Table of Contents
Few roles in society are as essential as teaching. Teachers build people. Because teachers have the crucial task of advancing human progress and innovation, and preparing young people for the uncertainties of tomorrow’s world, having a skilled, knowledgeable, and caring educator in every classroom has never been more important.
Teaching is a highly rewarding career choice; yet a diminishing number of students are electing to join the profession. Since 2008, enrollment in teacher preparation has declined nationally by 30%, and the number of high-achieving undergraduate students who are considering a career in education is at the lowest level in decades. This is cause for serious concern. As policy makers and other stakeholders focus on reducing income inequality, access to a quality education that includes a great teacher in every classroom for all students is a requisite part of the solution. In 2008, then presidential candidate Barack Obama perhaps said it best: “The single most important factor in determining [students’] achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from. It’s not who their parents are or how much money they have. It’s who their teacher is.”
Research has shown that learning is most effectively supported by teachers who have pursued high-quality preparation programs and who acknowledge the critical importance of cultivating attitudes of caring that will shape their interactions with students. Ensuring a highly qualified teacher in every classroom begins with encouraging the most promising students to pursue careers in education and providing rigorous teacher preparation that readies them for the realities of the classroom.
Given increasing scrutiny and demands placed on educators, choosing to pursue a career in education can be a difficult decision. Nonetheless, if satisfaction can be derived from contributing to the betterment of the world, then it is no surprise that teachers express a deep sense of fulfillment in the work they do every day. Teachers make a lasting impact on their students, changing lives and fostering responsible global citizenship.
The undersigned organizations strongly support high standards in education and united efforts to recruit quality and diverse candidates into the teaching profession. Through our commitment to ensure a resilient cadre of educators in all disciplines, we are positioned to recruit and assist worthy individuals in their professional journey.
We will steadfastly promote education as an attractive career, actively participate in teacher preparation, and continually support the career-long professional growth of teachers.
Alpha Delta Kappa
American Association for Employment in Education
American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
American Association of School Personnel Administrators
American Association of Teachers of German
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Association for Career and Technical Education
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
Association of American Educators
Association of Teacher Educators
Christian Educators Association International
Correctional Education Association
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association
Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education
Music Teachers National Association
National Association for Music Education
National Association of Agricultural Educators
National Association of Special Education Teachers
National Association of State Directors of Special Education
National Association of Pupil Services Administrators
National Business Education Association
National Council for Geographic Education
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Organization of American Historians
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
FACT SHEET: Equity in IDEA
The U.S. Department of Education made available to the public final regulations under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), aimed at promoting equity by targeting widespread disparities in the treatment of students of color with disabilities. The regulations will address a number of issues related to significant disproportionality in the identification, placement, and discipline of students with disabilities based on race or ethnicity. The Department is also releasing a new Dear Colleague Letter addressing racial discrimination.
“Children with disabilities are often disproportionately and unfairly suspended and expelled from school and educated in classrooms separate from their peers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. “Children of color with disabilities are overrepresented within the special education population, and the contrast in how frequently they are disciplined is even starker.”
King added, “Today’s new regulations and supporting documents provide the necessary guidance and support to school districts and build upon the work from public education advocates and local leaders who believe, like we do, that we need to address racial and ethnic disparities in special education. This important step forward is about ensuring the right services get to the right students in the right way.”
In order to address those inequities, IDEA requires states to identify districts with “significant disproportionality” in special education—that is, when districts identify, place in more restrictive settings, or discipline children from any racial or ethnic group at markedly higher rates than their peers.
Children of color—particularly African-American and American Indian youth—are identified as students with disabilities at substantially higher rates than their peers. It is critical to ensure that overrepresentation is not the result of misidentification, including both over- and under-identification, which can interfere with a school’s ability to provide children with the appropriate educational services required by law. It is equally important to ensure that all children who are suspected of having a disability are evaluated and, as appropriate, receive needed special education and related services in the most appropriate setting and with the most appropriate discipline strategies employed.
This rule sets a common standard for identifying significant disproportionality in representation of students within special education, segregated school settings, and in receipt of disciplinary actions and ensures that school districts where disproportionality is found carefully review their policies and practices to determine root causes and whether changes are needed. The final rule ensures that school districts explore and address situations where the cause of significant disproportionality is due to under-identification of a group as well as over-identification.
President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force identified restoring equity for students with disabilities as a key priority, because there are lasting impacts on children when they are misidentified, including them being taught in classrooms separate from their peers and subjected to inappropriate disciplinary action. Today’s announcement delivers on that commitment.
A Standard Approach
The final regulations establish a standard approach that States must use in determining whether significant disproportionality based on race or ethnicity is occurring in the state and in its districts. In 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report finding that, because states currently use a wide variety of methodologies for examining their districts, few states take action to address significant disproportionality; in fact, as the GAO found, only two to three percent of all districts nationwide are identified as having significant disproportionality, and some states’ methodologies for identifying districts for disproportionality were constructed in such a way that the GAO found districts would likely never be identified. Accordingly, GAO recommended that the Department require that all states adopt a standard approach to identify racial and ethnic disparities.
With these final regulations, all states will use the same methodology, which will allow for more accurate comparisons within and across states.
Focusing on Discipline
In addition to requiring a standard methodology, the regulations shine a spotlight on disparities in the discipline of students with disabilities on the basis of race or ethnicity by requiring states to examine districts for significant disproportionality in their disciplinary practices. Specifically, the regulations clarify that States must address significant disproportionality in the incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions, using the same statutory remedies required to address significant disproportionality in the identification and placement of children with disabilities.
Addressing the Root Causes of Disproportionality
In order to eliminate the racial and ethnic disparities that are the focus of these regulations, districts must identify and address the root causes of significant disproportionality. Accordingly, the final regulations clarify requirements for the review and revision of policies, practices, and procedures when significant disproportionality is found. Districts will be required to identify and address the factors contributing to significant disproportionality as part of comprehensive, coordinated early intervening services (CEIS). In addition, new flexibilities in the use of CEIS will further help districts identified with large disparities in addressing the underlying causes of the disparity.
Providing Support for Districts to Take Action
The Department understands that districts need support to effectively address significant disproportionality, and these final regulations provide that support through additional flexibilities in the use of CEIS. Prior to these final regulations, districts identified as having significant disproportionality were not permitted to use their required 15 percent set aside for CEIS in order to serve students with disabilities, even if the district had identified racial disparities in the discipline and placement of children with disabilities. Likewise, CEIS funds could not be used to serve preschool children. Now, with these final regulations, districts identified as having significant disproportionality will have the flexibility to use their CEIS set aside to assist students with disabilities and preschool children with and without disabilities.
All children who require special education services should be appropriately identified and supported. At the same time, no child should be inappropriately identified for special education services, segregated from his or her peers, or disciplined more frequently or harshly simply because they are a student of color with a disability. These regulations will help ensure that the promise of IDEA is fulfilled without regard to race or ethnicity.
The final regulations incorporate changes to the Department’s initial proposals from the comments we received in many ways, including:
- Better addressing how the risk ratio applies to small districts; under the final regulations;
- States need not calculate risk ratios for any racial or ethnic group that does not meet minimum cell or n-sizes set by the state;
- Explicitly prohibiting the use of quotas or of artificially reducing the number of children identified as children with disabilities; and
- Clarifying that states have flexibility not to identify significant disproportionality in districts that make reasonable progress in lowering risk ratios for two prior consecutive years.
Meanwhile, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is also releasing a new policy document to support educators and administrators as they work to identify students’ need for special education. This new policy document was created to remind states, school districts, and public schools of their legal obligation to prevent discrimination on the basis of race in special education. OCR’s enforcement experience suggests both over-identification and under-identification based on race are occurring in schools.
“All students deserve access to the world-class education federal civil rights laws demand,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights. “The Department will continue its work with school communities to safeguard the rights of our students with disabilities, students of color, and all students to ensure educational equity.”
Specifically, the Dear Colleague Letter explains the Title VI requirement that students of all races and national origins have equitable access to general education interventions and to a timely referral for an evaluation for disability under the IDEA or Section 504; and that students of all races and national origins be treated equitably in the evaluation process, in the quality of special education services and supports they receive, and in the degree of restrictiveness of their educational environment.
The letter outlines how to avoid racial discrimination in the referral for disability evaluation, the evaluation process itself, and the provision of special education. It also provides ten illustrative examples that provide further guidance on those processes.
U.S. Department of Education Announces $3 Million in Pay for Success Grants for Preschool Programs
The U.S. Department of Education announced more than $3 million in grant awards to eight government organizations for Preschool Pay for Success feasibility pilots that will support innovative funding strategies to expand preschool and improve educational outcomes for 3- and 4- year-olds. These grants will allow states, school districts and other local government agencies to explore whether Pay for Success is a viable financing mechanism for expanding and improving preschool in their communities in the near term.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence that attending high-quality preschool can help level the playing field for our most vulnerable children, we continue to have a huge unmet need in this country,” said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. “We’re pleased that these grantees will work in their communities to make the case for investing in early education and drive expansion of high-quality preschool.”
Pay for Success is an innovative way of partnering with philanthropic and private sector investors to provide resources for service providers to deliver better outcomes—producing the highest return on taxpayer investments. Through Pay for Success, the government agrees to pay for concrete, measurable outcomes, but taxpayer funds are spent only if those outcomes are achieved.
Among the winners are one state (Minnesota), one charter school, one school district and five local government agencies.
- Napa Valley Unified School District, CA, $380,944
- Santa Clara County Office of Education, CA, $392,704
- Ventura County Office of Education, CA, $397,000
- Minnesota Department of Education, MN, $397,158
- Mecklenburg County Government, NC, $335,677
- Cuyahoga County Office of Early Learning, OH, $374,320
- Clatsop County, OR, $350,000
- The Legacy Charter School, SC, $381,815
These feasibility studies will advance the understanding of how Pay for Success can be used to expand and improve the quality of preschool programs for low-income and disadvantaged preschoolers. Each grantee identified potential outcome measures for students that attend preschool, such as improved kindergarten readiness, reading and math growth or achievement, and improved social and emotional skills. Those outcomes will be evaluated over the course of the grant. The grantees will also examine whether children’s social and emotional development is predictive of future school success, cost savings and other societal benefits.
