Disability-Related Flexibility in Attendance and/or Assignments-Testing Deadlines Guidelines

Some students, due to circumstances directly related to disability, may seek an accommodation for flexibility with attendance and/or assignments/testing deadlines. The process for requesting this accommodation is through Disability Services (DS). All requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Some disabilities are episodic in nature with random or cyclical acute episodes and as a result the disability may occasionally impact the students' ability to attend class, complete an assignment or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time. In cases such as these, flexibility with attendance and/or assignments/testing deadlines may be considered an appropriate accommodation.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) provide the following guidelines to be used in considering whether attendance is an essential element of a course and should be explored:

• What is the course attendance policy? What are the learning objectives of the course?
• What methods are used to calculate the final grade? (attendance, assignments, projects, participation, exams, etc.)
• Are the course attendance/assignments or missed exam policies applied consistently? Are there exceptions to policies made for extenuating circumstances, such as athletic travel or religious observation and how are those exceptions handled?
• How much interaction is there between the professor and students and among students? Is group work required?
• Do student contributions constitute a significant component of the learning process?
• Does the design of the course rely on student participation as a significant method for learning?
• Is content offered in class only?
• To what degree does a student's failure to attend class or do an assignment on time compromise the educational experience of other students in the class?

 If an accommodation is determined to be reasonable, DS will work with you and your student to clearly specify:

• The number of absences (beyond what any student is allowed) that would be reasonable:
• When your student should contact the professor in the event of a disability-related absence or the need for flexibility with due dates
• When your student will submit assignments and/or complete exams/quizzes because of absences or disability-related situations
• If it is reasonable to extend the window for completing assignments or exams/quizzes for online courses
• Whether a withdrawal or an incomplete may be appropriate based on your student's situation

Students are expected to attend classes and meet all deadlines for assignments, projects, quizzes, and exams etc. The number of allowable absences depends on a number of factors, to include but limited to, the interactive or participatory nature of a course, or is based on department, college or accrediting regulations. Therefore, attendance, assignment and testing deadline policies are set by faculty at the college or departmental level.

1. The student meets with a Disability Services Specialist to go through an interactive process that includes:
   1. discussing functional limitations of the student's disability
   2. collecting appropriate documentation in order to determine appropriate accommodations.
2. Once this accommodation is established, the student is responsible for signing into the Services Portal to request this accommodation for each course it is needed for.
   • For support requesting accommodations, the student can review the I need to request my accommodations section of the Services Portal for Existing Students webpage. This section has video and written instructions to guide you through requesting your accommodations.
   • Since accommodations are not retroactive and this process can take several weeks to finalize, it is important that the student request this accommodation as soon as possible.
3. Disability Services, DS, will send an accommodation letter via email to the professor and the student. Upon receipt of the accommodation letter, the following responsibilities are in effect.
   1. You, the student, are responsible for: 
      1. Communicating the following with your professor(s):
         • class absence(s) (prior to the absence, when possible)
         • need for extensions (24 hours notice prior to assignment deadline, when possible)
      2. Working with your professor(s) to create reasonable flexibility adjustments.
      3. Contacting DS as soon as possible if you need support creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your professor.
         • You should contact DS as soon as creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your professor is needed. A failure to contact DS in a timely manner may result in the reduction of a reasonable extension or, in some cases, may remove the ability for any reasonable extension to be provided altogether.  An interactive process with you, your DS Specialist, and your instructor will help determine this. 
   2. You, the professor, are responsibilities for:
      1. Opening the flexibility form link on the accommodation letter, filling the flexibility form out, and submitting it within five business days of receiving the accommodation letter.
         • Please contact DS if you need support filling out this flexibility form.

         • If you do not fill out the flexibility form within five business days a standard flexibility agreement will be sent to the student for review (step 5 of the necessary interactive process). 

      2. Working with your student to create reasonable flexibility adjustments when he/she communicates flexibility needs (i.e. the need for missing a class period, the need for an assignment extension, etc.) to you. 
      3. Contacting DS if you need support creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your student.
4. Once the professor has submitted the flexibility form, DS will review it along with the course syllabus to determine if the information provided by the instructor is reasonable.
5. DS will send this flexibility form via email to the student.
   • If the student has concerns or questions, regarding what the professor has indicated in the flexibility form, the student must contact DS so that their issues can be addressed.
6. Once the flexibility form is sent to the student via email, the student has three business days to notify DS if they approve of the terms of the flexibility form or if they seek adjustments to the flexibility form.
   • If the student notifies DS that they approve of the terms of the flexibility form, then the form immediately becomes an active flexibility agreement. DS, the student, and the professor will all receive a copy of this final agreement. 
   • If the student notifies DS that they seek adjustments to the flexibility form, then DS will work with the student and instructor until reasonable adjustments to the form are negotiated. 
   • If the student does not notify DS by the third business day of receiving the form via email, then the current version of the form immediately becomes an active flexibility agreement. DS, the student, and the professor will all receive a copy of this final agreement. 
7. Upon email receipt of the flexibility form, the flexibility form is now considered a finalized flexibility agreement. The following responsibilities are now in effect.

You, the student, are now responsible for: 

a. Communicating your disability-related flexibility needs to their professor(s).

b. Working with your professor(s) to create reasonable flexibility adjustments that are compliant with the finalized flexibility agreement.

c. Contact DS as soon as possible if you need support creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your professor.

You should contact DS as soon as support creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your professor is needed. A failure to contact DS in a timely manner may result in the reduction of a reasonable extension or, in some cases, may remove the ability for any reasonable extension to be provided altogether. An interactive process with your DS Specialist will help determine this. An interactive process with you, your DS Specialist, and your instructor will help determine this. 

