Contact: Lindsey Kozberg (202) 401-3026

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am happy to appear before this Committee and to discuss with you issues related to implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including our very serious concerns associated with the disproportionate number of minority students who are referred to special education. I am also eager to explain how these issues speak to our need to reform special education.

I think it would be helpful to put these issues in context. Back in January, as you recall, President Bush made education his highest priority and laid out his education agenda, called No Child Left Behind. It has four pillars: accountability for results, local control and flexibility, expanded parental options, and doing what works to improve student performance.

We started this agenda with President Bush's plan to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). I must say that I have been pleased by the bipartisan cooperation thus far in both the House and the Senate, including the members of this Committee, in reauthorizing that Act. In particular, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and Mr. Miller and the members of this Committee for your hard work in producing and passing an excellent bill in the House. I have enjoyed working with many of you to put the Federal government on the right side of reform so we can ensure that our schools serve all of our children well. I also appreciate the work of the conference committee, and I wish the Conference well in finishing its work quickly.

The reauthorization of the IDEA will build on the principles embodied in No Child Left Behind. The children served through the IDEA deserve the same thorough review of, the same deliberate attention to, and the same significant reform of, special education.

President Bush means No Child Left Behind quite literally. I've worked with him for more than six years, and I understand his thinking and his actions on this. You see, President Bush is committed to the bold proposition that every child can learn. This doesn't mean that after you siphon off the children who have disabilities; or the children who were never properly taught how to read; or the children who never learned English, or the children who disrupted their classrooms, that most of the rest can learn. It means that all of our kids, even the ones our system calls "hard to teach," can learn. He understands that children with disabilities are the most likely to be left behind and have historically been left out and left behind.

Pillars of Reform apply to the IDEA

President Bush and I want to apply the four pillars of reform to the IDEA, just as we did to the ESEA. First, accountability for results is just as important for children with disabilities as for any other children. Second, flexibility and freedom from unnecessary and burdensome federal red tape can help school districts tailor services to the needs of students while preserving students' rights to appropriate services, a task that has often been difficult to achieve under the IDEA. Third, empowering parents to participate more meaningfully in their children's education will improve student performance. Finally, supporting teaching methods and procedures based on scientific research will ensure that we are using what works in teaching our children with disabilities.

We have already started the process of preparing for the reauthorization of the IDEA. Last month, the Department of Education hosted our first summit on learning disabilities here in Washington. We brought together leading researchers, practitioners, parents and advocates of children with disabilities, and others to discuss the current research base for the appropriate identification of students with learning disabilities.

In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (since renamed the IDEA). When it was passed, this legislation was revolutionary. Like Brown v. Board of Education two decades before, it broke open the doors of the schoolhouse for a new group of students. It promised to take children slated for a lifetime of institutionalization and prepare them instead for independence.

Thanks to the IDEA, we have made great strides during the past 25 years in helping students with disabilities. This law has ensured access to public education for millions of children with disabilities, who were not previously welcome in our public schools. Because of the IDEA, children who were previously excluded from our schools are now sitting in classrooms alongside non-disabled peers, graduating from high school, and pursuing postsecondary education and productive employment. These are notable accomplishments. Yet, despite the progress we have made, there are still significant achievement gaps between children with disabilities and their peers. Children with disabilities are not completing school and are not performing at levels near their peers.

The IDEA has yet to fulfill its promise. The doors are open, but the system still denies too many students the opportunity to reach high academic standards. That is why the IDEA needs reform.

We Have Real Challenges

We have identified a number of issues in the system that require our attention.

First, our system fails to teach many children fundamental skills like reading and then inappropriately identifies some of them as having disabilities. Not only does this hurt those children who are misidentified, it also reduces the resources available to serve children with disabilities. If we provide all children with scientifically-based reading instruction delivered by well-trained teachers, many will never need special education. However, new research suggests that approximately 5-6% of the total school-aged population may still need more intensive and longer-term interventions provided through special education because the scientifically-based reading instruction is not sufficient to meet their needs.

Second, our system identifies many children who do have disabilities too late. Research shows that children who pass through the early grades with undiagnosed and undetected disabilities will miss opportunities to benefit fully from instruction. In order to serve our children as best we can, we ought to help schools identify disabilities early and address the particular needs of each student immediately. In short, we need to make sure that the right children receive appropriate special education services under the IDEA, and that they receive them as soon as possible.

Our third concern is that when you look at State data, you find that the proportion of minority students identified in some disability categories is dramatically greater than their share of the overall population. More specifically, African-American students are labeled as mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed far out of proportion to their share of the student population. Department of Education national data show that 2.2% of all black students, but only 0.8% of all white students, are identified as mentally retarded. Similarly, 1.3% of all black students, and only 0.7% of all whites are identified as emotionally disturbed. In Alabama, blacks are four times as likely as whites to be identified as mentally retarded; in Indiana, three times as likely. In Florida, blacks are twice as likely as whites to be identified as emotionally disturbed; in Kentucky, four times as likely. This problem of disproportional identification of some minority groups in some categories of special education occurs in many other States.

