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Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act Reauthorization:
Where Do We Really Stand?
National
Council on Disability
July 5, 2002
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Reauthorization:
Where Do We Really Stand?
This report is also available in alternative formats
and on NCD's award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov).
Publication date: July 5, 2002
202-272-2004 Voice
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 Fax
The views contained in the report do not necessarily
represent those of the Administration as this and all NCD documents
are not subject to the A-19 Executive Branch review process.
National Council on Disability
Members and Staff
Members
Marca Bristo, Chairperson
Kate Pew Wolters, First Vice Chairperson
Hughey Walker, Second Vice Chairperson
Yerker Andersson, Ph.D.
Dave N. Brown
John D. Kemp
Audrey McCrimon
Gina McDonald
Bonnie O'Day, Ph.D.
Lilliam Rangel-Diaz
Debra Robinson
Ela Yazzie-King
Staff
Ethel D. Briggs, Executive Director
Jeffrey T. Rosen, General Counsel and Director of Policy
Mark S. Quigley, Director of Communications
Allan W. Holland, Chief Financial Officer
Martin Gould, Ed.D., Director of Research
Gerrie Drake Hawkins, Ph.D., Program Specialist
Pamela O'Leary, Interpreter
Brenda Bratton, Executive Assistant
Stacey S. Brown, Staff Assistant
Carla Nelson, Office Automation Clerk
Joan M. Durocher, Esq., Fellow
Acknowledgment
The National Council on Disability wishes to express
its appreciation to Celane McWhorter, NCD consultant, for her help
in drafting this document.
"The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act are cornerstones of the empowerment
culture. They empower all Americans to participate, to produce.
ADA and IDEA and other disability rights laws must not be weakened.
They must be vigorously implemented."
--Justin Dart
National Council on Disability
National Summit on Disability Policy
April 27, 1996
Achieving Independence
Contents
Introduction
Summary Statement
Monitoring and Enforcement
Funding
Discipline
Overrepresentation
NCD Recommendations for
IDEA Reauthorization
Part 1: Where Do We Really Stand?
Youth Speak Out
Part 2: Where Do We Really Stand?
From the Public
Issue 1:
Monitoring and Enforcement
Issue 2. Funding
Issue 3. Discipline
Issue 4. Eligibility and
Overrepresentation of Ethnic, Cultural and Racial Minorities
in
Special Education
General Public Recommendations
List of Commenters
Appendix
Mission of the National Council on Disability
Introduction
The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent
federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress
on issues affecting 54 million Americans with disabilities. NCD
is composed of 15 members appointed by the President and confirmed
by the U.S. Senate. NCD's overall purpose is to promote policies,
programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity
for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature
or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities
to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion
and integration into all aspects of society. NCD makes recommendations
to the President, Congress, and federal agency officials concerning
ways to better promote equal opportunity for all individuals with
disabilities. In addition to our statutory mandates, NCD's mission
is to provide a voice in the Federal Government and to Congress
for all people with disabilities in the development of policies
and delivery of programs that affect their lives.
In keeping with that mission, on February 11, 2002,
NCD published a working document on the reauthorization of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. The paper, IDEA
Reauthorization: A Working Paper, identified four areas
that NCD determined to be particularly critical to the implementation
of IDEA: eligibility and over representation of racial and ethnic
minorities; funding of IDEA; monitoring and enforcement; and discipline.
NCD poses a number of questions for each of these areas. The selection
of these four areas and the accompanying questions were based on
the review of eleven years of NCD publications on the implementation
of the Act and barriers to full implementation buried within policy
and practice relative to each.
We then set out to find answers. In preparing this
paper, NCD reviewed public proceedings over the past two years,
including hearings held by the White House Commission on Excellence
in Special Education, Committees and Subcommittees in the House
of Representatives and Senate, and the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights, along with publications from the National Academy of Science,
the Harvard Civil Rights Law Project, and the General Accounting
Office. NCD invited the public to respond to the questions in a
public comment period announced in the Federal Register on
April 3, 2002. And, finally, we invited the real consumers, youth
with disabilities, through the NCD Youth Advisory Council to tell
us about their experiences in special education.
Where Do We Really Stand? is a compilation
of the public statements--excerpts that are particularly relevant
to the NCD issues and provide guidance in answering the questions.
It begins with the youth comments, because that is where we should
begin in any discussion of special education . . . what can they
tell us about their experiences with IDEA?
A few disclaimers are necessary. Public comments are
organized around the 21 questions found in the four critical areas.
Thousands of pages of print were reviewed in search of recommendations
relevant to the NCD questions. The paper excerpts statements from
students, parents, advocates, school administrators, teachers, university
personnel, and others. Most of the statements have been shortened;
the substance has been honored although words may have been rearranged
to more readily fit into the document. The intent was to survey
what the public has been telling the Federal Government about IDEA,
about what changes are necessary after twenty-seven years, and about
provisions that are "sacred." While many of these statements are
scientifically based, this is not to be considered more than a compilation
and analysis of excerpts of individual statements expressed in a
number of public venues. Some of the contributors' last names have
been omitted to protect their anonymity.
Two things are obvious in the survey of the public
opinion. First, it is clear from the volumes of work that IDEA has
a wide following in this country. Second, there is controversy among
the followers--a deep chasm of opinion on a number of issues particularly
relevant to the quality of educational outcomes for students with
disabilities. From the students, we hear the reality of their lives
in special education. In most cases, the comments we received from
them are a scathing indictment of the implementation of IDEA.
NCD has attempted to capture the trends found in the
material, summarize what we found, and recommend solutions based
on a combination of our work since 1991 and statements that particularly
resonated with the members of NCD. We hope that others will be able
to use this document to do the same. A list of individuals referenced
in this document is found in the Appendix. The document is certainly
not all-inclusive of public comments made during the past two years,
but we believe it is very representative of the messages delivered.
Finally, more public statements are being made every
day as the President's Commission Report is being released and Congress
is making plans for rapid action on the reauthorization. We will
update the web version of this document, to ensure that it truly
reflects public opinion. We hope that Where Do We Really Stand?
will be useful to a broad audience of groups and individuals
who are working on behalf of students with disabilities and their
families to strengthen the implementation of the IDEA.
Summary
Statement
Based on its review of Congressional hearings and
briefing records, as well as Presidential Commission transcripts,
and IDEA research reports published by various Federal Government
entities, NCD identifies a number of common themes.
Monitoring and Enforcement--There
is clear agreement that significant weaknesses are present in the
current systems of monitoring and enforcement. A large number of
comments addressed the need for change to a less bulky, more timely
system focused on solid outcomes for students and more classroom
time for teachers. It is important to note that there were no calls
to eliminate federal monitoring, rather to improve it. Three themes
for solutions emerge in public opinion: 1) Professionals say there
is too much needless paperwork leaving too little teaching time.
This claim is not supported by parents who believe process is important
for implementation; 2) The question of responsibility for the paperwork
requirements--federal or state bureaucracy--gives rise to the suggestion
that clearer and more concise instructions are needed for States
to assist them in limiting paperwork to essential information; and
3) More emphasis should be placed on meaningful monitoring activities
leading to improvements in student outcomes. These issues frame
a lively public debate over how much paperwork, monitoring, and/or
enforcement is necessary for implementation of the IDEA and what
level should be responsible for them.
