Special Education and English Learners
Core concepts
Know IDEA's core guarantees: free appropriate public education (FAPE), appropriate evaluation, the individualized education program (IEP), least restrictive environment (LRE), procedural safeguards, and parent participation. Distinguish IDEA (specialized instruction, eligibility categories) from Section 504 (nondiscrimination, access via accommodations). Know IEP components, transition planning, functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention plans, progress monitoring, RTI/MTSS, universal design for learning, co-teaching models, and the difference between accommodations (change how) and modifications (change what).
For English learners, know BICS versus CALP, the Lau and Castañeda decisions, English language proficiency standards and level descriptors, sheltered instruction and comprehensible input, and the caution against over-identifying ELs for special education.
Traps
Swapping accommodation for modification. Assuming LRE means full general education placement for everyone. Confusing a 504 plan with an IEP. Attributing a language difference to a disability.
Worked example
An EL student struggles with a grade-level science text. Providing the text in the home language, audio support, and a glossary is accommodation - the standard is unchanged. Reducing the assessment to below-grade content would be a modification.
Rule of thumb
Ask whether the grade-level expectation stayed the same: if yes, it is an accommodation; if the expectation itself changed, it is a modification.