Idaho State Department of Education Special Education Manual

This is a link to the Idaho State Department of Education’s Special Education Manual.  The Manual has been created to meet the needs of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as well as be consistent with state and federal laws, rules, regulations and legal requirements.  

http://www.sde.idaho.gov/sped/sped-manual/ 

Special Education Forms

These forms on the Idaho State Departement of Education website are templates to be used for various compliance documents required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Professional Standards Commission – Educator Code of Ethics

This version of the Code of Ethics for Idaho Professional Educators was revised by the Professional StandardsCommission and approved by both the State Board of Education and the Idaho legislature. (IDAPA 08.02.02.076) 

Click here to view or download the Code of Ethics for Professional Educators in PDF form. 

Idaho Content Standards

All students graduating from Idaho public high schools must meet state adopted content standards. These standards are to be used as a minimum threshold by every school district in the state in order to establish some consistency in academic content statewide.

Idaho Content Standards

Special Education and Alternate Assessments

One element of having high expectations for students with disabilities is having them participate in statewide assessments. The expectation is that every student with a disability participate in all statewide assessments. This expectation focuses an IEP team’s assessment participation decision not on IF the student will participate, but HOW the student will participate. A student with a disability can participate in statewide assessments in one of three ways:

• Regular assessment without accommodations.
• Regular assessment with accommodations.
• Alternate assessment, intended only for those students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, representing about 1.0% of the total student population.
  • The ISAT alternate assessment is known as the Idaho Alternate Assessment (IDAA)
  • The ACCESS for ELs alternate assessment is known as the Alt-ACCESS.

Idaho Special Education and Alternate Assessments Website 

CADRE Advocacy Information

From CADRE (the national center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) we have 2 PDF handouts about advocacy.

The first handout covers collaberative advocacy’s guiding principles:   

“Collaborative Advocacy is an approach to advocating for children with disabilities that utilizes collaborative problem-solving skills and relationship-strengthening strategies to resolve disagreements. This approach can be used by anyone serving as a third-party advocate to focus on improving educational and developmental outcomes for students with disabilities.”

Download the  PDF on Collaberative Advocacy’s Principles here. 

The second handout is a guide for parents in selecting an Educational Advocate: 

“An educational advocate, also known as a parent advocate, child advocate, student advocate, or independent advocate, assists parents of students with disabilities in navigating the complex world of special education. For a fee, professional advocates provide information, guidance and support throughout the IEP process to encourage decisions that meet the needs of the student.”

Download the PDF flyer on selecting an Educational Advocate here.