The new Departmental initiative for monitoring--Continuous
Improvement Monitoring--has been well received. The next "generation"
of improvements is the still evolving Focused Monitoring, which
is designed to collect data focused on specific identified problems
and solutions. Inhibitors in the current system were identified
as: insufficient enforcement; too much paperwork; too much bureaucracy;
inconsistency in federal follow-through and slow turnaround time;
long term patterns of noncompliance; too much procedure/not enough
substance at the state and federal level; big sweep--no targets
to identify and fix the real problems. All stakeholders, including
parents, should be included in the monitoring system. A lingering
question about the paperwork requirements begs for an answer: "Is
the origin of too much paperwork federal requirements or state regulations?"
There was a strong cry for simplicity and consistency across states
in data collection and the IEP process, with many recommendations
for standardized data collection and IEP formats. The IEP must be
a tool for instruction and assessment rather than paper chase, and
data must be useful to states for improvement. Systems of accountability
must include assessment and unified reporting for all students,
including students with disabilities. Alternate assessments and
individualized accommodations must be available for students who
need them.
Funding--What, if
any, changes should be considered in federal special education funding
formulas? Integrated funding, which is the utilization of IDEA funds
in general education classrooms, has been a highly controversial
and divisive issue for years, with advocates for student rights
strongly opposing earmarking any IDEA money for use outside of special
education. It was clear that administrators strongly favor such
changes in IDEA while the parents do not. A myriad of other recommendations
also surfaced--weighted or differential payments based on severity
of the disability; elimination of funding supporting segregation;
examination of costs vs. expenditures as the funding formula base;
creation of federal safety nets for cost overruns; addition of more
administrative allowances; coordination of funding with other federal
programs with IDEA responsibilities; reduction of state maintenance
of effort requirements; creation of a state match; creation of a
cap on Part B expenditures and attorneys fees; and elimination of
disability categories. Part D appropriations are insufficient to
address infrastructure needs. Increases are needed for the discretionary
programs, and there is a strong voice for indexing increases in
Part D to increases in Part B.
Discipline--While
the advocacy community has held fast to the discipline amendments
of 1997 as the right and equitable answer to the thorny question
of disciplinary treatment of students with disabilities. There appears
a strong body of evidence in the public statements that the current
system is too confusing. Some teachers and administrator's advocate
for a unified system of discipline for all students. Others are
adamant that the policy must only be "clarified and simplified."
Most seem to believe the core principals of the disciplinary policy
are important and recommend holding firm to the protections for
students so carefully crafted in 1997. There was a recurring theme
recommending equity for students and teachers and strong educational
programs for students with discipline problems. Few brought to the
table discussions about current implementation of the discipline
requirements in the Act. It is not clear if this is because there
are few instances of proper implementation, or if other issues were
considered more important.
Overrepresentation--Recommended
solutions to overrepresentation tended to cluster around a number
of themes, the most prevalent being the need for strong early intervention
programs for identification and prevention of special education
placement. Likewise, interventions in general education, with proper
testing, rigorous eligibility criteria, assessments, materials,
and high quality instruction. These lead to blended funding streams,
which is addressed again in the funding section, although this solution
is not universally supported. For successful early intervention
and general education prevention the shortage of teaching staff
is identified as a major issue and targeted for changes through
professional development, parent training and support. Finally,
appropriate data collection and manipulation is important, with
the issue of disaggregation for race and gender appearing several
times. Witnesses identified a number of family centered services
as important to overcome overrepresentation: strong prenatal and
other health care services, coordinated family services; and, culturally
appropriate technical assistance to schools. One individual recommended
cultural competencies for state certification requirements and culturally
sensitive diagnostics. There was a strong emphasis on the
need for training, especially increased training in behavior management;
culturally sensitive training for both special and general education
teachers; pre-service and in-service training; training in culturally
sensitive diagnostics and parent training; and a National Advisory
Panel to develop partnerships between universities and the community
to strengthen in-service training. Especially important to note
is the statement about the importance of strong personnel preparation
programs for university trainers due to a serious shortage of special
education expertise at the university level. And finally, increased
funding is important to secure the recommended services. Quality
research. It is similarly important to remove financial incentives
for higher numbers of special education placements. The importance
of data is a constant theme throughout and it certainly was highlighted
here as an important issue.
National
Council on Disability Recommendations for Reauthorization of IDEA
This document has revealed many recommended changes
to IDEA. Some of the recommendations resonate clearly with NCD,
others we believe would threaten the rights of students with disabilities
if they were to become law. Based on the review of testimonies and
other public statements, along with the other NCD work on IDEA policy
and implementation, including our Back
to School Report, NCD makes recommendations for the reauthorization
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. As previously
outlined, NCD's focus has been on the four areas of monitoring and
enforcement, funding, discipline and overrepresentation. Our recommendations
are for improvements in these areas as well.
1. Enforcement--NCD
heard and agrees that the focus of special education should be on
outcomes. However, we are very worried about the number of times
administrators and teachers recommended overhauls that could endanger
the very core principles of IDEA: FAPE, least restrictive environment,
IEP and due process protections. With so much importance placed
on student testing and accountability based on the results of testing,
students with challenging disabilities could well be relegated to
separate settings due to their inability to perform. It was to protect
students with disabilities from this type of discrimination that
these principles were included in the Act. It is more important
than ever that paperwork and process be in place to ensure that
the civil rights of each student with a disability are adhered to.
These issues frame a lively public debate over how much paperwork
is necessary for implementation of the IDEA and how much of the
current barrage of paperwork is "overkill" from state regulations?
NCD believes that much of the procedural pressure is created at
the state rather than the federal level. To ensure that states are
not creating regulations that challenge teaching time, NCD
recommends that the Act include instructions to the Department of
Education to more carefully review state regulations, and provide
instructions and technical assistance in instances where the state
rules include unnecessary paperwork requirements or regulations
to ensure implementation requirements that adhere to the law without
creating unnecessary paperwork.
2. Enforcement--The
Department of Education should not be the sole enforcement agency.
The Department has long-standing and collaborative relationships
with state education administrators. This is an important relationship
that is jeopardized when the Department threatens sanctions. Partial
solutions were included in the last reauthorization when enforcement
authority was also given to DOJ, but only following referral of
cases from the Department of Education. This has not worked for
there have been no referrals to DOJ since that authority was added
to the Act. NCD recommends an expansive
role for DOJ. Congress should authorize and fund the Department
of Justice to independently investigate and litigate IDEA cases,
as well as administer a federal system for handling pattern and
practice complaints filed by individuals. NCD also recommends adequate
funding for the Department of Justice and the Department of Education
enforcement, complaint-handling, and technical assistance infrastructures,
enabling the federal agencies to support improvements in state compliance
and ensure better outcomes for children
3. Standards--The
lack of national compliance standards is at the root of the enforcement
problems. NCD recommends that the Departments
of Education and Justice be directed to develop national compliance
standards, improvement measures, and enforcement sanctions that
will be triggered by specific indicators and measures indicating
a state's failure to ensure implementation of the law. Stakeholders,
including students with disabilities and parents, should be consulted
by the Departments for consistency and clarity as they develop and
implement a range of enforcement requirements.
