May a report card identify special education being provided for that student or otherwise indicate that the student has a disability? For instance, may the report card refer to an IEP or a plan for providing services under Section 504?
Report cards indicate a child’s progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum. Consistent with this purpose, it would be permissible under Section 504 and Title II for a report card to indicate that a student is receiving special education or related services as long as the report card informs parents about their child’s progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum. For instance, a report card for a student with a disability may refer to an IEP or may refer to a plan for providing services under Section 504.
However, the mere designation that a student has an IEP without providing any meaningful explanation of the student’s progress, such as a grade or other evaluative standard established by an LEA and or State Education Agency (SEA), would be inconsistent with IDEA’s periodic reporting requirements as well as Section 504 and Title II. Under Section 504 and Title II, in general, the LEA must provide students with disabilities report cards that are as informative and as effective as the report cards provided for students without disabilities (See 34 C.F.R. § 104.4 (b)(1)(i)-(iv).
In Texas, a student must receive periodic reports required by IDEA, that is, an IEP progress report/report card consistent with the schedule determined by the ARD committee; the student must also receive course grades consistent with the reporting requirements determined by the district (generally on a six-week or nine-week basis).
The material in this post was excerpted from Grading and Progress Monitoring for Students with Disabilities: A Resource for Teachers by Education Service Center, Region 20. You can read and download this resource at
http://www.esc20.net/users/0045/docs/AGC/GradingandProgressMonitoring.pdf
