data. I hope this helps. _Angelina