Each Pay for Success project will include an assessment of the design and expansion of an evidence-based preschool program and a cost-benefit analysis showing the return on investment to the community. In the event the Pay for Success model is determined to not be a viable model for funding early childhood learning in a particular community, the grantee’s final report will detail those reasons and offer potential alternatives to Pay for Success that would positively impact early childhood learning.
The grants require safeguards to protect the rights of children with disabilities if the reduction in the need for special education is one of the outcome measures explored in the feasibility studies. Three of the studies included special education as an outcome measure, and the proposals for all three of these include safeguards and emphasize the importance of engaging special education and disability stakeholders.
The Education Department supports initiatives that are based on evidence, focus on outcomes, and improve education for students at all ages, including early childhood, elementary and secondary education, career and technical education, post-secondary and adult education. Pay for Success is one of several strategies that the Department can use to promote evidence-based policy. In addition to its potential to lead to high-quality Pay for Success projects that provide or expand early education for children, these investments will add knowledge to the field about a wider range of outcome measures that preschool Pay for Success projects should consider and will encourage other entities to set strong guardrails when using special education as an outcome measure.
The Department also released another resource to explore how educators might build on and sustain the positive effects of preschool. A new case study of five programs examined two types of promising strategies to support children’s learning in early elementary school: (1) aligning instruction from preschool through grade 3, and (2) differentiated instruction. The five programs included:
- Boston Public Schools
- Chicago Child—Parent Centers (Chicago and St. Paul)
- Early Works (Portland, Oregon)
- FirstSchool (Martin County, North Carolina)
- Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) program (Redwood City, California)
Findings indicate that all five aligned instruction across grades by coordinating standards, curricula, instructional practices and professional development. Common elements of these programs included the use of professional learning communities, coaches, parent engagement, and play-based or student-initiated learning. All reported using strategies to accommodate students’ different skill levels, including modifying assignments, adapting learning materials, providing different levels of support, or using small-group instruction.
King Calls for Supporters of Public Education to Unite on Behalf of Children
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. called on supporters of public education to set aside political and policy differences and work together to ensure all students – and especially the most vulnerable students – get the opportunity they need to be successful.
During a speech at the Center for American Progress, King laid out a bold vision for how the country can unite and move forward in ensuring equity and excellence in public education – from preschool through college. (Note: The Secretary’s prepared remarks follow.)
“For all who believe that strong, equitable public education is central to a healthy democracy and a thriving economy, now is the moment for us to set aside the policy differences that we have let divide us, and move forward together courageously to defend and extend this fundamental American institution,” King said.
During his speech, King highlighted passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was signed into law by President Obama a year ago, as an opportunity to move the nation forward together. And he called on those who have been on either side of debates over issues including testing, accountability, charter schools, and effective teaching to come together around shared values.
“Today we have a choice to make. We can continue to argue amongst ourselves about our disagreements. Or we can work together in pursuit of larger goals,” King said. “Now, I am not saying that we have to agree on every tactic or strategy. We won’t. But I am saying that we can reject false dichotomies and disparaging rhetoric. We can stop questioning our natural allies’ intentions and fight side by side for the belief that every student in America has the right to a great public education.”
The nation has seen encouraging progress over the last eight years.
- The high school graduation rate is at an all-time high of 83 percent;
- Dropout rates are down, particularly for black and Latino students;
- Hundreds of thousands more children are attending high quality pre-school programs;
- Achievement gaps by race and gender are closing;
- More black and Latino students are attending college; and
- The most recent national data saw the largest, most diverse class completing higher education in our history.
“But, for all our progress, more is required to meet the challenges our nation will face in the years to come…,” King said. “It is not enough for those already prosperous to prosper. Unless we are ensuring that all Americans can meaningfully participate in our nation’s growth, our nation will not succeed.”
King also called for equitable funding for the students, schools and districts that need the most help, reiterated the benefits of school diversity for all students, and called on education leaders to remain focused on preschool quality and college completion.
“We must continue to press on, firm in the knowledge that when we pull others up, they do not pull us down. When the light of opportunity shines on those who lack it, it does not dim for those already in its glow.”
U.S. Education Secretary Announces Grant Competitions to Encourage Diverse Schools
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. today announced a new grant competition to support districts and their communities in preparing to implement innovative, comprehensive, collaborative, and locally-driven strategies to increase diversity in schools. King also announced the 2017 Magnet Schools Assistance Program competition, which will provide districts with funds to help create integrated public schools and support high-quality, theme-based educational programming.
“Today, we are taking another step toward helping schools create and maintain diversity,” said King. “We must support local communities in their efforts as diversity is critical for a well-rounded education. Together, our nation can choose a better future for our children—one that prepares all students to live, work and compete in our increasingly interconnected, global economy.”
Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunitiesis a new grant competition that will support districts in increasing socioeconomic diversity in schools, improving student academic achievement, and improving schools by increasing student diversity.
As part of this new competition, the Department will invest $12 million in up to 20 districts or groups of districts to fund the development of blueprints for increasing socioeconomic diversity in schools and complete pre-implementation activities focused on student diversity. Grantees may also seek to promote student diversity by considering additional factors beyond socioeconomic diversity, including race and ethnicity, in their efforts to diversify schools. Grantees will use funds to, for example, engage the community on the best approaches to promote student diversity, conduct data analysis, set measureable diversity goals, and take preliminary steps toward implementation of school diversity efforts (e.g. piloting activities such as admissions lotteries or redesigned school assignment boundaries). Rural districts and those that wish to exploreinter-district diversity efforts are strongly encouraged to apply and will receive priority. All districts with schools that receive or are eligible to receive School Improvement Grant funds may apply to the competition, which is open until Feb. 13, 2017. The Department anticipates selecting the grantees by Spring 2017.
The 2017 Magnet Schools Assistance Program provides resources for district efforts to create schools that effectively serve students from varied racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. These five-year, $15 million grants represent an increase in both the grant duration and the total grant amount in order to help schools undertake the longer-term efforts that can successfully improve a school’s diversity integration and academic performance. Applications are due by April 11, 2017.
King made these announcements today during a visit to Goldsmith Elementary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was joined by Congressman John Yarmuth, Mayor Greg Fischer, Jefferson County Superintendent Donna Hargens, district and community leaders, students, parents, and educators. Louisville has become a leader in school integration following a court ruling in the 1970s that required more diverse schools. Since that ruling, communities in Louisville have committed to maintaining racial and economic diversity.
From Louisville to Omaha to Cambridge, Massachusetts, communities across the country are voluntarily and intentionally pursuing diversity because they recognize its impact on strong teaching and learning. But there is more work to be done.
Research shows that diversity in schools and communities is associated with positive academic and life outcomes. But schools are only one aspect of increasing diversity in the nation’s communities. Communities can and should work together across local education, transportation, and housing and community-development agencies to help create and sustain access to high-quality educational opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and well-connected public transportation networks and safer streets.
In July, King addressed the National PTA and noted the importance of diversity “…not just in schools, but also in classrooms within those schools. It’s not just enough for kids from diverse backgrounds to pass each other in the hallways or on the playground. True diversity requires students to actually learn alongside one another. That’s not something that will happen by itself. That requires decisions by policymakers at every level…”
King continued, “The benefits of diversity extend beyond academics. In today’s world, your boss may not look like you, your office-mate may not worship like you, your neighbor may not speak the same language as you, and your customer may not live on the same continent as you.”
Schools today must prepare students for this new reality. Diversity in education—cultural, racial, linguistic and socioeconomic—can help boost empathy, reduce bias, and increase the chances that low-income students will attend college without compromising the academic outcomes of their middle class peers in any way. It exposes students to new perspectives and a healthy exchange of ideas that will help enlarge their world views. Diversity also increases the likelihood students will succeed and become leaders in their careers and communities by working with individuals with different lived experiences. Studies show that companies reporting the highest levels of racial diversity brought in nearly 15 times more sales revenue on average than those with the lowest levels of racial diversity.
President Obama’s FY 2017 Stronger Together budget proposal supports the voluntary development and expansion of new and existing, community-driven strategies to increase socioeconomic diversity in America’s schools. Additionally, as states are implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the nation has an opportunity to advance equity and reclaim the promise of an excellent education for students from all backgrounds.
The Department has supported school diversity in a number of ways:
- Along with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, the Department issued a joint letter to state and local leaders calling on them to work together to create real economic mobility and provide access to opportunities for every child in every community by identifying and addressing barriers in their communities that hinder socioeconomic growth and racial diversity.
- The Department’s recent Charter Schools Program, Investing in Innovation, and Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant competitions include a focus on fostering diversity in schools. The Department also published a new supplemental priority that will be used in future Department grant competitions to support socioeconomic diversity strategies.
- Socioeconomic diversity is now a focus area of the Department’s Equity Assistance Centers. These regional centers provide technical assistance to school districts to promote equal educational opportunities.
All information and more details of the information below can be found at:
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/buzz-nov2016/
Welcome to this edition of Buzz from the Hub, the newsletter of the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR).
This month’s issue brings you news from the 2016 Strengthening Parent Leadership Conference held in early November—it was very successful and energizing for the more than 80 people who attended. New PTI and CPRC project directors and board members focused on honing management skills and learning more about the intricacies of the Parent Center world from the highly experienced Regional Parent Technical Assistance Centers (RPTACs), Federal Project Officers, and staff of the CPIR, the Branch, and NAPTAC. Soon we’ll be posting the many materials that were shared across the two days of the conference, so that everyone can have them at their fingertips for ready reference. Stay tuned.
This month’s Buzz also connects you with two new resources developed just for Parent Centers, the most recent of Federal guidance, several disability-related resources in English and Spanish, and advocacy resources.
New in the Hub
Two new resources from NAPTAC, the Native American Parent Technical Assistance Center.
State Indian Education Contacts | From NAPTAC.
NAPTAC developed this list of State Indian Education Contacts for Parent Centers and other service providers to use in identifying and connecting with the individuals who serve as their state contact for American Indian and Alaska Native Education. These individuals can be very helpful to Parent Centers and others in establishing and building relationships within Native communities in the state and in learning about ongoing activities, initiatives, and potential challenges in promoting the well-being and achievement of Native students.
