ACT help

[Himhimthem]

Can someone point me to a conversation thread that may already answer questions I have about the process of requesting extra time on the ACT. I have all the documentation, but looking for a nicely formatted way to create an education plan (in writing) that we have done for the last 10 year of  our daughter's education. HELP.

 

Thanks 

Suzanne

[OneStepAtATime]

:grouphug:   We haven't had to do this yet but I know others have.  Hopefully someone will respond.  I would say do a search but the search feature for WTM seems to be a bit wonky right now.  Hang in there.  It may take time for people to get on and respond. 

 

You might find some help with the book How to Homeschool Your Struggling Learner by Kathy Kuhl.  You could get on her website, too.

 

And the Learning Abled kids site is run by Sandy Cook.  She is an author and posts on this board upon occasion.  Definitely a BTDT person.  Her site might really help you.

 

Best wishes....

[SandyKC]

HEY Suzanne,

 

I'm just about to go to a homeschool activity, but saw this and thought I'd drop a line and say I'll be back to respond this afternoon/evening.  I HAVE BTDT.  What do you have in the way of documentation?  Might be able to send that with a brief write-up of what you do at home.. If you have a comprehensive evaluation, you generally don't need much more with the ACT folks. ;-)

 

Be back soon!

[SandyKC]

I'm back. ;-) Basically, the ACT folks are looking for documentation of your child's disability by a qualified evaluator.  They will base their decision more on the evaluation report than anything.  If your evaluation report documents recommended accommodations, then your plan can be a really simple page explaining the accommodations your child has received over the past three years. When considering testing accommodations, the considerations are based upon the most recent three years.. There is an assumption your child will have made progress over the past decade and what she needed a decade ago for testing doesn't really matter. What she needs now is critical.

 

Having an "educational plan" is more important if you don't have a comprehensive evaluation to document accommodations, but truthfully, they seem to put little stock in anything a mom writes.  I've known some applicants that had IEPs from earlier years in public school along with a mom's documentation who were turned down for accommodations. I'm not saying the educational plan won't carry any weight, but it doesn't carry a lot of weight.  Therefore, I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it. A current, comprehensive evaluation that is less than three years old, and which documents your child's disabilities and needed accommodations is the most viable way to get good accommodations. ;)

 

As far as formatting goes, you can section by academic task and/or activity.  For example:

 

Reading: Audiobooks, tests read aloud

Writing: Oral answers, dictation software, note taking assistance

Math: Calculator

 

Testing: Extended time, spell-checker, tests read aloud

 

Feel free to ask me specific questions.. not that I'll KNOW the answer, but I might. ;-) 

 

[MerryAtHope]

 

 

Can someone point me to a conversation thread that may already answer questions I have about the process of requesting extra time on the ACT. I have all the documentation, but looking for a nicely formatted way to create an education plan (in writing) that we have done for the last 10 year of  our daughter's education. HELP.

 

Thanks 

Suzanne

 

I tried to find the one I based ours on, but am not finding it right now. The most important things:

 

Have a plan for your current year (label it for the current year--you wouldn't want it to look the same for 10 years--it should reflect current practices & needs). 

 

Specify what you do for regular work and what you do for assessments. Very important. Our plan had these headings:

 

Title, year applicable, student name at the top 

 

Diagnosis: (type and date)

 

(Previous diagnosis if there is one--this highlights that the problems have been present over time even if dx. changed)

 

Description: basic overview of struggles and remediation completed.

 

Grade: 

Also specify what they are working towards (ie, High School Diploma, college-bound, etc....)

 

Areas of Strength:

 

Areas of Need:

 

Subjects to which the Educational Plan applies:

 

Instructional Accommodations:

 

Environmental Accommodations

 

Assessment Accommodations:

 

Occasional Assessment accommodations:

 

Objectives and Goals: 

 

I looked at a bunch of samples online to get an idea of what kinds of things to include, how to word things, and so on. The final product was 1 full page. 

 

Then for the cover letter, I really made sure to cover everything it seemed ACT was looking for:

 

-certified that the enclosed accommodations plan was in place for this school year for [diagnosis].

-Specified that the accommodations for daily work and assessments were detailed by [tester's name, professional title], specified what pages to see for the detailed list of accommodations and recommendations outlined

-stated that the student is allowed

1. for both regular work and assessments in all subjects. Stated that these were allowed as a result of [diagnosis] and specific items that warrant the accommodation (and with a reference to the pages that detail those tests & results)

 

-certified that the accommodations have been in place and are on file in your school records since [date]. I specified a few dates to very briefly reflect our full history (accommodations started, previous testing, remediation used etc...)

-thank them for their time/attention, ask to be notified if additional information is required etc...

 

If you are wanting an accommodation that isn't specifically listed on the report from your tester, call and ask if it would be appropriate to add, and ask for a new copy. If you ask for things that aren't recommended in there, you're more likely to be turned down.