For minority students, misclassification or inappropriate placement in special education programs can have significant adverse consequences, particularly when these students are being removed from regular education settings and denied access to the core curriculum. Of particular concern is that, often, the more separate a program is from the general education setting, the more limited the curriculum and the greater the consequences to the student, particularly in terms of access to postsecondary education and employment opportunities. The stigma of being misclassified as mentally retarded or seriously emotionally disturbed, or as having a behavioral disorder, may also have serious consequences in terms of the student's self-perception and the perception of others, including family, peers, teachers, and future employers.

While minority children are disproportionately represented in special education, it is difficult to determine to what degree this is related to poverty or race. Research has demonstrated that poor children are more likely than affluent children to have disabilities. Since minority children are more likely to be poor, it therefore follows that they may also be more likely than white children to have disabilities.

Congress asked the National Academy of Sciences to review the evidence of disproportionate representation of minority students in special education, examine the potential causes of this disproportionality, and recommend to the Department ways to address this problem. The NAS report is due this fall, and we are eager to get the analysis, because we need to understand the nature and scope of the problem better, devise solutions, and reform our programs.

Our fourth concern is about how well we are serving our children with disabilities. If you look at how our special education programs are currently implemented in our schools, you will see that they do not always focus on giving high-quality instruction to all children. Instead, they too often focus on process as a means to avoid conflict and litigation.

While we have seen significant improvements in services to students with disabilities and their families, we have a long road to travel before we reach the goal of No Child Left Behind. Although about 6 of every 10 American students with disabilities graduate with a regular high school diploma, in some states the graduation rate is fewer than one in four. That rate defies the promise of the IDEA and it must be addressed. The data get worse when we disaggregate by race. Fewer than half of African-American children with disabilities leave school with diplomas. In Nevada, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, the situation is worse yet: fewer than one in five African-American children with disabilities receives a diploma.

Our fifth concern is the issue of paperwork. When I was superintendent in Houston, I worked with the special education teachers who do this critical work. I admire and respect them greatly, but I understand their frustration. As a practitioner, I can tell you that the paperwork and time required to demonstrate compliance with the IDEA regulations are discouraging many teachers from entering and remaining in the field. Special education teachers move to positions in regular education, or leave education altogether, not because they do not want to work with children with disabilities, but because they feel that too much of their time is spent complying with regulations that do not assist students in becoming successful learners. Teachers often told me that their goals were to teach facts and skills, not worry about paperwork and litigation. In the upcoming reauthorization, we must eliminate costly and unnecessary paperwork, while maintaining due process protections for children with disabilities and their families.

Money Alone Will Not Address All of Our Needs

As I have discussed, special education is filled with many complex issues that need to be addressed within the context of a thorough review of the IDEA and as part of a comprehensive package of reforms. That is why the Administration opposes any proposal for mandatory IDEA funding within the context of the ESEA reauthorization. In fact, we are very concerned that these proposals will impede, rather than support, special education reform.

President Bush and I recognize the many challenges faced by States and localities in carrying out their responsibility to educate children with disabilities. While IDEA funding has nearly tripled over the last five years, we recognize the importance of providing additional funding. In his budget, President Bush requested a billion dollar increase for IDEA, the largest increase ever requested by a President. But we know in the IDEA, as with the ESEA, that money is ineffective if it is not tied to accountability and reform. Money alone has not, will not, and cannot improve student performance.

We Need Research-Based Solutions

Our special education system needs solutions based on solid research. We must devise reforms that will help all of our children with disabilities. That is why I am pleased to announce today that President Bush is creating a new commission to study the problem. Under the leadership of Former Governor Terry Branstad, the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education will study Federal, State, and local special education programs and recommend how we can reform our special education system in order to improve the educational performance of children with disabilities. Specifically, it will tell us what new research we need, how Federal and State requirements help or impede special education, and what we should do to improve student performance and to ensure that no child is left behind.

President Bush and I are determined to ensure that every child gets a sound education. With the Commission's work, your support, and a shared commitment to doing what is right for our children with disabilities, I believe that we will get to the point where truly no child is left behind.

Conclusion

As I conclude my testimony today, I want to emphasize that my review of special education as currently implemented in our schools leads me to believe that we should focus not on process, but on results; not on compliance, but on performance. We should measure success—not by how many children we identify as disabled, but by how much they, and all children, learn; and we should feel good— not about how much money we spend, but about how many children we help.

All parents have the right to expect high standards in educating their children. We can accept no less. This also means excuses are not good enough: We need results. It means raising average performance is not enough: We need to look at all children to ensure that they are learning. I look forward to working with you to address these critically important issues as we prepare for the IDEA reauthorization.

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