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Jerry Moore (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 31101
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 03, 2012 - 8:40 pm: | 
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District to revise special ed program
Expectations too low, says superintendent
By Kathleen Moore / Schenectady (NY) Gazette
December 3, 2012
SCHENECTADY — Too many Schenectady children are sent to special education classrooms, where lower expectations virtually ensure they never catch up with their peers, Superintendent Laurence Spring said.
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Spring said he thinks the district is classifying too many students as special education students. Currently, 18 percent of the student body is in special education — far higher than other high-poverty, urban areas, he said.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Username: Admin
Post Number: 30914
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 19, 2012 - 5:00 pm: |
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The Long Battle to Rethink Mental Illness in Children
By SHIRLEY S. WANG / WALL STREET JOURNAL with over 90 comments
October 18, 2012
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Classifying mental illness is an imperfect science. The DSM task force defines mental illness as a condition that causes disruption in people's daily functioning. But setting a threshold for disruption is a judgment call.
 It's not science. It's opinion. It's bullying. It's bigotry. Whatever mental health workers can make a buck at gets defined as an abnormality.
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A version of this article appeared October 19, 2012, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Mental Illness GetsA Rethink for Kids.
Tom O'Hare Wrote:
"Classifying mental illness is an imperfect science."
And that's because it is an inherently flawed idea that the complex range of symptoms, emotions, behaviors and situational problems that are bundled into these diagnoses can be readily classified. Diagnosis works in primary medicine because you are not going to confuse diabetes with meningitis. They are distinguishable. Post traumatic stress disorder and depression? Not so easy.
In psychiatry, such discrimination is not the case. Diagnoses "bleed" into one another because these symptoms, behaviors etc...exist on a continuum and are present in many different diagnoses. Advances in neuroscience as well as society's changing views of behavior (i.e., being homosexual was a "disease" not that long ago....) call for an end to this classification system. Many clients with a psychiatric history end up with six or more diagnoses in their charts because their symptoms are so heterogeneous they appear to have many different "disorders" at different times. Classification of these heterogeneous collections of symptoms and behaviors (which often change over time, by the way) cannot be readily categorized into 'you've got it or you don't." In a word, the DSM has done its job historically in bringing mental illnesses (which are very real) into the public eye. But, given the advances in what we know about neuroscience and behavior, it simply does not work anymore in its current form.
The solution to the DSM problem is to scrap it, and develop a dimensional system whereby problem symptoms and behaviors (which are not "problems" until someone is bothered by them, by the way) are measured on individual scales from, say, 1 to 5, in terms of severity or frequency of occurrence. Then, treatment planning....medication (if warranted for specific symptoms) and behavioral interventions can target specific modes of dysfunction (again, a symptom, a behavior, or a particular life problem). That is the way effective care is delivered anyway. So, one person may suffer from mild delusions, anxiety, occasional bouts of depression, have a substance use problem, and have family problems. How do you diagnose that? You don't. Another person is chronically depressed, is hampered by obsessions and compulsions, is afraid to touch things because he might get germs, and is lonely as a result of social skills deficits. How does diagnosing these various problems facilitate treating them? It doesn't.
Categorical measurement (i.e., diagnosis) is how psychiatry maintains its tenuous grip professionally as king of the hill (prestige as well as there being a ton of money at stake). We need a more interdisciplinary approach that realistically measures people's problems on multiple dimensions and addresses those problem accordingly. Continuing to label these heterogeneous presentations of symptoms, cognitive dysfunctions, problem behaviors and situational problems as a "diagnosis" is a patently wrong way to define, measure and treat human behavior problems.
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Disobedience Isn't a Mental Illness
WALL STREET JOURNAL Letters to the Editor
Oct 26, 2012
I am interested to read that "psychiatry experts" have been discussing "[w]hether to define a new children's disease called Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder—a condition characterized by children who are constantly irritable and can be explosive" ("Mental Illness Gets a Rethink for Kids," page one, Oct. 19.)
Dr. Ellen Leibenluft, chief of the bipolar spectrum disorders section at the National Institute of Mental Health, says that these experts "grappled 'for a long time' with making the ailment a severe subtype of a current diagnosis, Oppositional Defiant Disorder."
But the very idea of "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" involves defining childhood mental illness in terms of adults' interest in having children be calm and obedient. Should we really be medicalizing childhood anger and defiance by turning it into a disease?
Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Providence, R.I.
