Essential resources for understanding the world of special education in Howard County and beyond.
HCPSS Behavior Specialists
Each Howard County public school is assigned a behavior specialist. In order to access the behavior specialist, the special education team leader (or instructional team leader) at your school should contact the school’s assigned instructional facilitator at the Department of Special Education to arrange for a consult. Parents are encouraged to discuss behavioral issues and…
Understanding the Important Difference between “Accommodations” & “Modifications”
Meeting after meeting, parents and teachers use the words “accommodation” and “modification” almost interchangeably when discussing IEPs and student needs. Yet the terms are vastly different. If understood and used correctly, these words can greatly impact the success of a child’s educational program.
Maryland Accommodations Manual
The Maryland Accommodations Manual is the guide to select, administer and evaluate the use of Accommodations for the Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities. It is available in PDF on the Maryland State Department of Education website. Click here.
Overview of High Stakes Testing
With ever-increasing pressure on school systems to improve educational results, high stakes testing is a particularly important and controversial issue. In many school districts and states, mandated tests measure student performance and hold individual schools accountable for that performance.
