Did you know that students in Curriculum Assistance classes in high school will no longer receive credit for this class? For those who do not have a child in high school, a Curriculum Assistance (CA) class is a class for students with IEPs who need additional help—it’s comparable to resource pull-out time in elementary school. Students in CA learn how to take notes, study the brain, write papers, take tests, and receive additional help in their areas of need. The classes are taught by a Special Education teacher. At this point, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is looking into this change, which apparently was made by the section that runs the student information system (NCWISE).
For students who only need this class occasionally, denying them credit for this time is probably not significant. DPI requires a minimum of 22 credits; local school systems can require additional credits for graduation with a diploma. Wake County requires 20 – 26+ credits, depending on the specific high school. However, this could pose a problem for students who need CA every semester (if on the block system): that could be 8 credits lost. With a potential of 32 credits (8 per year, 4 years of high school), subtracting 8 credits leaves 24 credits for regular education classes. If your high school or system requires more than 24 credits, that poses a barrier to a diploma.
If students aren’t going to be credited for this time, perhaps they should return to the regular education class and have in-class resource instead…which is more costly in terms of staffing.
If you have a high school student who is taking regular education classes, this is an issue that you should discuss with the IEP team.
Tags: Autism Society of North Carolina, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Go back
Great post; now what do we do about it?