Cultural Awareness and Connecting with Native Communities.
When Parent Center staff and other service providers visit a Tribal community, they may find it helpful to know a bit about Tribal etiquette and culture. While etiquette will vary from Tribal community to community, there are commonalities as well. This fact sheet lists many such cultural considerations. Observing them will enhance communication with Native families and your Parent Center’s connectedness with the Tribal community.
Latest Federal Guidance
Here’s one of the latest guidance from the Department of Education, as well as two ED guidances with recently released multi-language versions.
FAQ on Early Childhood Privacy and Confidentiality.
From OSEP comes this October 2016 guidance document in the form of an FAQ, to help early childhood programs under IDEA understand the confidentiality requirements under IDEA and address privacy and confidentiality concerns.
Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline | In English and in Spanish.
This 32-page guidance letter from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice is robust with information about how schools can meet their obligations under federal law to administer student discipline without discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Includes an overview of racial disparities in school discipline, describes both Departments’ investigations and enforcement actions, and ends with an appendix of recommendations for school districts, administrators, teachers, and staff.
Multi-language resources on the 2014 School Discipline FAQ.
The multi-part School Discipline Guidance Package 2014 was released by the Departments of Education and Justice in 2014. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in English (linked in the header) about that package is now available in several other languages, namely: Spanish, Khmer, Laotian, and Vietnamese.
Spotlight on…Disability Resources
We know you’re always looking for disability-related information in a variety of formats. So… hope these help.
AD/HD webinars from Family Matters, PTI in Illinois.
Check out these 3 webinars: The Impact of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Accommodations for Students with AD/HD, and School Behavior and AD/HD. Share with your families!
Slide deck: Understanding Prader-Willi.
Created by the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, these 18 slides are intended to help families educate others on the complexities of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). Topics covered include: causes, challenges, treatments, and the progression of people with PWS from infancy to adulthood.
Resources in English and Spanish from Mental Health America.
MHA has a series of infographics in English and Spanish that all start with “Life with…” (“Convivir con…”). At the link above, scroll down the alphabetical list until you reach “Infografía” for Spanish infographics and “Infographic” for the English versions of: la ansiedad (anxiety), el trastorno bipolar (bipolar disorder), la depression (depression), and la psicosis (psychosis).
Resources You Can Share with Families
Here are several resources you can share with the families you serve.
The 10 Most Powerful Things You Can Say to Your Kids.
Effective conversation helps parents create lasting, meaningful relationships with their kids. These 10 powerful statements can get parents started.
5 Other Federal Guidances on Special Education to Know About.
Understood.org (which writes in family-friendly language in both English and Spanish) offers tidy summaries of 5 additional letters from the Department of Education in the last year. Share with families as appropriate—or just read them for yourself. What subjects do they cover? Charter Schools, Behavioral Supports in the IEP (August 2016), Evaluating Children with AD/HD (July 2016), Standards-Based IEPs (November 2015), and Using the Terms Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia in IEPs (October 2015).
Resources Just for Parent Centers
Parent Centers do amazing work, especially in helping parents and youth find their own voice. Here are several resources just for you.
School Discipline Reform and Advocacy.
This 15-page issue brief from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is driven by the need to strengthen advocacy efforts at the state and local levels in support of reforming discipline policies for boys and young men of color.
It discusses the origins of the school-to-prison pipeline, provides a succinct summary of current discipline data, and then focuses on the “Trajectory of School Discipline Reform.” The brief also looks at the impact of restorative justice in schools, how 5 communities and school systems are changing policies, and important next steps.
Toolkit: Advocating for Change | Abogar por el Cambio.
This toolkit in English and Spanish supports planning for advocacy efforts and responding to opposition. It also includes Using Social Media for Digital Advocacy (Abogacia Electronica) and Survival Skills for Advocates
By Olga M. Torguet
Merrow, John. (2011). The Influence of Teachers, Reflections on Teaching and Leadership. New York, LM Books. 209 pp.
In The Influence of Teachers, Reflections on Teaching and Leadership, John Merrow urgently demands attention from all leaders and educators to reflect on the current dilemmas our public education system faces and take action to improve the lives of children. “There is no silver bullet in education. The recipe for success includes a mix of strong leadership, committed teachers, an integrated curriculum, the willingness to challenge conventional wisdom and accepted practices, and the moral imperative to care for and about all of our children. Real change requires real change.” (p. 154). Merrow’s thoughtful analysis of current educational policies and practices ranges from topics such as teacher preparation, evaluation and tenure to transmitting the values of society to children. Merrow believes that effective schools must possess strong leaders who place emphasis on practicing and teaching values. “We have to teach the next generation how to get along with each other. If we don’t do that, then we ought to close the schools, because I don’t care how good you are on a test, if you can’t live with your neighbor, then I don’t think you’ve been taught” (p. 201).
Merrow’s expertise as an education reporter with NPR and an education correspondent for PBS NewsHour as well as his many contributions to USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Education Week have all contributed to his knowledge and deep respect for the teaching profession together with his concerns about the future of children in the United States. John Merrow’s work has been recognized with Peabody Awards in 2000 and 2006, Emmy nominations in 1984, 2005 and 2007 among many others. He holds a doctorate in Education and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
By stressing the important role of teachers in our society, as well as prioritizing children’s intellectual safety and healthy social interactions, Merrow’s text aims to promote critical thinking and constructive analysis on what it takes to transform our schools. The book is divided into two sections. It includes a preface, an introduction, a conclusion and chapter notes. The flow of the text supports reflection, offering case studies and commentaries around crucial education dilemmas told with transparency and fearlessness with the main purpose of uncovering the roots of public education’s failures and offering solutions that will ultimately improve the lives of children. Within the chapters it’s noticeable that Merrow envisions a positive future for our students that requires commitment, collaboration and a change of attitudes of our present leaders.
In Chapter 2, Merrow examines the importance of having all children read with comprehension from the early grades. “Learning to read with understanding is the foundation for all learning, but most low-income children in the United States are below grade level in reading by fourth grade” (p. 25). Merrow references research that indicates that children who are behind in reading in firstgrade have only a 1-in-8 chance of catching up. He suggests that principals everywhere put their best teachers in first grade and kindergarten and invest in necessary resources to ensure that children learn how to read with comprehension.
Chapter 4 focuses on creating intellectually safe schools where it is okay not to know everything. According to Merrow, an intellectually safe school values ideas and exploration. He refers to intellectual safety as the freedom to make mistakes and raise questions. “Schools must become places where young people are encouraged to ask questions, not simply regurgitate answers” (p. 42). Merrow stresses the importance of creating a climate of safety where mistakes are truly welcomed and students together with teachers can admit they don’t know the answer to every question.
Further grounding the idea of change in current education policy and practice, Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 revolve around teacher preparation, evaluation, merit pay and tenure. Merrow acknowledges the challenges of teachers’ evaluation and pay. “Schools underpay and mistreat teachers and eventually drive them from the profession; inept school districts cannot find the qualified teachers living under their noses; and substandard training ill-prepares young men and women for the realities of classroom life” (p. 80). Merrow criticizes current approaches to recruiting teachers in response to American cities losing teachers at an alarming rate. Merrow mentions Richard Ingersoll of the University of Pennsylvania’s words, “We can recruit all kinds of qualified people and persuade them to go into teaching, but if they get into jobs that aren’t well paid and don’t have particularly good working conditions in which they’re given little say in the way schools operate, it’s not going to really solve the problem because a lot of these people will leave” (p. 85). Merrow attributes the teacher shortage to the lack of teachers’ training, inadequate salaries, society’s lack of respect for teachers, together with insufficient opportunities for teachers to collaborate and improve.
The chapters in section two of the book deal mostly with leadership and making schools safe. Here, Merrow urges leaders to hire teachers who expect the best from every child and capitalize on the parts children do well. Additionally, Merrow suggests leaders provide teachers with opportunities to visit each other’s classrooms and reward schools where teachers and principals take the time to learn from the best.
According to Michael Fullan (2001), leaders who combine a commitment to their organizations with a moral purpose and a healthy respect of the change process will experience success in their endeavors. Merrow’s work supports this claim by identifying hard work and commitment as the main ingredients for success. “Our worst schools need outstanding leaders who will be on the job 24/7, until the schools can climb out of the hole” (p. 151). While acknowledging the job of running a school system as one of the toughest tasks imaginable, Merrow trusts strong leadership and believes that with the right attitudes of leaders and the commitment of all members along with mentoring young teachers and getting rid of those who don’t believe in their students’ success, we can have the schools our democracy deserves.
Throughout the book, the necessity for transformation of educational policies and practices is emphasized allowing the reader to reflect on current challenges educational leaders face while offering practical and immediate solutions to these issues. Merrow closes the book by advocating for fair and thorough teacher evaluations, principals’ freedom to hire effective teachers and include veteran teachers in the process, but most importantly, emphasizing the importance of placing the interests of children first.
A strength of this book is that it handles important topics related to current educational problems well, covers most aspects of our current education system’s weaknesses, and is showered with convincing evidence about the existing need for dedication and collaboration to drive change while also keeping pace with the technological demands we confront. My main criticism of the book is that Merrow falls short of exploring family involvement and ways to effectively engage families in the process of improving our education system. A 2012 collaborative joint survey conducted by Parenting Magazine and the National Education Association revealed that only 54% of teachers believe parents do their part at home to assist them in accomplishing their goal of helping their child succeed in school. In addition, only 17% of teachers felt their opinion was taken seriously by their students’ parents. Hence, the level of communication and collaboration between schools and parents must not be overlooked when reflecting and analyzing the current dilemmas our education system is facing. However, Merrow, in my view skillfully identifies the most relevant and current educational issues while making important contributions to the field of leadership.
Professionals interested in the future of education will find this book offers a thoughtful reflection into the challenges encountered by educational leaders. Overall, the book is thought provoking, eye-opening and makes a valuable contribution to the field of educational leadership. Throughout the book, Merrow acknowledges the important job teachers perform in our society, while also recognizing the numerous dilemmas that currently continue to exist in our education system.
