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Special Education News as of Jul 29, 2010
States Seek Federal Waivers to Cut Special Education
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:39:57 - Pacific Time
At least three states have asked for permission to cut back on the money they provide districts for special education, under a built-in escape clause in the federal special education law that is aimed at financially struggling states. Iowa and Kansas have both been granted a waiver, which under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can be given out in "exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances such as a natural disaster or a precipitous and unforeseen decline in the financial resources of a state." South Carolina has requested a waiver, but the U.S. Department of Education has asked the state for more information before making a decision. Both the waiver requests and the department’s responses were reported earlier this year by the blog IDEA Money Watch, a project of the Washington area Advocacy Institute, which supports parents of children with disabilities. Special education advocates say this is the first time they’re aware of economic-hardship waivers being granted. The IDEA tries to insulate funding for children with disabilities from the ebb and flow of state financial woes. States generally must fund special education at the same amount or more from year to year, which in federal terminology is called maintenance of effort. There are penalties for making cuts without a waiver, and the waivers are granted only for one fiscal year at a time. After a waiver expires, a state must go back to the same funding level that existed before the cut was granted. Michael Griffith, an education finance expert with the Denver-based Education Commission for the States, said that more waiver requests may be coming. The financial outlook for states remains grim, and special education costs have grown at a faster rate than general education costs. States may not have asked for waivers before because they knew their requests would likely be denied, he said. "There are all sorts of waivers, and some are given out fairly easily. This one has been pretty clear- don’t come to us unless you’re in dire straits," Mr. Griffith said. "IDEA has traditionally been a very protected area. Even when we had the economic downturn after September 11, no one asked for it. They clearly knew they weren’t going to get it." Although the economy was in a shambles last year, federal stimulus dollars allowed states to plug some budget holes. But, Mr. Griffith added, "last year was not as bad as this year. And next year will be worse." Luann L. Purcell, the executive director of the Council of Administrators of Special Education, a group that represents district-level officials, says the maintenance of effort and waivers are a widespread topic of concern. “This is an issue everywhere I go,” she said. Read More...
CSUN Awarded Federal Grant to Strengthen Special Education Programs
Thu, 8 Apr 2010 07:29:13 - Pacific Time
Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) announced that California State University, Northridge (CSUN) was awarded nearly $8.5 million in federal funding over five years to improve the teacher quality and student achievement for students with disabilities in high-need schools. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Education through the Teacher Quality Partnership program. This project addresses the critical shortage of qualified special education teachers who are prepared to serve in high-need schools. The project is a partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the Colleges of Education and Humanities at California State University, Northridge. The program will recruit a total of 150 special education teachers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, prepare them to serve children with disabilities in high need schools, and evaluate the impact of the project on new teachers and their students. The program will offer an 18- month credential or master's degree residency program in Special Education, and a 2-year induction program. "Cal State Northridge is nationally recognized for its exemplary programs to prepare highly qualified teachers and develop partnerships with high-need schools," said Congressman Sherman. "Once again, CSUN stands at the forefront in teacher preparation and training and improving student achievement in our local schools." Read More...
National Academic Standards Call For Higher Bar In Special Education
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:45:06 - Pacific Time
A sweeping new proposal outlining national education standards offers “a historic opportunity” for students with disabilities “to excel within the general curriculum,” proponents say. The draft plan crafted by education experts convened by the nation’s governors and state school chiefs outlines yearly curriculum recommendations in English and math for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The idea behind the new standards is to apply uniform, high expectations to all students, including those with disabilities, no matter which state they attend school in. Under the recommended guidelines, fourth graders should know the difference between words like “their” and “there” while eighth graders should know how to use the Pythagorean theorem, among other criteria. Special education students should be held to grade level standards in order to succeed beyond high school graduation, an introduction to the draft indicates. While students with disabilities will likely require appropriate supports and accommodation, standards should only be compromised in cases where students have “significant cognitive disabilities” and after such students are offered numerous ways to learn and express their knowledge. Organizers of the plan at the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers are accepting public comment on the proposal until April 2 before publishing final recommendations. Each state will determine whether or not to adopt the standards. Read More...
