NYSTCE SDBL (105/106) key terms

The federal entitlement of every eligible student with a disability to an individualized education that meets their needs at public expense, delivered in conformity with an IEP reasonably calculated to enable progress.

The federal statute governing special education for eligible children aged 3 through 21, establishing procedural safeguards, the IEP process, discipline protections, and the requirement of education in the least restrictive environment.

The principle that students with disabilities must be educated alongside peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal occurring only when supplementary aids and services cannot support satisfactory progress.

A written legal document for each eligible student specifying present levels of performance, measurable annual goals, special education and related services, accommodations, and progress-monitoring methods, developed by a required team and reviewed at least annually.

The legal rights given to parents and students under IDEA, including notice, consent, access to records, participation in meetings, mediation, and impartial due process hearings when disputes arise over identification, evaluation, or placement.

The ongoing obligation of states and districts to identify, locate, and evaluate all children suspected of having a disability who need special education, including children in private schools, homeless shelters, and foster care.

A required written statement to parents, in their native language, explaining any proposal or refusal to initiate or change identification, evaluation, placement, or services, including the basis for the decision and sources of information used.

A parent's voluntary written agreement to an action, given after receiving full explanation in an understandable language, required before initial evaluation, initial service provision, and certain reevaluations.

A document under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 providing accommodations and services so a student with a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting a major life activity can access the general curriculum; it does not require specially designed instruction.

A formal administrative proceeding before an impartial hearing officer where parties present evidence and testimony to resolve disagreements about a student's identification, evaluation, placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education.

A disorder in basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language that may manifest as difficulty in listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or mathematics, not primarily caused by other disabilities or environmental factors.

A neurobiologically based specific learning disability characterized by inaccurate or effortful word reading, poor decoding and spelling, typically reflecting a phonological processing deficit rather than a lack of intelligence or instruction.

A specific learning disability affecting number sense, fact retrieval, calculation accuracy, and mathematical reasoning, which persists despite adequate instruction and is not explained by intellectual disability or sensory impairment.

A developmental disability involving persistent differences in social communication and interaction plus restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior or interests, with symptoms present early and affecting daily functioning across varied severity levels.

An eligibility category for students exhibiting one or more characteristics such as inability to learn unexplained by other factors, relationship problems, inappropriate behavior, depression, or physical symptoms, over a long period and to a marked degree.

Significantly below-average intellectual functioning existing with adaptive behavior deficits in conceptual, social, and practical domains, originating before age 18 and affecting everyday functioning in school and community settings.

The conceptual, social, and practical skills a person uses to function in daily life, such as communication, self-care, safety, money use, and social judgment, typically measured through standardized rating scales completed with caregivers and teachers.

An eligibility category for limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that adversely affects educational performance.

An instructional planning framework that proactively provides multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression so varied learners can access content and demonstrate learning without retrofitted modifications.

Purposeful adjustment of content, process, product, and learning environment based on readiness, interest, and learning profile, using flexible grouping and tiered tasks while keeping grade-level expectations central.

A structured teaching approach using clear modeling, guided practice with feedback, and independent practice, breaking complex skills into manageable steps and making thinking visible to reduce ambiguity for learners.

Temporary supports such as models, prompts, graphic organizers, or chunked tasks that help a student accomplish a task just beyond independent reach, gradually withdrawn as competence grows.

Changes in how a student accesses instruction or demonstrates learning, such as extended time, preferential seating, or read-aloud, that do not alter content standards or expectations for mastery.

Changes to what a student is expected to learn or the level of performance required, such as reduced content, simplified texts, or alternate assessments, which alter grade-level standards and may affect diploma pathways.

Any item, device, or system, from low-tech pencil grips to speech-generating software, that increases, maintains, or improves functional capabilities of a student with a disability; consideration is required at every IEP meeting.

A systematic process of gathering information through observation, interviews, and record review to identify the antecedents, consequences, and function maintaining a problem behavior, forming the basis for a behavior intervention plan.

A written plan derived from functional assessment data that specifies proactive prevention strategies, replacement skills to teach, and response procedures, monitored for effectiveness and revised when data show insufficient improvement.

A multi-tiered framework of schoolwide prevention that teaches and reinforces expected behaviors, uses data to identify needs, and intensifies supports for students requiring targeted or individualized intervention.

A required team meeting after a disciplinary removal exceeding ten cumulative school days that examines whether the misconduct was caused by or directly related to the student's disability or resulted from the district's failure to implement the IEP.

A multi-tiered prevention model in which students receive increasingly intensive, research-based instruction with progress monitoring, used both to support struggling learners and to inform identification of specific learning disabilities.

An integrated schoolwide framework combining academic and behavioral supports across tiers of increasing intensity, driven by universal screening and data-based decision rules for grouping, movement, and intervention adjustment.

Frequent, brief measurement of a student's performance on a target skill, using comparable probes and graphed data, to judge whether instruction is working and whether goals or interventions should change.

A set of brief, standardized, repeatable probes in reading, writing, spelling, or math that yield scores sensitive to short-term growth, widely used for screening and progress monitoring decisions.

A standardized assessment scored by comparing a student's performance to a representative peer sample, yielding percentile ranks or standard scores used to determine eligibility and describe relative strengths and needs.

A derived score expressing how far a student's performance lies from the normative mean in standard deviation units, commonly reported with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15 on cognitive and achievement measures.

The IEP section describing a student's current skills, strengths, needs, and how the disability affects involvement in the general curriculum, using data that anchor annual goals and service decisions.

The required group developing a student's program, including parents, at least one general education teacher, a special education teacher, a district representative, someone who can interpret evaluation results, the student when appropriate, and other invited participants.

A coordinated set of activities beginning by age 16, or earlier in some states, that builds measurable postsecondary goals for education, employment, and independent living based on age-appropriate assessments and student preferences.

The legal and ethical duty under FERPA and IDEA to protect personally identifiable education information, limit access to those with legitimate educational interest, and obtain consent before disclosure except in specified exceptions.

The habit of systematically examining one's own instructional decisions, student outcome data, and assumptions to identify what to keep, adjust, or learn, often using journals, video review, peer observation, or coaching feedback.

Instruction and assessment that recognize students' cultural backgrounds, languages, and experiences as assets, while avoiding biased interpretations of behavior or performance that reflect cultural difference rather than disability.

The overrepresentation or underrepresentation of a racial, ethnic, or linguistic group in special education identification, placement, or discipline relative to its share of enrollment, often signaling bias in referral and assessment practices.