Deadline: 15-May-23
The Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is seeking applications for its High-Cost Special Education Program that provides additional investments to recipients who provide services for students who ordinarily live on reserve and whose special education needs cannot be met within the current resources that are available for the general student population.
Broadly speaking, special education needs students fall within a continuum of mild to moderate, moderate to severe and severe to profound.
Only high-cost special education needs ranging from moderate to profound are eligible for funding under the High-Cost Special Education Program.
There are 2 types of approaches:
- Intervention-Based
- The intervention-based approach is a formula-based method that does not require formal assessments before the introduction of intervention strategies. Nevertheless, the students must get a formal assessment no later than the end of the following school year.
- Under this approach, teachers with the appropriate training are able to use and interpret assessment instruments and develop the necessary intervention measures to address the student’s immediate needs while waiting for a more formal assessment. An IEP should be initiated at this stage.
- Assessment-Based.
- The assessment-based approach involves classifying student needs into recognized high-cost categories and providing an individual funding allocation to support individualized programming.
- Moderate to profound high-cost special education needs based on permanent physical or intellectual exceptionalities require at least one psycho-educational assessment.
Objective
The objective of the High-Cost Special Education Program is to improve the educational achievement levels of First Nations students on reserve. The program provides access to quality and culturally-sensitive special education programs and services to:
- Enable students with moderate to profound high-cost special education needs to achieve their fullest potential.
- Increase the number of special needs students acquiring a high school diploma or a certificate of completion.
Funding Information
- Budget 2016 invested $577.5 million to support special education needs through the High-Cost Special Education Program. It provides support for both direct and indirect services for students.
Expected Results
- The expected results of this program are:
- Increased number of high-cost special education students will acquire a high school diploma or a certificate of completion.
- Provide support services to high-cost special needs students as identified in their IEPs.
- Recognizing that students with high-cost special education needs may not achieve the same academic objectives as students without high-cost special education needs, the goals set out in an IEP measures a student’s ability to meet or exceed their educational goals and demonstrate progression towards a high school diploma or a certificate of completion.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible recipients of the High-Cost Special Education Program funding are service providers such as:
- First Nations and First Nations organizations including those in Yukon or in the Northwest Territories
- First Nations-mandated organizations designated by First Nations as service providers including:
- Not-for-profit organizations.
- For-profit organizations.
- Private education institutions and organizations designated to deliver childhood education programming to eligible students ordinarily living on reserve.
- Provincial ministries of education.
- Provincial school board or school board-like entity.
- Federal schools.
- Funding agreement managers and recipient appointed advisors in accordance with ISC Default Prevention and Management Policy.
- Not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.
- For-profit organizations, such as academic institutions, may be eligible for funding provided the nature and intent of the activity:
- Is non-commercial.
- Is not intended to generate profit.
- Supports program priorities and objectives.
- Will be publically available at no cost.
- Eligible recipients who can only provide indirect special education services are only eligible to receive funding to deliver those indirect services (consult Eligible expenditures).
Eligible Participants
- To qualify as an eligible participant, the following criteria must be met:
- The student’s age is from 4 to 21 years (or the age range eligible for elementary and secondary education support in the province of residence) on December 31 of the school year in which funding support is required.
- Ordinarily resident on reserve.
- Enrolled and participating in an education program in a First Nations, federal, provincial, or a private or independent school recognized by the province in which the school is located as an elementary or secondary institution. This includes program delivery through E-learning, alternative or outreach, and early learning programs hosted in Aboriginal Head start on Reserve or early learning centres.
- An IEP must be in place or being created when a student has been identified by the school administration or a team of experts as having high-cost special education needs. The IEP must map the student’s progress during the school year.
- The student is ordinarily resident on reserve.
- A student who is ordinarily resident on reserve lands that are leased is not eligible for funding unless that student is a registered Indian.
- Ordinarily resident on reserve means that the student usually:
- Lives at a civic address on reserve.
- Is a child in joint custody who lives on reserve most of the time.
- Staying on reserve and has no usual home elsewhere.
For more information, visit ISC.