Attendance Flexibility and Assignment Due Date Accommodations
About
Students are expected to follow established classroom attendance and deadline policies. However, some disabilities are episodic in nature, resulting in students occasionally missing class or an assignment deadline. Attendance flexibility in a limited amount is intended to address the impact of acute exacerbations of a student’s disability on attendance and assignment due dates.
Flexible due dates are typically not approved for students who have concerns about difficulty with time management or course loads. Instead, students in these situations are often encouraged to consider academic support through the Center for Academic Excellence or to consider a reduced course load accommodation if necessary.
Process
The Disability Resource Center recognizes the importance of attending class and completing assignments on time. These accommodations are not meant to allow students to miss as many classes as they want or to never have to submit work by the established deadline.
The appropriate level of flexibility granted to students is highly dependent on the design of the course. The Disability Resource Center has created a rubric of course types and frequency of class sessions to identify a proposed number of disability related absences to assist in determining an appropriate number of allowable absences. Instructors should review the rubric and indicate to the DRC staff if they accept the proposed number of absences for the class or if they wish to recommend a different number of absences. Instructors should assess the impact of attendance and deadlines on the class and determine what accommodations can be made.
When is Attendance Essential?
The following questions have been provided by the Office of Civil Rights to determine the appropriateness of the accommodation.
Consider the following:
- Do students interact with each other and with the instructor?
- Do student contributions in class constitute a significant component of the learning process?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on student participation as an essential method for learning?
- To what degree does a student’s failure to attend constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
- What do the course description and syllabus say?
- What method is used to calculate the final grade?
- What are the classroom practices and policies regarding attendance?
When Are Assignment Due Dates Essential?
Consider the following:
- To what degree does a student’s failure to submit work timely constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on meeting deadlines as an essential component for learning?
- What do the course description and syllabus say?
- What method is used to calculate the final grade?
- What are the classroom practices and policies regarding deadlines?
Completing the Process
Clear communication is critical in ensuring all parties understand the parameters of the accommodation. To that end, the Disability Resource Center sends an email to instructors to request a response to the recommended number of absences to be permitted or the allowance of due date extensions on assignments. Instructors can email their approval of the recommended number of absences based on the rubric provided or the specific number identified by the DRC staff, or they can indicate an alternative plan based on consideration of the questions provided from the Office of Civil Rights.
This information is needed in a timely manner from instructors (within 5 days of the email from the DRC staff) in order to have an accommodation plan arranged. If no response from an instructor is provided within five days, the DRC staff will determine the accommodation plan to put into place.
The DRC staff will communicate the approved accommodation with students and instructors will see the approved plan in the accommodations that are submitted through the notification of accommodations in Banner.
Disability Center staff are available to support faculty and students regarding these accommodations; please reach out at any point in the process with any concerns or questions.