Page 191 - Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Resource Guide

Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12
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Alternative programs and courses: In most cases, it is neither required nor advisable to assign letter grades or percentage marks to represent
the student’s achievement of alternative expectations. Student progress should be reported to parents by means of anecdotal comments on an alternative report. This alternative report should accompany the report card at the regular reporting times. (Some school boards include a section for reporting on the achievement of alternative expectations in the IEP itself.) The student’s progress in subjects or courses in which the student has modified expectations and/or accommodations must still be reported on the report card at the regular reporting periods. A very small number of students who are unable to demonstrate the most basic literacy or numeracy skills may receive only an alternative report.
7. Provincial Assessments
7.1 Accommodations for Participation in Provincial Assessments
Students who have an IEP must be given the opportunity to participate and demonstrate the full extent of their knowledge and skills in provincial assessments, and school boards are required to provide accommodations to facilitate their participation. Accommodations must not affect the level or content of the assessment, the performance criteria, or the reliability
or validity of the assessment. They must also comply with other related policies of the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) and the Ministry of Education.
Any testing accommodations recommended to facilitate the student’s participation in provincial assessments must already be identified in the IEP as accommodations required in the classroom. These accommodations must be:
• appropriate to the student’s particular needs, as identified in the IEP;
• included among the strategies, resources, and other accommodations
identified in the IEP as necessary for facilitating the student’s learning
and demonstration of achievement in regular classroom assessments;
• described in specific rather than general terms (e.g., “use of a word
processor” rather than “answers recorded in another manner”).