This memorandum is issued to offer clarification on the students with disabilities who may be enrolled in the ninth grade special education mathematics course.
This ninth-grade mathematics course was designed for students with disabilities diagnosed with a deficit in the area of mathematics prior to entering the ninth grade. This deficit resulted in the student’s need for special education services in mathematics, as addressed in the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), and whose math deficit is such that the student needs an alternate course to Algebra I. The ninth-grade mathematics course requires the completion of an alternate portfolio, which is administered to meet the federal and state requirements of a high school mathematics assessment to be administered to all students. The decision to enroll a student into the ninth-grade mathematics course and be administered the subsequent Grade Nine Mathematics Alternate Portfolio Assessment must be made during an annual review conference prior to the student’s enrollment into the ninth grade.
Beginning in the fall of 2010, students with IEPs who do not have a documented disability in mathematics are not eligible to enroll in the ninth-grade special education mathematics course. Students with IEPs who have a documented mathematics deficit in conjunction with other deficits may enroll in this special education mathematics course and be administered the Grade Nine Mathematics Alternate Portfolio Assessment; however, if a student’s deficit is in speech only, reading/literacy only, or any other deficit without documentation for a mathematics deficit, he/she must enroll in the required general education algebra class and be administered the Algebra I End-of-Course Examination.