References
Fullan, Michael. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
About the Author
Olga Torguet is a graduate student at Florida International University. She has been a special education teacher for the past 17 years. In 2007, Olga received the Teacher of the Year award at her school in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. She has taught students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Specific Learning Disabilities and Intellectual Disabilities. Olga has a passion for teaching and is always searching for effective evidence-based practices to incorporate into her daily teaching routines.
Currently 45 states and the district of Columbia have adopted what is known as the Common Core State Standards. Ideally they are a common set of standards for grades K-12 that encompass what a child would need to know in order to be college and/or career ready. The Common Core State Standards provides the “what” of a more rigorous approach to K-12 education, but does not provide the “how” (Konrad, et al., 2014). The articles being reviewed range in topics that discuss potential solutions or research-based approaches in order to incorporate a high level of rigor to students who have a ranging level of disabilities. It is the hope that through the findings in the following research thatpotential implementation challenges are addressed and possible solutions for students with disabilities are presented that are aligned with Common Core standards.
Importance
The topic of Common Core State Standards and Special Education warrants further research in that the ability to take a standard and modify it to meet the needs of students with various disabilities is a task that requires a wealth of knowledge base. There is no one clear way to adapt text or to interpret the importance of a particular standard. Although the Common Core represents what one is to teach it provides no guidance on how to teach the content, especially for students with severe disabilities (Saunders, Spooner, Browder, Wakeman, & Lee, 2013). All students will be affected by this new standard adoption even those with moderate to severe disabilities. No child left behind requires that all students with special needs have access to grade level core content in language arts, mathematics, and science (Collins, Karl, Riggs, Galloway, & Hager, 2010). Further studies should include how to mitigate the gap between the modified curriculum and the Common Core State Standards. The curriculum currently used for students on Access Points seldom reaches all learners and does not align itself with grade level content. There is no balance in literacy as most readings are non-fiction. Further studies should look into age appropriate material that can be used to teach to the rigor that is the basis of the Common Core so that it can truly be accessible to all students no matter their disability level.
Review of Literature
Article 1
Teachers are expected to make state standards accessible to all students with the expectation that students with disabilities master the CCSS similarly to their grade-level peers. (Konrad, et al., 2014). This article states that all students should be allowed the opportunity to master their grade level standard given that the teacher has unpacked the standard and tailored it to meet the needs of his/her particular student. This article states that the best way to attempt this goal is by making clear learning targets. Learning targets are clear, observable, measureable tasks aligned to the core standard written in a way that is accessible to students and teachers. Each CCSS strand should be broken down into components a) what the student needs to know and be able to do to master the standard and b) classifying the standards into lower-level and higher-level think skills (Konrad, et al., 2014). The article best explains how to accomplish this by dissecting the standard and looking solely at the nouns and the verbs within context of the standard. When extracting the nouns and verbs a clear learning target is easily determined.
One key point made in this article is for teachers to change their focus on the process not the product. A paradigm shift must occur in the way teachers perceive mastery. As the rigor in the standards increases so does the format in which students will be assessed. Gone are the days of multiple choice answers. Students will need to be asked to demonstrate, create, analyze text in order to demonstrate mastery. This in turn requires that special education teacher model and practice this level of engagement in the classroom if children with disabilities are going to be successful. Teachers should write learning targets that represent multiple levels of complexity so that al students can be challenged without being overwhelmed (Konrad, et al., 2014). Learning targets should be created on a continuum progressing from less complex to more complex. The learning targets should be expressed as “I or We” statements as it helps the student become more engaged in the learning process (Konrad, et al., 2014).
The writing of learning targets transcends to more than just the lesson being taught. Learning targets based on the CCSS should be looked at when writing measureable Individualized Educational Plan goals and benchmarks. While IEP’s should be individualized, both present level of performance and the annual goals should be aligned with grade-level standards (Konrad, et al., 2014). All the while trying to bridge the gap, teachers must constantly and consciously look at the students’ ability to access grade-level material. The IEP is the perfect time to look at where the student is academically and what he/she will require in order to master the grade-level standards. For students that are severely disabled looking at the CCSS is an opportunity to determine what essential skills the student needs to know in order to participate with his/her peers. The goal for planning when considering severely disabled students is breaking down the standard into building blocks and working with the student at the level in which e/she can access and demonstrate mastery.
Article 2
The ability to access grade-level core content does not come with the exclusion of practicing basic building blocks that students may be lacking. Through the use of real-life examples teachers can incorporate core content and functional academics concurrently to address the needs of all learners. Embedding core content into life skills instruction is an excellent way to incorporate the needs of many within one lesson. Through repeated practice the teacher can work on social skills, communication, or motor skills (Collins, Karl, Riggs, Galloway, & Hager, 2010). Constant and progressive time delay, simultaneous prompting, system of least prompts, and graduate guidance are all examples of response prompting procedures that have resulted in effective and efficient instruction (Collins, Karl, Riggs, Galloway, & Hager, 2010). Additionally, the study included embedding non-targeted information into the lesson planning. Through the use of non-targeted information, teachers can target more key terms and ideas and greatly increase learning outcomes of each lesson.
Article 3
A key component that is lacking in the design of lesson planning is the need for repeated attempts throughout the school year. Students with disabilities need repeated practice and exposure to core content in a variety of settings in order to generalize information. The Special Education teacher could plan for purposeful Community Based Instruction (CBI) that reinforces skills taught in the classroom for the purpose of generalization and maintenance. Students need repeated opportunities to respond –both within a lesson and over multiple days- in order to get a deeper understanding of the content and retain learned skills (Saundres, Bethune, Spooner, & Browder, 2013). Splinter skills arise from lack of generalization and teachers are left to question whether a student truly has learned a skill as it can only be demonstrated in a particular setting. The ability to revisit a strand or skill and present it in a varieties of ways is what truly determines mastery.
Article 4
When reviewing the different approaches to aligning the CCSS to different subjects, a clear goal of including grade-level text adaptations is a crucial point to include. One suggestion is to collaborate with grade-level teams, general education teachers, and literacy facilitators to lessen the burden of looking for and adapting text (Saunders, Spooner, Browder, Wakeman, & Lee, 2013). There are several ways to shortening the text without losing content and complexity such as summarizing chapters, finding abridged versions on the internet, and collaborating with ELA general education teachers making sure to include a mix of sentence structures, grade-level vocabulary, figure of speeches, author’s tone and purpose (Saunders, Spooner, Browder, Wakeman, & Lee, 2013). Another useful solution for bridging the gap mentioned was to use Lexile scores to guide difficulty in the adapted text. Making text level varied helps to systemically push students through more difficult text or to lower text difficulty if you are teaching a more complex skill. This article states that although an altered text is used, reading an excerpt from the original text be read aloud or presented to students so that they may be exposed to the authors tone and level of rigor that typically developing students are exposed to as well.
As mentioned before it should be noted that even though the idea is to expose students to grade-level material via abridged, adapted version or shortened original text, teachers must embed basic reading foundation approaches that are lacking within a lesson. Students with severe disabilities will still require lessons on phonics, fluency, and word structure and thus it is the job of the teacher to embed these lessons within the duration of the very lesson. Other suggested research based strategies include least intrusive prompting strategy and graphic organizers to support text that may be above students’ reading levels. Both these strategies allow for students of a variety of reading levels to access the same text as their typically developing peers.
Article 5
A key point in the successful implementation of the CCSS to students with disabilities is to consider how the students’ disability affect the students’ involvement and progress in the general curriculum. As discussed earlier, a key point is to address the standards when completing an Individualized Educational Plan, similarly we must look at particular characteristics of the disability in order to tailor teaching strategies to best make learning beneficial. Specifically, this article addresses the characteristics of students with Autism and what strategies would be best to use to combat the limitations of their disability. The three characteristics discussed that limit those with Autism are a delayed theory of mind, a weak central coherence, and an impaired executive function. (Constable, Grossi, Moniz, & Ryan , 2013).
Theory of mind is the ability to recognize and understand the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and intentions of other people (Constable, Grossi, Moniz, & Ryan , 2013). The ability to understand that ToM is constant hurdle that students with Autism deal with allows for the teacher to plan and implement preventative approaches to his/her teaching. The ability to develop a character analysis might be a task that a student with Autism will not show mastery in if not for the implementation of a research approach such as a social stories, or comic strip conversations.
Students with Autism have a great ability to seek and interpret the details in most things be it text, drawing, mechanics, etc. Students with a strong central coherence have the ability to see the big picture from a collective set of details (Constable, Grossi, Moniz, & Ryan , 2013). Students with Autism lack the ability to see the big picture and this has a great effect when presented with longs text, finding the main idea, or theme. Having the knowledge to foresee a child not being able to determine the main idea or how words relate to one another can assist the teacher in looking for and implementing research-based strategies. This weakness is often seen when students can read words in isolation at a very high level but do not understand the meanings of words. Students with a weak central coherence have a difficult time staying on task or will have difficulty paying attention and identifying what is important in a chapter.
The third characteristic identified as a weakness is impaired executive function which manifests as struggling with organization and planning, working memory, inhibition control, impulse control, time management, prioritizing, and using new strategies (Constable, Grossi, Moniz, & Ryan , 2013). Multistep problems/projects could cause behavior implications that will come from assigning a writing assignment without addressing the underlying weakness in impaired function. A graphic organizer can assist in relieving anxiety in what is expected as an outcome for mastery and can be used to teach a child to piece together details to form a general topic/theme.
Overall the articles reviewed all showed promise that there are significant research-based approaches that can assist in unpacking the Common Core State Standards and allowing for the inclusion of students with disabilities. Although further research is to be conducted on the effectiveness of these strategies on the overall performance of students with significant disabilities, there seems to be a movement towards incorporating all students with a ranging degree of disabilities.
