Case+24+-+Ms.+Jean's+Math+Modifications


 * __Ms. Jean’s Math Modifications__**

Ms. Jean teaches a fourth grade inclusion class. Last year, the district adopted a new math curriculum and textbook. At the time, the budget allowed for full class sets of non-consumable textbooks to be ordered, as well as four consumable books for the three incoming inclusion students, who had difficulty with handwriting and going back and forth from the texts to their math notebooks to complete the assigned problems. The regular texts were also very “busy” and difficult for the inclusion students to follow, while the consumable versions were larger and the material was a bit more spread out on the page, allowing those students to successfully follow along. This year, however, with budget cuts, there was no money in the budget for enough consumable texts. While other modifications were suggested as per the students’ IEP’s, they were not as effective as having the consumable texts for each student. With one consumable text remaining from the previous year, Ms. Jean photocopied only the practice pages of the lessons into a booklet for the three inclusion students currently in her class. During the lesson, the students would follow along in the regular text with the help of an instructional aide or a highlighting reading strip. She is concerned that her photocopying the content of those pages is not in line with the Fair Use policy, though the packets are used for class work only and are collected at the end of each chapter.


 * __Commentary__**

With the continuing trend of including students with special needs into mainstream classes, teachers have to be creative in making modifications to allow those students the best chance for success and learning. Ms. Jean’s method of meeting those needs would meet the Fair Use guidelines. The material she reproduced was used for non-profit educational purposes. The copies were only for a small portion of her class, three out of her 22 students in all. She also did not copy the entire book, only the pages which had problems for the students to practice so that they could complete the work with appropriate modifications as outlined in their IEP’s. The pages containing the lesson information were followed along in the regular textbook. Since it is such a small portion of students needing the copies of the consumable work, and class sets of non-consumable textbooks had been purchased from the vendor the previous year, the copying of the material would not affect any potential market for the product. Also, if the next year’s budget allows, she intends to order more of the consumable texts for her next class. With all of these factors, Ms. Jean’s method of modifying work for her inclusion students falls under the Fair Use guidelines.