Seven Years After Accusations, Judge Orders Special Education Teacher Fired
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:29:32 - Pacific Time
A city schoolteacher removed from the classroom more than seven years ago for alleged misconduct -- and who continued to receive a full paycheck the entire time -- should be fired immediately, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered Tuesday. The ruling was the latest turn in the Los Angeles Unified School District's long battle to terminate Matthew Kim, a former special education teacher at Grant High School in Van Nuys. Kim had been accused of touching co-workers' breasts and making improper advances and comments toward students. He was removed from the classroom in 2002 and required to report to a district office every workday as his case wound through the disciplinary system. Though he continued to receive up to $68,000 in annual pay plus benefits, he was given no duties. He has been sidelined with pay longer than any other teacher disciplined by the district. L.A. Unified has spent more than $2 million on his salary and legal costs. Kim was featured in a Times series last spring as an example of the district's struggle to fire unfit teachers, even those accused of egregious or immoral acts. The newspaper found that about 160 employees had been "housed" in district offices -- most of them fully paid -- while investigations proceeded, sometimes for years. In response to a complaint Tuesday from Kim's lawyer suggesting that the district had unfairly targeted his client, Judge David P. Yaffe said the issue had become "an embarrassment" after the Times series "exposed it." The school board fired Kim in 2003, but he appealed to the state Commission on Professional Competence, which has the final say over teachers' contested dismissals. The panel ultimately ruled that the touching was accidental and that Kim should not be fired. School board member Tamar Galatzan said the case is proof that legislators need to change California law governing teacher dismissal. "Kim should have been let go a long time ago. The fact this case dragged so long is added proof the state must change the rules to make it easier to get rid of teachers who have committed egregious offenses," she said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week proposed that school districts, not the Commission on Professional Competence, be given final say over teacher dismissals. The move came in reaction to the Times series, according to the governor's staff. Read More...
Court to decide LAUSD battle with charters
Fri, 8 Jan 2010 05:58:45 - Pacific Time
A battle between The Los Angeles Unified School District and charter groups could be decided today when the State Board of Education is expected to rule whether charters statewide can take complete control of educating their special needs students. Publicly funded and independently run charters have argued that they should control special education funding, as they do for their general education student population. They accuse large school districts like LAUSD of controlling federal special education dollars and obstructing charters from getting their fair share. But L.A. Unified officials say charters traditionally cherry pick special education students with less severe disabilities and leave LAUSD with severely disabled students who are more expensive to teach. That was essentially the conclusion of a summer report by the Office of the Independent Monitor, set up to oversee a federal consent decree placed on the district for special education services. "There is no research that shows how (the charter) plan will better serve students with disabilities," said Sharyn Howell, LAUSD's executive director of special education. The debate, she said, is more about adult politics than improving children's education. Howell said she will ask the state board to delay its vote on a plan that she said could further cripple LAUSD's ability to meet the needs of all special education students. The issue comes as LAUSD, which already has the largest number of charter schools of any district in the country, is expected to allow more of the independent campuses to open under a new plan that lets outside operators apply to run district schools. Charter school advocates say LAUSD and other large urban districts need to understand that the independent schools have a legal right to seek federal and state special education money. "The heart of charter law is flexibility and autonomy in exchange for accountability and, if you go back to the law, you'll see that includes special education services," said Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association. LAUSD officials though, believe that this plan could simply strip the district of more special education funding, without reducing the number of special education students the district has to serve. While federal and state law requires school districts to provide a complete menu of services to all students with disabilities, the cost to run the program exceeds available funding. At LAUSD that deficit is about $700 million. Read More...
Special-Ed Funds Redirected
Thu, 7 Jan 2010 07:59:26 - Pacific Time
Florida's Broward County Public Schools saved as many as 900 jobs this school year. Nevada's Clark County School District just added more math and tutoring programs. And in Connecticut's Bloomfield Public Schools, eight elementary- and middle-school teachers were spared from layoffs. These cash-strapped districts covered the costs using a boost in funding intended for special education, drawing an outcry from parents and advocates of special-needs children. A provision in federal law allows some school districts to spend millions of dollars of special-education money elsewhere, and a government report indicates many more districts plan to take advantage of the provision. School administrators say shifting the money allows them to save jobs and valuable programs that benefit a wide range of students. "We absolutely need this," said James Notter, superintendent of the Broward County Public Schools, the sixth-largest district in the country. He said the provision is "an absolute salvation for us," because the $32 million reduced from the local budget for special education allows him to save between 600 and 900 jobs that would likely have disappeared this school year. The budget for Broward County's Exceptional Student Education program grew to $503.7 million this school year, $50 million of which comes from the extra stimulus funding for special-needs students. That makes current-year levels 10% higher than a year ago. A new report by the Government Accountability Office, which surveyed a "nationally representative sample" of school districts, says that about 44% of them plan to use the provision that allows them to shift funds. But supporters of special education say special-needs students are being shortchanged. The biggest rub: To shift the funds, schools must show they have met certain criteria, which may include graduation and drop-out rates of special-education students. To allow more districts to qualify, some states are ignoring or lowering the standards. Read More...
