School Leader's Guide to Special Education, The. Margaret J. McLaughlin
students with educational opportunities equal to the educational opportunities offered to their nondisabled peers. To qualify for protection under Section 504, an individual must be considered a handicapped person. Although the original definition of individuals protected under Section 504 was relatively narrow, the law was amended in 1974 to define a handicapped person as “any person who has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person’s major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment” (U.S. Department of Education, 1996).
The definition in Section 504 is much broader than the definitions of the disability categories provided under IDEA. Under this definition, students protected under Section 504 range from those with Tourette syndrome, asthma, AIDS, and diabetes to students with alcohol and drug problems. Thus, students who are eligible for IDEA services are also protected under Section 504 but not all students who are eligible for Section 504 services will be eligible to receive services under IDEA. Essentially, the definition of a disability in Section 504 encompasses all students who have an impairment that affects a major life activity.
The protection from discrimination provided through Section 504 also includes participation in extracurricular activities and architectural accessibility. Section 504 not only protects the rights of students at the preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels in the classroom but also applies during school district programs such as afterschool care and summer programs (Yell, 2006). Persons who qualify under the protections of Section 504 may not be discriminated against in programs receiving federal assistance and are entitled to reasonable accommodations to facilitate their participation. A few examples of reasonable accommodations that schools may be responsible for providing include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Changes to the classroom environment such as seating arrangements, reduction of visual or auditory distraction, or use of study carrels or partitions
• Changes to the testing environment such as extending the amount of time to take the exam, providing the test orally, allowing for open-book testing, or allowing the student to dictate answers on a tape recorder
• Use of a student’s behavior intervention plan
• Provision of textbooks and materials with enlarged print, highlighted textbooks, or books on tape
• Changes to homework and in-class assignments such as providing extra time to complete assigned work, allowing for written assignments to be delivered orally, or segmenting long assignments into discrete shorter tasks
Section 504 Key Provisions
In contrast to IDEA, there are no federal funds available under Section 504 to assist school districts and other institutions in meeting the requirements of the law.
Under Section 504, students with disabilities are entitled to:
• Protection from discrimination in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools
• School programs, structures, and activities that are physically accessible
• Facilities and services that are comparable to general education facilities and services in instances when the school operates a separate facility for students with disabilities
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education investigates complaints with a goal of reducing and eventually eliminating discrimination against students with disabilities. If a school district is found to be violating the requirements of Section 504, OCR will encourage the school district to enter into a corrective action agreement in order to address the problem. However, in the rare case that a school district refuses to comply with the requirements of Section 504, OCR has the right and responsibility to begin enforcement action whereby the case may be referred to the Department of Justice, or the OCR may terminate Department of Education financial assistance to the school.
The provisions of Section 504 are sometimes used as a basis for providing services for students who have learning difficulties but who do not have an IDEA-eligible disability. Some services provided under Section 504 include adaptation or modification of testing conditions such as providing exams in alternative locations, extending the allotted testing time, providing oral exams, and other reasonable accommodations (see chapter 4 for explanations of testing adaptations and modifications). However, Section 504 does not require schools to change the nature of their programs to accommodate individual students. And, as under IDEA, students who qualify for Section 504 protections may not be suspended, expelled, or otherwise punished for manifestations of their disability (see chapter 5 for an explanation of IDEA’s discipline requirements).
Evaluation and Placement
In order to be protected under Section 504 and receive services, students must be evaluated and placed. Placement decisions are determined by a team of individuals (convened by the principal) who know the student, know how to interpret evaluation data, and know the variety of placement options available in the school or school district. Although the specific members of the team can vary by student, the team generally includes a general education classroom teacher and other school personnel with expertise that could be beneficial to helping the student such as a building nurse, the school psychologist, a social worker, and so on. As in IDEA, the team is required to use information from a variety of sources and base all placement decisions on the individual needs of the student. Once a student is identified as needing services under Section 504, the school should develop an individual plan to ensure appropriate accommodations are available to the student. Although a written document is not mandated by law, it is generally suggested as best practice to develop one and an individualized education program similar to that outlined in IDEA may be used as the Section 504 plan. The purpose of the 504 plan is to explicitly define accommodations or modifications needed by the student in order to successfully participate in the general education setting. Accommodations might include monitoring of blood sugar levels, provision of wheelchair ramps, a peanut-free lunch environment, or a tape recorder or keyboard for taking notes in the classroom setting. The 504 plan is a legally binding document that encourages consistency of accommodations and services provided to the student as well as accountability.
Procedural Safeguards
As Mitchell Yell (2006) explains, parents are entitled to a number of specific rights under Section 504, including the following:
• Right to be notified of procedural rights under Section 504
• Right to be notified when their child is referred, evaluated, and placed
• Right to notification when eligibility is determined
• Right to an evaluation that uses information from multiple sources and is conducted by knowledgeable persons
• Right of the student to have access to equivalent academic and non-academic services
• Right of the student to receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive setting, which includes accommodations, modifications, and related services
• Right to file grievance with the school district
• Right to an evaluation prior to making a significant programming or placement change
• Right to be informed of proposed actions affecting the program
• Right to examine all relevant records and request changes
• Right to receive information in the parents’ native language or primary mode of communication
• Right to periodic reevaluations
• Right to an impartial hearing when a disagreement occurs
• Right to be represented by counsel in the hearing
• Right to appeal the hearing officer’s decision (p. 137)
To ensure that the rights of parents are upheld, schools are responsible for