Robin:

In general, I believe you are correct. I found this at the US Dept of
Education website: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible
student in order to release any information from a student's education
record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without
consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR
§ 99.31):

-School officials with legitimate educational interest;
-Other schools to which a student is transferring;
-Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
-Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
-Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
-Accrediting organizations;
-To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
-Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
-State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to
specific State law.

I would imagine that many adult education programs that are linked to K-12
or community colleges can demonstrate a 'legitimate educational interest'. I
would, however, question the value of an IEP that is out of date or does not
represent a complete assessment that is in practice today.  It seems the
real heart of the issue is funding for assessments.

I'd like to know if anyone on the list can offer some statistics on how many
adults with LD actually have pre-existing IEPs that are (a) current and (b)
relevant? 

Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX


on 1/2/06 11:11 PM, robinschwarz1 at aol.com at robinschwarz1 at aol.com wrote:


> I am wondering how records can be obtained without permission from the

> students themselves?   Aren't records protected by law?   Robin Schwarz

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>

> To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List

> <learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>

> Sent: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:40:32 -0500

> Subject: Re: [LearningDisabilities] Out of school youth with learning

> disabilities

> 

> David Rosen wrote:

> 

>> we heard that it

>> is often difficult for community-based education programs that serve

>> adults and out-of-school youth, even those which offer a high school

>> diploma through the public schools, to get the records from the

>> schools their students attended for those who were core evaluated and

>> for whom there is an I.E.P.  I was wondering if anyone on this list

>> has ideas about how that issue can be addressed.

>> 

>> 

> It is, or should be, a requirement that states keep track of children

> who receive special education services. Check with your state dept. of

> education to see if they maintain a state "child find" list. You might

> be able to submit names of your enrollees to determine whether a name

> is

> present on the state's list. If it is, there will also be information

> about evaluation dates, IEP dates, and the last school district

> attended. A letter or phone call to the director of special education

> in

> that school district should produce results. We have found in our

> school, which serves incarcerated adults and youth, that it is often

> most effective to contact the guidance office for  transcripts and

> school records, and the sped director for the special education records

> because these records are kept in separate offices.

> 

>> I also wonder what, from your experience, the needs and issues are

>> for out-of-school youth who have learning disabilities, especially

>> needs which might be different from adults with learning disabilities.

>> 

>> 

> In my experience, there is very little difference between youth and

> adults with learning disabilities in terms of their needs. There are,

> of

> course, differences in maturity and differences in learning and

> differences in strengths and weaknesses, social differences, goals,

> family, housing, transportation and employment needs differences, but

> these are individual differences and they need to be addressed

> individually among all students, not by age or by disability.

> 

> Self-paced individualized learning and giving the students the power to

> make their own decisions about their education have been factors that

> our school finds enormously beneficial in motivating and helping

> students pursue their educational goals whether or not they have

> learning disabilities. It is my opinion that learning disabilities do

> not become disabling unless the student is forced into an environment

> that does not tolerate or accommodate the individual differences or

> needs of the student. Self-paced individualized learning avoids this

> pitfall. This is oversimplified, of course. There are many many details

> that must be carefully considered to make it happen.

> 

> We see workforce development skills as being very important. We look at

> the "hard skills" such as vocational, trades, and career training. We

> also look at the "soft skills" which include qualities that make a

> person employable (e.g. dependability, punctuality, ability to accept

> directions and constructive criticism, interpersonal skills, and

> communication). I believe I'd be pretty safe in saying that we do not

> see much of a correlation between learning disabilities and workforce

> learning.

> 

> Tom Woods

> Community High School of Vermont

> 

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