Both the 504 plan and the IEP serve a similar purpose. They are both created to help a student with a disability succeed in a general education classroom. The biggest difference that I found between these two plans were how students qualify for them. The 504 plan seems to have a much broader definition of "disability" than an IEP. Other than that, both plans are created with a team of people including the child's parents, general education teacher, administrator, and other professionals and experts. In addition, they are both detailed plans for accommodations and modifications to assist the child in their classes.
Jennie, it does seem that the team aspect is very important in the way that both of these plans are created and implemented. There are many professionals involved from many different perspectives to determine the students needs and how to best address them. This looks like another example where we as teachers can model the behavior that we want in our students: working as a group to solve a problem.
ReplyDeleteJennie, I have to agree that these plans do seem very similar but I also think they are pretty different. For example one came out of a federal law spesificly based around students with disabilities while the other came from a civil law on discrimination. As you mention IEP's are a lot stricter in the definition of disabilities, what do you think this does in terms of student access? Do you think that it possible pushes to many students into using a 504 plan?
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, it definitely seemed like main difference between IEPs and 504s was the type of student who qualified for them. Because I am still new to these concepts, I need to spend more time understanding the specifics, but it does seem like there are some long term implications of the two different plans that runs deeper than what it initially seems. There seems to be a large number of website devoted to helping parents to understand the differences between the plans and how to determine which is best for their child. As a teacher, we also need to do our best to stay aware of these differences, especially since we could potential be on a team to create and implement a plan.
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