4. Technical Assistance Networks--To
further strengthen the monitoring and enforcement activities, NCD
recognizes the need for the development of state-level technical
assistance networks, self-advocacy and monitoring training for students
and parents and other partners, as well as free and low-cost legal
services for families. To fund these Department
of Education-sponsored technical assistance programs activities,
we recommend IDEA include a formula that triggers additional funding
equal to 10 percent of every IDEA, Part B increase. The Department
of Education should ensure that this capacity building occurs across-the-board
at state and local school district levels as well, to strengthen
all accountability connections.
5. Accountability--Systems
of accountability must include assessment and unified reporting
for all students, including students with disabilities. Alternate
assessments and individualized accommodations must be available
for students who need them. NCD
recommends the reauthorization of IDEA mandate reporting for all
students with disabilities in the state accountability reports and
that the IEP be required to address the need for alternate assessments
and individualized accommodations. Schools should be carefully monitored
on this issue to ensure that students are not being moved to alternative
schools to "protect" the school from lowered scores on the school-wide
tests.
6. Funding--NCD joins
the voices of concern from individuals with disabilities, their
families, and their advocates across the country about inadequate
funding for special education. NCD recommends
Congress adopt mandatory funding in keeping with the original commitment
from the Federal Government to fund 40 percent of the per pupil
cost of special education. In this regard, NCD also recommends Congress
tie full funding of IDEA to full enforcement of IDEA, specifically,
the implementation of the recommendations listed above.
7. Discipline--The
discipline amendments of 1997 are the right and equitable answer
to the thorny question of disciplinary treatment of students with
disabilities. However, there is a strong body of evidence that the
current system is too confusing. NCD recommends
that the current discipline requirements be carefully examined and
simplified where possible, without eliminating any protections for
students with disabilities. No cessation must remain an absolute
requirement in the law.
8. Overrepresentation of Diverse
Populations in Special Education--NCD echoes the multiple
concerns expressed over the past few years about the serious problems
caused students from diverse backgrounds who are wrongly placed
in special education. We do not agree that using IDEA funds to pay
for prevention in general education is the solution. Funding authorized
in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act must remain money
set-aside exclusively for students with disabilities who are determined
in need of special education services. It must not be blended with
general education funds for any purposes. NCD believes there are
sufficient funds through Title I and other programs to general support
for prevention strategies for "at risk" students in the general
education classroom setting. NCD strongly supports
recommendations that the overrepresentation issue be tackled head
on with early intervention and prevention services in the early
years and into general education, funded through Title I and other
so designated funds. Additionally, faithful adherence to the law
for students determined eligible for services would fix these problems,
providing FAPE, LRE, supports and all the other promises of the
law.
9. Culturally Appropriate Training Materials--NCD
recommends that the law support the Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education to expand
its initiatives to serve non-English speaking groups and/or people
with limited English proficiency and create culturally appropriate
training materials.
Part
I: Where Do We Really Stand? Youth Speak Out
On May 16, 2002, NCD asked youth about their experience
with IDEA. They were asked to respond to several questions. Some
did so, others responded with a description of their personal experiences,
current or past, with the implementation of IDEA. In some cases,
the response is from the parent rather than the youth. While we
wanted this section to focus exclusively on first hand student experiences,
we chose to include the parental experiences we receive to this
request, for their responses also bring home the problems that must
be addressed in this reauthorization of the Act.
It is important to note that the questions asked of
the students were different than those found in the rest of this
document.
1. When you think about your years in school, what
comes to mind about special education and related services?
2. If your school was reluctant to provide special
education services because of financial concerns, which services
were disputed? Did you receive the services that your IEP team said
you needed?
3. If the discipline procedures under IDEA need to
be clearer, how would you change the way the discipline policy is
explained to students and their parents?
4. How important were specific factors such as cultural,
ethnic, social or language background in your being placed in special
education?
5. How could schools do a better job before students
leave high school to help you and other young people with disabilities
prepare in areas such as: Employment, Transportation, Housing, Managing
my finances, Health care, Independent living, Connecting to resources
in my community, and/or Postsecondary (college or vocational) education?
As we go to press with Where Do We Really Stand? NCD
is still receiving responses to our "Youth" questions. The document
will be updated on the NCD Web page to include the additional responses.
As with the rest of this document, the comments are edited for brevity
purposes only, preserving the presentation style and substance.
Adam, Former Student--Illinois
I have been out of school for 2 years and my years in school were
a nightmare for my family and me. I ended up not graduating because
in November of my last year in school I was in a bad traffic accident
and in the hospital for three months. During that time my school
dropped me from the roles because I was "truant" (even though they
knew where I was). By the time I could go back to school (I was
on life support for two months) my family and I decided I did not
have enough time left to get the credits I needed. One of the biggest
problems faced was that the school had problems with me having a
lot of health problems, which forced me to miss a lot of school.
When I was a senior they insisted my mom send me for exams even
though I had a very high fever. She did and I went to sleep during
the exams and was in the hospital for a month with pneumonia. I
was never a discipline problem and the supports I needed were fairly
minor but the school constantly fought my mom on everything....
I hated school and did not care if I graduated or not. On the transition
end, the only choice I was given as a work opportunity was washing
dishes in a fast food place.
Liz, Parent
How disappointing it is to have to go out of district because your
school district either cannot or won't provide services to your
child. This is esp. true for students who have low-incidence disabilities
or behavior issues. How inclusion may not be the answer, because
the reg. ed. teachers do not know how to deal with kids with disabilities,
as they don't feel like they are qualified. What is frustrating,
is when a child is sent out of district or to a special school,
while still in a preschool program and then years later, written
on the IEP forms is how the child would best be placed in that type
of program because they can't handle being in a reg. program and
a reg. program has never been tried with that child. . . . The district
was reluctant to provide services due to the nature of the disability,
so the child was sent to a different district and then to a specialized
school. Unable to provide educational services, behavioral services
for a child with vision impairments and ADHD, after many years of
problems with behavior, and a year of requesting a behavior management
plan. . . . [The clarity of the discipline procedures] Seems to
be okay. . . . Need to focus more on helping the students, esp.
those with multiple disabilities, access transportation, assist
student and/or parent how to go about accessing employment, what's
available for students with multiple disabilities, could become
acquainted with resources and criteria needed to get services. Also
finding out about funding sources has been difficult. As we're told
by the schools that ALL these different programs are available,
and then the parents get their hopes up, only to find out that funding
isn't available or that the student doesn't meet the criteria.
Jessica, Former Student, Utah
When I think of my school years and the special education law I
get frustrated because my school was anything but cooperative. There
were many teachers who didn't think I should have been considered
for that, and were unwilling to make adjustments to my workload
and how I was graded. They wouldn't work with my homebound teacher
either. I didn't really have much of anything about the special
education law explained to me, which made trying to get it to work
for me harder because we didn't know what to do. I think many of
my teachers thought I was faking being sick and really resented
me for when they would get a slap on the wrist for not following
the law. The administration and the school board didn't really do
much to make sure the teachers were doing what they were required
to do so then the teachers in a way really felt they could get away
with treating me and my family like idiots without worrying about
repercussions. Things got so bad and stressful that I was getting
sicker so I left the public school system all together and graduated
through a correspondence school. I'm okay with the choice I made,
but I still have feelings of resentment towards those who were supposed
to be on my side and help me because my situation was so different
from other students. I really felt betrayed by my school
district and I don't want others to have to go through with that.
