special ed & NCLB

large version
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