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COVID-19 Special Education Technical Assistance Advisory 2021-1

Per the COMMISSIONER’S WEEKLY UPDATE:

Advisory on Compensatory Services:


The Department has issued new guidance for schools, districts, and individualized education program (IEP) teams to help determine the types of supports and services that students with disabilities may need in order to address the impact that the suspension of in-person education has had on their learning. The guidance, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Special Education Technical Assistance Advisory 2021-1: COVID-19 Compensatory Service and Recovery Support for Students with IEPs” (download), describes considerations for:

  1. general education recovery support available to all students who need it to address social-emotional needs and to reorient them to learning in the new school year;

  2. COVID-19 Compensatory Services for students with IEPs to remedy skill or knowledge loss or lack of effective progress due to IEP services that were delayed, interrupted, suspended, or inaccessible because of the emergency suspension of in-person education; and

  3. new IEP services to address new areas of disability-related need.

As districts determine what types of supports and services students may need, close communication with families and examination of data and information from all available sources will be critical. 
 
For questions related to COVID-19 Compensatory Services , please contact DESE’s Problem Resolution Office at 781-338-3700 or compliance@doe.mass.edu. More guidance and information related to special education during the COVID-19 pandemic is available on DESE’s COVID-19 special education webpage.

Jen Maser