Asked on Sep 11th, 2012 on Education Law - New Jersey
More details to this question:
I adopted my daughter from a Ukraine orphanage 2 yrs ago at the age of 9 . She was assessed by our school district and placed in the 3rd grade . At the time , I agreed as she had little in the way of English skills ( barely knew rhe alphabet) and I was told she would struggle .
She is now 12 and I asked for her to be placed in the 6th grade . Her birthday is In July , so this still places her 1 yr behind .
I was told that although she has made great strides , she was just tested and she is at 4th grade reading level. They refused to place her in her proper grade and want to leave her in 5th grade based on these scores .
When I asked if she can get an iep or supplemental assistance so that she can catch up , they said she does not qualify but she must stay in her current grade .
Does she have the right to be placed in her proper grade and they would have to provide additional ervices if needed ? I feel that because she was from a foreign orphanage , testing is not a fair way to assess
If she is having difficulty because of her language, the school needs to address that and keeping her in a lower grade is not the proper way to address it. You should demand to have her evaluated, and if she is lacking in certain skills then she is entitled to what is known as "compensatory education" either additional one on one time, supplemental tutors, or continued education over the summer months. She should be getting specialized assistance in reading, and language to help her develop the langauge skills she needs as well as being tested for possible undiagnosed learning disabilities that could be over come with special schooling. The school district cannot simply force her to continue to stay several grades behind as a solution to the problem. Good Luck !
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