It is estimated that over one million children in the U.S. are now on some form of mood-stabilizing medication. Most of this use is to treat behavioral disorders not previously classified as mental illnesses, but regarded as part of the normal (but often rocky) developmental process of childhood.
Questions need to be asked on both the legitimacy of the mental-illness classifications and on the resulting treatments, the first of which should be: What effects are they having on the developing brains of children?
John Niesyn
Fairfield, Conn.
A version of this article appeared October 27, 2012, on page A14 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Disobedience Isn't a Mental Illness.}
Paul Cooper Wrote:
"But the very idea of "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" involves defining childhood mental illness in terms of adults' interest in having children be calm and obedient. "
No, Ms. Ackerman. It serves the interest of parents who do not want to admit that they are doing a lousy job of raising a child. If it's a mental illness, it's not their fault.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Username: Admin
Post Number: 30527
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2012 - 10:36 pm: |
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Special Education Reform Brings City More In Line With National Trend
By Yasmeen Khan / NYT SchoolBook blog with lots of comments
Aug. 9, 2012
This is part of a SchoolBook series on the overhaul of special education practices in the New York City schools. Earlier, we reported on the process of negotiating a student’s individualized education plan. Next we will look at how principals are preparing to integrate special-needs students at schools unaccustomed to absorbing this population.
After a two-year pilot phase, changes to the teaching of special education students are coming to almost all the schools in the massive New York City public school system. The theme of the reforms is inclusion, both on the individual school level and systemwide. While many of the details and mechanics are still unclear, and will differ from school to school, education officials say a successful special education program will be one that demonstrates flexibility and as much integration as an individual student can handle, based on his or her particular challenges.
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An online explainer [pdf] of the imminent reforms featured a hypothetical student who needed help with reading. In this case, she might work directly with a special-education teacher on reading skills, but participate in a general education class for math. Her special education teacher might work with the math teacher to help support her reading needs in class. All of this would be detailed in the student’s education plan.
The education-plan meetings and procedures will not change under the reforms.
The reform plans are part of an effort to catch up with the national trend toward integrating special needs students, and to comply with a 1975 law, requiring as much.
It takes DECADES to make modest reforms in public schools. The process is simply WAY TOO SLOW for 21st century needs.
New York State has fallen behind other states when it comes to inclusion, relying more on separate classes for students with disabilities.
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Advocates and parents of students with disabilities, who have long pushed for broader acceptance of special needs children at school and in their communities, say that the city may be moving too fast.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30469
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 10:34 pm: |
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Gov. Cuomo to veto special ed bill that could make it easier to send kids to private or religious schools
Law could cost taxpayers millions of dollars, say Mayor Bloomberg and public school officials
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
July 31, 2012
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo Tuesday plans to veto a controversial special education bill that critics charged would have made it easier for parents to send their children to private or religious schools at taxpayer expense, a source confirmed Monday.
The legislation, which was approved with bipartisan support by the Senate and Assembly earlier this year, would have required public schools to consider “home environment and family background” when deciding whether to place a special-needs child in a private school.
School officials and Mayor Bloomberg vigorously opposed the measure, arguing it was too broad and would have racked up millions of dollars in extra costs.
Catholic and Orthodox Jewish groups lobbied heavily on behalf of the bill, claiming that some children are best served by learning in environments that closely resemble their home lives.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30448
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 27, 2012 - 10:23 pm: |
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Special Education Funding May Drop $900 Million
By Michelle Diament / Disability Scoop
July 26, 2012
The nation’s top education official is warning that special education programs across the country will face “devastating” budget cuts next year unless Congress acts.
Federal education spending for students with disabilities could be reduced by $900 million next year, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a U.S. Senate panel Wednesday.
That could translate to layoffs for over 10,000 teachers, aides and other staff who support the nation’s 6.6 million students with special needs, he said.
The cuts are expected to begin taking effect in January under a process known as sequestration which was triggered last year when Congress failed to reach a budget deal. Under the plan, education programs as well as most other federal initiatives will be subject to an across-the-board spending reduction of about 8 percent.
Unless Congress acts, special education cuts would impact schools starting in the fall of 2013, Duncan said.
“We all know that there are steps we can take so we don’t have to start down this path that puts so many critical services to students, families and communities at risk,” Duncan told senators. “As everyone knows, sequestration does not have to happen and should not happen.”
