Facilitating Engagement in Remote Online Learning Environments

Parent participation in the education of their students with disabilities is mediated by a variety of factors, chiefly economic and cultural background. These factors create such a broad and diverse classroom landscape that schools are challenged in responding to the individual needs of each family. In this sense, equity (or the lack thereof) becomes an underlying theme in any discussion of parent participation and students with disabilities. As noted by Turnbull et al. (2006), parent participation is a critical element of IDEA.

The preparedness of parents to support/facilitate the education of their students with disabilities has become the key question during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this question has surfaced on the conscience of our current educational landscape, parent participation in choice schools has always been a gray area for policy makers. Parents and caretakers are typically expected to play a much larger role as a “learning coach” or “mentor,” once the child is moved to a remote online setting. Facilitating Engagement in Remote Online Learning Environments: Parents/Caretakers provides education stakeholders with tools necessary to identify student needs in remote online settings and align these needs with school supports and parent/caretaker capacity to ensure an equitable learning environment.

Contact iDEC to Learn More about Facilitating Engagement in Remote Online Learning Environments.