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Post-Secondary Education:
Academic Adjustments
Regulation:
34 C.F.R. § 104.44; 45 C.F.R. § 84.44 - Academic adjustments
(a) Academic requirements - A recipient to which this subpart
applies shall make such modifications to its academic requirements
as are necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate
or have the effect of discriminating, on the basis of handicap,
against a qualified handicapped applicant or student. Academic
requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential
to the program of instruction being pursued by such student or
to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded
as discriminatory within the meaning of this section. Modifications
may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion
of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required
for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the
manner in which specific courses are conducted.
(b) Other rules - A recipient to which this subpart applies may
not impose upon handicapped students other rules, such as the
prohibition of tape recorders in classrooms or of dog guides in
campus buildings, that have the effect of limiting the participation
of handicapped students in the recipient's education program or
activity.
(c) Course examinations - In its course examinations or other
procedures for evaluating students' academic achievement in its
program, a recipient to which this subpart applies shall provide
such methods for evaluating the achievement of students who have
a handicap that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills as
will best ensure that the results of the evaluation represents
the student's achievement in the course, rather than reflecting
the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except
where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
(d) Auxiliary aids
(1) A recipient to which this subpart applies shall take such
steps as are necessary to ensure that no handicapped student
is denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or
otherwise subjected to discrimination under the education program
or activity operated by the recipient because of the absence
of educational auxiliary aids for students with impaired sensory,
manual, or speaking skills.
(2) Auxiliary aids may include taped texts, interpreters or
other effective methods of making orally delivered materials
available to students with hearing impairments, readers in libraries
for students with visual impairments, classroom equipment adapted
for use by students with manual impairments, and other similar
services and actions. Recipients need not provide attendants,
individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or
study, or other devices or services of a personal nature.
Case Law:
Powell
v. National Bd. of Medical Examiners,
364 F.3d 79 (2nd Cir. 2004).
- Allowing a medical student to proceed with the latter stages
of medical school without first passing a licensing exam would
fundamentally alter the nature of the program.
- When reviewing the substance of a genuinely academic decision,
courts should accord the faculty's professional judgment great
deference.
Falcone v. University of Minn., 388 F.3d 656 (8th Cir. 2004).
- An educational institution does not have to lower its standards
for a professional degree, for example, by eliminating or substantially
modifying its clinical training requirements.
Zukle
v. Regents of University of California, 166 F.3d
1041 (9th Cir. 1999).
- While the ultimate determination of whether an individual is
otherwise qualified must be made by the court, the court will
extend judicial deference "to the evaluation made by the
institution itself, absent proof that its standards and its application
of them serve no purpose other than to deny an education to handicapped
persons."
- Deference should also be accorded to an educational institution's
determination that a reasonable accommodation is not available.
A court's duty is to first find the basic facts, giving due deference
to the school, and then to evaluate whether those facts add up
to a professional, academic judgment that reasonable accommodation
is not available.
- Reasonableness is not a constant. To the contrary, what is reasonable
in a particular situation may not be reasonable in a different
situation, even if the situational differences are relatively
slight. The court must evaluate a student's request for accommodation
in light of the totality of the circumstances.
Kaltenberger
v. Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine, 162 F.3d
432 (6th Cir. 1998).
- College did not fail to reasonably accommodate plaintiff's
learning disability by refusing to waive its policy regarding
the retaking of examinations, especially in light of the other
accommodations which were made for her.
- When reviewing the substance of academic decisions, courts "should
show great respect for the faculty's professional judgment."
The faculty must have the widest range of discretion in making
judgments as to the academic performance of students and their
entitlement to promotion or graduation.
- Courts must also give deference to professional academic judgments
when evaluating the reasonable accommodation requirement.
- There is no obligation to offer accommodation simply because
the school knew the student was seeking testing for a learning
disability
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Resolution
Letters
- Bowling Green (OCR Case
No. 05982143) - Debate whether student's requested modifications
lowered school's essential requirements for speech language pathology
graduate program .
- California Community Colleges
(OCR Case No. 09976001) - A compliance review focused on the status
of California Community Colleges in meeting their obligation under
Title II and Section 504 to provide students with visual impairments
access to print and computer-based information.
- City College of San Francisco (OCR
Case No. 09972145) - The obligation to provide textbooks in a
meaningful alternate format.
- Cal State - Los Angeles (OCR
Case No. 09972002) - Access to public library resources by visually
impaired individuals
- Cal State - Long Beach (OCR Case
No. 09992041) - Stresses the importance of not having one centralized
location for adaptive technology due to the ADA's
mandate to integrate students with disabilities into mainstream
education programs.
- Depaul University (OCR Case No.
05892029) - Readmissions committee discriminated by relying on
stereotypical assessments of the student's learning
abilities and failed to explore the possibility of academic
adjustments.
- Highline
Community College (OCR Case No. 10052007) - College
provided meaning-for-meaning captioning instead of word-for-word
real time captioning requested. Paralegal student could not follow
along lecture and class results as a result. The accommodation
was not effective.
- Los Rios Community College
District (OCR Case No. 09932214) - College system agreed
to develop written procedures to facilitate requests for
academic
adjustments and auxiliary aids, to make assistance available
to resolve any problems students encounter with instructors
regarding
the provision of adjustments and aids, to make printed materials
and computers accessible by providing auditory, tactile and
enlarged
print materials, and to make its physical education courses,
library and student employment services accessible to students
with visual
impairments.
- Loyola Marymount (OCR
Case No. 09912157) - Detailing the requirements to purchase
equipment and provide academic adjustments in note-taking and
course examinations.
- Naropa Institute (OCR
Case No. 08932041) - School limited the availability of interpreter
services and then tried to have the student bear part of the
cost
of interpreter services.
- New College of California (OCR
Case No. 09932063) - Financial considerations do not relieve
the obligation to provide interpreter services when there were
no alternative means by which comparable access could be achieved.
- Tacoma Community House (OCR Case
No. 10934001) - School did not have any procedure to provide
interpreter services... nor did they provide them.
- University of California - Davis (OCR
Case No. 09922101) - School made the provision of interpreters
contingent on the student following certain procedures. This
practice
may violate Section 504 because it turns a right into a privilege.
- University of Laverne (OCR Case
No. 09962148) - A letter emphasising the requirement of having
a written procedure governing requests by students with
disabilities for academic adjustments needed to accommodate
their disabilities.
- University of North Carolina
- Greensboro (OCR Case No. 11052088) - School refused
to modify essential program requirements in its teaching program.
Articles:
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Publications
Reasonable
Accommodations for People with Psychiatric Disabilities:
An
On-line Resource for Employers and Educators
A publication from Boston University