Introduction
Under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Direct Educational Services , the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) makes loans to help students and parents pay the cost of attendance at a postsecondary school. This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook provides information to assist schools in determining student and parent eligibility for Direct Loans, counseling student borrowers, and awarding Direct Loans. Qualified personnel are available to provide instruction as per the curriculum and/or IEP in the student’s school or home environment. These services can include coordination of the ER/RR/IEP process, IEP development, and/or facilitation of the transition back to the home school district or CAIU class placement
Direct Educational Services and Itinerant COSERs
Itinerant Direct Educational Services are a way for our partner school Direct Educational Services to provide necessary student instruction and services they may otherwise struggle to provide. ONC BOCES hires and assigns itinerant teachers of academics, the arts and student support areas, as well as related service providers, to schools that cannot generate a student population sufficient to justify a full-time position. Itinerant teachers and related service providers work with the general education population and with students who have disabilities. Below are the areas where ONC BOCES currently provides Itinerant Services to our partner districts.
What is the IEP process?
Direct Educational Services Recall that the purpose of the procedural requirements is to make certain that the IEP process is followed in order to develop high-quality IEPs. Before they begin this process, however, educators should be familiar with some basic information about pre-referral practices and the guiding principles behind IDEA.
Direct Educational Services and Pre-Referral
When a child exhibit learning or behavior difficulties, teachers first try to determine whether systematic changes to instruction or other aspects of the learning environment are sufficient to address them. This is referred to as the pre-referral process, a team-based approach many schools use to help classroom teachers implement interventions for students with academic or behavioral problems. For some students, these minor changes are enough, and no further interventions are required. For others, though, the pre-referral process leads to a formal referral to be evaluated Direct Educational Services for special education services
Direct Educational Services with Federal and State Regulations
Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings. Also, 34 CFR § 300.115 Continuum of alternative placements includes Instruction Conducted in the Home as:
Include the alternative placements listed in the definition of special education under 34 CFR § 300.39 (instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions).
Pennsylvania special education regulations under Title 22 PA Code Chapter 14, specifically § 14.102 Purposes, adopts by reference those federal regulations that refer to Instruction Conducted in the Home.
They include: 34 CFR § 300.39 (relating to special education), 34 CFR § 300.113 and § 300.114(a)(2) (relating to routine checking of hearing aids and external components of surgically implanted medical devices; and LRE requirements), and 34 CFR §§ 300.115—300.117 (relating to continuum of alternative placements; placements; and nonacademic settings).
Direct Educational Services and Placement
A local educational agency (LEA) has a duty after evaluating a student to determine if the student has a disability and requires specially designed instruction through the development of an IEP. According to 34 CFR § 300.306 (c)(2): If a determination is made that a child has a disability and needs special education and related services, an IEP must be developed for the child in accordance with §§ 300.320—300.324. Based on the IEP, the LEA must determine the educational placement located in the least restrictive environment. Neither the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), nor its implementing regulations, however, define the term “educational placement.” According to 34 C.F.R. § 300.116 Placements: In determining the educational placement of a child with a disability, including a preschool child with a disability, each public agency must ensure that.
Instruction restricted for students
The use of Instruction Conducted in the Home is restricted to students whose needs require full-time special education services and programs outside the school setting for the entire day. Ordinarily, these will be students who, because of a severe medical condition or mobility impairment, are unable to leave home to attend school. Although a student placed by his or her IEP team on Instruction Conducted in the Home does not receive his or her program in the school setting, he or she remains entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) equal to his or her non-disabled peers, unless this amount of instruction would jeopardize the child’s health or welfare.
Instruction conducted in the home is not an appropriate option in situations when the LEA is experiencing difficulty in arranging the program or placement that a student requires. In such cases, the LEA should continue to serve the student in accordance with his or her IEP while taking steps to promptly arrange for the services that the student requires. These steps may include seeking assistance from PDE or from other child-serving agencies involved with the student.
Direct Educational Services and Homebound Instruction
A nonpublic school pupil unable to attend school because of physical, mental, or emotional illness or injury as substantiated by a licensed physician is eligible to be instructed at home or in a hospital by a tutor provided by the school district in which the pupil resides. If a prolonged absence is foreseen and such instruction seems appropriate, it is recommended that the administrator of the nonpublic school discuss with parents the possibility of arranging for homebound instruction. An absence of two weeks is generally considered a prolonged absence. This should be verified by a statement from the pupil’s physician. The parents should then be encouraged to contact the public school district and make arrangements for instruction to begin as soon as possible. If the parents so desire, the nonpublic school administrator could make the contact with the district.
Commensurate with C.R. 175.21, instruction should be provided for a minimum of five hours per week, preferably for one hour per day, at the elementary level and for a minimum of ten hours per week, preferably two hours per day, at the secondary level. During the period of time that the pupil receives instruction under the auspices of the public school district, the district may claim the pupil for State aid purposes.
Conclusion
We have established a standard format for examples and numbered the examples sequentially within Volume 8, so that any example can be easily referenced by its number. In addition, we have simplified the examples by eliminating the use of fictitious school and student names.
Communication between nonpublic school personnel and the tutor employed by the district is essential to ensure continuation of the pupil’s normal program. The nonpublic school administrator should make textbooks, other materials, and appropriate records of the pupil available to the tutor as instruction begins. At the conclusion of this interim service, the tutor should submit to the nonpublic school a report of the pupil’s progress during the period of homebound instruction.
