Courtesy of this week’s Carnival of Education, a post from an anonymous teacher at a blog called Current Education Issues, which makes for uncomfortable reading. After sitting through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting with 15 people to talk about the a single child, he asks, “Does this make sense?”
Are we spending our tax dollars wisely on someone who will at most, according to her doctors, top-out at the mental level of a seven-year-old?” Meanwhile, her parents are pissed off (I don’t know at what) and are having everybody jump through hoops as an added bonus. I don’t know what they expect, but I do know they’re getting to what amounts to day-care for a special needs child for free.
“So who is going to be the heartless bastard who stands up and asks, ‘Is this wrong?’” he concludes. “I guess it’s just me for now.”
Having sat through several of these kinds of meetings, I can vouch for his accuracy in describing the process. I haven’t seen very much discussion of special education practice, cost or accountability in the edublogs, but I’d like to see more–especially about expectations. In my limited experience, IEPs were a joke. I taught in an inclusion class one year and listened to a special ed supervisor instruct my co-teacher to lower promotional criteria to an absurdly low level to ensure students passed. The entire process seemed geared to avoid lawsuits and actually having to educate children. There are doubtless heroic, committed special education teachers who make a difference. But at its worst, it’s educational hospice care with the bar set no higher than getting kids to the end of the day above ground.
And as this blogger points out, maintaining such low expectations ain’t cheap.
What happened to art and music in my school? Gee, I don’t know. How come my students don’t spend more time on a computer? Gee, I wonder. This one child’s education could buy an art, music, or computer teacher for my entire school. What about the other nine kids just like her in that class, What could they buy? I wish we could afford everything. I wish we could give this little girl what she deserves. I wish my students could get what they deserve. But the math doesn’t work out that way, folks. The “pie” is only so big. I understand equal opportunity, and I’m for it up until the point where it no longer makes any sense. I guess I never will understand taking away from most to benefit one. Apparently, I’m in the minority though.
Since Special Ed consumes 20 – 25% of district funds and is heavily mandated, this is expected. We are a rich and compassionate society. This is all wonderful. Also, Special Ed supports lawsuits. One mistake on a form, a delay in testing by a day, a misplacement, a harsh word can mean millions. Keeping parents happy is vital. We are all wonderful in doing our jobs. Learning? Well, it ain’t about learning.
This is beyond common. In many schools it is the norm, and it isn’t even necessarily limited to students with IEPs. In my 5th grade general ed class this fall, 70% of the students have already been held over. 3 students twice! Thus, they will be receiving all sorts of resource room and equivalent type services. Plenty to “justify” all the out of classroom positions in my school. I’ll be lucky if I have 1 period a day with a complete class.
A “free and appropriate public education,” where, when push comes to shove, the meaning of “appropriate” is determined by the courts is Federal law. As far as I can tell it is the (unfunded) mandate that trumps all other mandates.
We are a rich and compassionate society, but currently Federal law mandates the compassion, without asking taxpayers to put the $$ behind it.
wow. When I read the blogs here I wonder what did the teachers of these children do differently to ensure success, how where the teachers and admnistration held accountable for success? Instead of identifying academic difficulties and providing research based interventions, assessing and adjusting interventions for each students, teachers fail and students are placed. These failures then become the drain of the finances and the burden on the classroom teachers who can’t teach the normal kids. All students can learn given the right instruction. Ours is the only country that provides the education democraticaly. All students are provided an education. This is not the case in other countries of the world.
What really angers me is that the above posted are views of educators. It may be time to find new professions. If these were the thoughts going through my child’s teacher’s head, I would pull my kid and run.
I thought the stereo typing of special ed students as a waste of time had been laid to rest. Unfortunately it is being promulgated and sadly by educators. Every Child can learn and deserves to learn and if you don’t believe this or can only teach the “normal” kids then get out of education–PLEASE!
I’m not sure what you’re taking issue with here, Laurie. The point (at least my point) is not whether every child can learn given the right intervention, setting and instruction. Rather too much special ed infrastructure seems designed to evade accountability — and lawsuits — not work for the child’s benefit.
I began my career as a school speech therapist in 1975, the very year my state began implementing what was then known as P.L. 94-142. We know it now as I.D.E.A. That really was the first time federal law provided a free, appropriate education, in the least restrictive environment, to the truly disabled; approximately 1-3% of all U.S. children: the blind, deaf, mentally retarded & severely physically disabled. It was a few years before parents of Learning Disabled children sued the Feds to have that classification added to the “mandate.” Now, more than 80% of all children, nation-wide, served by IDEA are LD. By definition, these are students who have no other primary disability, but simply can not read. I have worked in a large urban, school district for 15 years. Almost without exception, my students are LD or another classification that can obscure the fact that our schools have failed to engage them. They do, however, almost all get speech-language therapy, for which every district in my state bills Medicaid. Too many “age out” at 18 or 21 still with miserable or non-functional literacy skills. Nevertheless, as irritating as NCLB can be, at least now all my special ed. students receive real literacy instruction [before they did not] and get tested along with every other student in the district. Districts in my region still try their best to ship the severely disabled 1-3% somewhere else so when the NCLB testing happens, those students’ scores won’t “drag down” the aggregated data. But it IS better now, than back in the early 1970’s, for those students for which IDEA was truly designed.