Intended Audience: Mentors
When building a student’s special population record, mentors are asked to select the student’s accommodations as they appear on the IEP or 504. To facilitate this process, please use the following document to help you identify which accommodations appear in each category of accommodation on the record.
Locally Supported Accommodations
Any accommodations not listed under the Integrated or Michigan Virtual Course level accommodations below must be supported fully by the local district of record. Michigan Virtual staff are available for consultation on how accommodations may be supported locally.
Michigan Virtual Course Level Accommodations
All Michigan Virtual course level accommodations will be supported to the greatest extent possible by Michigan Virtual as allowed by the aligned course standards and technological constraints. At times, accommodations may not be fully supportable as written by the local district of record in a remote asynchronous setting. Additional support beyond what is provided by Michigan Virtual is the responsibility of the local district of record for this student.
| COURSE ACCOMMODATION | DEFINITION OF ACCOMMODATION |
|---|---|
| Advanced Notice for Assignments | Online course expectations are transparent. All the course requirements and suggested due dates are given at the beginning of the course, and can be found in the pacing guide widget within the SLP. |
| Communication with Parents | The instructor can be reached by the mentor or parent through the SLP at any point during the course. The instructor will send formal progress reports no less than once per month. The SLP will display student progress and updates twice per day. |
| Extended Quiz/Test Time up to X2 | With Brightspace, all students are given double the time the test is designed to take as a default. If a student needs more time on a test they are taking, they must reach out to their instructor to have more time added on an individual basis for each assessment when it is needed. Students should NOT submit their quiz or test before doing this. |
| Extended Time on Assignments | Extended time does not mean extended term. Students have access to the course 24/7, and therefore extended time is inherent in the course. In non-AP courses, there are no hard due dates, which means students can work at their own pace provided they are done by the last day of the semester. AP Courses have hard due dates and students must meet those dates to be successful. Students are encouraged to work with their instructors individually if time becomes an issue in AP level courses, although it is an expectation that students are working on the course outside of school (at home) in order to meet due date requirements if needed since AP courses typically require more time than a traditional course. |
| Frequent Prompts/Checks for Understanding | Online curriculum often quizzes students after small segments of work. If the student does not do well, the computer will suggest that the student review the chapter, video, etc. and offer a chance to retake the quiz. Some courses offer more prompts than others, though the student may always reach out to the instructor for clarification. |
| Help with Organization | Classes are inherently organized. Students can follow a logical format. Once assignments are completed they are directly submitted for grading to the instructor. Michigan Virtual courses are reviewed by a third party to be sure navigation is intuitive and logical. Mentors can also assist with organization. |
| Visual Support | Some of the online courses have many videos for the student to watch. These videos may be replayed multiple times allowing the student to take notes and work at his/her own pace. Students/Mentors can also reach out to instructors for additional resources for supporting gaps. |
| Read Out Loud (Tests/Assignments) | The ability to have tests or assignments read aloud in certain courses through ReadSpeaker is available. However, in certain vendor provided courses, this is not an option. If the integrated accommodation is not available, reading a test to a student cannot be completed on demand and would become an accommodation implemented by the local school. |
Michigan Virtual Integrated Accommodations
Common Integrated Accommodations Available to Select are:
| COURSE ACCOMMODATION | DEFINITION OF ACCOMMODATION |
|---|---|
| Breaks During Testing | Students can request extra time from their instructor if their test times out when they are taking a reasonable break during testing. |
| Chunking Information into Smaller Segments with Due Dates | Students/mentors may work with the online instructor to "chunk" portions of the pacing guide. Online classes allow students to do small amounts of work at a time. Students do need to be aware that this does not reduce the overall work, but it will allow a student to break up the work into small segments; this way several segments can be accomplished over a longer period of time, with breaks. Students can also structure their viewing to allow them to view only a lesson or an assignment at a time. |
| Extended Quiz/Test Time | With Brightspace, all students are given double the time the test is designed to take as a default. If a student needs more than that time on a test they are taking, they must reach out to their instructor to have more time added on an individual basis for each assessment when it is needed. Students should not submit their test or quiz before asking for this extra time. |
| Reduced Answer Choice on Quizzes/Tests | If the student needs reduced answer choices on a test or quiz, this is possible by the mentor requesting this accommodation from the instructor. The instructor will contact the Senior Special Education Specialist for assistance in executing this accommodation. |
| Reduced Length of Assignments/Workload | The assignments in the course cannot be reduced in number, however, when appropriate and applicable, the student, mentor, and instructor can work together to reduce the length of assignments. |
| Restate/Clarify Directions | The student and/or mentor will need to contact their instructor directly (via SLP, email, phone call, etc.) for directions to be explained or clarified. They should note that the instructor may not be available at the time of their outreach, but will receive a response within 24 hours, Monday - Friday. |
| Resubmission of Assignments | Students should contact the instructor and request this option. Online courses look for mastery learning, and instructors will accommodate this when applicable and appropriate. |
| Retake of Tests/Quizzes | The student should be allowed to retake tests and get credit for improvements. If this is not possible due to the lack of a test bank, the student should have the opportunity to complete test corrections for credit. |
| Retake on Areas Not Mastered | Online courses cannot single out questions. If a student wishes to retake, they must retake the full assignment/quiz/test, or work with the instructor and submit appropriate corrections for an improved score. |
| Spelling/Grammar | The student should not be penalized for spelling or grammar if spelling/grammar are not the items being assessed. |
| Provide Teacher Notes/Study Guides | Formal study guides may or may not be available inside the course shell. The student should always feel free to contact their instructor to discuss how to best prepare for upcoming quizzes/tests. Most courses do not contain teacher notes - students are encouraged to take notes or keep a lesson content window open in a different tab when they need to refer to course content. |
| Extended Time on Assignments (AP ONLY) | Extended time does not mean extended term. Students have access to the course 24/7, and therefore extended time is inherent in the course. AP Courses have hard due dates and students must meet those dates to be successful. Students are encouraged to work with their instructors individually if time becomes an issue in AP level courses, although it is likely for all students to need to work on the course outside of the school day due the AP course-level rigor in order to meet due date requirements. |
| Extended Time in AP Courses Protocol | The request for extended time must include the student’s mentor. Beyond the extended time period allowed for in a student’s IEP or 504, the Michigan Virtual AP Policy applies. The end date of the course is concrete and the student cannot work beyond this date on course material. "Extended time" does not translate to extended term. There will be no extensions during the last week of a course that would take a student outside of the course’s end date. |