Accessible Progress Monitoring

IDEA ensured that students with disabilities are afforded meaningful educational benefit from academic programs. Additionally, the ADA protects students (and adults) with disabilities so they have access to accommodations to be able to participate in academic, employment, and leisure activities. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires web-based media to be accessible to all users. Students who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) require different approaches, not only to teaching, but also to progress monitoring. One example that comes up often is the issue of district-adopted progress monitoring tools that are inaccessible to students who are DHH. This lack of accessibility can be due to media with no captions or mandatory sections of the tool that do not provide auditory access due to content. Regardless of the barrier being presented, if a tool measuring student progress is inaccessible, the district must find an equitable tool for measuring progress. This is just one of the reasons why specific assessments must be listed on the IEP.