District/School Resources PK-16 Program Support
Career/Vocational Technical Education

Questions & Answers Resulting from the November 19, 2004 Meeting RE: Chapter 74 Admissions

This purpose of this memo is to provide you with follow-up on the meeting that took place on November 19, 2004 in Sturbridge. If you have additional questions about this memo, please contact Ramona Foster at (781) 338-3945. Follow-up is provided in a question & answer (Q & A) format. Note that questions raised during the meeting are paraphrased rather than quoted and that the following definitions will be used.

Q1: Can a receiving school that admitted a student "send him/her back" to the home school?
A1: The answer to this question was published in November 2003 in the Chapter 74 Manual for Vocational Technical Education Admission Policies. The Manual is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/admissions/. The simple answer is "generally no," but please refer to the Manual (Question #5) for a more complete answer.

Q2: In the future, would it be possible for receiving school personnel that manage admissions to receive memos such as the November 17, 2004 memo that addressed the admission application form?
A2: The Department has taken steps to obtain email addresses of the members of the two above-captioned organizations and will send the "State Director's Updates" and other information to all routinely. Also, please check the CTE website for information.

Q3: For 2005-2006, the Student Information Management System (SIMS) has 63 race/ethnicity categories. The Sample Admission Application Form has only five categories. How do you respond?
A3: The Sample Admission Application Form has been revised to include the 2005-2006 SIMS categories. The revised sample is posted on http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/admissions/. It is also included in the Chapter 74 Manual for Vocational Technical Education Admission Policies available at the same site.

Q4: During the admissions process, how can schools/districts evaluate the applications of home-educated students?
A4: The answer to this question was published in November 2003 in the Chapter 74 Manual for Vocational Technical Education Admission Policies. The Manual is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/admissions/. Please refer to the Manual (Questions #1-3) for a complete answer.

Q5: If a sending school fails to invite staff from a receiving school to an IEP meeting in advance of a student being considered for admission to the receiving school, what impact does that have on the admission process?
A5: Although presence at an IEP meeting may be desirable and a "best practice," it should not have any impact on the admission process.

Q6: May staff from a receiving school attend an IEP meeting of a prospective student prior to final acceptance at the receiving school?
A6: Yes, although their presence should not affect admission.

Q7: Why can't receiving school staff have access to the IEP prior to the applicant being admitted (conditionally admitted)?
A7: The November 17, 2004 memo regarding the admission application form addressed this issue. The memo is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/admissions/.

Q8: What happens in the case of an applicant who spends time in a "time out" or "behavior room" and the sending school does not include that information in the discipline/conduct record of the applicant that was sent to the receiving school?
A8: The procedures for calculating discipline/conduct scores become difficult when discipline/conduct records need to be equated across sending schools and the receiving school. Time out and behavior may be defined differently in student records depending on the school. The expectation is that the sending school and the receiving school will build a professional relationship that includes common definitions of discipline/conduct and/or a comparison scale between the differing definitions. To the extent that receiving schools are aware that sending schools report "incomplete" information, receiving school staff can work with those schools to encourage them to provide "clearer" information.

Q9: Scenario: A student has applied to a receiving school. The receiving school is invited to attend an IEP Team meeting of the prospective student at the sending school. The receiving school representative attends the meeting. The student is not admitted to the receiving school. A complaint is filed alleging discrimination. Is the receiving school in violation by attending the meeting?
A9: Attendance at a team meeting is not a violation of the Vocational Technical Education regulations and is not in itself discriminating against the applicant. The school may still receive a complaint, but it will not necessarily be upheld if the receiving school shows that its decision not to admit was based solely on the admission criteria and that such criteria is not discriminatory and did not include consideration of information obtained from the attendance at the Team meeting.

Q10: Scenario: A student is in an alternative setting at his/her sending school and, according to the school, is doing extremely well in his/her academic classes. Considering that some believe that students in alternative settings/programs may be held to different grading standards than the general population, can vocational technical schools weigh these students' grades differently?
A10: No. The Vocational Technical Education regulations require that multiple criteria be used to determine which applicants have an ability to benefit, and therefore be admitted to the school unless the school opts to use first come-first served or a lottery for admission. The criteria used to determine ability to benefit shall include academic grades, attendance record, discipline/conduct record, recommendations from sending-school personnel and may include student interview, provided however, that no one criterion exceeds fifty percent of the total. Schools shall condition admission on a student having been promoted to the grade that they have been admitted to enter. Schools may condition admission on a student having passed courses in English Language Arts or its equivalent and mathematics for the school year immediately preceding their enrollment in a selective vocational technical school or program. The use of this multiple criteria is fair and shall be applied to all students.

Next Steps: As discussed at the meeting, staff from the Special Education Policy & Planning and Career and Technical Education units at the Department, are committed to work together with members of your organizations and others in the vocational technical education community to serve the needs of students in the Commonwealth. We look forward to ongoing discussions.