Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Special Education
By Daniel Parker, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin schools have had to adapt, and in some cases, transform their systems for conducting comprehensive special education evaluations, developing individualized education programs (IEPs), and providing special education and related services. Special education exists within the continuum of an equitable multi-level of support (MLSS). Students who receive special education services within a school’s equitable MLSS, along with other marginalized groups such as students of color, were the most impacted by interruptions in learning due to the pandemic. We know the impact of changes to schooling on students, families, and educators during the pandemic varied across the state; and some IEP teams are still identifying the best ways to meet individual student needs as this school year comes to a close. As educators, it is not only our job to recognize, assess, and work collaboratively to recover any unfinished learning, but to learn from the experiences this pandemic has brought us and use what we have learned to improve our systems of support moving forward. There were significant lessons learned from the move from in-person to a virtual or hybrid learning environment. The pandemic provided us with an opportunity for renewing our focus on what is most important to support the needs of students with IEPs. Using the insights gained during this period of time, this article seeks to identify important processes of special education along with potential avenues of innovation that may be leveraged in relation to these processes, with the goal of better meeting individual student and family needs in the future. These special education processes include
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires special education evaluations to be sufficiently comprehensive to make eligibility decisions and to identify the student’s educational needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the student has been classified. (34 CFR 300.304). Comprehensive special education evaluations are first and foremost “needs focused” on identifying academic and functional skill areas affected by the student’s disability. Special education evaluations should not be “label focused” to solely identify a disability category label which may, or may not, accurately infer student needs. In addition, IDEA states that the information from special education evaluations must help the IEP team decide (i) Whether the child is a child with a disability; and (ii) The content of the child’s IEP, including information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum (or for a preschool child, to participate in appropriate activities). [34 CFR §300.304 (b)]. The pandemic has shed light on “how” IEP teams conduct special education evaluations to fully understand a student’s individual disability-related needs that extend beyond disability category criteria components. A comprehensive special education evaluation should identify all of a student’s disability-related needs so that special education services and supports can effectively enable the student to access, engage, and make progress in the general education curriculum. This in turn, will provide students with the knowledge, skills, and habits to be college, career, and community ready. For some students with IEPs, the pandemic highlighted a clear need to better understand the whole child so that IEP goals and services additionally address student independence and autonomy across multiple learning environments. Arguably, considering the vast number of adults working remotely or through social distancing, these new learning environments provide additional context for what skills are most important to identify and support. Thus, just as adults had to adapt and learn new skills to be successful during the pandemic due to shifts in the learning environment (e.g. from in-person instruction in the school building to a virtual learning environment in a student’s home), students, and at times their families, also required additional instruction and support. The pandemic highlighted not only the problem of “how” to provide instruction and support to address IEP goals and disability-related needs, but also “what new skills” need to be developed or supported to ensure students can be successful in a learning environment with limited in-person support. For example, educators reported recognizing the importance of building students’ skills related to resilience, self-determination, knowledge and use of technology and assistive technology, supporting social and emotional well-being, developing new ways to support self-regulation, and improving autonomy of executive functioning such as planning and organizing schedules and materials. For families, additional communication, training, or resources may have had to be provided to enable the family to support student learning at home. For students receiving some in-person instruction, there often were other shifts in the learning environment (i.e. routines and requirements related to socially distanced in-person instruction) requiring revisions to IEP goals and services to address unique interpersonal, social, and sensory challenges. Thus, regardless of the shift in learning environment due to the pandemic, many IEP teams identified new or different disability-related needs that had to be addressed to enable the student’s access, engagement, and progress in age or grade level general education curriculum and instruction. A few examples include:
The pandemic shed light on how a comprehensive special education evaluation must provide IEP teams with enough information about a student’s disability-related needs, across varying learning environments, to ensure their IEP could include a contingency plan developed to address potential interruption to the student’s educational services in the future. A focus on learner variability and disability-related needs became particularly relevant for students with medical fragility, complex medical or health disability-related needs, or behavioral support and communication needs. Additional resources, including a bulletin on comprehensive special education evaluation, are being developed by Wisconsin DPI to assist IEP teams with preparing for, planning, and conducting a comprehensive special education evaluation moving forward. Developing, Reviewing, and Revising IEPs within and for a Virtual Environment During the pandemic, IEP teams had the complicated task of not only developing IEPs within a virtual environment, through video conferencing or conference calls, but for some students, developing or revising IEPs to include special education services provided in a virtual learning environment. During the spring of 2020, states and national technical assistance centers focused on providing technical assistance and guidance for how IEPs teams could meet virtually. The Wisconsin DPI developed an online module, training video, and curated state and national resources to assist IEP teams on how to best engage in virtual IEP meetings. This information, including a Virtual IEP Meeting Checklist, is still available and relevant to IEP teams moving forward, and may be found on the Wisconsin DPI Conducting Parent Friendly and Productive Virtual IEP Meetings web page. As it became clearer, during the