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The Impact of Stakeholders’ Collaboration on Addressing the Needs of Students with Disabilities By N. Alexandra Cooper
By N. Alexandra Cooper
Teachers, administrators, school districts and policy makers, have a shared interest in addressing the needs of students to aid in their academic success. Fortunately, laws have been enacted to ensure that students with disabilities are also included when identifying best practices. While it is often evident that teachers, administrators, districts and policy makers are stakeholders in education; parents and communities often seem to take a more passive role. Conversely, research suggests that “parental involvement in education and child development is an important predictor of cognitive and social-emotional achievement” (Gomez-Mandic, Rudd, Hehir & Acevedo-Garcia, 2012). However, parents seem to experience a very salient power differential between themselves and education professionals, which often leaves them feeling alienated and relegated to this more passive role (Gomez-Mandic et al., 2012; Valle, 2011).
Teachers also experience some barriers when attempting to address the needs of students, particularly those who are “racially, culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse (RCELD),” which may contribute to disproportional representation and further increasing the divide among stakeholders (Griner & Stewart, 2012).
Because of this contradictions, it is important to address the need to help all stakeholders to collaborate in more efficient and equitable ways for the common goal of helping students with disabilities (and RCELD) have the best opportunity to achieve their educational potentials.
The following review addresses some findings in the literature related to parental involvement, accessibility of safeguards, community involvement and a practical tool for educational professionals to address the needs of this population of students. It also reflects on how the efficient collaboration of all stakeholders could potentially contribute to student achievement.
The Parent and the Student as Stakeholders
One of the unintended fallacies of special education policy and practice is the dichotomy it creates between education professionals and parents. In an effort to abide by the law that protects students’ with disabilities rights; teachers, administrators and school districts are educated in the law and the practices they need to carry, in order to remain in compliance.
Schools and education professionals are also held accountable for their use of best practices when it comes to education and student achievement is one measure of accountability. These and other factors yield an environment in which education professionals seem as the more knowledgeable group, while parents are often seen as the less informed group.
Valle (2011) relates the experiences of mother of students with disabilities and states that they “routinely became constructed by professionals as a) too subjective to contribute meaningfully and b) in need of expert guidance.” Valle (2011) also shares observations in which “presumably well-intentioned professionals (were) engaging in coercive persuasion rather than genuine collaboration.” These perceptions can lead to the inadvertent creation of a chasm between educational professionals and parents, and their relegation to a less important role in their child’s education. The allegory of Alice in Wonderland is used by Valle to describe the mothers’ journey into the education of their children with disabilities.
It likens it to how it can be confusing, at first, but even more frustrating when the mother finally develops her identity and voices her concerns, yet they are met by dismissive and condescending attitudes from the professionals.
Another contributor to this negative effect of alienation comes from the verbiage of procedural safeguards. While procedural safeguards were enacted with the intent of informing parents of their rights as representatives of students with disabilities, they are extremely difficult to understand for the majority of parents (Gomez-Mandic et al., 2012). In a recent study, the readability of procedural safeguards in 50 states plus D.C. was evaluated and compared to the average reading level of parents (2012). The study found that 55% of the procedural safeguards used were at a college reading level, with 39% at the graduate level and only 6% at the high school level. Comparatively, approximately half of parents with a high school education or GED had reading levels falling in the below basic or basic range for prose literacy. Sadly, “parents of students with disabilities are more likely to have limited literacy than the general population (2012).” This could lead to the conclusion that although the purpose of the safeguards is to help parents become informed of their rights, in practice, they become a compilation of technical jargon which further alienates and possibly silences parents, rather than inform them. The expert/inexpert dichotomy gets further etched and a common language of schools and parents as adversaries becomes further maintained. The most unfortunate part, is that the law addresses literacy concerns explicitly and yet they are not observed and the law is not being enforced. Another important caution to observe when examining the readability of procedural safeguards is that as students gain understanding, they are encouraged to become a part of the individual educational plan team; therefore, procedural safeguards should be easily accessible to them, as well.
What happens when parents of students with disabilities (or even those presenting some difficulties) are actively involved in the process of intervention and pre-referral to special needs services? Studies have shown that “active collaboration between teachers and parents may promote even greater adaptive growth” (Chen & Gergory, 2011). They show that intervention can work best when parents and schools work together in implementing them. A recent study goes further in examining how even involvement in the pre-referral process can have positive effects on student achievement and success (2011). The study examined how attendance to pre-referral meetings by parents would be related to the association between the interventions implemented and to the problems experienced by the student in the general education setting. The study’s hypothesis was confirmed, as parent’s meeting attendance was indicative of better outcomes because of better alignment of interventions. The study brought to light some important components of the pre-referral process: the valuable information the parents contributed when problem-solving and their “unique knowledge” of their child (2011). This improvement in the quality of the process and the reflected outcomes, allows for the interpretation that when a parent is part of the process and their role is welcomed as part of the team, they feel empowered and are thus more likely to assume an active rather than a passive role. This leads to interventions being carried out across settings and ultimately benefitting the students, because the study showed that parental involvement was ultimately negatively related to referral to further special education services.
Recognizing the Community as a Stakeholder
Often, even when parents and schools are working collaboratively, one important stakeholder seldom makes an appearance in school education: the Community. The community is a stakeholder because students are members and will eventually become adult members of it. A community can benefit directly by successful interventions and outcomes generated when students are part of the school system. An increase in adaptive, social and academic skills can potentially have direct economic and social benefits and impact on a community. When students learn to reach the highest level of independence possible for them, it can decrease the amount of services required for them to actively participate in their communities and increases the likelihood that they can even be contributing members of it. A community also has a lot of information to offer schools. Teachers and schools can “understand how life is organized in the communities where the student lives; their student’s values, beliefs, and cultures; how students use knowledge; and how these characteristics affect learning” (Gimber, Desai & Kerka, 2010).
An approach which addresses the necessity of teacher education programs, teachers and communities working together is the social justice approach (Gimbert et al., 2010). Under this approach, teachers can take a leadership and learner role as community advocates to challenge the current barriers and promote a more just society.
When teachers are trained within the community context within “collaborative learning environments,” statistics on burnout and attrition change from 30-50% of teachers leaving urban schools within their first five years to 97% retention rates (2010).
Learning cohorts in which teachers were supported by supervisors, university professors, community members and parents created the possibility for the teachers to “forge learning communities in their own classrooms” (2010). Having the opportunity to have mentors, community involvement and information relevant to the community served, allows teachers to connect in more meaningful ways with students. Ultimately, better connections and better collaboration results in positive student achievement outcomes in school but also “social improvement in the community.” (2010).
Practical Tool for Education Professionals
In addition to the inadvertent alienation of parents and communities as stakeholders because of verbiage of safeguards and condescending attitudes, the disparity increases even more when it comes to individuals who are racially, culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse (RCELD) (Griner et al., 2012). As the U.S. continues to become more and more diverse, schools are reflecting the complexity in the makeup of their student populations. At the same time, the composition of the faculty members continues to be primarily Caucasian women (2012). This contrast in representation make it even more important to be sensitive to the needs of RCELD students. It could be inferred that one of the secondary effects of this lack of representation is disproportionality and achievement gaps within these groups of students. Disproportionality has to do with the overrepresentation of RCELD students in special education programs and underrepresentation in gifted and specialty programs (2012). At the same time, the achievement gap has to do with the pervasive underachievement of these students when compared to majority groups. Unfortunately disproportionality and underachievement are intertwined, as being placed in special education services and not necessarily addressing underlying issues for under achieving, leads to “diminished expectations, unequal access to the curriculum, lack of opportunities to connect with peers who haven’t been labeled, and the continued within-school segregation between RCELD students and their peers” (2012).
While it is important to have discussions about the impact culturally responsive teaching practices have, only talking about the issue does not help teachers become change agents. In order to bridge the “achievement gap and disproportionality” currently trending in education, it is key to provide teachers with practical ways in which to learn the practice (2012). In addition to expressing the need for culturally responsive teaching (CRT), Griner et al. highlight the importance of including a range of stakeholders and in the developing and implementation practices and provide a “teacher-friendly tool to encourage CRT practices” (2012). In congruence with the above mentioned studies, this author also stresses the need to draw information from the sociocultural dimension, parents and community to achieve an “engaged pedagogy” which can be much more efficient in reaching RCELD students. The resulting tool created with the collaboration of many stakeholders (including education experts and parents) is designed as a checklist covering a variety of topics for teachers to reflect upon their current practices. The tool was designed to be used within professional development contexts and the research indicated that it did indeed have a positive effect on teachers’ practices.
Discussion
Based on the research, it is evident that the anonymous quote: “T.E.A.M=Together Everyone Achieves More,” is most definitely true when examining the relationship among education stakeholders as it relates to student achievement. Many teachers begin their careers eager to make a difference but quickly become engulfed in political underpinnings and obsolete policies. Many times, teachers are placed in difficult positions in IEP meetings because, as representatives of the school district, they are discouraged to disagree with policies and procedures. As an exceptional student education teacher, I have often been involved in meetings where I was reprimanded for reminding parents of other options and their rights to explore them, especially when not in agreement with what my supervisors had planned.
While I understand the political nature of the education system and the need to protect our resources against costly lawsuits, it is also disheartening to know the law and be placed in a position that is almost adversarial towards parents.
As a relatively new parent, I am beginning to understand the importance of parental involvement and procedural safeguards as extremely necessary tools to be an advocate for my child. Furthermore, advocacy should be encouraged and cherished instead of seen as oppositional. For parents to be active participants who contribute the best information for their children’s sake, it is of the utmost importance that they are treated with the respect their role calls for. Furthermore, as people, not only should they be respected, but they should be treated with the highest degree of empathy, as being the parent of a child with disabilities presents an even greater complexity of parenting skills and duties.
This culture of divisiveness seems to be bubbling up and having direct effects in our community at large, not just in our schools. Community members on all sides are all wanting to get their needs met without regards for others. The segregation seen in schools, disproportionality, and the lack of addressing the underlying issues is all yielding disproportionality in our community. The same groups that seem to be overrepresented in special education programs seem to be overrepresented in jails and legal proceedings. The media carries this stereotypes and it becomes a true story for the consumers of media that these particular groups are all criminals or underachievers. Social media serves to add more misinformation and bring to light more injustices and anger. This brokenness in our society is having ripple effects and bringing about violent outburst in a cry for social justice, such as the recent police vs. Black lives debacle. Communities and their representatives, who fund education, need to take an active role in creating the change that is necessary and can be more easily achieved within the context of education.