Rewiring brains of poor readers, dyslexics, autistic, ADHD, developmental disorders
Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:15:58 - Pacific Time
The latest brain research from Carnegie Mellon scientists offers hope. After 100 hours of remedial reading training, the brains of children aged 8 to 10 were examined with brain imaging. The “wiring” or white matter, connecting the processing gray areas of the brain was shown to have increased. Children who had no problems or who received no training showed no improvement. In other words, remedial training will make your struggling kid smarter by altering brain structure – probably the earlier the intervention, the better. Earlier studies showed that in the case of some dyslexics, the white “wiring” and the gray processing areas were disorganized, making it difficult for signals to travel efficiently – a bit like UPS taking the scenic route instead of the highway. This may account for a brain battling to correctly sequence a complex task such as reading, or filtering out “background noise” from relevant information, or processing fast changing sounds like the syllables ba and da. As one researcher put it: the affected brain is like an orchestra with a conductor who doesn’t do his job properly – all the musicians can play perfectly, but they receive signals to play at the wrong time. Some researchers using fMRI brain scans have shown that computerized cognitive sound training helps. The poor reader is often better at interpreting pictures than abstract phonics, so linking the sounds to concrete objects such as clay figures is good – right brain learning. The book Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz is an excellent resource. For those in Wisconsin, a program offered by University of Oshkosh called Project Success may be of help. Although originally developed for adults, this program is now being extended to help children. Read More...
Professionals find their calling in special education
Wed, 9 Dec 2009 06:44:40 - Pacific Time
In the daily bustle of activity on local school campuses, one group of educators go about their work with little public fanfare - but with a particularly profound impact on the lives of the students they serve. More than 30 classroom teachers, aides and specialists - often working closely with general education classroom teachers - devote themselves to serving students with special needs in the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District. Last week, special education professionals across the state are being acknowledged by the California Organization for Special Educators during its designated "Day of the Special Educator." It is, district administrators say, well-deserved recognition for a group of dedicated professionals.The umbrella of special education covers a full gamut of student needs, from those in need of speech therapy or the support of a resource class to those with more severe learning disabilities or health-related needs. Collectively, district Director of Curriculum Jeri Hamera said, those involved in special education share a collective goal which transcends individual accomplishment. "There is a real lack of ego in the special education department. It’s not about how good ‘I’ can be. It’s about how we can perfect what we are doing," she remarked. "There is also an outstanding bond between teachers and the support staff. It is a very tight community." As demanding as special education can be, Hamera added, it is also deeply rewarding to those who choose the profession – or to those guided by fate to the special education classroom. Their ranks include Randy Rocha, a resource teacher at Orestimba High School, and Aaron Souza, who teaches a special day class at Hunt Elementary. Neither envisioned themselves in special education when they decided to pursue teaching careers, but both have found their calling in working with special needs students. Rocha accepted a position as a business teacher at OHS seven years ago when trading a corporate position for an educational career. "That was my passion," he said of the business class. Read More...
Study finds teens with learning, emotional disabilities more likely to miss school, drop out
Mon, 7 Dec 2009 07:02:28 - Pacific Time
High absence rates among students with disabilities in Chicago's public high schools are the largest factor explaining the difference in their academic performance when compared with non-disabled peers, according to a new research report. Specifically, the Consortium on Chicago School Research found that students with mild cognitive disabilities missed five more days per semester than students who hadn't been diagnosed with a disability. Students with emotional disturbances were absent on average 11 more days than those without, the report found. It's unclear whether the higher number of absences cause a drop in performance or whether low performance means students are more likely to be disengaged and miss school.Overall, 70 percent of ninth-grade students without identified disabilities graduate from Chicago Public Schools five years later, according to the report. That number drops to 50 percent of special-needs students, and to 25 percent of those diagnosed with emotional disturbances. The study examined data from two sets of new freshman students to determine whether factors like attendance and grades could be used to identify special-needs students at risk of dropping out. Researchers examined the freshman "on-track" rates, which measure a student's credits and can be used to predict whether a student is at risk of dropping out. Students are considered on-track at the end of their freshman year if they have accumulated at least five credits and failed no more than one semester course in a core subject. The data showed that even among students with disabilities who are performing well in their ninth-grade year, a significant portion will still drop out. Read More...
News Archive
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services: Who is Alexa Posny?: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:26:11 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Court Weighs Funding For Special Education: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:38:50 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Report Says Black Latino Male Special Ed Students "Road to Nowhere": Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:31:19 - Pacific Time: Read More...
No Job, No Diploma: Recession Hurts Special Education Students: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:51:44 - Pacific Time: Read More...
MPUSD budget plan won't gut special education: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:49:08 - Pacific Time: Read More...
| Please See Our Catalog of Books About Special Education for More Information | | Please See Our Catalog of Free Online Videos About Special Education for More Information |