If the budget cuts go through as planned, federal spending on special education would fall to 14.5 percent, the lowest rate seen since 2001, according to an estimate from the Council for Exceptional Children, a national group that lobbies on behalf of special educators.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30416
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 11:11 pm: |
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National School Boards Association Cites Need for All Students’ Safety in Discussion of Restraints Bill
Posted by or from a variety of publications on EducationViews
July 16, 2012
Alexandria, Va. (July 16, 2012) – The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has requested that a Senate bill allow local school officials more flexibility in the use of restraints and seclusion for students with disabilities to ensure the safety of all students and staff in public schools.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on “Keeping All Students Safe Act,” (S. 2020) on Thursday, July 12. NSBA submitted testimony for the committee (http://files.nsba.org/advocacy/rssfinal.pdf ).
“Any federal legislation addressing the use of restraints and seclusion for students with disabilities must provide maximum flexibility and authority to states and local school boards in its implementation,” said Michael A. Resnick, NSBA’s Associate Executive Director for Federal Advocacy and Public Policy.
NSBA asked that any requirements for teacher and staff training and certification be structured in a manner that is reasonable, affordable and effective, and that Congress ensures that data collecting and reporting requirements are minimized, given the limited capacity of school districts and the U.S. Department of Education to collect and analyze such data.
NSBA also requested the following changes to the bill:
· Remove or rewrite the threshold for restraints, based on the definition of serious bodily injury adopted by IDEA in 2004, which is not feasible in emergencies and takes away other opportunities to train staff and prepare for its use;
· Modify the requirement for a debriefing session within five days, as this is burdensome and costly to schools and would create conditions well beyond the control of the school. NSBA recommends that personnel should be allowed to submit information verbally, in writing and electronically since all parties may not be able to physically participate;
· Ensure that the bill allows flexibility to address unanticipated threats to students’ safety;
· Remove a stipulation that prohibits any reference to the use of physical restraints into a student’s education plan; and
· Allow states that have successfully created policies dealing with restraints and seclusion to be exempt from new federal mandates.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Username: Admin
Post Number: 30350
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2012 - 10:48 pm: |
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Special Education Change Is Pushed
By LISA FLEISHER / WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 1, 2012
The type of clothing worn in a family's home, the language spoken and other cultural markers could influence whether special-education students receive taxpayer-funded private-school tuition, under a bill passed last month by the New York state Legislature.
Education officials would have to consider a student's "home environment and family background" when deciding the best setting for special-education children under the bill. Currently, decisions about private-school placement have generally been based on academics and the child's disability.
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The bill passed 47-13 in the Republican-controlled Senate and 93-50 in the Democratic-controlled Assembly on June 21, the last day of the Legislature's session this year. A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the legislation is under review.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30343
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2012 - 7:11 pm: |
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Audit raps special education firm
DiNapoli: Troy company had more than $830,000 in disallowed charges
By Rick Karlin / Albany (NY) Times Union
June 26, 2012
ALBANY — A Troy-based company that serves youths throughout the Capital Region has been flagged by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for a series of questionable expenses, including what auditors say amounted to a no-show job for one of its directors.
"There were red flags that we noticed, and that's why we did the drilling down," DiNapoli said of the audit, which found $831,244 in "disallowed" charges between 2008 and 2010 by Capital District Beginnings.
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The firm provides special education and early intervention to children with special needs. It serves about 1,000 youths in a dozen counties in and around the greater Capital Region. It sends teachers and others to sites operated by Head Start programs, preschools and school systems such as Troy and Albany.
CDB received more than $12 million for those services during the audit period.
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Preschool special ed needs to remedy ills
To the editor
An Albany (NY) Times Union Letter to the Editor
June 29, 2012
"Audit raps special education firm," June 26, underscores why we need to overhaul the state's preschool special education program.
Preschool special education provides essential services like speech and occupational therapy to children ages 3-5. Counties, which finance this $2 billion program, are alarmed at audits revealing apparent misuses of taxpayer dollars. The program needs to be refocused on serving the children who need these services.
In the Capital Region, local taxpayers provided $48.5 million to serve 3,810 children in preschool special education during the 2008-09 school year. Local taxpayers are now paying an estimated $80 million a year for the program.
These children are receiving uncoordinated care at the most expensive rate in the nation. Now the need for reform is critical.
Four consecutive governors, a state task force and county leaders have all recommended reforms that would have addressed many of the deficiencies identified in these audits.
There are ways to incentivize schools and providers to make the program more efficient, accountable and effective. It's time for reforms that are in the long-term best interest of the children.
