Reasonable accommodation and extended admission at university

It is the bridge between high school and university for a student with a disability. It does three things: it lets you request accommodation for the College Board or the SAT, it opens a second admission door when the exam does not reflect what you can do, and it backs you with a written plan so you do not fall away once you are in. The most important thing in the whole Act is a date: the request goes in at least one year before the exam.

The Act covers every person with a disability or functional diversity, and availing yourself of it is voluntary: “Every person with a disability or functional diversity may voluntarily avail themselves of this Act’s benefits.” The request process is written for two scenarios: students in the Department of Education’s Special Education Program, with the support of the COMPU and the rehabilitation counsellor; and the private education system, where the rehabilitation counsellor acts as case manager or consultant. The student must also meet the admission requirements set by the institution they wish to enter.

• Be a person with a disability or functional diversity, and voluntarily avail yourself of the Act’s benefits.Verified against the official source
• Meet the admission requirements set by the higher-education institution you wish to enter.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: One year before the College Board or the SAT

   If you take one thing from this guide, take this. The Act provides that the request “must be submitted by the person with a disability or functional diversity, or the parents where necessary, with the assistance and support of the student’s COMPU and rehabilitation counsellor, acting as consultant assigned to the Educational Region or case manager, at least one year before taking the College Board or the SAT.” The purpose the Act itself states is that the College Board and the SAT have time to carry out “the procedures, coordination, collaboration, communication and staff training necessary” to honour the accommodation on exam day.

2. 2

   Step 2: In private school the process is the same

   The Act says so expressly so nobody is left out by school type: “In the case of the private education system, the same process shall be followed, in which the rehabilitation counsellor shall act as case manager or consultant and shall offer the necessary assistance and support to the student with a disability or functional diversity.” What changes is who accompanies you, not the right or the deadline.

3. 3

   Step 3: If you are admitted regularly, you decide whether to request the benefits

   The Act separates the two paths. “When the student with a disability or functional diversity is admitted through the regular process, the student shall decide whether to request the benefits provided in this Act from the Rehabilitation Counsellor attached to the institution.” And it adds where it is coordinated: “The request for benefits under this Act shall be coordinated by the Office for Persons with Disabilities or Functional Diversity of each university institution or with the Admissions Office.”

4. 4

   Step 4: If the exam does not favour you, they must tell you another door exists

   This is an institutional duty, not a favour. “When the admission-exam results or the IGS do not favour the admission of the person with a disability or functional diversity, the university institution shall have the responsibility of expeditiously informing the student about the availability of the extended admission process and the request before the Extended Admission Evaluating Committee in Non-University and University Postsecondary Education Institutions at the undergraduate and graduate levels.” Note the Act extends it to undergraduate and graduate levels, and to non-university postsecondary institutions.

5. 5

   Step 5: Who decides extended admission, and by what measure

   The Admission Evaluating Committee “shall be convened through the Dean of Students or their representative at each institution” and is composed of the rehabilitation counsellor, the Dean of Students or their representative, an admissions officer, an officer for services to students with disabilities or functional diversity, and a representative of the department or faculty the student wishes to enter. What it looks at is broader than a score: “the extended admission request, which may be composed of alternate assessment instruments, work samples obtained through the learning assessment process, interview, workshops and special courses, among others.” The written purpose is to “identify the postsecondary academic potential” of the person.

6. 6

   Step 6: The PITR: the plan that stays with you after you enrol

   If you are admitted, the Act requires that you be oriented “on the enrolment process, the services of the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, your rights and responsibilities, and the general processes for implementing the reasonable accommodation or modification.” And it defines the plan: the Individualized Transition and Retention Plan “is an agreement established between the student and the educational institution setting out the duties and responsibilities of the parties,” developed by the rehabilitation counsellor and the student, integrating internal, external and complementary services that promote retention. The Committee must also “determine and recommend whether the person with a disability or functional diversity should participate in introductory courses or workshops on university life.”

7. 7

   Step 7: Your file: you may see it and ask for documents to be removed

   This Article 6 right is little used because few know it exists. “The person with a disability has the right to have the content of their file kept confidential. The student or their legal guardian has the right to examine these files and to request that any document deemed detrimental to their academic potential or their person be removed from it.” And the Act says when it passes into your hands: “The right to confidentiality of the files shall be under the power of the person with a disability upon reaching the age of majority, in accordance with the laws of Puerto Rico, so long as there is no declaration of incapacity.”

8. 8

   Step 8: The Specialists Data Bank

   The Act gives you a concrete tool for choosing who assesses you: “The person requesting the benefits provided by this Act shall have the right to use the Specialists Data Bank for the purpose of making informed decisions about the professionals who will offer and do offer services related to this Act.” For parents, the Act frames it as part of their responsibility: using it to decide on “the specialty, experience and scope of practice of rehabilitation counselling professionals.” We did not read where that bank is consulted, so we publish no address.

9. 9

   Step 9: If they do not comply: where the complaint goes

   Article 9 names the principal forum and the concurrent ones. “In accordance with the powers established in Act 158-2015, which creates the Office for the Defence of Persons with Disabilities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, it shall be the entity primarily responsible for resolving complaints filed for non-compliance with any of the provisions included in this Act, without prejudice to the processes established in each entity or agency.” It adds that “The Federal Office for Civil Rights, attached to the Federal Department of Justice, and the Office of the Citizen’s Advocate of Puerto Rico, or its successor, may assume jurisdiction concurrently.” And for the Department of Education its administrative complaint procedure applies, along with the Secretarial Unit for the Complaint and Provisional Remedy Procedure and the Office of Complaint Inspection. We did not read Act 158-2015, so we publish no deadlines or form.

For accommodation on the College Board or the SAT, the request comes out of the school: the COMPU and the rehabilitation counsellor in the Special Education Program, or the rehabilitation counsellor as case manager in private school. Once at university, the request for benefits is coordinated by the institution’s Office for Persons with Disabilities or Functional Diversity, or with the Admissions Office, and the Evaluating Committee is convened by the Dean of Students. The non-compliance complaint goes to the Office for the Defence of Persons with Disabilities under Act 158-2015.

• Requesting the accommodation weeks before the College Board: the Act asks for the request at least one year in advance.
• Believing it does not apply in private school: the Act provides the same process, with the rehabilitation counsellor as case manager.
• Accepting the exam’s “no” as final: if the result or the IGS does not favour you, the institution must inform you of extended admission.
• Waiting to be offered the accommodation if you were admitted regularly: there it is you who decides to request it from the institution’s rehabilitation counsellor.
• Not asking for the PITR: it is a written agreement between you and the institution, developed by the rehabilitation counsellor with you.
• Not reviewing your file: you have the right to examine it and to request removal of a document detrimental to your academic potential or your person.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico

  Educación

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov