{"id":20531,"date":"2026-04-16T21:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=20531"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:00:35","slug":"kids-with-passing-grades-eligible-for-504-plans-ieps-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/kids-with-passing-grades-eligible-for-504-plans-ieps-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Kids with Passing Grades Eligible for 504 Plans and IEPs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Are%20Kids%20with%20Passing%20Grades%20Eligible%20for%20504%20Plans%20and%20IEPs%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Can kids with disabilities who get good grades (or passing grades) be eligible for 504 plans and IEPs?<\/p>\n<p>Yes. We address questions about grades in Chapter 5 (IDEA), Chapter 7 (Section 504), and Chapter 10: Special Topics (page 451) of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/selaw3\/selaw3.htm\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 3rd Edition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22366\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/teens.class.happy_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"504\" height=\"339\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Grades are in the Selected Topics chapter in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/selaw3\/selaw3.htm\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 3rd Edition.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) describes the roles of grades in the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf\">Parent and Educator Guide to Section 504<\/a>&#8221; (see page 5, page 14, and page 21).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Re: the role of &#8220;passing grades.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Resource Guide says:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>School staff should note that a student may have a disability and be eligible for Section 504 services, including modifications, <strong>even if the student earns good grades.<\/strong> This is because the student&#8217;s impairment may substantially limit a major life activity regardless of whether the student performs well academically&#8230; <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The guide covers eligibility to special education under <strong>Section 504 and the IDEA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Resource Guide provides an overview of the rights of students with ADHD and describes the school districts&#8217; obligations to evaluate and provide educational services to students with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>For example, school districts are required to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Evaluate a child when the child needs or is believed to need special education or related services.<\/li>\n<li>Provide services based on the child&#8217;s needs, not on generalizations about do disabilities or ADHD.<\/li>\n<li>Not assume that a child who performs well academically cannot be substantially limited in major life activities, including reading, learning, writing, and thinking.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate children with behavioral difficulties and children who seem unfocused or distractible &#8212; they may have ADD\/ADHD.<\/li>\n<li>Provide parents and guardians with due process and allow parents and guardians to appeal decisions regarding the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of their children with disabilities, including children with ADHD.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you have questions about how to get services for your child, use the Resource Guide.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Students with ADHD and Section 504: A Resource Guide at\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Students with ADHD: Know Your Rights<\/span> (<\/a>two-page summary of student and parent rights under Section 504) at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/offices\/list\/ocr\/letters\/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are Kids with Passing Grades Eligible for 504 Plans and IEPs? <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/kids-with-passing-grades-eligible-for-504-plans-ieps-yes\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1377,35,5,9],"tags":[1307,1301,259,112,1091,1297],"class_list":["post-20531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-add-adhd","category-eligibility","category-idea-2004","category-section-504","tag-adhd","tag-eligibility","tag-idea","tag-iep","tag-passing-grades","tag-section-504"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20531"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26894,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20531\/revisions\/26894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}