I really think that there needs to be closer monitoring of schools
and what they are doing about the students who are relying on the
special education law. If the teachers can get away with disregarding
the law time and time again they aren't going to stop and many others
are going to feel stuck like I did and look for different ways to
get the education they deserve and need. I think there needs to
be a greater understanding of what this law will do for a student,
and someone to make sure that the parents and the student fully
understand everything about this law so that when the school is
ignoring the fact that it is a law they will know what they can
do about it
Isaac, Former Student
As to my feeling about special education, I didn't feel as if it
was necessary, because I didn't lose my sight until I was 13, and
I was main stream up to that point, and didn't feel as if I had
to slow down in order to grasp what was going on in school. I was
able to get through high school and college with being mainstream
and without family support and the desire to learn, I don't know
if I would have been able to. My idea of special education was that
it was for people who wanted to learn but never had the support
to do so, I always felt I had the support to handle mainstream and
always was willing to do anything to learn. . . . I didn't really
know what was actually available to me in high school. I take the
responsibility for that, because as a disabled person, I feel I
should know what is available to me, in order to ensure that I get
where I want to go. The things my school were usually hesitant about
was providing the support within the classroom through tutors, or
through waiver forms in dealing with what they considered being
dangerous classes. (chemistry etc.) . . . The discipline policy
of IDEA, would only be clearer, if all parents and students who
are disabled know about it in the first place. The language of IDEA
is usually full of jargon and words that are difficult to understand.
. . . So to be broken down into smaller parts should make it easier
to pass on to students. . . . I wasn't ever placed in special education,
because my family always felt I was able to handle mainstream. So
I would say my background allowed me to step up and reach the potential
of what I have. . . . I would say that the way to make sure students
learn further in this area, would be to see if the students have
interest from the beginning of their schooling. Show the benefits
of all avenues, and make sure that the students understand
that the above things would only help to further them as a person.
Whitney, Student, New Jersey
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows for very
inconsistent application of the statute to everyday student life.
Local administrators have great latitude and/or discretion in providing
or denying needed services. While the child study team at my high
school is exceptional, there have been incidences when non-special
education school administrators appear to have simply ignored the
provisions of my IEP.
Carla, Parent, Illinois
I have a son who is 16, at 4 months of age he was in an auto accident
. . . in 1992 the grand mal seizures started, so a regimen of meds,
neurologists and tests were started, the EEGs showed that all the
abnormal activities were in the areas he received the skull fractures.
But even with documentation or any info about traumatic brain injury,
its like the school doesn't really care what is going on in my son's
brain. For a long time they didn't even have TBI listed they had
him in a class that was for emotional disturbed children and ultimately
that led to a BD classroom, because he was exhibiting behaviors
that the class couldn't or wouldn't accept. I keep trying to tell
them they have to stop focusing so much on the behaviors, because
if they can, they will see a change. But its like they continue
to push him or myself to adapt to their way of thinking and they
don't even care about the frontal skull fracture and what it does
to behaviors. When I went to the IEP meeting hoping to meet the
teacher I talked to on the phone but of course she wasn't there.
. . .They could all reassure me that these teachers were the best.
Then why do I feel so bad inside, I just hate having to send my
son to this school. I did find one thing that got them to thinking,
I said I wonder what you all will do if the Corey H law is passed,
and they said that if I wanted a good IEP in August I better not
mention Corey H. . . . I am a nurse if I treated my patients this
way I wouldn't have a license or if a doctor didn't treat my son
right he could be in trouble also and also as a parent if I didn't
see that my son's needs were met I would be in trouble.
No Name Given, Former Student
I was not in special ed beyond preschool. My mother worked in special
ed. I volunteered in spec. ed classrooms. Related services, I think
of teachers and school administration constantly trying to put me
in special ed classes, especially in physical education. None of
the schools seemed to know what to do for me in physical education.
I was not allowed to be exempt from it and take another class in
its place, yet I was not physically capable enough to have everything
regular gym class slightly modified. But I was not low function
enough (physically or mentally) for special ed and adaptive p.e.
It ended up being I was placed in adaptive P.E. as a peer helper.
. . .My schools kept trying to put me in special ed classes, remedial,
and resource classes. I did require assistive and adaptive equipment
such as a laptop, special pad locks as opposed to combination locks,
etc. the laptop was the most difficult to have provided. One middle
school never even gave it to me. They used my funding to help buy
new football jerseys and kept telling me they didn't have a laptop
available for me to use. . . . For regular ed students with disabilities
no services or preparation is given to us in anything but postsecondary
education. And even that stuff I had to find out on my own. School
counselors need to do a better job in working with students with
disabilities prepare. Students are not aware at the time what to
expect. Employment, post secondary preparation, transportation,
healthcare and managing finances, and independent living are important,
and I listed them in the order of importance. Community resources
are as well, but that is something that social workers, and case
managers can help with. The other things need to be started by the
beginning of the second year in high school. My current biggest
problems in being a college student are struggling with employment,
post secondary plans, and transportation. Another thing that needs
to be addressed for students of all disabilities is health/sex education.
Mary, Student
I am a 12-year-old who has been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
(CFS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). I am
currently finishing the 6th grade and have been ill with these illnesses
for most of my life. By the 3rd grade I was unable to attend school
at all and my parents worked with the school to have me classified
as Other Health Impaired so that I could receive services under
the IDEA. The problem that they had initially was that my test scores
showed that I was at the high end of my ability, even though my
education was being severely affected by the illness. . . . In my
consideration for services academic achievement was the sole criteria
used in the evaluation for determining my eligibility for services.
It was our understanding that all of the factors must be considered
equally. Looking at our CFS specialist's evaluation, at my physical
development, and at my management needs there seemed to be other
criteria that lent itself to identifying me as a child with an "other
health impairment" that was adversely affecting my educational performance.
Eventually we were successful and I have had an IEP for the past
3 years that has offered me much help in completing my educational
requirements each year. . . . I have a home tutor provided by the
school who meets with me for 8 hours a week. I am expected to complete
the 4 main subject areas. Most of my teachers have been willing
to offer help in modifying and consolidating the workload to a manageable
level for me to complete. I heavily rely on the word processor for
writing, and on having a scribe when needed to write answers for
me as I dictate them. A calculator is a service I am allowed though
I try to only use it when I really need to. I have extended time
on tests and often do essays orally on a tape recorder. The school
has provided me with an extra set of textbooks to keep at home as
well as a set and teacher's manuals for my tutor. My teachers work
with the Special Ed. Consultant and tutor to turn units of study
into packets and projects which prove much more manageable for me
to do. I only have 3-4 hours of activity a day where I can function,
so my lessons need to really be consolidated to get the most out
of every hour I have. . . . I have been very fortunate in my school
system because once my eligibility was accepted the CSE has been
very supportive. They have been very open to our suggestions and
those of the tutor to services that may benefit me, and have stuck
by my IEP in following through with services. My parents have had
to maintain an active role and remind the school of things we needed,
such as extra textbooks, or use of a word processor, but the school
has accommodated when reminded. Individual teachers have been our
greatest allies and our worst enemies. If they try to understand
my illness and limitations they bend over backwards to help me out.
But some teachers have been totally unwilling to teach me via a
tutor. They will not grade my work and resist modifying my workload.
We have been fortunate to be able to find ways to work around these
situations.