Educators are not only called to teach, they are also called to be leaders and to grow leaders. Education stakeholders all have the same common goal: student success! The literature shows over and over again that when all stakeholders work together, student achievement increases. But the greatest gain of collaboration among all stakeholders is really not just student achievement, but what the potential of what the actual process of collaboration produces. When everyone works together as an equal member of the team, they are empowered to take ownership of the successful returns and encouraged to continue such behaviors. They rise to provide their unique knowledge, their experiences and ideas and achieve greater success than one stakeholder could achieve in isolation. Politicians want to see a reduction in education costs, school districts want to be recognized as efficient, administrators want their schools to be examples, teachers want to make a difference in the lives of students, communities want outstanding citizens and parents want their children to succeed.
Change can begin anywhere. Teachers can enlist the help of administrators and parents to all become agents of change. As an educator, I feel empowered even by just having a practical tool to present to my administration as an example of how to expand our knowledge regarding culturally responsive practices. The outcries for justice and violence must be considered and evaluated at the roots. It seems this is a time of change. The recent RTI rules seem to be a beginning in addressing disproportionality. But it must not stop there. We have to begin to see ourselves as equal team members working towards a common goal. Only then, we will become the most highly effective team and change our current patterns.
I conclude with two of my favorite quotes: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” by Frederick Douglass, and Becky Bailey’s quote: “responsible adult solutions include conflict resolution, acceptance, learning a new skill and building stronger connections. True solutions always create a win-win situation.” I hope to be a part of the change in special education practices and policies and I highly encourage all my colleagues to be a part of it, too.
References
Bailey, B. (2011). Managing emotional mayhem: The five steps for self-regulation. Oviedo, FL: Loving Guidance.
Chen, W.B. & Gregory, A. (2011). Parental Involvement in the pre-referral process:
Implications for schools. Remedial and Special Education, 32 (6), 447-457.
Frederick Douglass. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from
BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/
frederickd201574.html
Gimbert, B., Desai, S. & Kerka, S. (2010). The big picture: Focusing urban teacher education on
the community. Phi Delta Kappan, 92, 36-39.
Gomez-Mandic, C., Rudd, R., Hehir, T. & Acevedo-Garcia, D. (2012). Readability of special
education procedural safeguards. The Journal of Special Education, 45(4), 195-203.
Griner, A. & Stewart, M. (2012). Addressing the achievement gap and disproportionality
through the use of culturally responsive practices. Urban Education, 48(4), 585-621.
Valle, J. (2011). Down the rabbit hole: A commentary about research on parents and special
education. Learning Disability Quarterly, 34(3), 183-190.
About the Author
N. Alexandra Cooper is a bilingual special education teacher from Palm Beach County, FL. She has taught students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities for over 13 years. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Palm Beach Atlantic University and a second Master’s degree in Special Education from Florida International University. She is passionate to use her experience and education for early intervention. Mrs. Cooper has received nominations for the prestigious Dwyer Awards and has won second place as Hispanic Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Cooper contributes to her community as a volunteer tutor and/or counselor for students with disabilities. She lives with her husband and toddler daughter in Royal Palm Beach and her favorite hobby is traveling. She has visited 11 different countries in 3 continents. Her dream is to visit Australia one day.
A Discussion of Parental Involvement and Disability Status in Urban Schools from the Perspective of a Special Education Teacher in an Urban Setting By Shekeyla Roberts
By Shekeyla Roberts
Abstract
This Literature Review addresses parental involvement in Urban Settings from the lens of a teacher who works in an urban school. The research depicts that positive outcomes for students, among other variables, have been linked to parental involvement in education. Researchers in the field of parental advocacy have consistently found that student achievement is improved through an increase in parental involvement within schools,this is most significant in urban communities. Minority parents lack involvement within their child’s education because they feel biased against. The research further indicates that parental involvement can serve as an accountability tool. Students and teachers are accountable for performance in schools and parents need to be held accountable as well. In conclusion parents who are from urban areas need an alternative to the present communication/collaboration with schools.
Review of Literature
The review of literature will discuss parent advocacy and involvement in urban schools as well as the challenges that educators face with parent involvement. Before a child is mature enough to speak -up for themselves, a parent is the best advocate to identify and decide what is best in their child’s education. Parental involvement can be best summarized by a parent’s partnership with their child’s school. Family involvement in children’s education has proven to be a predictor of high school graduation rates as well as future success. The role that parental involvement plays in the academic performance of children has been a subject of keen interest to educators for at least the past four decades (Bower &; Griffin, 2011). Over the course of history, parent involvement has had an essential role in public education. Family involvement is a general concept that involves a variety of activities. Arguably, the famous phrase “It takes a village to raise a child”, is one that is likely true. Parents are generally a child’s first teachers. Accordingly, in education, parental support has always been thought of as a critical factor. Research shows that family involvement significantly correlates to both a student’s work habits and social skills.
Variables Positively Correlated to Parental Involvement
Research shows that positive outcomes for students, among other variables, have been linked to parental involvement in education. In a study conducted by Dotterer and Wehrspann (add year), student GPA was positively correlated to parental involvement in school. Some other examples of positive outcomes include; self-efficacy, student achievement, and overall motivation. Schools must work towards alternative ways to increase parent involvement so that student achievement does not decline.. Specific variables related to parental advocacy as well as lack-there-of have been identified in the literature. Specifically, parents with low levels of advocacy stated that schools had refused to provide services to their children. Parents felt that the school professionals lacked professional training. Some parents noted that professional development was especially needed with regard to behavior management (Burke & Hodapp, 2016).
The parents also reported that the schools were more interested in budgets as opposed to servicing and meeting the needs of their child. Moreover, parents indicated that the school had poor communication and they were not treated as equals in collaborating with the school. Parents noted that their experiences at the schools were negative and noted that students were abused or inappropriately restrained. In contrast, parents with high levels of advocacy were generally satisfied with the services provided by the school. The parents felt that the teachers showed compassion for their children and communicated frequently, as along with making efforts to work collaboratively. Notably, it was also indicated by the set of parents that effectively advocated that their children’s disabilities were identified early. As stated by McDermott and Rothenburg, 2000, “Social relationships are what drive parents’ perceptions of their children’s school.”(p. 11).
Urban Parents Resist Involvement
Researchers in the field of parental advocacy have consistently found that student achievement is improved through an increase in parental involvement within schools,this is most significant in urban communities. Some of the specific questions addressed by this line of research include:
- What effect does parental involvement have on student achievement and behavior?
- Why do urban parents resist involvement in schools?
African-American and Latino families have expressed concerns about their children’s potential for success in public school settings, especially within the context of having a disability status. It has been frequently noted that low-income, urban parents can sometimes seem reluctant to be involved in their children’s education. There are multiple factors that contribute to this dilemma. Minority parents lack involvement within their child’s education because they feel biased against. It has been documented that public schools often are biased toward minority groups of students. In particular, urban families are often marginalized from everyday school life by poverty, racism, language and cultural differences, and the parents often perceive that public education is designed for children from middle class, white families at the expense of others (Oakes & Lipton, 1999). Yet, in order for students to have a greater chance at being successful, there is a great need for family involvement in urban schools. .
Cultural Divide
African-American males are typically identified at greater risk of educational failure due to factors such as their home and school lives. Research on school dropout and completion rates, along with recent studies on the suspension gap illustrate trends of Black and Latino students being disproportionately suspended from school (Gregory, Skiba, & Noguera, 2010). This potentially indicates that schools have marginalized large populations of minority students. Due to the differences in culture, language, and ethnicity, social barriers often exist between schools and the urban communities. There is a cultural divide between schools which can lead to a lack of student-teacher connections. This cultural divide frequently keeps urban students from learning and making the same real-world-connections that peers of a more dominant culture often make without many difficulties.
Teacher Perspective
Based on personal perspectives as a teacher in an urban city school, parental involvement needs to be improved upon in order to avoid future problems with academics and behavior. As cited in most of the research on parental advocacy, teachers across the nation have noted the significance of parental involvement in a child’s education. Accordingly, parents who are from urban areas need an alternative to the present communication/collaboration with schools. The research further indicates that parental involvement can serve as an accountability tool.
Students and teachers are accountable for performance in schools and parents need to be held accountable as well. To achieve the latter, teachers have a responsibility to facilitate parental involvement. Recent educational policy (e.g., the Every Student Succeeds Act) underscores this notion. Teachers should research and apply methods to involve urban parents in school activities and thus in their child’s education. Teachers also need to effectively communicate with all parents while being sensitive to different languages and cultures. The goal is for administrators, teachers, students and their parents, families, and vested stakeholders to become involved in a broader view of the learning process that involves reflective and reflexive praxis (Duarte & Fitzgerald, 2006; Slattery, 2006). It is important to highlight that urban parents have greater parental involvement when they feel that their child is valued.
Establishing Family Liaisons
In order to increase parental involvement, family liaisons have a great responsibility to carry out. These include: (a) creating a trusting and welcoming environment, (b) facilitating parent involvement in the school, (c) keeping parents informed on school-related topics, and (d) connecting parents with resources (Dretzke and Rickers, 2014). Family liaisons are uniquely qualified to work with families and make recommendations that facilitate parent involvement. Jeynes (2007), completed a meta-analysis on the effects of family involvement programs on urban students’ academic achievement using a sample of 51 studies. Participation in family involvement programs was positively predictive of academic improvement for both elementary and secondary students. Family involvement programs that are well developed can encourage urban families to increase involvement in their child’s education. At the classroom level, parents need to feel welcomed and needed in order to remain involved in their child’s education..
As an educator working in an inner city school, one can often ask: Why is there minimal parental involvement in urban schools?” When answering this complex and long-standing query it is important to recognize that there are many factors that may prevent parents from being involved at their child’s school despite their intentions and subsequent efforts. Most parents in urban settings have work schedules that prevent them from getting involved in their child’s education. Some parents struggle with cultural differences and language barriers with their child’s school and thus feel uncomfortable when communicating with teachers and staff. Another factor that hinders parents from being involved is that they lack resources and funding to help their child, especially those with disabilities. Many parents also noted that it was as important for children to know how to navigate the world outside of school as it was for them to succeed academically (Dretzke and Rickers, 2014).