summer of 2020, that many students would not be able to return to in-person general education instruction in the fall, additional urgency was placed on how to develop IEPs to ensure students received a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment. That is, how would school building closure for general education in-person instruction affect students with IEPs in terms of progress on IEP goals and in the general education curriculum? Additionally, even for students returning to in-person general education instruction, questions arose as to how needed special education services to address each student’s disability-related needs would be provided in light of ongoing requirements for social distancing and safety measures related to facial coverings. In Wisconsin and nationally, guidance was developed for IEP teams to create individualized contingency plans as part of the IEP. Developing a contingency plan required an IEP meeting to revise the student’s IEP, or with parental agreement, could be completed without a meeting using the DPI sample 1-10 IEP form. Once a contingency plan had been developed, students and staff could easily pivot between in-person and virtual learning, without having to continually revise the IEP each time the mode of learning changed. In developing contingency plans and other IEP revisions to address learning during the pandemic, the Wisconsin DPI strongly encouraged IEP teams to consider providing some in-person instruction, also known as a hybrid model, to meet those disability-related needs that could not be addressed through virtual or distance instruction. Although many schools and districts chose to close buildings to in-person general education instruction, almost all schools and districts were able to identify students who needed to access some in-person instruction, related services, or assessment to ensure FAPE, and were able to provide such services, while maintaining appropriate safety measures for staff and students. The Wisconsin DPI Special Education team regularly updated the COVID-19 Special Education Question and Answer Document to outline requirements related to development of contingency plans. Based on this guidance, DPI then developed a web site Moving from In-Person to Virtual or Hybrid Learning Environments and A Guide to Implementing IEPs and Monitoring Progress of IEP Goals When Moving Between In-Person, Hybrid, or Virtual Learning Environments. The combination of these resources provides IEP teams with a roadmap of both state and federal special education requirements related to reviewing and revising IEPs to ensure FAPE, as well as guiding questions and process recommendations on “how” to revise IEPs when moving between in–person and virtual or hybrid learning environments. Additionally, several resources were curated relating to monitoring progress of IEP goals. These can be found in both the appendix of the above-mentioned guide and web site. While these resources were developed specifically in response to the pandemic, their content will continue to be applicable as we move forward, post pandemic. It is likely that virtual learning environment options will continue to expand for students with IEPs. For those students who may have benefited from virtual learning environments, IEP teams must still carefully review each student’s IEP to determine if revisions to IEP goals and services are required to address student’s continuing and evolving disability-related needs, and to implement valid and reliable measures to monitor progress toward IEP goal attainment. The previously referenced web page and guide continues to provide useful guidance for “how” to revise IEPs for students who will receive instruction or other services in virtual or hybrid learning environments. This set of resources will also be useful to assist IEP teams supporting students whose families choose a virtual learning environment. Finally, this guidance may assist IEP teams with identifying disability-related needs, IEP goals, and services for students who need additional assistance navigating a socially-distanced learning environment such as when facial coverings and social distanced separation from adults and peers is required. Special Education Service Delivery in a Virtual or Hybrid Learning Environment Another lesson learned from moving between in-person to a virtual or hybrid learning environment was the value of knowing how to plan for learner variability so that curriculum and instruction provides for student autonomy and family engagement strategies linked to supporting student learning are included. The pandemic taught us valuable lessons on the importance of engaging families in their child’s education in a manner consistent with the families’ assets and circumstances. This is true not only in terms of how to communicate age or grade level expectations and information about “what” the student needs to do to be successful, but also how to engage families so that educators can understand and be responsive to each family’s assets and circumstances so families can play an active and necessary role in their child’s education. In addition to highlighting a need to invest in systems for supporting family engagement, the pandemic reinforced the importance of ensuring a school’s equitable multi-level system of support nurtures strong collaboration and coordination between special education, general education, and related services staff. DPI curated a collection of state and national resources related to special education service delivery during the pandemic that is available on the Wisconsin DPI Supplemental Resources for Supporting Students with IEPs During COVID-19 web page. When considering how best to promote student autonomy and independence, many educators invested in a renewed focus on designing curriculum and instruction to meet diverse learner variability for each and every student. By understanding learner variability, educators are better able to identify and remove barriers to student access and engagement across learning environments. As mentioned previously, the real world consists of many contexts of “how” and “what” skills are needed to access and demonstrate learning. Thousands of families and educators in Wisconsin took advantage of professional learning and other resources provided through statewide projects funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. These projects provided a wide variety of supports including projects to Build Capacity for and Expanding Access to High-Quality Online Instructional Resources, Providing Training for Educators in the Provision of Online and Remote Instruction, Expanding and Building Capacity of School Staff to Provide Mental Health Services. Although students with IEPs and their families benefit from all of the projects within these categories, three projects are highlighted below that may be of specific and continued interest to those supporting students with IEPs. These include Teleservice Forward, Assistive Technology Forward, and UDL Forward! UDL Forward! supports Wisconsin educators’ use of Universal Design for Learning core competencies and technology resources as a means to provide effective remote and in-person learning experiences. UDL Forward! provides four intersecting options: UDL Blasts - engagement with UDL fundamentals and free technology tools for immediate use, UDL Learning Design Coaching Labs: apply UDL