Jo Ann, Parent, California
The questions are too wordy/complex for my son, so I will answer
on his behalf. He is an 18 yr. old high school junior with learning
disabilities, namely dyslexia (central auditory processing disorder),
inattentive ADD, rote/sequential/working memory deficits, poor executive
function/organization/time management problems and dysgraphia. The
adversarial, seek to delete, system in California nearly destroyed
my son. He was diagnosed in 1st grade and spent K-5 in private school
w/learning center to address his challenges. Unfortunately, we naively
decided to move to neighborhood public middle school. Son was placed
in gifted class with resource support (IEP). He put in a valiant
effort, 2-3 hrs. of homework every night, but ultimately failed
or received D's in core subjects. Parents placed him in a different
private school for 7th grade-specializing in LD (on our
own--only initial IEP meeting ever held during 6th grade). Made
great leaps to catch up to grade level thanks to private school.
For 8th grade son begged to return to community. Parents forced
(district policy which was never shown) to relinquish (voluntarily
exit) son from special ed as condition of obtaining in interdistrict
transfer to popular program for challenged learners across town.
. . . To implement Section 504 in high school--school district conducted
5 lengthy IEP meetings, 3 mediation conferences, filed due process
(intimidation tactic against parents), and performed 8 assessments
(to counter 3 outstanding/state expert private assessments parents
willingly arranged and paid for). Son missed nearly a month of class
days due to assessments and begin called out of class for useless
sessions with school psyche intern, fell hopelessly behind, despondent/depressed
(first ever experience in his lifetime with rejection/hopelessness/confusion
related mostly to excessive evaluations and lost school days). Son
started acting out and eventually broke his hand (rage) and left
home for 3 weeks. He felt he was a total loser, a disappointment
to everyone. . . . In spite of years of evidence of special ed,
expert reports, the IEP's were monopolized by a callous, belligerent
"Director of Student Services."
Rosemary re. David, graduating with a regular diploma
at age nineteen after 10 years
I never really understood anything in the IEP meetings. . . . Use
simple terminologies
Rosemary, re Carlos, 17 year old, EH with auditory
processing difficulty in 10th grade.
I don't know what services I was supposed to get.
No Name Given, Parent
I am responding re: my 6th grade child who has been in special education
since the beginning of second grade: The first thing that comes
to mind is that the school was not very forthcoming re: my child's
issues. We were not given the testing reports until the IEP and
the school never explained that we could have received them before
then. It would appear that the district simply tells you the minimum
if you will. We would constantly ( and we still do ) hear that your
child is fine. But outside testing and her work product suggest
otherwise. . . . District is reluctant to provide services that
they have not done so before. Sort of like it is their practice
not to so therefore they do not have to. They did not always provide
services we felt were necessary and we found that we had to pay
for them ourselves to either provide our child with what was necessary
either because the district would not provide it or because the
services offered were inadequate.
Student, prepared by Alison.
I am 6. I was kept in a resource room while my entire kindergarten
at my school graduated on Thursday, May 23, 2002. I have been told
by my teacher that she is tired of me. I want to be in the real
classroom, and my parents have worked hard to get me there 80 percent
of the day. Unfortunately that doesn't mean people will help me
and be fair to me in that "real classroom." I get very upset when
they put me in the resource room where everybody seems to be having
problems. I need to be with strong kids that can help me learn.
I am a boy with autism. My mother took the time to teach me to read
when I was four, and she just taught me addition and subtraction.
My school doesn't seem to know how to teach me. They are really
good at making me upset and making me feel sad, and bad about myself.
I don't know why they discriminate against me. I am different, but
so are many people in the United States of America. Being different
is hard when your difference is a disability. I need better laws
to protect me from people who want to discriminate and segregate.
They fill the three school systems I have already attended. I'm
sure they fill the country. Please protect me and my rights. I am
very bright and I want to go to school, with the needed help, amongst
strong children. They can help me. My parents will never forget
that the elementary school not only put me in a resource room during
my kindergarten graduation, but they also didn't inform my parents
of the celebration. This is a heart wrenching discriminatory act
against my parents, because they advocate so hard for me to have
the proper help in the proper environment. I hope the new laws will
protect all children and parents from having such events occur.
Erin, Student
I've had Type One Diabetes for nearly four years now and Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome for nearly a year also. I've had constant battles
with my school district over absences related to illness and policies
related to testing my blood sugar in the classroom. Currently it
is against district policy to do so, so I must go to the nurse's
office every time I need to. It is EXTREMELY inconvenient and disruptive
to my education as well as other's, as some days I have to leave
often. I am not in special education, but I am under an accommodations
plan. . . . I don't think the discipline procedures need to be clearer.
I think more accommodations need to be provided for Diabetics, however.
. . . I think there should be more mandatory classes on matters
such as personal finances, college prep, career sampling, etc.
Ken, Parent
Our experience with IDEA has been horrible because of what appears
to be "playing stupid" by the school board. First, because CFIDS,
MCS and Hughes Syndrome were NOT explicitly named under "Health
Other"--we were told that we did not qualify because we do not have
one of the illness that this applies to. . . . Second, absolute
refusal of the school district to do any neurological testing--although
all three conditions are know to have severe cognitive problems
(like 99+ percent of the time according to the literature). They
claim that we have seen no evidence of problems and the literature
is irrelevant, "After all, the child is **still being passed** despite
the poor attendance--you should be thankful for that "... They have
even stated that state law prevents them from doing an IEP while
attendance is an issue.... despite being presented with literature
that home-based schooling is typical for this illness, they are
maintaining an attitude that "we will address these issues, if they
exist, once she is in regular full time attendance at school and
recovered from the illness". . . . Third, the school district developed
a "temporary IEP" that address only one or two minor and trivial
items, and said that the other issues will be addressed once we
received adequate independent consultations... and after four IME
(and requests for more), they still maintain that they do not have
enough information so are refusing to address other issues. NONE
of the physicians used for IME had any clinical experience with
any of her conditions. Four, Office of Civil Rights was ignorant
of these complex medical conditions and accepted the school excuse
that they needed more IMEs. OCR also accepted no IEP being developed
for home-based schooling AFTER almost 250 days of absences in two
years was missed. The "temporary" IEP does not address home-based
schooling at all, yet the OCR deems it to be acceptable that no
IEP for home-based schooling exists despite physician's written
order to keep our child at home. This Junior High student is only
receiving instruction in Math, Reading and Writing and this is by
the whim of the district administrators with no consultation with
the parents or the child's teachers. . . . Five, the state "Home
Hospital" rules are misapplied, and they claim that is all that
they can do... these rules are for temporary illnesses and accidents
and not chronic--the onus must be put on the school to develop an
IEP after 10 school days of absence (same time criteria as for students
suspended for disciplinary issues)--unless there is a physician's
statement that it is temporary and not a chronic condition (both
conditions should be required). i.e. A "Brad-lee Bill?" for the
schools. . . . Six, although we requested our student records before
IEP meeting only part were delivered AFTER the meeting. All meetings
should have a section where the parent must indicate that they have
fully received access to all of the records and adequate time to
review it. OCR (Seattle) did not deem this failure to be of any
significance! If the parent refuses to sign this acknowledgment,
things must go to due process immediately to get these record issues
resolved promptly. Our FERPA complaint about STILL not having access
to the complete records is still unanswered (although it was sent
certified).