References
Bower, H., & Griffin, D. (2011). Can the Epstein Model of Parental Involvement Work in a High-Minority, High-Poverty Elementary School? A Case Study. Professional School Counseling, 15(2), 77-87. doi:10.5330/psc.n.2011-15.77
Burke, M. M., & Hodapp, R. M. (2016). The Nature, Correlates, and Conditions of Parental Advocacy in Special Education. Exceptionality, 24(3), 137-150. doi:10.1080/09362835.2015.1064412
Dotterer, A. M., & Wehrspann, E. (2015). Parent involvement and academic outcomes among urban adolescents: Examining the role of school engagement. Educational Psychology, 36(4), 812-830. doi:10.1080/01443410.2015.1099617
Dretzke, B. J., & Rickers, S. R. (2014). The Family Liaison Position in High-Poverty, Urban Schools. Education and Urban Society, 48(4), 346-363. doi:10.1177/0013124514533794
Duarte, F., & Fitzgerald., A. (2006). Guiding principles for a reflexive approach to teaching organization studies. Journal of University Teaching and Learning
Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J. & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39, 59-68. doi:10.3102/0013189X09357621
Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban and secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Education, 42, 82-110.
McDermott, P., & Rothenburg, J. J. (2000). Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children’s Elementary Education. The Qualitative Report, 5(3), 1-16. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol5/iss3/4http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol5/iss3/4
Oakes, J. & Lipton, M. (1999). Teaching to change the world. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Williams, T. T., & Sanchez, B. (2012). Parental Involvement (and Uninvolvement) at an Inner-City High School. Urban Education, 47(3), 625-652. doi:10.1177/0042085912437794
About the Author
Shekeyla Roberts is currently a teacher of Autism. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Bethune-Cookman University in Exceptional Student Education. She earned her Master’s degree at Florida International University in Special Education. She dedicates her research and work to her angel Robert III (Tre).
Perry A. Zirkel
© November 2016
This monthly legal alert provides, as a two-column table, highlights (on the left) and practical implications (on the right) of major new legal developments. This November update identifies two relatively recently recognized forms of alleged denials of IDEA’s central obligation of “free appropriate public education” (FAPE), which have emerged beyond the procedural and substantive dimensions of FAPE originally established in Board of Education v. Rowley (1982).
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1. The first of these two relatively recent judicially recognized forms of FAPE is implementation—specifically, a denial of FAPE based on the failure to implement the IEP fully. The three competing approaches for such failure-to-implement cases are as follows, with the majority of jurisdictions not yet having clearly chosen among them:
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First, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals adopted the two-part approach in Bobby R. (2000), requiring (a) a substantial or significant failure to implement the IEP, and (b) a resulting deprivation of educational benefit. Less clearly, the Third Circuit appears to have subsequently followed this approach. |
Thus, LEAs in the states within the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) and the Third Circuit (Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) have more latitude in due process hearings and court proceedings for failure-to-implement cases; however, both best practice and the state complaint investigation process favor more rigorous compliance. |
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Second, the Ninth Circuit adopted in Van Duyn (2007) the more strict materiality approach, which approximates the first part of Bobby R. alone: “A material failure occurs when there is more than a minor discrepancy [in the IEP’s implementation] regardless of [whether] the child suffer[ed] demonstrable educational harm.” The courts in the District of Columbia have followed this approach.
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Courts and, as a result, hearing officers hold the LEAs in the Ninth Circuit (nine states in the West) and the District of Columbia to a more strict standard, which does not require a loss of educational benefit for the child. However, again, other enforcement mechanisms and best-practice considerations, including parental trust, weigh against less than complete implementation. |
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Third, none of the circuits at this point in time have adopted a strict 100% implementation approach, but the state education agencies’ (and, for Section 504’s overlapping coverage, OCR’s) complaint investigation process often follows it with an exception for de minimis discrepancies.
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For LEAs in the many states beyond the jurisdictions identified with the other two approaches, advice of legal counsel and attention to considerations favoring full implementation are of particular importance. For any LEA that misses more than de minimis implementation, initiation of voluntary compensatory services and possible due revision of the IEP merit consideration.
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2. The most recently recognized and least clearly settled claim for denial of FAPE is based on the capacity of the placement to implement the IEP. This claim that the school is not able to implement the child’s IEP has elements of the procedural, substantive, and implementation dimensions but is ultimately separable from them.
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This form of FAPE has been subject to a long line of federal court cases in New York starting approximately three years ago. For example, in D.S. v. N.Y.C. Department of Education (2013), the court held that the district denied FAPE because its proposed placement was not capable of implementing the IEP provision for a seafood-free environment, which was based on the child’s life-threatening seafood allergy.
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This line of cases not only extends to other, more common IEP implementation issues, such as class size and staff qualifications, but also the fuzzy meaning of “placement” in the FAPE context. As the federal district court in New York recently observed, this new FAPE challenge is an “expanding, but still opaque, subject-matter area.” |
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Courts in other jurisdictions are starting to face and address this latest form of FAPE claims. For example, the Fourth Circuit, in a recent brief opinion in S.T. v. Howard County School System (2016) recognized and, based on the evidence in the case, rejected a claim of “the ability of the school placement to provide [the IEP] services.” Moreover, District of Columbia has had at least three court decisions within the past three years ruling that the proposed school placement was not able to provide the services that the child’s IEP specified.
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Thus, in all of the jurisdictions, even more strongly than the failure-to-implement claims, this fourth branch, focusing on the capacity to implement the IEP, merits careful consideration because it is increasing in its incidence and is still far from crystallized in its contours. Moreover, the applicable approaches for evidence, including the prevalent “snapshot” and the less common “four-corners” approaches, reinforce the need to consult with local legal counsel. |
Rock Hill, SC
Job Category: Education
Description:
Currently, looking for a Special Education Teacher that wants to join a growing team at New Hope Treatment Center. We specialize in providing an educational experience for residents between 12-21 years of age, whose emotional, mental, or physical disabilities make it difficult for them to learn. This is an excellent and rewarding job opening in the Rock Hill, SC location. We offer competitive pay and benefits! Please take a look at our facility at http://www.newhopetreatment.com/
- SPED must have elementary and autism experience.
- Out of state candidates welcome with a quick start.
- Immediate interviews.
- Must be certified in South Carolina or Eligible.
- Recent grads are encouraged to apply at this time.
New Hope Treatment Center is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, Vietnam era or other veteran status.
Requirements:
Minimum Qualification: Bachelors Degree in Education with Special Education Teaching Certification in South Carolina or eligibility for certification and minimal experience working with emotionally disturbed adolescents.
Contact:For more information and access to remaining interview times, please contact:
Maureen Ball/Tamacia Bing
803-328-9300 ext. 5197
CarolinasHR@newhopetreatment.com
maureenb@newhopetreatment.com
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Special Education Department Chair
Winnetka, Illinois
Job Category: Department Chair
Description:
The primary responsibilities of the department chair are instructional leadership of special education classes and administration of all departmental activities. The department chair is responsible for the supervision of all teachers and education support staff in the special education department. The department chair is also responsible for ensuring that students with disabilities receive the appropriate special education support and services and for assisting the district in maintaining compliance with federal and state regulations regarding students with disabilities.
Responsibilities are in the areas of Leadership, curriculum and instruction, supervision and assessment, organizational management, communication, and group processes.
See the detailed posting with a link to the online application at:
https://applitrack.com/newtrier/onlineapp/JobPostings/view.asp?FromAdmin=true&AppliTrackJobId=1343.
Requirements:
1. Illinois Professional Educator License with General Administrative or Teacher Leader endorsement
2. Minimum five years of experience as a special education teacher at the secondary level
3. Master’s/advanced degree
4. Clear understanding of special education laws, rules, and regulations and understanding of current issues related to special education
5. Knowledge of assessment and instructional practices across disability areas
6. Knowledge of content, contemporary instructional technology
7. Expertise in staff supervision/evaluation
8. Commitment to collaborative leadership
Contact:
Apply online at http://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/employment Please upload supporting application materials that you wish to have accompany your application (cover letter, resume, transcripts, recommendations, and/or credentials) online as we do not accept paper or email materials.
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Head of School for Dallas Academy
Dallas, Texas
Job Category: Administration
Description:
Dallas Academy is seeking an enthusiastic and committed Head of School who is knowledgeable in the full spectrum of special education and who possesses a heart for working with families and their children who have these learning differences. The School has a current enrollment of 194 students from 69 zip codes in the DFW Metroplex. With 50 years of service, Dallas Academy reached a milestone in 2015-2016 by gaining the distinction of being the oldest school in the State of Texas to serve students with learning differences. The next Head of School for Dallas Academy will be asked to embrace the School’s mission and direct a vision that takes the School to new heights. Interested candidates should provide a résumé, cover letter highlighting your interest and fit for the position, a statement of educational philosophy, and a list of five (5) references with all contact information, as attachments to karen@educationgroup.com
Requirements:
- A Master’s degree with a degree or certification in special education
- Knowledge in the full spectrum of special education and experience in working with families whose children have these learning differences
- Demonstrated success as an inspirational and confident leader who possesses excellent interpersonal skills
- Sound business acumen with a track record of successful and innovative fundraising
- A proven track record of attracting and retaining talented faculty and staff
- Current knowledge in the latest research findings and innovations on advancing students with learning differences
- Educational administrative experience
Benefits:
THE NEXT HEAD OF SCHOOL WILL FIND:
- A dedicated and supportive Board
- Bright children who are eager to learn
- A trained and caring faculty and staff
- Involved and supportive parents
- Specialized programs and a wide array of extracurricular activities
- Competitive salary
- Health insurance
- Retirement benefits
Contact:
Karen A. Drawz, Consultant
karen@educationgroup.com
www.educationgroup.com
214-535-7093
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Special Education Teacher
New York, NY
Job Category: Special Education Teacher
Description:
Special Education Teacher (Elementary) New York City. To teach elementary students with learning disabilities. B.A. in Education and NYS Teacher’s Certification reqd. Mail resume to AMAC, Attn: Giovanna Henson, 25 W. 17th Street, New York, NY 10011.
