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source: Sysyphean Tasks
eduwonk links to an Ed Week story on NCLB & special ed, about a report out from the National Center for Learning Disabilities:
Almost fourteen percent – some 6.6 million – of this nation’s school-age children receive some level of additional support through special education. These children come from all race and ethnic groups and speak many different languages. Significant numbers are served by other school programs, such as Title I and English Language services, in addition to special education.
Many are indistinguishable from students who do not receive special education services.
[snip]
It should be noted that vast differences exist across states regarding the percent of students receiving special education services. In the 2003-2004 school year, state rates ranged from a low of 10.5 percent in California to a high of 20.2 percent in Rhode Island.
[snip]
Special education classification has too frequently been used to diminish the expectations for the students designated as eligible for such services and to minimize the responsibility of general education teachers and administrators
for their progress. Also, data suggests that special education classification is used to segregate minority students, particularly Black boys. Black students represent more than 20 percent of those receiving special education yet make up only 17 percent of public school enrollment.
Source:
Rewards & Roadblocks: How Special Education Students are Faring Under No Child Left Behind (pdf file)
National Center for Learning Disabilities
My good friend O. was in from Los Angeles last Christmas. Her son, now grown, is autistic - high-functioning - and attended LA Unified schools, where his SPED classmates were always black. In every school, she said, it would be her son in a classroom filled with black kids.
I had the same conversation with a SPED parent here when I asked if she knew how our disadvantaged kids are doing. She said that in fact she did know how they were doing, because they were all in the same class with her child, who has fairly significant disabilities though I'm guessing a normal IQ. (In other words, her child has real, significant, and fairly obvious problems, but isn't as challenged as my two autistic kids are.)
Another parent tells me that 25% of black students in Irvington are classified SPED.
update from Kathy Iggy:
I don't know what the exact statistics are here, but when Megan was in SPED preschool, one year she was the only Caucasian child and another year there were only 2 Caucasian kids in a class of 14. In self-contained last year, the class of 10 was half African-American. The overall percentage of African-American enrollment in our district is probably around 10%. Makes you wonder.
This is true everywhere.
At least, it's been true everywhere I've looked.
time to focus on results, not paperwork in SPED
5 comments:
I don't know what the exact statistics are here, but when Megan was in SPED preschool, one year she was the only Caucasian child and another year there were only 2 Caucasian kids in a class of 14. In self-contained last year, the class of 10 was half African-American. The overall percentage of African-American enrollment in our district is probably around 10%. Makes you wonder.
My daughter is classifed with a learning disability in math. It has never been established to my satisfication that she actually has a disability. But she was doing horribly with Everyday Math, so I agreed to classify her because she needs the help.
This year, I worked with her using Saxon and Kumon, and she scored advanced proficient on state standardized tests.
The school thinks that she is disabled. The school will not even consider the possibility that she's just a weak student who is completely befuddled by Everyday Math.
She has attention issues as well, but do these issues amount to Attention Deficit Disorder? I don't know. The doctors think she has ADD, but they don't think it's a severe case.
If we were poor, my daughter would be so far behind right now, she would never catch up.
I think that perhaps the sharp increase in moderate diagnoses is caused by the fact that now we're stopping to give these children therapy and labels, instead of just pushing them on to stumble around in the adult world someday.
Hi aaron!
This is another realm that fascinates me.... and I don't know what to make of it.
Hi Catherine! It's Liz from I Speak of Dreams.
The realm of learning disabilities is indeed fascinating. I suggest you check out The Mislabeled Child The website is here, http://mislabeledchild.com/, and Mel Levine's http://www.allkindsofminds.org/.
You also might want to look into he National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities (NAEAACLD). http://www.charityadvantage.com/aacld/HomePage.asp
"A lack of information and awareness of this "invisible handicap" has jeopardized the future of many children, but the negative impact is greater for those who are already considered disadvantaged. In addition, the lack of cultural sensitivity in assessment and testing has resulted in mislabeling and a disproportionate representation of African American children in the various categories of special education.
and CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology)'s focus on Universal Design for Learning http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html
I echo what Aaron said -- among other things, ADD-inattentive type in girls was not addressed until relatively recently. My daughter's dyslexia, diagnosed in 1995, wouldn't even have been on the radar in 1985, according to her 2nd grade teacher, who suggested we have her evaluated.
We were fortunate enough to have the resources to have darling daughter privately remediated (Slingerland, Lindamood Bell, and then some accomodations from her schools). She was never in "special ed" per se, and will be going to college in the fall.
There are some really wonderful, great, dedicated special ed teachers who work hard and expect the most of their students.
There are also teachers who are merely warehouse minders.
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