Students demanding alternative assignments meant for IEPs and 504s
Students and parents frequently demand easier alternative assignments meant for documented disabilities, accusing teachers of playing favorites when they say no. Counselors also create unofficial accommodations just to placate parents, leaving teachers dealing with rampant cheating and a complete breakdown of classroom fairness.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Refusing to discuss other students' accommodations with parents or peers
- 2Relying on administrative and department chair support
- 3Directing parents to counselors if they believe their child needs official accommodations
- 4Telling counselors the computer crashed and answer keys are unavailable
- 5Reviewing assignments together in class instead of providing static keys
- 6Grading assignments for completion rather than correctness
- 7Offering extra help before and after school
- 8Telling counselors they are free to create the answer keys themselves to meet the accommodation
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m hitting a breaking point with counselors who make up accommodations for IEPs and 504s to placate parents with no thought to how this may affect teachers.”source ↗
“In reality, they don’t review their assignments with the key - they simply copy it and then Snapchat it to the entire class so that they can also copy it.”source ↗
“Then another student saw the assignment and said, basically, “I want to do that assignment too. I don’t want to make a short film.””source ↗
“A few days later, I got a call from his parent accusing me of playing favorites and demanding that I give their child the alternative assignment as well.”source ↗
“I’m honestly just frustrated by the sense of entitlement from some students and parents.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How do I ask my job for autism accommodations?
- 2How to transition an employee from ADA accommodation back to FMLA
- 14How to manage an oversized classroom with no support or SPED training
- 35Why are students coming to class missing basic foundational skills?
- 3Why does school admin never show up during a student crisis?
- 2How to teach severely disabled students in a regular classroom with no help