Stephen J. Acquario
Executive director
New York State Association of Counties
Albany
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30040
Registered: 01-2000
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2012 - 10:38 pm: |
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Mom: Pupil put in a box
Parent of child with Asperger syndrome says daughter was forced to sit in "calming box"
By Scott Waldman / Albany (NY) Times Union
May 1, 2012
TROY — A Troy school is under investigation after a child with Asperger syndrome was allegedly placed in a refrigerator box during class.
The 5-year-old girl was forced to sit in the "calming box" during class at the Unity Sunshine Day Care, according to Candace Fox, the girl's mother. The incident is now under investigation by Child Protective Services after a school employee called about the use of the box.
School officials argue that the box is a developmental tool in widespread use by schools that educate children with disorders on the autism spectrum, such as Asperger syndrome.
But Fox said the first she ever heard about the box was when CPS officials showed up at her house to interview her daughter, Bailey. She said Bailey is now afraid to be in a darkened room and has to turn on every light in the house as well as the television when she is home. She won't let anyone close her bedroom door.
"I'm not going to send her back to that classroom," Fox said. "They said these people are professionals."
Fox said her daughter told CPS investigators that the teacher made her sit in the box when she was bad. According to Fox, the teacher then closed the flaps of the large cardboard box so that it was dark inside. Fox said she was worried about the other children on the autism spectrum in the school because her daughter was one of the most verbal in the room and therefore better able to communicate what had happened to her.
She said she plans to file a lawsuit against the school, which is at 435 4th St.
"They're using it as a punishment," she said. "When someone in the classroom calls CPS because of how you're using it, it's a problem."
Chris Burke, Unity's chief executive officer, said the school uses what he called a "comfort box" only for students whose parents have given permission.
He confirmed that the box used by the school is a cardboard refrigerator box. He would not speak directly about the case involving Fox's daughter, but said that in general the box is a tool that parents and teachers agree to use as part of a child's Individualized Education Plan. He said the box used at the school only has three sides, and that children would be verbally encouraged to enter it, not forced.
"This is a commonly used practice, whether or not you call it a box," he said.
He said the box could be comforting to children who might be overwhelmed by sensory overload and who have trouble calming down. He said a child would never be enclosed in the box and said the school would comply fully with investigators.
Burke downplayed the CPS investigation, saying that most programs in operation for 40 years have been investigated and that he was confident school officials acted appropriately.
The Unity Sunshine program provides early intervention and preschool developmental services in speech and language, physical and occupational therapy, psychological consultation and general skills for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 30032
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 30, 2012 - 9:57 pm: |
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Rise in autism increases calls for awareness
From eSchool News staff and wire reports
April 27, 2012
A new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in early April during Autism Awareness Month [pdf] indicates that one child out of 88 is believed to have autism or a related disorder, prompting autism education advocates to call for better autism services.
Advocacy groups seized on the new number as further evidence that autism research and services should get more attention, especially when tight school budgets often lead to the downsizing or elimination of much-needed special education programs. The increase in the rate is attributed largely to wider screening.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2012 - 8:05 pm: |
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Do IQ Tests Wrongly Label Some with Autism as Intellectually Disabled?
By Nirvi Shah / On Special Education blog
April 13, 2012
Denver
If a child has autism and doesn't respond to verbal cues, how can an IQ test in which they are asked questions be a real measure of their intelligence?
At the Council for Exceptional Children's annual convention, a pair of researchers from universities in Florida today shared those and other concerns about using some types of IQ tests with children with autism, tests that may wrongly find these children have intellectual disabilities.
"Are we saying there aren't a lot of kids that have autism that don't have [intellectual disabilities]?" said Douglas Carothers, of Florida Gulf Coast University. "We're saying there's no good way to tell."
He noted that many children with autism don't respond to verbal stimuli and may speak little themselves, but some psychologists expect them to respond to questions on an IQ test out loud. If asked to create a sequence from a series of pictures in order to test their social skills, "they may be more interested in the pieces than the whole," Carothers continued.
In fact, the examiner's manual of one IQ test, the WISC-IV, cautions that "it is important not to attribute low performance on a cognitive test to low intellectual ability when, in fact, it may be attributable to physical, language, or sensory difficulties."
Fellow researcher Ronald Taylor, of Florida Atlantic University, said that by some measures, 70 percent of children with autism have also been labeled as intellectually disabled.
"We're wondering, first of all, why does the IQ have to be tested," Taylor said. If schools already know a child has autism, they can determine what supports and resources they need in the classroom based on that assessment.
