Minnesota legislation passed last year requires public schools to assess whether students with individualized education programs have regressed or lost learning opportunities during the pandemic. They must determine appropriate services to help compensate for lost learning, and deliver them regardless of staff shortages or school closures.
Implementing the requirement, however, hasn't been easy and Online instruction for disabled students “has largely been not as rigorous, not as comprehensive, not as personal, not as meaningful as in-person services,” says Dan Stewart, the legal director at the Minnesota Disability Law Center. “For these kids, the COVID experience has been a largely unmitigated disaster because of the COVID restrictions, because of staffing problems, because of technology problems,” Stewart said. [Continue reading] |