Imagine Edgenuity's courses, curriculum, and online learning solutions feature instructional strategies, evidence-based practices, and learning tools and scaffolds designed to support the unique needs of all learners, including students with special educational needs.
User-friendly customization tools make it easy to make accommodations and modifications as needed for students, and our Special Education Coordinators partner with educators to give students all the support they need to succeed.
Students with disabilities, in particular, are diverse and could struggle in one or more of the following areas:
- Attention
- Memory
- Background knowledge
- Vocabulary
- Language processes
- Strategy knowledge
- Spatial use
- Self-regulation
Imagine Edgenuity's lessons feature a highly-qualified, certified on-screen instructor. The instructor:
- Delivers explicit instruction
- Orients students to the lessons
- Relates concepts to real-life examples
- Offers a clear and concise explanation of the subject matter
Concepts and skills within the lessons are split into 2–5 minute segments. Each step of a complex skill is modeled and practiced individually before practicing all the steps as a unified sequence. Various instructional formats and multiple representations are used within the lessons to accommodate the variety of learning styles and abilities of students. Students then demonstrate skill mastery by using multiple forms of communication techniques including reading, writing, exploring, creating, and discussing. Real-world examples are used throughout lessons to cultivate student interest, support self-regulation, and maintain motivation.
Resources
Read our Issue Brief on Supporting Students with Disabilities to learn more about how Imagine Edgenuity can meet the needs of many students with disabilities and a paper on Imagine Edgenuity's course design. Also, looking for something specific about dyslexia? Learn how our program can be used for students with dyslexia.
Accommodations
Below are some ways accommodations in an online class can help support students with disabilities:
| Traditional Classroom | Imagine Edgenuity Option |
|---|---|
| Large print text | Screen resolution, browser |
| Test/Assessments are read aloud | Text-to-speech toolbar |
| Directions given in simple language | On-screen instructor reads the instructions |
| Fewer items placed on one page | Lesson design breaks content into digestible chunks |
| Cues | Various communication options |
| Device that filter out extraneous sounds | Headset |
| Amplification equipment | Headset and computer |
Tools in Imagine Edgenuity support all middle and high school students
- Personalized student course map, with due dates, progress reports, scores and feedback, and more.
- Course customization tools enable you to remove or reorder content, create new writing prompts and projects, and customize assessment settings for test time completion, passing threshold, and more.
- CloseReaderTM.
- Digital “eNotes” notebook (helps students synthesize information and record questions and observations in a digital notebook) and guided notes (worksheets designed to help students take a more active role in their learning and reduce the cognitive load while working through lessons).
- Scaffolded eWriting environment to scaffold students through the writing process for extended essays.
- Word look-up/lesson glossaries.
- Rubrics and manipulatives to support instructional activities.
- Text-to-Speech.
- Text Translation.
- Videos of expert, on-screen teachers deliver direct instruction, orient students to lesson goals, and offer clear and concise explanations of subject matter. On-screen teachers model and explicitly teach students a wide variety of learning strategies such as self-monitoring, self-evaluation, goal setting, questioning, and self-explanation.
- Video captions and transcripts.
- Exporting audio transcripts (can be translated into languages, such as Braille).
- Digital highlighters to allow students to mark important information.
- Course-specific tools, such as scientific and graphing calculators and interactive reference material.
- Segmented learning.
- Pause and play to allow for scheduled breaks.
- Objectives and standards for each lesson.
- Test and exam reviews, practice tests.
- Immediate feedback after students answer each question in instruction and assignments.
- Printable Course Report to provide checklists and due dates for assignments.
- Gated, sequenced activities to help students focus on one assignment at a time.
- Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines for accessibility.
Accommodations and modifications that can be enabled for individual students as needed
- Configure assessment timers to provided extended time.
- Guided notes (partially completed class notes) are available for EdgeEX and 3000-series courses in math, English language arts, science, and social studies only.
- Customize a student's course to exclude assessments and provide projects as alternatives to tests or exams.
- Allow Save and Exit to provide breaks during assessments.
- Configure grade weights for each student to weight daily work more heavily than formal assessments.
- Configure passing thresholds for assessments.
- Configure number of attempts for assessments.
- Allow students to move freely through the course sequence.
- Enable access to eNotes for quizzes, tests, and/or exams.
- Lesson-level pretesting with configurable passing threshold to exempt students from previously mastered content.
- Student orientation video to provide training on how to navigate through the course.
- Live chat to provide 1:1 on-demand tutoring (available for an additional cost).
- Additional Accommodations/Modifications options are available for courses that support them.
