MAY I FLUNK A STUDENT WITH DISABILITIES?

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Yes, it is possible to flunk a student with a disability. The secret centers on compliance with the civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination. These laws mandate access to education, not guaranteed academic success. When a faculty member has done all that is required, then flunking the under-qualified student is proper and lawful. Here's a compliance checklist:

• Stand by academic standards and freedoms. Full and equitable access to academic programs serves as the foundation to standards and freedoms.
• Communicate clear and concise expectations for performance to your students. Care should be taken to distinguish between essential and non-essentials components of the course.
• Allow reasonable accommodations. Accommodations are changes in the way things are done and affect only non-essential aspects of the course. They are reasonable so long as course standards are not fundamentally altered.
• Provide notice to your students of your willingness to accommodate. This can be done verbally during lectures and in writing within a course syllabus. Disability Services & Resources recommends both. One might say "Students with disabilities are welcome to discuss accommodations with me."
• Consult with the student and Disability Services & Resources counselors. Any student should generate his or her own requests for accommodations. Requests ought to be backed up by evidence of the need for accommodation. A sensible link between the disability's functional limitations and the accommodation requested must be supported. Faculty can verify the existence of the disability and need for accommodation with Disability Services & Resources.
• Permit students to use auxiliary aides and technologies that ensure access. Depending on the disability, students may use note takers, sign language interpreters, readers, scribes, and research assistants. Others may use tape recorder/players, computers, assistive listening devices, and other technologies for the same purpose.
• Grant alternatives to printed information. Braille, computer electronic text, large print, and tape cassettes may be necessary to ensure access to textbooks and classroom information. Disability Services & Resources facilitates obtaining these alternative formats for students with disabilities. If Internet resources and other technologies are used, then they must also be accessible to students with disabilities as they are for other students.
• Make academic adjustments in instruction. Some students need lecturers to face the audience while speaking. Others may need written or graphic information spoken aloud or described. Adjustments such as these may be made after the student requests them.
• Respect requests for accommodations. Again, depending on the particular needs of a student, it may be necessary to extend testing times, change testing formats, test in a quiet environment, and so on. It is recommend that instructors use Disability Services & Resources test accommodation services.
• Regard disability-related discussions and information with the strictest confidentiality. No professor has the right to destroy program access by ignoring confidentiality.

And there you have it. If compliance checks out, flunk the student who isn't otherwise qualified. Although it is possible for any student to complain, it is another matter entirely to show discrimination when faculty have complied with the law. For more information, give the folks at Disability Services & Resources a call at 726-8217.

Adapted from The University of Montana's "How to Flunk a Student with a Disability" web page.

Sunday, 15-Jun-2008 15:19:32 CDT