Q: What is a surrogate parent and when do I need one?
A: Students in Alaska ages 3—17 (or 18-21 when “adjudicated incompetent by a court”) are entitled to a surrogate parent under Alaska regulations if:
The district cannot identify the parent of the child;
The district, exercising reasonable diligence, cannot locate at least one person acting as a parent of the child;
The district locates one or more persons acting as a parent of the child, but each person affirmatively disclaims responsibility for the child’s educational program and relinquishes it in writing to a surrogate parent; or
The child is committed to the custody of the Department of Health and Social Services.
Students who are in the process of evaluation for special education or who are already eligible, and fall under one of the categories above may need a surrogate parent. If you feel as though you have a student who meets any of the above, contact your program coordinator immediately.
Q: My student has a study skills class. How do I document that on the Summary of Services page?
A: A study skills class could be documented in a couple of ways. One way is to include the minutes of the study skills class within one or more of the content area minutes. For instance, if the class is 45 minutes, a student might have an additional 15 minutes for reading, 15 minutes for writing and 15 minutes for math. This would be appropriate when the teacher will be providing specialized instruction for all three subjects during that period. Another way is to include “Study Skills” as a separate category on the Summary of Services. This would be appropriate if the student has a goal to work on specifically during the study skills time period. These often include organization, work completion, or behavior type goals. At any time, use the additional comments to explain what minutes are for or where they are provided.
Q: Why is it important to explain a drop in SBA scores? For instance in math, my student has a 350 in 2009, 290 in 2010 and 255 in 2011. Lots of kids go down on that test, right?
A: While it is true that the SBAs are a snapshot of how a student may be doing on grade level standards, drops in scores of any kind are always a cause for closer look. Teams should try to analyze what may have caused the dip and make determinations of how to assist the student to improve. Likewise a student who is proficient on his/her SBAs, but does not display the same level of understanding and proficiency in the classroom should be discussed. All of this information must be detailed in the PLAAFP to provide a clear picture of the student’s current level of functioning.