IQ tests given to children with autism who don't know the person testing them can also pose a challenge.
"Think about the characteristics of the child," Carothers said. "It's really important that the child be really comfortable with the examiner. That's a real tough one to get around."
Some school psychologists in the room said they often note on evaluations of children that test results may underestimate IQ. But they said they are also under pressure from schools to assess students in certain ways: The results may play a large role in deciding what kinds of state tests the student takes, tests that end up being used as measures of schools and teachers.
Carothers and Taylor, who have a forthcoming paper on this issue, said the additional label of a student with autism as intellectually disabled can be stigmatizing, and there are other measures that can work much better, such as a portfolio of their work that demonstrates students' capabilities.
"Do what you have to do to satisfy your districts," Carothers said, "and then do with the kids what serves them best."
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 29474
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 9:05 pm: |
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How Impressive Are 'The Incredible Years'? Researchers Can't Say
Nirvi Shah / On Special Education blog
Feb. 16, 2012
A new review of the research about The Incredible Years, an intervention composed of training programs for children, parents, and teachers intended to reduce children's aggression and improve their social skills, has found no clear conclusions can be drawn about the program's effectiveness for preschool age children with disabilities.
After the What Works Clearinghouse [pdf] reviewed 166 studies of the program, it found that just three studies met its review protocol for early childhood interventions for children with disabilities, but of those, none met the organization's evidence standards
The program was developed by Carolyn Webster-Stratton, a professor and director of the Parenting Clinic at the University of Washington. It focuses on building social and emotional skills for students in preschool through early elementary school. The program can be delivered to children referred for difficult behavior or to an entire classroom as a preventive measure. In a classroom setting, the teacher presents 20- to 30-minute lessons two to three times a week during circle time. Alternately, the child program can be conducted as a pullout program for small groups of children. Lessons cover recognizing and understanding feelings, getting along with friends, anger management, problem solving, and behavior at school.
The What Works Clearinghouse examined studies of The Incredible Years for preschool children with disabilities in early education settings that were published or released between 1989 and 2011.
The Incredible Years is still reviewing WWC's report, Administrative Director Lisa St. George said. She added that they are respectful of the publication, "but we are not sure all the studies that could be considered were considered. We are working on a response to them."
The WWC's review may not matter to those who believe in the effectiveness of The Incredible Years, which is an award-winning program used in 15 countries. A version of the program for parents will be offered in Ohio starting next week. And it's been associated with helping prevent childhood obesity.
Some of its accolades include the 1997 National Mental Health Lela Rowland Prevention Award for best mental health prevention program, the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention "Blueprint" award, and the Department of Health and Social Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention award for "exemplary" interventions.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Post Number: 29420
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 11:30 pm: |
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Obama Plan For Special Education Leaves Advocates Disappointed
By Michelle Diament / Disability Scoop
Feb 14, 2012
Despite a heavy emphasis on education in the president’s budget proposal this week, advocates are worried that students with disabilities are being left out.
Funding for special education would remain largely flat under President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for 2013 that was released Monday.
Meanwhile, money for new programs like Race to the Top — a competitive grant program that awards money to states that commit to reform models — would grow dramatically.
And that has some advocates concerned.
“In this context, level funding is a cut,” said Lindsay Jones, senior director for policy and advocacy at the Council for Exceptional Children, which lobbies on behalf of special educators.
School districts are already reeling from the loss of stimulus dollars and reduced state and local funding, Jones said, not to mention inflation. At the same time, districts are seeing more students with diagnoses like autism that incur a high level of need and significant expense.
“It’s difficult to see so much investment in competitive grants when there’s so much need in foundational programs like IDEA, so we’re disappointed,” Jones said.
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Jerry Moore (Admin)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 12:23 am: |
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State special education rates vary widely
By Ben Wieder, Stateline
Staff Writer
Jan 24, 2012
Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, but it has every other state beat by one measure: A higher percentage of its students are in special education than anywhere else.
An analysis of U.S. Department of Education data shows that the percentage of students in special education varies widely among states. While Rhode Island tops the country at 18 percent, Texas, at 9 percent, is at the bottom. The average percentage across all states is 13 percent, and two-thirds of states are above that number, according to the data.
NY is 17.3%.
Those differences could have major financial implications for states. Special education funding can account for up to 20 percent of school budgets, according to a 2010 report [pdf] by the Economic Policy Institute. Overall funding for special education has remained mostly intact during the recession, but looming cuts at the federal level could spell trouble if state and local resources, which already pick up most of the tab for special education, are stretched even further. Already, several states have asked for federal exemptions to allow them to cut special education support.