You, the professor, are now responsible for:

a. Working with your student to create reasonable flexibility adjustments when he/she communicates flexibility needs to you. These reasonable flexibility adjustments should be compliant with the finalized flexibility agreement.

b. Contacting DS as soon as possible if you need support creating reasonable flexibility adjustments with your student.

DS Contact Reminder:

Any questions or concerns regarding this flexibility process should be directed to DS by calling (208) 282-3599 or emailing disabilityservices@isu.edu.

General Responsibilities: 

• This accommodation is not a blanket reason to miss class. 
  • This accommodation does not mean that the student is able to miss as many classes as they want.

• Students have the responsibility for completing all coursework and are to be held to the same standard as all other students.
  • Students should also consider that missing class and/or completing assignments beyond the scheduled due date for any reason can impact his/her ability to satisfactorily learn the course material.

• As per the process mentioned above, this accommodation is student-driven. This means that each and every time the student's disability impacts their ability to attend class, complete an assignment, or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time, it is the student's responsibility to communicate their flexibility needs with their professor. 

• This accommodation is intended for periodic use when the student's disability occasionally impacts their ability to attend class, complete an assignment or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time. This accommodation is not intended to be used every week, for every assignment, or every exam.
  • If a student has a disability that consistently instead of periodically impacts their ability to attend class, complete an assignment or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time, then the student should discuss this with their Disability Services Specialist. This will allow the student to engage in an interactive process with their Disability Services Specialist to explore other accommodations, strategies, and resources that will best support the student's specific needs/situation.

• An extension might not be reasonable for every course component.
  • For example, course components such as discussion boards may act as “in-class” participation time, particularly for hybrid classes. As a result, the dialectic engagement between peers is important for the class topics to be discussed and for the class to move forward to new topics. As a result, the discussion board component of the course may not be able to be extended, or an alternative may not be available.

• An accommodation in attendance might not be reasonable if regular attendance is essential to the course and/or curriculum such as some lab courses.

• Accommodations are not retroactive.
  • Accommodations begin once the process is complete as outlined and any disability-related flexibility needs or extenuating circumstances that occurred prior to the accommodation letter being sent out are not supported by this accommodation. Any coursework (i.e. assignments, exams, etc.) that have been missed prior to the accommodation letter being sent out may not be made up with this accommodation and may be used in determining how much additional flexibility is reasonable in this course. If you, the student, had recent extenuating circumstances, then contact Student Affairs to explore potential support for past due coursework. Student Affairs contact information is listed below: 
    
    • Phone: (208) 282-2794
    • Email: studentaffairs@isu.edu
    • Physical Office: Room 204 of the Hypostyle on the Pocatello campus during regular business hours, Monday through Friday - 8 am to 5 pm, excluding national holidays)

• Flexibility can be exhausted. 
  • Since this accommodation is intended for periodic use when the student's disability occasionally impacts their ability to attend class, complete an assignment or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time, flexibility can be exhausted. If a student has a disability that consistently instead of periodically impacts their ability to attend class, complete an assignment or take an exam/quiz at the scheduled time, then the student should discuss this with their Disability Services Specialist. This will allow the student to explore other accommodations, strategies, and resources that will best support the student's specific needs/situation.

• If the absences meet or exceed 50% of those agreed upon in the Flexibility with Attendance and/or Assignments-Testing Deadlines Agreement, DS needs to be informed.
  • This will allow DS to be of assistance in answering questions about the accommodations from both the student and the faculty member and to further address the student’s situation.

• Faculty are not obligated to re-teach material missed due to not attending class.
  • The student is responsible for obtaining missed lecture content, notes, and other material presented in class.

• Students must meet the same course requirements as outlined in the syllabus and all assignments, quizzes, projects, and tests must be completed by the last day of instruction for the semester.
  • If the student requires time to complete all course requirements, then the student must discuss with the professor/instructor of the course the possibility of receiving an incomplete in accordance with the departmental policies. The student must meet all university requirements for an incomplete.

• Absences that are not related to the effects of a disability are not included in this accommodation (i.e. absences due to a common illness, car trouble, jobs, child care, inclement weather, etc). The student is responsible for following the faculty member's syllabus regarding absences due to non-disability-related issues.
  • If you, the student, have extenuating circumstances that are not disability-related (i.e. death in the family, taking care of an ill loved one, etc.), then contact Student Affairs. Student Affairs contact information is listed below: 
    
    • Phone: (208) 282-2794
    • Email: studenta@isu.edu
    • Physical Office: Room 204 of the Hypostyle on the Pocatello campus during regular summer business hours (7:30 am to 4 pm), excluding national holidays)

• If this accommodation is misused (i.e. used for absences not related to the effects of a disability, then Disability Services has the right to discuss this misuse with the student.

General Rights:

• At no time is the student required to present the professor with any disability documentation (i.e. medical documentation, evaluations, etc.) verifying his/her disability-related absence for this accommodation. Disability Services has already collected sufficient documentation from the student that has qualified them for this accommodation. 

• A student has a right to request this accommodation for any course sponsored or funded by ISU. Through the interactive process outlined above determinations will be made about the extent of flexibility and which components of the course work qualify for flexibility. 

• Professors should not categorically deny any flexibility accommodations. Instead, they should discuss their concerns with the student's Disability Services Specialist. The Disability Services Specialist will engage in an interactive process to help determine if a particular flexibility request is appropriate or if flexibility has already been exhausted or is not reasonable for a specific component of the course. 

• Professors are still responsible for this accommodation even if they delay in responding to Disability Services, DS.

Please defer to Disability Services for all other rights and responsibilities for this accommodation.

• An interactive process with Disability Services, the student, and the professor will help guides determining when flexibility is appropriate and when it is not.