Requirements:
B.A. in Education and NYS Teacher’s Certification reqd.
benefits:
Contact:
MAIL RESUME TO:
AMAC
Attn: Giovanna Henson
25 W. 17th Street
New York, NY 10011
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Special Education Teacher
Bronx, NY
Job Category: Special Education Teacher
Description:
Alfred E. Smith CTE High School is seeking multiple Special Education Teachers in all content areas. Alfred E. Smith High School is a Career and Technical High School located in the Bronx in New York City. Positions are for immediate hire or February 2017.
Benefits:
Starting salary approximately $55,000 -$65,000 based on credits and experience with full medical coverage.
Contact:
Please email your resume and cover letter to Principal Evan Schwartz at Eschwar2@schools.nyc.gov
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Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Special Education
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Job Category: Faculty
Penn State Behrend invites applications for Early Childhood Education Faculty Positions starting Fall 2017. A doctoral degree in Special Education is required for the position; candidates with a doctorate completed by early summer 2017 will be considered. The position will be housed in the early childhood education PK-4 program in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, but will also teach special education for the secondary math education program housed in the School of Science. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of two years of experience working in the schools with a broad age range of students across PK-12. The successful candidate will possess a record of research and scholarly productivity; a commitment to excellence in college-level teaching and advising; classroom experience in early childhood settings and a strong commitment to diversity, social justice, and advocacy. The area of research is open; research in collaboration with peers and undergraduate students is valued.
The college provides support for research and travel to scholarly conferences. Penn State Behrend is a comprehensive four-year and residential college of Penn State in Erie, PA. The college prides itself on the balance it achieves between teaching and research. Located on a beautiful, wooded hilltop campus, Penn State Behrend offers its 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students an inspiring and technologically-advanced environment characterized by close student/faculty interaction. For more information about the college, please visit our Web site (www.behrend.psu.edu). To apply, go to http://psu.jobs/. For job location, choose “Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.” For type of job, select “Academic.” Then click “Search for Jobs.” Select job #67654, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Special Education and then select “Apply On-line.” If you have never applied for a Penn State job before, you will need to create a Friends of Penn State Account. Thereafter, you will be able to upload the required materials: a letter of application summarizing your experiences and educational philosophy, curriculum vitae, and list of professional references. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the positions are filled.
CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS: For more about safety at Penn State, and to review the Annual Security Report which contains information about crime statistics and other safety and security matters, please go to http://www.police.psu.edu/clery/ , which will also provide you with detail on how to request a hard copy of the Annual Security Report.
Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
Job URL: http://apptrkr.com/915680
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Special Education Teacher
Littlestown, Pennsylvania
Job Category: Full Time
Description:
The Hoffman Academy is a special education, private, academic school for students identified with social and emotional disorders. The school is aligned with, and located on the grounds of, Hoffman Homes for Youth- a psychiatric residential treatment facility outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Hoffman Academy educates approximately 100 students. The mission is to offer a learning environment combined with a therapeutic component. Teachers, therapists and direct-care staff work together to assist the children-in-care with achieving their treatment goals.
The Hoffman Academy is accepting applicants for Special Education Teacher positions. The Special Education Teacher is a full-time position with benefits.
The Hoffman Academy is looking for teachers to work in a creative and versatile environment geared toward educating and treating at-risk youth. The goal is to allow teachers the flexibility to deliver curriculum in the most effective manner. Teachers, at the Hoffman Academy, must be able to work as part of a treatment team (i.e. the student, therapist, direct-care staff, parents, etc.) and assist the student in defining and achieving successful outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to use the support of the therapists and direct-care staff. The principles of Sanctuary® and Trauma Informed Care are expected to be applied within the daily routines, interactions and interventions of the school day. Overall, teachers for the Hoffman Academy must exhibit an enthusiasm for educating distressed young people while coaching them toward a safe and productive lifestyle.
Salary: Starting at $45,000
Duties of the position include, but are not limited to:
- Develop and implement IEPs and NOREPs as well as facilitate meetings with regard to these plans and the student’s overall treatment program
- Plan and teach appropriate and engaging lessons according to the students’ ability and need
- Collect and analyze student data
- Participate as an active member of each student’s treatment team; Assist the team in developing and implementing successful approaches for the student.
- Maintain records and make reports as required by State Law, the State Board of Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the School.
Requirements:
Applicants must have Pennsylvania Certification in Special Education (7-12; N-12; and PK-8). Proper clearances, as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, are required.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Benefits:
- Comprehensive Major Medical Plan with Prescription Plan
- Dental
- Vision
- 403(b)
- Paid Time Off
Contact:
Interested applicants may forward a resume to Walter Smith, Director of Education, via Email: wsmith@hoffmanhomes.com, Fax: 717-359-2600, or Mail: 815 Orphanage Rd., Littlestown, PA 17340. http://www.hoffmanhomes.com/menu/About/careers
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Special Education Specialist
Multiple Locations
Job Category:
Description:
The primary responsibility of the Special Education Specialist is to provide instruction and other related services to Special Education students. The Special Education Specialist will also facilitate diagnostic assessment including administration, scoring and interpretation. Will review and revise IEP’s as needed. Will support instruction in reading, math, and written language for students, tutor individual and small groups of students, administer and score academic testing, write individualized education plans and support other academic programs as needed. The Special Education Specialist will work under the leadership of the Program Specialist and the Director of Special Education. This position will be available to provide direct instruction to students 6 hours a day.
Essential Functions include, but are not limited to the following:*
- Provide instruction to students with special needs and identified learning disabilities in a special education program.
- Tutor individual and small groups of students, reinforcing language and reading concepts.
- Administer and score individual and group tests.
- Schedule IEP meetings, coordinating schedules with parents, general education teacher(s), administrator, and all appropriate special education staff.
- Conduct IEP meetings.
- Communicate and coordinate special needs evaluation and testing with speech teacher, psychologist, and other service providers.
- Communicate with parents regarding individual student progress and conduct.
- Maintain progress records and record progress toward IEP goals.
- Record progress within the independent study program.
- Perform other duties in support of the Special Education Specialist program.
- Support other academic programs offered within the independent study program.
Various openings in Burbank region, San Gabriel region, Victor Valley region, Inland Empire region, San Bernardino region, and San Juan region.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
- Special Education Specialist Certificate or ability to obtain Mild/Moderate Certificate.
- Ability to teach students of grades K-12.
- Ability to work with children of all ages.
- Ability to understand, adopt, and support the independent study program, concepts and their philosophies.
- Ability to organize and present ideas effectively in oral and written form.
- Ability to make skillful decisions.
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
- Ability to operate a PC computer, word processor, copier, FAX, and other office machines.
- BA/BS Degree
- Valid California Teaching Credential in Special Education (Mild/Moderate)
Education and Experience:
- BA/BS Degree
- Valid California Teaching Credential in Special Education (Mild/Moderate)
Contact:
Nehia Hearn
Human Resources Assistant
Direct: 626) 204-2552 Fax: 626) 685-9316
nhearn@ofy.org
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Special Education Teacher
Washington, DC
Job Category: Special Education Teacher
Description:
Under general supervision of the House Manager, the incumbent is responsible for teaching and supervising a class of special needs students utilizing various techniques to promote learning. Duties include planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating class activities, developing Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and working with assigned staff, therapists and students to achieve the IEP goals and objectives. The incumbent is responsible for supervising assigned students and classroom staff insuring that students and staff are compliant with all school policies and procedures. This position requires close supervision of students which includes the ability to keep up with running children and or to lift or assist with lifting students is essential to perform this task. An important aspect of the job is gaining knowledge of and implementing the assigned student’s Individual Education Plan goals and objectives as well as ensuring accurate data collection and documentation of same.
Requirements:
The ideal candidate has a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education, and holds or is eligible for District of Columbia teaching certification with appropriate endorsement. Prior teaching/instructional experience with individuals with special needs is preferred.
Contact:St. Coletta of Greater Washington
Human Resources Department
1901 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
202-350-8680
Applications accepted online ONLY at www.stcoletta.org
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Special Education Teacher
Barstow, California
Job Category: Full Time
Visit website:http://www.barstow.k12.ca.us/District/3752-EdJoin-Job-Search.html
Job Description / Essential Elements:
Special Education Teacher is sought by Barstow Unified School District in Barstow CA. At present there is a single job opening for a full time position for 7 hours a day 185 days per year. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
Minimum Qualifications:
Eligible or holds appropriate California Teaching Credential for Special Education.
Major Duties & Responsibilities:
Provides individual and small group assistance related to the pupil’s specific learning disabilities, educational problems, and total educational adjustment. Other Duties: Evaluates pupils’ academic and social growth, keeping appropriate records and communication progress with parents. Participates with the I.E.P. team to develop the individualized education program for each student placed in the class.
Requirements for Applying:
California Education Specialist Instruction Credential: Mild/Moderate (M/M) and/or Moderate/Severe (M/S) Minimum of three (3) years successful classroom contract teaching experience in a special education setting EL Authorization VPSS NCLB Certification in Subject (Verification Process for Secondary Teachers in Special Settings) Autism
Authorization SIGNING BONUS AVAILALBE (must possess Level I or Level II credential)
- Attach copies of credentials
- attach copies of testing (CBEST, CSET…)
- please attach no more than three (3) signed letters of reference dated within the last three (3) years
Application Deadline: Until Filled
Upon hire ~ submit to a fingerprint background check, submit official transcripts and original official test scores, submit valid TB and physical
*SIGNING BONUS AVAILABLE TO FULLY CREDENTIALED SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS
To apply: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/JobPosting/848934
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Acknowledgements
Portions of this month’s NASET’s Special Educator e-Journalwere excerpted from:
- Center for Parent Information and Resources
- Committee on Education and the Workforce
- FirstGov.gov-The Official U.S. Government Web Portal
- Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals (JAASEP)
- National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, an electronic newsletter of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET), available online at http://www.ncset.org/enews. NCSET is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
- National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
- National Institute of Health
- National Organization on Disability
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Education-The Achiever
- U.S. Department of Education-The Education Innovator
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- U.S. Department of Labor
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- U.S. Office of Special Education
The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) thanks all of the above for the information provided for this edition of the NASETSpecial Educator e-Journal.
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