Special Education or Segregation?
Is segregation really finding its way back into our schools? Many people feel that is exactly what special education has become in America. As the five year window after the Gaskin’s settlement narrows, Pennsylvania educators and administrators have a lot to worry about. In fact, many schools are jumping through the hoops as we ponder this idea. In short, this settlement basically calls current special education trends discrimination and segregation, and schools are rated and will be punished based on their “segregation” levels. Furthermore, the new policies require “IEP teams to consider and school districts to provide a full range of supplementary aids and services in regular ed classrooms to all students with disabilities, including those with significant disabilities who can benefit from education in regular ed classes. Supplementary aids will be provided in a manner that is ’sensitive’ to avoid stigmatizing the student. ‘The Starting Point’ for children with special needs is regular ed before removal is considered.” We all know what this means. The flood gates are cut loose, and IEP students are tossed into regular ed classrooms. We hope that there is enough funding for a TSS or two and a handful of PCAs. I know we are all reading and writing teachers, but now we are all special ed teachers. Some questions you might want to ponder: Is special education segregation? Is anything needed/occurring to remedy your current special ed situation and is it working? Overall, are we doing these students any justice?
9 responses so far ↓
1
Patricia Galien
// Oct 31, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I teach in a community college and so there are no “special education” classes. There is a center for students with special needs that is responsible for providing support to students who have been determined to need it. The support may involve more time for testing, someone to sign the lecture, a notetaker, etc. In my opinion, this situation is ideal, but I realize that it is only possible because students in a college have passed the threshold of high school graduation. I do agree that “the starting point” for children with special needs should be regular education. In order for this to work, it seems at least two things need to happen: 1) support in the classroom 2) some type of threshold to determine if the student can benefit from regular education.
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BJ
// Oct 31, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Well to frame my comments let me share a tad about my past
I was the Team Leader for the Assistive Technology Team in Balto City Public Schools. Now I am a Division of Rehabilitative Services assessor and provider of support services to those who need computer assisted technologies for oral communication and written communication.
I am a strong supporter of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). For more info go to http://www.cast.org . UDL combines differentiate instruction and assistive technology to all students in order for the students to be successful. Personally I do not believe in the pull out model of intervention. All students can learn in one classroom with necessary supports…including personal.
In Utopia, there should be 1 regular educator, 1 special educator and 2 classroom assistants working with 25 students who even 8-10 could have IEPs. In reality, bandaid supports are given with little training and even fewer supplies.
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PamO
// Oct 31, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I have a situation this year where a moderate student is being placed in my enrichment class. The special education teacher states that her goal for him is to receive “socialization”. While in my room, he colors and plays with puzzles. My enrichment class is a multimedia class where students work with technology/computers. This child does not write his name and doesn’t use a computer. I welcome special education students into my regular classroom but this has been a challenge. This child wants us to color with him and interact with him, making it very difficult to complete our enrichment tasks. He’s a precious young man and when he asks me to “come here”, I can’t always ignore his requests. My students feel the same pressure and when he requests their attention, they try to keep an ear on me while sitting with him and coloring. In the special education classroom the teacher has several assistants, but when this child comes to my room, I have no assistant. So, yes the regular teacher becomes a special needs teacher even though I’ve not been educated about his problems, how to deal with situations that may arise, or how to accomplish enrichment instruction and goals while interacting with this young man. Needless to say, the goals I had planned to meet have not happened. My class has been enriched by their interaction with this young man, but our technology class has not reached the level we could have reached had we been focused on technology. Should one child be allowed to change the course of an entire class? Had I been given one of the assistants hired to help this child, could we have accomplished more? Does this happen in PA?
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Deb
// Nov 1, 2007 at 4:17 pm
In the past, children with special needs were segregated and often ridiculed or feared by the “regular ed” students. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be the parent of a child who was isolated from others, not invited to the birthday parties or the sleepovers, and it was pretty devastating. That level of separation does damage to all the persons involved. I believe that all children deserve a chance to be in the most typical classroom setting possible, but the financial burden of doing so may be at the root of why some current practices are not reflective of the intent of the law. I recently met someone who taught a class of about twenty-five students, seventeen of whom had an IEP. Is this inclusion or is this actually a “special education” class that has included regular ed students? Can one human being (even with one or two instructional aides) possibly meet the needs of all the children in the class, including those without an IEP, in a span of forty minutes? There is a need for more specific parameters if these worthwile models are to be effective.
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David
// Nov 2, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Very interesting conversation. Where I currently teach we do not have “special ed” classrooms. We have students with IEP’s and Support Plans. It is a school district practicing “inclusion”. Prior to becoming a public school teacher I worked as a coach for students with disabilities. These students were in High School and trying to transition from High School to work opportunities or higher education.
At times I was a 1-1 assist and other times I was a 1-10 assist. The students had some class work during the day and worked at a job site, learning work skills as well.
If these kids had not had the benefit of ‘inclusion” their ability to function as a “giving” member of their communities when reaching adulthood would have been greatly hindered. It is a common outcome for students with disabilities who have been in “separate schools” to graduate, only to find that their future is waiting for an opening at a vocational rehabilitation workshop. All over the county, Pennsylvania included, it is being discovered that the higher cost in the younger years is far less $$ than the on-going support for the rest of their lives.
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Justin A
// Nov 3, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Thank you all for sharing. We all have hit on some very similar points and agree as Deb put it “more specific parameters” need to be outlined, and BJ even outlined the perfect classroom. Since some of you are wondering what I’m seeing happen as a part of the Gaskin’s settlement being handed down, I’ll fill you in a little bit. Schools are finding loop-holes because the parameters weren’t set very specific. I currently teach two classes that are 100% IEP students. I am a regular ed math teacher and there is a special ed teacher in the room; however, I am the teacher of record. We have never co-taught before but we are doing our best. This year we purchased all new books, wrote new curriculum, and created all new courses in every discipline. To the state and on paper it looks like these classes are regular ed; however, take one step inside and you’ll see that they are still sitting beside the same students in every class. My major only required me to take a 1 credit students with special needs course and my degree is in secondary education mathematics. I currently have classes of 20 students who range from 2nd-5th grade math levels and are diagnosed with disabilities all across the board. Basically this situation tossed a bunch of IEP students at a regular ed teacher but it also gave the students a higher level math course that the special ed teachers seem less comfortable with, and it also tossed everyone into a co-teaching model that is not the easiest thing to accomplish. Some students are really benefiting; however, others just want to shut down because the material is way over their heads. I’m not really sure how fair this model is to everyone especially the students, but I don’t really believe it follows what was meant to be set out by the Gaskin’s Settlement. This is the reality of the system and special education is one of those topics that as educators we know and see what goes on in the classroom, but our professional opinion is often overshadowed by parents and politics.
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Patricia’s Blog » Week 7 Comments
// Nov 4, 2007 at 10:23 am
[...] http://justina.edublogs.org/2007/10/30/7-a-4-blogical-discussion/ [...]
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Lee Anne
// Nov 6, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Justin, great topic for a blogical discussion. The variety of perspectives everyone could contribute was valuable.
I see this as a great topic for coworkers to blog about. There are so many challenges. Often, the F2F conversation I hear about this topic are not productive – but are emotional. Perhaps blogging the topic would help us think about what we want to say, as well as really listen to what others are saying.
Lee Anne
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Learning Community in BCE « PLS Online Course Development
// Feb 15, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] Special Education or Segregation? [...]
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