The IDEA law can be made much better by adding to
the "Other Illnesses"
Allison, Student, 18 years old
I have had CFIDS since the age of 15. I have been completely homebound
through the entire illness. My school system was not supportive
nor accommodating to my circumstances. I had to self teach myself
high school. The school system would NOT provide me with a skilled
homebound instructor in the subject areas I needed. I was forced
to teach myself subjects that are not intended to be self instructed.
I am pleased that I was able to graduate with my class this month,
but it was of no thanks to the school. They knew nothing about CFIDS.
We took out a 504 plan before my senior year. My parents still had
to stay on them all the time. Frankly we could have sued them for
neglect and not abiding by my 504 but we are not confrontational
people. I am lucky that I have always been a strong student and
was able to carry out the huge task they put on me. Thank you so
much for letting me share my experiences. I hope that this will
help others in the future.
Jennifer, Student, 16 years old, Ohio
Well first off I have Fibromyalgia and I have had it for a little
more than 2 years now... when I first was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia
I was in 8th grade... it was very very hard to get up in the morning
and go to school... I felt horrible every day and As soon as I got
home I would sleep... Well summer came and then the start of high
school... I went from Aug-Jan and then I had to be admitted into
the hospital and ever since then I haven't been back to school...
Right now I am on a program called homebound where they send a tutor
and my work home, it is actually very nice. When I was in school
this year it was very unhealthy I would have to get up at 5:30 and
be at school all day... I would come home eat and sleep until 9:00
get up do my homework and then back to sleep... it was no fun at
all... Being in pain all the time is not fun and when you through
school into it... its just 50 times worse...
Mary, Parent, Illinois
When I think about my daughter's years in school, I immediately
think about a waste of her time it has been. The biggest mistake
I have ever made is to listen to and rely on the so-called experts
in public schools. Her education has not been special in any way,
and it has been markedly inferior to her siblings. . . . Although
our school district would never be so stupid as to come out and
admit that they did not have money for services, they denied services,
financial concerns are always at the bottom of any decision made
concerning special education. Services recommended by our IEP team
were regularly denied. . . . Specific factors such as cultural,
ethnic, social or language background are definitely major factors
in special education. This includes students who are nonverbal and
who must rely on augmentative communication. Kids in special are
minorities and their civil rights are shamefully violated on a regular
basis. . . . If OSEP and ISBE were forced to comply with existing
laws, a better job would result in young people with disabilities
being prepared in areas such as: Employment, Transportation, Housing,
Managing my finances, Health care, Independent living, Connecting
to resources in the community, and/or Postsecondary (college or
vocational) education. Right now, it is up to the resources of the
parents to enforce the laws resulting in great burdens to all members
of the family.
Part
II: Where Do We Really Stand? From the Public
Issue 1. Monitoring
and Enforcement
How disappointing it is to have to go out of district
because your school district either cannot or won't provide services
to your child. Liz Miller, Parent
I am a nurse if I treated my patients this way
I wouldn't have a license or if a doctor didn't treat my son right
he could be in trouble also and also as a parent if I didn't see
that my son's needs were met I would be in trouble. Carla Sullivan,
Parent. The school system would NOT provide me with a skilled homebound
instructor in the subject areas I needed. I was forced to teach
myself subjects that are not intended to be self-instructed. Allison,
Student.
On February 7, 2002, NCD issued a document entitled
IDEA Reauthorization: A Working Paper. In an effort to seek
answers to key questions, NCD asked stakeholders to respond to the
following questions:
1. To what extent do existing federal monitoring and
enforcement activities support efforts to provide effective special
education and related services to improve results for children and
youth with disabilities?
2. To what extent do existing federal monitoring and
enforcement activities inhibit efforts to provide effective special
education and related services to improve results for children and
youth with disabilities?
3. What, if anything, should be changed to improve
federal IDEA monitoring and enforcement of SEAs and LEAs? What would
that/those changes look like?
4. To what extent does local capacity building need
to occur for effective monitoring and enforcement of IDEA to be
assured? How is local capacity building designed, implemented, and
achieved?
The following excerpts from public testimony answer
these questions, highlight the views of various sectors of the special
education stakeholder community, and provide insight into the complexity
of the monitoring and enforcement issues. While the statements included
in this document reveal the diversity of opinion on the issues,
it is clear that most experts in special education believe that
a strong and effective system of monitoring, which includes an effective
measure of enforcement, is an important component of IDEA implementation.
The importance of engaging all stakeholders, including parents,
in the process, is also a common theme.
But to dispel the notion that lawyers always want
to litigate, I will say that we asked ourselves what we wanted to
get out of litigation. And what we wanted was a monitoring process
that actually worked. Leslie Seid Margolies
There were many ways my school could have helped
me but they didn't, saying if they did things for me (for instance
my mom wanted me to finish my last two years at a community college
which has a good program for people with disabilities) other people
would want such things. Even though there are laws some schools
like mine find ways to get around them and make things hard for
families. Adam, Student
After 15 months, our family spent more than $22,500
on attorney fees and 3 expert evaluations. The school district is
estimated to have spent approximately $40,000. Ironically, at the
end of the 15 months, the exact 504 Plan I had originally ask for
(and the school site teamed eagerly embraced originally--until district
office intervened) was again presented and adopted, Jo Ann Behm,
Parent
I was kept in a resource room while my entire kindergarten
at my school graduated. Alex, Student
Services recommended by our IEP team were regularly
denied. Mary Dickter, Parent
Question 1: To what extent do existing federal monitoring
and enforcement activities support efforts to provide effective
special education and related services to improve results for children
and youth with disabilities?
Summary: While few answers directly applicable to
this question were identified in public testimony or other communications,
there is a clear message that the current monitoring and enforcement
activities are insufficient. Comments on the new Departmental initiative
for monitoring--Continuous Improvement Monitoring--were positive.
This concept is picked up again in Question 3 with a series of references
to Focused Monitoring. Some argue for stronger sanctions, others
argue for more targeted monitoring, some argue for both. More importantly,
as reported throughout this document, are indications of significant
implementation issues across the country which should be addressed
with effective systems of monitoring and enforcement.
Mary, Student, Response to NCD Request for Comment
from Youth, May 2002:
Most of my teachers have been willing to offer help
in modifying and consolidating the workload to a manageable level
for me to complete.
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
Monitoring in California: Our efforts have
resulted in several statewide improvements. . . .The areas where
things are going really well have a balance between procedural
guarantee and outcome. . . .It is critical that all of the components
are aligned: monitoring, technical assistance, training, the state
implementation grants, and that all of the stakeholders, and especially
our parents, are involved in each aspect of that which we do and
are clear on the alignment.
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
[Much of the change in New Jersey] is due to the
new but ever-changing monitoring system known as the Continuous
Improvement Monitoring Process. . . .It allowed for state flexibility
and has led to many changes in our state. . . .It has moved somewhat
away from the compliance model to more of a program improvement
model. . . .Another very positive aspect was the development of
successful and collaborative partnership with the critical stakeholders
in our state. . . .Because the model was such a good one for us,
not an easy one, but a good one, we completely revised our own
oversight system and monitoring system to replicate that model.
. . .But the process led to improvement in a manner that was assumed
to be very positive. The capacity-building funds enabled us to
target specific problems in specific districts.
Asked by Commissioner/Ex Officio Member Robert
Pasternack if the special monitoring conditions in NJ had helped:
". . .[The special monitoring conditions in NJ]
did help us. [They sped] us into time warp zone to make some of
the changes that we needed to make."