Tips for advanced placement students needing accommodations
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Course content cannot be modified; however, teachers can work with students on modified delivery of assignments such as providing a verbal argument or presentation in the place of a written assessment.
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Timed essays cannot be modified to provide more time. However, the timed essay can be bypassed or removed, with an additional assignment provided in its place with the exact same prompt that is not timed.
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If the student plans on taking the AP exam, accommodations must be requested before the exam registration deadline, which varies each year. More information can be found on the College Board website: https://accommodations.collegeboard.org/request-accommodations
Additional ideas for students with specific needs
| Ideas Used in a Traditional Classroom | Imagine Edgenuity Option | How-To Link |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Testing Sessions | Retakes, Save and Exit, Intervention | Editing the Course Options for a Student- Assessment Options Defined- Allow Save/Exit on Assessments & Fail Attempts Allowed |
| Oral Presentation/Read Aloud | Text-to-Speech/Text Translation |
Enabling Text-to-Speech Enabling Text Translation |
| Provide Notes | Access to Transcript | Viewing the Closed Captioning |
| Extended Testing Time | Extended Time (Up to double) through Course Options | Editing the Course Options for a Student- Time Limits for Assessments, Pretesting (if enabled) |
| Study Guide | Access to eNotes | Editing the Course Options for a Student- Assessment Options Defined- Allow eNotes on Assessments |
| Review for Test and Quizzes | Quiz with Correct Answers |
Editing the Course Options for a Student- Quiz Review Method- Questions and Correct Answers |
| Allow Student to Retake a Higher or Passing Score | Allow for Retakes (max 4) | Editing the Course Options for a Student- Assessment Options Defined> Fail Attempts Allowed |
| Segmented Learning | Customizing | Customizing Courses- customize courses to smaller sections so that students only see a few lessons at a time |
| Targeted Courseware | Customizing | Customizing Courses- take out certain parts of a lesson to reduce the amount of coursework a student is required to complete or add a lesson personalized for a student with a specific need |
Special Education Coordinators
Special Education Coordinators provide support to students, teachers, and schools who want to offer online courses to students who have an IEP or 504 Plan, or are homebound. Special Education Coordinators are licensed special education and/or ELL teachers who have experience with the complex needs of students with learning plans. By working directly with your ESE/SPED teachers, school districts, and Edgenuity’s virtual instructors, Special Education Coordinators ensure that your students’ needs are being met.
Special Education Coordinators assist with recommendations for:
- Course customization
- Monitoring and reviewing performance
- Providing input on how IEPs translate into the Edgenuity platform
Technical Tools
While we do not actively test every plug-in, we have found the CoWriter Chrome extension tool works with most of our content.
Apple and PC computers have settings on their devices to help people with color blindness. It is encouraged to have a student do the following based on the computer they are using:
- Windows: Settings > Ease of Access > Color Filters
- Apple: System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Color Filters
Courses that are Screen Reader Compatible
The following courses are fully screen reader compatible with alternate text for images:
- Math 6 – MA3106
- Math 7 – MA3107
- Math 8 – MA3108
- Pre-Algebra – MA3119
- Algebra I – MA3109
- Algebra II – MA3111
- Geometry – MA3110
- Precalculus – MA3112
- Statistics – MA3113
- Trigonometry – MA3114
- Concepts in Probability and Statistics – MA3120
- Integrated Math I
- Integrated Math II
- Integrated Math III
- Financial Math – MA2007
- Foundational Math
- Foundational Reading
- ELA 6 – 3006
- ELA 7 – 3007
- ELA 8 – 3008
- ELA 9 – 3009
- ELA 10 – 3010
- ELA 11 – 3011
- ELA 12 – 3012
- Civics and Citizenship – SS3303
- Survey MS US History – SS3307
- MS Survey of World History – SS3304
- MS Ancient World History – SS3305
- MS Modern World History – SS3306
- MS Civics, Government, and Economics – SS2049
- MS World Cultures and Geography – SS2041
- Human Geography – SS2045
- US History I – SS3308
- US History II – SS3311
- US History Survey – SS3313
- World History Modern – SS3316
- World History Survey – SS3310
- Economics – SS3314
- US Government – SS3315
- Contemporary Health – EL3404
- Environmental Science – SC2028
- Physical Science – SC3208
- Earth Science – SC3207
- Life Science – SC3206
- Biology – SC3209
- Chemistry – SC3210
- Physics – SC3211
- Psychology – EL2084
- Sociology – EL1120
- Art History I – EL4002
- Introduction to Art – EL1086