I came from the K-12 system. When a student did not have an Individual Education Plan but needed accommodations and had the documentation, we created a 504 Plan. This plan would give the student the needed accommodations. We would also use this form if a student had an temporary injury, such as a broken arm at the time of FCAT to provide a scribe for that student. Often our teachers would provide accommodations to meet the needs of the students without the documentation, but at times there were teachers who we had to "encourage" providing the accommodations with the 504 plan. Since I have been in Adult Education, I have wanted to know is there is such a document for Adult Education? And, would it even be useful since we must go through different procedures to attain accommodations for students on the actual GED Test?
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If you have a student who is ultimately taking the GED Test it does not matter if you have a 504 plan or not.The correct GED accommodation must be completed as long as the student meets the eligibility requirements. To get to the accommodation forms, go to this link on the GED website: http://ged.fldoe.org/. Under the heading "Other Important Resources" click onto "Accommodations for Test-Takers with Disabilities." Click onto the appropriate form for completion. The directions for the form are supplied. If you still have questions once you have done that, contact the coordinator of GED Programs at 850-245-0991.
Thank you for your response. One of the things that I am having difficulty with is get a recent educational psychological evaluation for our students so that we can provide the needed documentation for the GED. They will bring me their IEP from high school, but in most cirucumstances, the evaluation was done in elementary school. Students are able to go to a local psychologist, but that costs money that many of our students do not have. I have referred students to vocational rehabilitation, but the documents that I have received have not been sufficient for the GED Testing service. As a school counselor, I am unable to provide the educational evaluation. We have some students that need just a little bit of extra time to be successful. At this point, I am trying to help students attain accommodations that do not require prior approval. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Leslie,
I understand your question, and have consulted with the GED office regarding less expensive evaluations. Unfortunately, IEPs from years ago will not satisfy GED Testing Service (GEDTS) requirements. The recommendation I can make is to go to the GED Testing Service (GEDTS) and to check under "additional resources." Here are the steps to get there:
Go back to the FLDOE GED website
Click onto link: "Accommodation for GED Test-Takers." This takes you to the GEDTS website
Scroll down until you see "additional resources."
Click here and see : FAQ, Lower cost test sites, Personal items and minor modifications. Hopefully something here will help. We (myself and the GED office) are aware that the cost of evaluations are expensive, but we are obligated to follow policies and procedures put into place by GEDTS.
Is it possible to see if locally there is someone who will do evals on a sliding scale perhaps? As always, we appreciate your question.
Thank you so much for the resources. I am still in my first year as a guidance counselor for the Adult Ed program and am still learning so much as how to best serve our students.
Hi Leslie,
Sometimes for GED students who are going to VR it might help to contact the VR counselor and let them know what the accommodations are for the GED so they can pass them on to the psychologist. The psychologist can then make direct statements about the need for those accommodations in the test report. I have, in the past, sent the accommodations to the psychologist after the testing and for a small fee to VR, they wrote an addendum to the report covering the needed GED testing accommodations. If I am not mistaken, that is still a procedure that VR will approve. If VR did not do a full battery of testing, you can ask them to send the client to testing at any time during the life of the case. So if a short testing will increase the client’s ability to get the GED and go to work, the expenditure is justifiable.
Keep in mind that in terms of the classroom instruction, it is sometimes best to only allow the same accommodations in the classroom that the test allows. That will give the student the best opportunity to be prepared for the testing environment .
I additionally want to just say that as an advocate, you might want to talk to your adult ed administration about what policies they have in terms of providing accommodations for adult and adult vocational students. In addition to it being the law, providing accommodations has been shown to significantly increase the success rate of students with disabilities.
Leslie,There are many school districts in Florida that have a 504 plan in place for Accommodating adult students with disabilities in Career and Adult Education programs. (Broward County (my county), Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade, Collier, etc.) These plans serve as documentation that the student has provided us with documentation of a disabiity that substantiates the need for accommodations and describes the provision of these accommodations for basic skills testing, instruction and any changes needed in the classroom setting. Samples of 504 plans and an intake process are described in the FL's Creating a Statewide Delivery System for Serving Adults with Disabilities in Adult Education. . You can probably google that. It was developed by FL's Practitioners Taskforce on Adults with Learning Disabilities several years back and we developed our intake process from that. The plans cross all disability areas. You may also find it on the Florida TechNet website. Dr. Rochelle Kenyon was the consultant on the project as is the Disability Moderator for this Discussion List. These students must get intervention and practice with these accommodations regardless of whether they will get to GED levels which may or may not happen. We are seeing an increase in the number of people who apply for and get approved for GED accommodations by GEDTS or the state from our district but even with the approval, many are not ready and I anticipate that with next year's Test's alignment with CCSS, most of these students with metacognitive difficulties, will really struggle. Even so, if you would like me to send you a copy of our 504 manual, just let me know and provide me an email address to forward it to or email me directly at meryl.eisenberg@browardschools.com. Hope that helps!