Can they fail a child with an IEP in Virginia?

Question

He is in 10th grade with add and autism, His work is not very good and forgets to turn a lot in, but his test scores on btesting is good to great

Answer 1

In the Age of No Child Left Behind, there is increasing pressure for even students with IEPs to demonstrate that they have met the content standards for their grade.

Many special education teachers will grade steps toward the grade-level content standards in a learning progression instead. For a simple example, student has not yet memorized their multiplication tables, but they can find the answer on the chart or by repeated addition. They're making progress. If a student isn't turning in work, they are missing the opportunity to demonstrate even the learning progression.

But there are a few deeper issues here. There are kids in every school who do about three things every day that would get them fired from any job, inlcuding  not turning in work or turning in shoddy work. Giving the authority figure attitude is another common one.

What kind of message does it send a kid if we protect them from the logical consequences of their own actions? What if we zoom in at the last second and move their hand away every time they're about to touch a hot stove? A very small child, you have to protect, but when you stop protecting them, they learn soon enough, and you don't have to protect them anymore.

But you've got kids, who because they were young, because they had IEPs or MPs, because their teachers were too lazy to fill out the paperwork, because the teachers could not bear the thought of having those students for another year, because they belonged to some sort of protected class of students--for whatever reason they've been passed on to the next grade even though they did not do the work.

Eventually, the kid figures it out. It doesn't matter if I do the work, try hard, meet standards or expectations, or create a quality product. I'm going to get what I want--to move on to the next grade with my friends. Everybody's been telling me of what will happen if I don't get it in gear, but it doesn't matter because I'm special! Boy, are these kids in for a shock when they find out the working world doesn't operate by the same rules!  

And much more quickly, if you let the student know "If you don't meet this expectation, you don't get that," and show that you mean it, students usually step up to the plate and get the job done. It worked for me as a high school student. It works for many, many kids all the time. And teachers and parents once again marvel at the power of clear and consistent consequences.

Clear and consistent consequences are particularly important for a student who has ADHD, but it is more helpful if there are little consequences along the line. The big, bad consequence at the end of the year is not any more of a deterrent for these kids than the death penalty ever was for anybody who ever ended up on death row.

In my experience, the kid who is most likely to fail a class--IEP or no--is the kid who doesn't turn in work.

A previous answerer gives the same answer that comes from court decisions. An IEP is no guarantee of success. It is an offer of support from the school for the individual needs of the student. If a student does not do the work they are given, they may fail the class.

Answer 2

Yes. An IEP provides supports in the areas where the child has identified weaknesses, but is not a guarantee that they will be successful...

Perhaps you & the teacher can work on ways to make sure the work gets turned in (ex. you checking off all completed work before school & placing in a folder). Ultimately, work must get back to the teacher in order to get graded and in order to receive enough credit to pass the course. I assume this is work to be completed at home, because school work is handed in directly...unless he's refusing/unable to complete classwork- which is another story. Good Luck.

Answer 3

If the school is doing their part to fulfill the accommodations and instructional strategies within the IEP, a child can fail.  My question would be why this wasn't addressed as an IEP goal mid-year when the pattern was developed?  Parents and teachers should have both recognized the need for this.

Answer 4

yes, he can--

but he needs to be evaluated based on the criteria of his IEP