Special Education Curriculum

Given the nature of Let’s Go Learn assessments, test accommodations will tend to have more flexibility based on the discretion of the resource teacher or the district policy. DORA, ADAM, and DOMA are diagnostic assessments, meaning that their data is generally not used for high-stakes accountability. As a result, if the student’s accommodation calls for the allowance of a calculator during a math assessment, Let’s Go Learn permits this accommodation to be made and does not have any strict policy against a teacher or administrator making this decision. Scores are not rolled up into a normalizing algorithm, which in the case of a high-stakes assessment might restrict scores with accommodations from being used.

You can administer our adaptive diagnostic easily to all your students in a particular grade level, group, or school in order to get diagnostic data to help inform instruction. Once students complete the diagnostic, you will receive reporting and narratives on each student's current grade level regardless of current grade. This will let you know for example how many students are above, at, or below grade level in the learning standards for K-12 reading and math.

Yes. Recent studies have shown that 5-10% of students have dyscalculia and some percentage of these students also have dyslexia. Adding goals to IEPs that address a student's math performance will ensure that students get the interventions that they need. Teachers can use ADAM or DOMA to diagnose math-related issues; Math Edge to provide targeted customized learning activities; and then monitor student progress with our formative assessments to address learning issues caused by dyscalculia.

Absolutely! Data-based individualization (DBI) is a powerful process for reaching students who need intensive intervention (Tier 3 in RTI and MTSS). Begin the process with diagnostic assessment data from our research-based assessments DORA, ADAM, and DOMA, which evaluate a content-specific area of concern. The diagnostic data drives the implementation of our validated interventions, LGL Math Edge or LGL ELA Edge. Frequent progress monitoring with our formative assessments re-align the intervention to current student performance, ensuring the effectiveness of DBI.

Our underlying AI platform automatically collects all student data from their online diagnostic assessments, scores and time on task for their instructional paths, and scores from their formative assessments. We do this so educators, students, and parents can monitor student progress and adjust instruction and strategies in reading and math throughout the year.

For students with disabilities and students at any MTSS/RTI Tier, LGL’s progress monitoring process is composed of five steps. Step 1: LGL diagnostics analyze each individual child’s standards-based learning gaps and present levels (PLAAFP). Step 2: IEP teams develop individualized education programs (IEPs) using LGL narratives and standards-based data. Step 3: LGL system assigns specially designed instruction (SDI) for students with disabilities at the appropriate ZPD. Teachers can always self-select lesson assignments. Step 4: LGL provides standards-based progress monitoring with formative assessments that are vertically scaled into the original dataset. Step 5: LGL curriculum provides ongoing progress monitoring, tracking student academic performance from the initial evaluation. No data collection required by teachers.

LGL uses a built-in data collection platform that collects progress monitoring data in math and reading. Pre-built quizzes and adaptive tests allow teachers to know exactly what students are learning or when they are not making progress. This data merges with baseline data so that demonstrating progress or lack of progress is very easy to do. Special Education teachers can thus focus on instruction rather than bookkeeping tasks.

Our online adaptive diagnostic assessments are designed to support testing for every individual student. By employing revolutionary adaptive logic, Let’s Go Learn’s math and reading assessments maximize the information obtained about each student while minimizing test-taking time and anxiety. The granular data provides educators and teachers with a comprehensive picture of each learner’s strengths and weaknesses at a skill and concept level. This translates to a prescriptive path for true personalized learning. For students with IEPs, this means providing automated Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) that both eliminates learning gaps and accelerates learning.

We believe that our system provides the most effective and equitable special education software available today. The design of the Let’s Go Learn Edge series requires that students take a computer-adaptive assessment, after which the system assigns them to the appropriate online prescriptive instruction. The prescriptive instruction is designed with a game-based paradigm that intrinsically motivates students to accomplish activities without the limitations of time or previous failures. Songs, music, animation, graphics, and audio provide learning experiences for students of all learning styles. Effective learning occurs when instruction is customized to the needs of each student, addressing individual strengths and weaknesses. Our formative assessments and progress monitoring ensure that educators can continuously adjust instruction and strategies for students with disabilities.

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) provides on its website this advice for retaining special education teachers: "Multiple research studies suggest that fully prepared teachers in special education are more effective and are more likely to remain in the teaching profession than are teachers who are not fully prepared." With Let's Go Learn, you can provide your special education teachers with a series of face-to-face or online webinars to prepare them for the challenges they will face. Additionally our special education platform is aligned to your standards and offers rigorous online diagnostic assessments, automated IEP-aligned reporting, SDI reading and math interventions, and automated progress monitoring. Our platform can thus offload some of the heavy lifting for new special education teachers with its embedded best practices. The combination of our just-in-time professional development and our special education platform will support your teachers and relieve workload and stress with bonafide solutions.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a US federal law which defines how special education services need to deliver a free appropriate public education (also called FAPE) to eligible children with disabilities. IDEA is the cornerstone of US special education laws, and guarantees educational placement and educational services for students with a defined disability category in public schools. Students enrolled in private schools or choosing to homeschool receive some services under IDEA, according to governing federal, state, and local regulations.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines a child with a disability as one "having an intellectual disability, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as “emotional disturbance”), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services."

Yes, but with caveats. First, local education agencies (LEAs) must have a "child find process", which means they must "locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private, including religious, elementary schools and secondary schools located in the school district served by the LEA." Then the IDEA "requires school districts to make services and benefits available to children with disabilities enrolled by their parents in nonpublic (private) schools." However, public schools do not have to provide special services to every student not enrolled in their school district. In fact, it is possible that some children in private schools "will not receive any services while others will." In addition, "for those who receive services, the amount and type of services also may differ from the services the child would receive if placed in a public school by the parents or in a private school by a public agency."  Often, parents who choose to homeschool their students wave their right to services under FAPE, however they may still be eligible for some services through their public school systems. And homeschooled students must be given a free, individual evaluation if the students are suspected of having disabilities. If educational disabilities are found, the public school must offer an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team, in conjunction with the parents or guardians, to develop a written plan for the student. At every step of the process, a student's parents or guardians must provide consent for services. Some important special education laws and rules governing private schools and homeschooling change from state to state, so it's important to consult a local educational agency to discover the services to which a student is entitled. If a parent becomes concerned about a student's evaluation process, the initial placement, or the educational program, contact the appropriate, local public agency.