Georgia Cyber Academy, a virtual public charter school, uses digital assessment tools to track special education progress. By integrating an online learning platform, the school tracks thousands of individual education goals. More online schools now use digital platforms to meet federal compliance standards.
What Happened
To manage more than 11,000 individual education plan (IEP) goals online, Georgia Cyber Academy built a shared library of skills-based assessments. School administrators used Formative by Newsela to organize customizable tasks mapped directly to IEP objectives. This database allowed virtual special education teachers to select and assign assessments tailored to individual student needs. The school reports that this transition allowed them to monitor 98.6% of their IEP goals with high fidelity. As we previously reported, daily classroom quizzes on Formative also link to long-term college readiness.
The Bigger Picture
Virtual schools face the exact same legal obligations as physical institutions. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), online public schools must guarantee a free appropriate public education and fully implement every student’s IEP, as outlined by the EdTech Innovation Hub.
To deliver these services remotely, schools typically use one of two main strategies. In the first model, described by Eluma, students remain in their physical school buildings but receive live instruction from a remote special education teacher via classroom cameras, aided by an on-site physical facilitator. In the second model, students learn entirely from home, which allows parents to directly view and participate in daily lessons.
But digital tracking raises questions about compliance and individualization. While automated or pre-built assessments offer efficiency, federal rules require an IEP to be an individualized, collaborative plan. Tenet's regulatory guide notes that federal regulation 34 CFR 300.324(a)(1) requires teams to write goals based on specific evaluations, student strengths, and parental concerns. Goals or assessments generated by software or pre-selected "disability label" templates without collaborative input do not meet this legal standard.
Over-standardizing digital assessments can also cause tracking failures. An analysis by IEP Progress on Assessments warns that generic accommodations across all digital activities can mask what a student actually knows. For instance, a read-aloud accommodation on a test meant to measure reading decoding changes the nature of the assessment. For standardized, norm-referenced assessments, improper digital accommodations can invalidate the results, according to the IEP Progress standardized testing guide.
What This Means for Families
For parents, digital tracking tools can provide real-time updates on academic progress. Instead of waiting for quarterly report cards, parents can log in to see performance on specific tasks.
Still, families must stay vigilant. A high accuracy or "fidelity rate" on a dashboard does not guarantee high-quality, personalized instruction. Parents must ensure that digital tools serve the child's learning plan, rather than forcing the child to fit pre-packaged software.
What You Can Do
- Ask your child's IEP team how they use platforms like Formative. Make sure they use teacher-designed, targeted assessments rather than relying solely on automated software.
- Confirm that any digital accommodations, such as text-to-speech or extended time, fit each specific subject. A tool that helps in math might obscure progress in reading.
- Ensure that IEP goals are created through active discussion during annual meetings, rather than accepting pre-written objectives pulled from an online database.