Accommodations in the Remote Learning Environment

Introduction

The Covid-19 Pandemic impacted the world and caused a major shift in how to deliver education. In an instant, 60 million students in the United States that were attending in-person public schooling were thrust into a virtual learning setting (Becker et al., 2020). Research documents that students who were considered high-achieving learners tended to be minimally impacted in terms of academics through remote learning (Reich et al., 2020). Parents with privileged backgrounds were able to learn and find alternate ways of educating their children (Schleicher, 2020). Yet, even with $30 billion in education emergency relief disbursed, there were educational disparities among children in poverty, resulting in lower test scores, lower educational attainment, and a decrease in earning potential (Masonbrink & Hurley, 2020).

One group that was disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic was students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 detail how students with disabilities in the United States are entitled to services and accommodations that allow them to have free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment (Averett, 2021). The purpose of the Individual Education Plan (IEP) is to monitor the progress of the student and ensure they are receiving a proper education (Averett, 2021). The IEP process can be stressful because it sometimes focuses on the deficits of the child and not the strengths. One outcome of this focus is accommodations for teaching and learning are written into the IEP. Therefore, many parents and guardians who went into Covid-19 were already attuned to their child’s needs and what accommodations their children required (Averett, 2021). This chapter examines accommodations in the remote learning environment, and some of the best practices educators can implement in remote learning environments.