Question 2: To what extent do existing federal monitoring
and enforcement activities inhibit efforts to provide effective
special education and related services to improve results for children
and youth with disabilities?
Summary: Insufficient enforcement, burdensome paperwork,
inconsistent follow-through and slow turnaround on the federal level,
long term patterns of noncompliance, too much procedure/not enough
substance at the state and federal level, "big sweep"--no targets
to identify and fix the real problems. Conclusion: There were no
recommendations to cease federal monitoring, but an overload of
comments illustrated the need for change to a less bulky, more timely,
more focused system that results in solid outcomes for students
and more classroom time for teachers. The recurring theme of the
importance of including all stakeholders, including parents, found
its way into this section as well. A lingering question about the
paperwork requirements begs for an answer: "Does the common complaint
of having too much paperwork stem from federal requirements or state
regulations?" Some states have begun to recognize and address their
issues on their own, others through the help from the Federal Government,
or in some cases, the courts. Parents feel there is much more work
needed on implementation. Parents are clear that the problems lie
not in the Act itself, but in the implementation, taking us right
back to the need for a strong system of monitoring and enforcement.
The administration and the school board didn't
really do much to make sure the teachers were doing what they were
required to do, Jessica, Student
There are clear implementation problems from the
lack of enforcement--
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, DC, May 2002:
. . .Despite the evidence of noncompliance, DOEd
has made limited use of its authority to impose enforcement sanctions,
such as withholding funds. As a result, the responsibility for
enforcement has often been carried out by parents of disabled
students who have invoked formal proceedings to ensure that their
children's needs have been met.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony before House Education
and the Workforce Hearing, October 4, 2001:
The history of federal enforcement of IDEA has been
relatively weak. One reason for this is the relative small size
of the federal work force devoted to this issue, about fifty people.
Representative George Miller, IDEA Newsletter,
June 27, 2002:
Some of the same proposals to significantly alter
IDEA that were rejected in 1997 now are being raised again.
Many of these, according to experts, could potentially weaken
the legal rights of children with disabilities and their families:
cessation of services; denial of due process; elimination or severe
weakening of procedural safeguards; private school vouchers. Some
have even proposed giving states or the federal Department of
Education broad authority to waive IDEA statutory and regulatory
requirements. These proposals are being made despite the fact
that twenty-seven years after the passage of P.L. 94-142, IDEA's
civil rights protections for children with disabilities have yet
to be fully implemented. To make matters worse, Congress
had an opportunity last year to fund IDEA at the level promised
in 1975, but the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress
rejected this proposal. While children with disabilities have
made great strides in excelling within our educational system,
many issues of serious noncompliance remain. States and localities
continue to struggle with the mandate of educating special needs
children in "the least restrictive environment" appropriate to
their needs, and many other core tenets of the statute.
Carol L. Grissett and Carole H. Long, Parents,
NCD Request for Public Comment, February 24, 2002:
The primary problems appear to be (1) The blatant
refusal of states to establish and implement policies, procedures,
and programs to meet the provisions of IDEA; (2) The absence of
any enforcement by authorities at the federal, state, and local
levels results in the destruction of millions of children; (4)
it is still impossible for children with disabilities placed in
classes outside of the regular classroom to get access to the
regular curriculum; (5) The IDEA regulations are designed to take
the education decisions away from the parents of children with
disabilities.
Marca Bristo, testimony before House Government
Reform Committee, February 28, 2001:
I want to stress that while the statutory framework
of IDEA envisioned states as the primary implementers of IDEA,
over five administrations, the Federal Government has fallen short
in its efforts to ensure the protections of the law for children
with disabilities are enforced. This study [Back To School
on Civil Rights] confirmed what children with disabilities
have repeatedly told NCD, that noncompliance has persisted in
some states over many years, placing enormous burdens on children
and families
Jim Comstock-Galagan, testimony at the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
The disconcerting fact is that traditional state
education monitoring systems have repeatedly found local districts
in violation of IDEA's LRE requirement, transition, over-identification,
and the list goes on and on about substantive issues. This has
spanned numerous years, and yet they [the violations] go uncorrected.
. . .Long-term patterns of noncompliance are commonplace. . .
.Little or no attention is paid to student progress or outcomes
in monitoring. . . .Since IDEA was enacted, SEAs have almost invariably
used a cyclical monitoring system where everybody gets treated
the same. It doesn't matter what your LRE rates are, transition
rates are, you're going to get what I commonly refer to as 'the
big visit.' We've got to stop going into districts that are doing
extremely well in all kinds of areas and saying, "we're coming
for seven to ten days. We don't care how you're doing, we're going
to look at everything." That's not common sense.
Barbara Raimondo, JD, NCD Request for Comment,
May 29, 2002:
Current federal monitory and enforcement does not
support efforts to provide effective special education and related
services to improve results for children and youth who are deaf
and hard of hearing. Monitors may see little if any information
about deaf and hard of hearing children in the process and receive
little if any input from parents of these children. Information
about upcoming monitoring visits is not readily available and
often parents of children with hearing loss are not included in
the process.
Leslie Seid Margolis, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
Much of the lack of implementation of the IDEA is
attributable to inadequate monitoring and enforcement at the state
level and to a federal monitoring system that sweeps too broadly,
focuses too much on procedures and too little on substance, fails
to produce timely monitoring reports and engages in enforcement
action only rarely and inconsistently.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, DC, May 2002:
Uneven implementation of the law from one district
to another, in the absence of uniform enforcement, has the effect
of flooding "good" districts with special needs students when
surrounding schools fail.
Lilliam Rangel-Diaz, Parent and Member of National
Council on Disability, testimony before Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
The findings [of the NCD Back to School on Civil
Rights Report] were a confirmation and documentation that the
statute is strong, but implementation and enforcement are thin
and inconsistent. This study confirmed what children with disabilities
and their families have repeatedly told NCD, namely, that too
many students: (1) did not receive FAPE; (2) were inappropriately
placed in separate settings; (3) did not receive appropriate services
when served in regular classrooms; (4) had not been able to access
critical transition services and supports;(5) were not provided
with related services such as speech therapy, physical therapy,
or psychological counseling as reflected in their IEPs. And, (4)
did not receive the benefits of procedural safeguards and protections
in evaluation in some states. In addition the report told us that
students from diverse backgrounds are disproportionately represented
in separate education settings. . . . There are currently no clear
and consistent effective (positive or negative) consequences for
a state that continues substantial and persistent noncompliance.
. . .Without standards that define the limits and provide appropriate
sanctions, the incentives for corrections have not been compelling
enough to stop the cycle of noncompliance.
Barbara J. Ebenstein, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 31, 2002:
. . . The patterns of noncompliance revealed in
Back to School on Civil Rights in 2000 continue to exist in 2002,
and the burden noncompliance places on families is still tremendous.
School districts deny specific kinds of special education and
related services to entire classes of children--for example, adaptive
physical education, limitations on extended school year, psychological
counseling, outdated IEPs, and insufficient transition services.
. . . Most noncompliance is a deliberate cost-cutting
strategy. Existing federal monitoring and enforcement activities
do little to provide appropriate special education and related
services to students with disabilities. State and local agencies
know that there is no real risk of federal monitoring or enforcement.
