Special Programs

Katherine Ramon

Special Education Coordinator

Jo Ann Trevino

Special Education

The Texas English Language Learner (ELL) Progress Measure provides year-to-year performance expectations on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) content-area assessments for Texas ELL students. The year-to-year STAAR expectations take into account the level of English language proficiency ELL students possess, thus providing a more meaningful gauge of annual improvement or progress for these students than the general STAAR Progress Measure.

The Texas ELL Progress Measure has been created specifically for Texas ELL students. It takes into account the time needed to acquire the English language and to fully demonstrate grade-level academic skills in English.  

To be eligible for the ELL Progress Measure, a student must:

• be classified as limited English proficient (LEP)
• take the English language versions of STAAR, and 
• not have a parent denial requested for ELL services.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Unlike Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that governs special education, Section 504 is not an education, service, or funding statue. The purpose of Section 504 is to ensure that individuals with disabilities are given the same opportunity to participate in programs and activities as are their nondisabled peers.

Students may qualify for protection under Section 504 if they have a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. A label, disability, or diagnosis, alone, does not make a student eligible under Section 504. The disability must substantially limit the student’s performance as compared to the performance of the average student in the general population.

Yes. However, evaluation does not necessarily mean a test or formal psychological evaluation. It refers to the gathering of data and/or information from a variety of sources so that the Section 504 committee may make the required determinations. Depending on the suspected disability, common sources of evaluation data are grades, attendance records, health information, standardized test scores, teacher comments, observations, medical records, discipline referrals, etc. The committee will consider any data provided by the parent, including medical documentation and private evaluations.