TIES Brief 5: The General Education Curriculum–Not an Alternate Curriculum!

View TIES Brief #5: The General Education Curriculum–Not an Alternate Curriculum

Students with significant cognitive disabilities are to be provided access to and make progress in the grade-level general education curriculum. It should not be an alternate curriculum. Determining whether this is happening can be difficult.  The purpose of this Brief is to help parents determine whether their child with significant cognitive disabilities is provided meaningful access to the general education curriculum. It addresses the myth that students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who take the state’s alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) need an alternate curriculum. This myth is often the basis for inappropriately educating these students in separate settings.