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Act 833 of 2014 established alternative pathways for certain students with disabilities to be able to be promoted to the next grade level and graduate from high school.
Policy revisions for Act 833 implementation recommended by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) are much more restrictive than Act 833 regarding:
- students eligible for consideration of an alternative pathway;
- the courses that IEP teams can establish alternative performance requirements for students to meet relevant to earning a high school diploma;
- the grade levels allowed for promotion consideration; and,
- alternative methods to demonstrate proficiency (i.e., how a student is tested) vs. minimum performance requirements to be used as criteria for promotion and graduation determinations.
Eligibility restriction
The LDE is recommending to not allow students on LAA-1 to be eligible for the alternative pathway for promotion and graduation determinations.
Since IEP teams determine whether students are on LAA-1 many parents and special educators have indicated they expect many students to be re-classifed so they can be eligible for an alternative pathway to graduate.
Course Restriction
The LDE is recommending that IEP teams can only establish minimum performance requirements to those high school courses with required state assessments (i.e., End-of-Course tests). Act 833 indicates IEP team determinations of minimum performance requirements apply to any course relevant to promotion and graduation requirements. Since there are many courses required for graduation that do not have EOC tests the intent of the law is that all of these courses would be considered.
Promotion Determinations Restricted to Fourth and Eighth Grades
While most issues related to promotion have been caused by state established retention policies at fourth and eighth grades, Act 833 does not restrict IEP teams from making performance requirements for promotion purposes for students in school systems with local pupil progression policies that do not take into account the student's individualized situation and needs.
Performance Requirements vs. Demonstrating Proficiency
Act 833 clearly indicates that an IEP of a student on an alternative pathway for promotion and graduation shall include minimum performance requirements the student must achieve to be promoted or earn credits toward graduation. However, language recommended by LDE shifts, and limits, the alternative pathways to only include alternative methods for the student to demonstrate proficiency. The difference is whether students will be required to meet the same proficiency benchmark established by the state, or, as Act 833 indicates, whether performance requirements established in the IEP will be necessary for promotion and graduation determinations. The concern is whether some alternative methods of demonstrating proficiency, that is, certain assessment protocols, established by IEP teams will be deemed invalid, resulting in students being denied course credit and eventually diplomas even though the students achieved the level of performance indicated by his or her IEP.
Policy Revision Recommendations by LDE: Bulletin 1530, Louisiana's IEP Handbook for Students with Exceptionalities Bulletin 1566 - Pupil Progression Policies and Procedures Contact your BESE member to tell them how you feel about these issues. | 