to real-world learning scenarios with access to technical assistance for specific student needs, particularly those student groups who have traditionally needed to be better served, UDL Community of Practice (CoP): learn and share what’s working and troubleshoot solutions to challenges within a professional learning network, and A UDL Virtual Conference: a week-long conference Oct 05-08 (2-3 hours LIVE each day, conference content available 24 hours).The project is supported through regional CESA networks and CAST, the national technical assistance center for UDL. Assistive Technology (AT) Forward is designed to support educators, practitioners, caregivers and families to increase student autonomy in utilizing assistive technology tools to support access, engagement, and progress in virtual and distance learning and is a collaborative project between Wisconsin DPI and CESA 2. Assistive Technology Forward provides a statewide, virtual Community of Practice (CoP) to support AT in virtual and distance learning. By joining this CoPe, members have the opportunity to learn from experts in the field of AT as well as benefit from the knowledge learned through networking with colleagues statewide. You don’t have to be an assistive technology expert to join. Anyone at any level of knowledge interested in assistive technology is encouraged to join. CoP members have access to a free membership to Assistive Technology Industry Association (AITA) that includes free online webinars related to Assistive Technology, one-to-one virtual technical assistance to support the use of AT in virtual and distance learning, and regular updates from the field and ability to share resources with others through an AT email list. Perhaps one of the most innovative long term investments and lessons learned during the pandemic has been the utility of teleservice to provide related services to students with IEPs. Teleservice is defined as the application of telecommunications technology to the delivery of services at a distance by linking the practitioner to a student, parent/caregiver, or other service provider for intervention or consultation. Teleservice to address a student’s disability related needs are often provided through related services in a student’s IEP. DPI and CESA 1 partnered on a project funded by the CARES Act to provide professional development and technical assistance for related service providers, including occupational therapists, physical therapists, school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, educational audiologists, and speech-language pathologists, who provide or will provide teleservices to students. The project provides both on-demand help and training and best practice resources free of charge. Technical assistance is available through a call center. Practitioners may access the technical assistance center by calling 262-787-9500 ext. 9800, emailing [email protected], or by filling out the request form when clicking the button “Contact Help Desk." In addition, the DPI teleservice web page includes recorded presentations from DPI staff and national experts on topics related to foundational practices and considerations when providing services via teleservice both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional recorded content will be added based on future presentations from the Teleservice Forward project. The modules page also includes a link to a self-paced learning module that provides general information about teleservices. Summary As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin schools have had an opportunity to reflect on and transform their systems for conducting comprehensive special education evaluations, developing IEPs, and providing special education services. One of the main responsibilities of school-level leadership is ensuring special education services exist as a continuum within an equitable multi-level system of support. The pandemic gave many families and educators pause to think about the most important skills students’ need to have to be independent and successful, not only in school, but along their path to becoming college and career ready. Although there continues to be an urgency and need to address learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 public health emergency, there is also hope that we, as educators, will use this experience to improve our systems of support for each and every student, including those that receive special education services through an Individualized Education Program. References Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “COVID-19 Special Education Question and Answer Document.” Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/Extended_School_Closure_due_to_COVID.pdf. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Providing Related Services via Teleservice.” Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/sped/educators/teleservice. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Teleservice Considerations for Related Services during the Current Public Health Emergency.” Accessed May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “High Quality Instructional Resources.” Accessed May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Provide Training for Educators of Online and Remote Instruction.” Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/cares/education-stabilization-funds/educator-training-online-and-remote-instruction. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Building Capacity of Mental Health Services.” Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/cares/education-stabilization-funds/educator-training-online-and-remote-instruction. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Information Update Bulletin 20.01: Additional Services due to Extended School Closures.” Accessed May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “What Families Need to Know about Additional Services Due to Extended School Closure.” Accessed May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “A Guide to Implementing IEPs and Monitoring Progress of IEP Goals When Moving Between In-Person, Hybrid, or Virtual Learning Environments.” Accessed May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “WSPEI: Preparing for Discussions on Additional Services: What Families Can Do.” Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/covid-additional-services-qa.pdf. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Supplemental Resources for Supporting Students with IEPs During COVID-19”. Accessed May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/sped/supplemental-resources-supporting-students-ieps-during-covid-19-0 Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Considerations in Using Facial Coverings When Supporting Students during In-Person Instruction.” May 18, 2021. Related Resources National Federation of Families. “Education and Mental Health During COVID-19, How Children and Caregivers are Really Doing.” May 18, 2021. https://files.constantcontact.com/fa3e9a0a001/fc8696d3-443a-41f8-b8c9-0bf682a9ac59.pdf. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Summer Learning.” May 18, 2021. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Interim COVID-19 Transportation Guidance.” May 18, 2021. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sspw/pdf/Interim_COVID-19_Transportation_Guidance.pdf.
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