Schools have fairly high discretion in identifying special education students within the federal guidelines, according to officials at the Department of Education. Changing understandings of the disabilities, themselves, can also have an impact. Autism has been among the fastest growing categories in special education, but some researchers say that a proposed change to its medical definition would halt that growth.
Incorrectly placing students in special education, particularly minority students, is against the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, first passed in 1975 and reauthorized in 2004. The law also requires that special education students, to the extent possible, be placed in traditional classes with non-special education students. But in practice those requirements can be interpreted differently across the country.
“If you have a struggling reader, there are some schools and or some states that will say immediately, we’re putting that kid in special ed,” says Alice Farrell, director of special education in Vermont. “There are other states, such as ourselves, that say, ‘let’s not do that, let’s diversify our education and handle it in the classroom.”
In Rhode Island, Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the state’s department of education, had no explanation for why his state has the highest percentage of students in special education, a distinction it has held several times in the past few years. In Texas, Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the state’s education agency, says that the state’s lowest-in-the nation percentage is in part due to increased efforts to make sure students are accurately identified. “Just because they’re behind in a class, doesn’t mean they necessarily have a disability,” she says.
Stephen Frank, a director at Education Resource Strategies, a private consulting firm, says that putting too many students in special education is among the most inefficient practices in all of education. His company works with school districts to help them make the best use of their resources. He advocates for larger classes, co-taught by both general and special education teachers, or bringing specialists in to traditional classes to help special education students rather than sending those students out of the class for extra help. He also suggests that districts consider encouraging their traditional teachers to get cross-certified in special education, rather than relying only on additional special education teachers.
High identification rates aren’t in and of themselves a problem, says Tom Parrish, managing research scientist at the American Institutes for Research. He’s studied the education systems in California and Illinois extensively and found that many schools with high identification rates actually have better academic performance among special education students than other schools in the state. He argues that an emphasis on student outcomes needs to be part of the discussion on increased efficiency. “In some places we’re getting a much better return than other places,” he says.
One strategy many states are using to improve achievement and help prevent over-identification is giving all students baseline assessments at an early age to spot and treat learning disabilities. Students lagging behind are given additional support to get them back on track before they need special education services. For some students, this approach, called “response to intervention,” can be faster and more cost-efficient in addressing their difficulties than turning to special education, says Erika Hughes, in California’s Special Education Division. “You don’t replace your engine before you replace your spark plugs,” she says.
Funding models
Currently, states get federal special education money based on formulas that consider general population and poverty numbers, rather than the number of special education students. But many states give districts additional money for each special education student or service they provide, which some lawmakers and researchers think encourages over-identification.
The extra weight given to special education students in New Mexico’s funding formula, for example, has some lawmakers in the state concerned that some schools might be over-identifying borderline students to bring in additional funding. The report suggests [pdf] moving to a system that gives districts funds based on their overall number of students and lets them decide how to spend the money.
That’s how California and six other states operate. Elizabeth Dhuey, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Toronto, studied those systems in an article published last spring [pdf] in the journal Education Finance and Policy. She and co-author Stephen Lipscomb found a 10 percent decline in special education enrollment rates between 1991 and 2003 in states that adopted the census-based system.
A census-based model, however, doesn’t automatically mean a small percentage of students in special education. While four of the seven states [pdf] using that model have special education percentages below the national average, the other three — Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — have among the top six rates in the country.
Cuts on the horizon
When IDEA passed in 1975, Congress said that it would provide states with an additional 40 percent of the per-pupil cost of education each year to cover the higher cost of special education. It’s never hit that mark, and research suggests [pdf] that state and local sources pay for as much as 90 percent of the actual cost of special education.
States got increased special education funding in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but despite the extra federal dollars, some states cut spending on special education during the recession. Legally, states can’t reduce these funding levels from the previous year, but in the past two years, seven states have applied for waivers from the Department of Education, and four were approved.
They could soon have more company. If the Budget Control Act of 2011 goes into effect, special education would be among the many federal programs hit with an 8 to 9 percent cut — a reduction of about $1 billion in special education aid. Taken with cuts to other federal funds, Lindsay Jones, senior director for policy and advocacy at the Council for Exceptional Children, says she doesn’t know how states will cope without the special education money. “It is going to be a huge cut,” she says. “It will be felt in every school in the nation.”
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