Currently, more than 3,500 children and young adults receive special education services in Kent School District. Once a child or young adult is identified as eligible for special education services, the school district provides a free and appropriate public education emphasizing special education and related services designed to meet the student’s unique needs.

Our Inclusive Education team provides services to create the best possible educational outcomes for each child. We engage parents and families to identify students who have disabilities or qualify for special education services. We strive to create appropriate education experiences for students requiring specially designed instruction and/or accommodations to access their education. Our team is here to help develop education plans accommodating students who are identified as eligible for special education services.

Across the district, we provide a wide spectrum of service options for the students we serve. Inclusive Education provides supplemental services to students with special needs who meet three criteria:

1. The student has a substantiated disability. This determination involves an evaluation process by a school-based team that also includes the parents. Thirteen categories are currently identified in special education:

   • Autism

   • Deaf/blind

   • Developmental delay

   • Emotional behavior disability

   • Health impairment (including deafness)

   • Hearing impairment

   • Intellectual disability

   • Multiple disabilities

   • Orthopedic impairment

   • Specific learning disability

   • Speech or language impairment 

   • Traumatic brain injury

   • Visual impairment (including blindness)

2. The disability adversely affects educational performance; and, 

3. The adverse effects of the disability cannot be addressed exclusively through general education classes, with or without individual accommodations.

Some students with disabilities needs can be addressed through accommodations in general education. These children do not qualify for special education. Instead, an individual accommodation plan is developed for each student.

These plans are known as 504 plans and are required of all school districts under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Process

Some students need extra assistance in school and this need may be the result of a disability. Not all students who have disabilities need or qualify for special education services.

Students qualifying as disabled under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004 (IDEIA) require "specially designed instruction" which is designed and monitored by a certificated special education staff member.

Some students with disabilities do not require specially designed instruction, but do require accommodations in order to access their education (see Section 504).

Supporting All Students

Some children need extra assistance in their school career, and this need may be the result of a disability. Not all students who have disabilities need or qualify for special education services.

Students qualifying as disabled under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) require "specially designed instruction" which is designed and monitored by a certificated special education staff member.

• A student qualifies as disabled under IDEA if they have a documented disability, the disability interferes with their ability to learn, and requires specially designed instruction.

• Students who qualify under IDEA may require accommodations, as well as modified curriculum, instruction, materials and assessments, which align with, but may be different from performance standards of the general education curriculum

• Once qualified, an IEP is developed which includes general and special education staff, an individual knowledgeable about placement options, and provision of district resources, and the parents. It is reviewed annually.

Some students with disabilities do not require specially designed instruction, but do require accommodations in order to access their education (see Section 504).

Contact Us

• Inclusive Education - (253) 373-7513

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, concerning the education of students with disabilities requires schools to provide you, the parents of a student with a disability or suspected disability, with a notice containing a full explanation of the rights available to you under IDEA and the U.S. Department of Education regulations. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has state rules governing the provision of special education.

Learn more about student records requests to see the special education records destruction notification.