They also know that should the Federal Government decide to monitor,
they will permit plenty of time to get into compliance with no
penalty.
Monitoring and enforcement problems start at the
top--
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
We get timelines that we have to turn around so
quickly and then we don't hear back for a long time. And by the
time we get a response back, it's not one that we can use to inform
our practice. We really need clarity about the expectations without
things changing in midstream.
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
Requests for major pieces of documentation from
the states tend to be works in progress, and the request may change
midstream.
Dialogue between Commissioner (Ex-Officio Member)
Edward Sontag, Barbara Gantwerk, Alice Parker and Martin Gould at
the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, "The Role and Function of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington,
DC, April 26, 2002:
Dr. Sontag: If the feds are not monitoring
in a timely manner, is the law going to work?
Dr. Gantwerk: I think it's typical that the
reports take a long time. . . . by the time we got the report,
we had had another monitoring visit. So the report was on a visit
prior to the one that we had and had to sort of update with another
visit.
Dr. Parker: I would respond similarly. We
get reports later than one can use them.
Dr. Gould: What may be underlying or causing
reports to be late [is that] the initial versions of the report
have analysis and facts in them that may be disputable and may
have to be withdrawn because the work done did not stand up to
scrutiny, analysis, and debate. If that continues to be an issue
with staff, then perhaps there might be some need to help those
folks in the area of data analysis and writing for those reports,
so that you don't go through unnecessary redrafts and back-and-forth.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
I think empowering OSEP to be able to produce its
own reports without a lot of other hands touching it would be
central to that effort [of solving the problem of slowness of
monitoring reports].
The issue of paperwork is frequently raised. As
reflected in these comments, there is no one position on the question
of paperwork. Administrators and teachers make a compelling case
for the need to get a break from paperwork so they can get to the
business of teaching. On the other hand, parents tend to believe
teachers and administrators are hiding behind the paperwork issue
to avoid the real and tough issues of providing quality education
for their sons and daughters.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, testimony
at the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, Houston, TX, February 26, 2002:
Even if a state was in full compliance, it still
might not guarantee improved results and outcomes for students.
. . . The reality is some of the monitoring has focused on the
wrong issue . . . it's focused on process and on compliance and
on regulation and not on outcome and results.
Dr. Martin Gould, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
I'd have to disagree that the civil rights law such
as IDEA can be reduced to process. I think that some of the basic
principles, particularly least restrictive environment is one
that I have heard and seen Commissioners talk about as a key outcome
and a result that's needed. I think there are many other instances
where in the absence of following some fundamental provisions
of the law, like looking at the individualized needs of a student,
regardless of what some folks might think of the paperwork of
an IEP, is an absolute necessity in developing accommodations.
Commissioner Adela Acosta, from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Hours spent on excessive paperwork, or its perception,
is a significant barrier to effective delivery of education services
to children with learning disabilities. Fifty-three percent of
all special education teachers report that routine duties and
paperwork interfere "to a great extent" with teaching.
Lillian Rangel-Diaz, Parent and Member of National
Council on Disability, testimony before Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
During discussion part of Senate hearing: As an
active parent advocate in my community in Florida, I am not aware
of the issue of too much paperwork for teachers. This is just
not an issue in our state.
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
This is a great law. We all agree with the goals
of this law. One of the important goals is collaboration between
families and schools, state and district, state and federal office,
and this collaboration I believe is somewhat undermined by the
incredible complexity, specificity and prescriptiveness of the
law. And instead, sometimes-adversarial relationships are created.
. . .Additionally, the law is not sufficiently focused on outcome.
. . .It is more focused on compliance. . . .I do want to make
certain that I mention that I'm very aware of the difficult task
of balancing rights and protections with flexibility and simplifying
the law. This is a difficult task.
Leslie Seid Margolis, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
Many of the problems attributed to the statute such
as too much paperwork and too many meetings are actually the result
of poor policy and practice at the state and local levels.
Chancellor Harold Levy, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
Too often teachers and other staff are diverted
from their primary task of instruction. Even the most basic change
in the student's IEP, for instance, requires teachers and other
professionals to be pulled away from their core duties and spend
significant time on largely administrative items. As a result,
an inordinate amount of special education funding is spent on
administrative compliance. This has resulted in a reduction in
the already limited amount of funding available for improving
instruction and supplementary services to students.
Dr. James Yselldyke, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
As I travel around the country, my diagnostic personnel
tell me that they engage in far too much time assessing children,
making predictions about their lives, and far too little time
making a difference in their lives, and they tell me that is because
the Federal Government makes them do that. I believe they are
lying, but you have to help them understand that they can actually
do some of these things.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
Current federal monitoring and enforcement activities
include review of documents to ensure each state's laws, regulations,
and policies are in compliance with federal regulations for the
release of Part B funds. This time-consuming and costly process
does little to improve results. In addition, OSEP monitoring of
states uses a limited number o f school districts to identify
systemic compliance issues. This system has traditionally focused
on due process and procedural compliance issues rather than on
results. We support many of the elements of the new continuous
improvement monitoring process, especially the use of a self-assessment
and a Continuous Improvement Plan that allows a state to place
much greater emphasis on student outcomes. However, we are concerned
that OSEP continues to prioritize process compliance, diverting
state resources to issues that often do not have a direct impact
on student performance.
William Dussault, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
I don't view the federal paperwork requirement as
particularly onerous. I work with school districts--I've worked
against school districts, but with them, too. And what I see from
local school districts is 40 and 50 forms and they keep telling
me, the teachers keep saying, "Well, the Federal Government requires
all these forms." And I keep going back and saying, "no, it doesn't.
Look at what your LEA is doing; look at what your SEA is doing.
In fact, that's where your form requirements are coming from."
I don't think you really have much ability to affect that paperwork
issue at the federal level unless you prohibit SEAs and LEAs from
a proliferation of paper at the local level, which is a pretty
tough stand to take. But I really see that as not a function of
the federal law, but a function of state and district responses
to it.
Mr. Steve Brown, Parent, Comments from the community
at the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, "System Administration Task Force," San Diego,
CA, April 23, 2002:
Compliance and discipline provisions are a safeguard
so that children like mine are not effectively tossed out of the
system. My son will likely not measure up to a set of standardized
outcomes on that kind of a driven system. You know, he is not
going to get a diploma. [M]y fear is that he'll become, at that
point, a write-off, really no chance to be successful in an educational
system. You discussed today the issue of paperwork as being independent
to education. The paperwork that I see for IEP goals has really
been a useful guide and not really a compliance chore. My unscientific
observation, based on my own experience as a parent, is that complaints
about paperwork and compliance issues are generally symptoms of
the underlying and more difficult problems that really need to
be addressed in special education.
Allison Brenneise, Psychologist and Parent, Comment
at the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, "System Administration Task Force," San Diego,
CA, April 23, 2002:
Paperwork is not the problem. I understand that
we don't want to see 55-page IEPs, because we have them, and we
have complete problems with getting the IEPs implemented. [W]e
really need to focus on collecting data. If the staff who are
working on the goals kept data when they were working with the
child, their reports would write themselves, they would be able
to have baselines.
Laura Gardner, Parent, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 19, 2002:
As a parent [of a son with Ausperger Syndrome, Tourettes
Syndrome, a learning disability and giftedness] when I read the
IDEA regulations, everything appears to be in place. There are
specific procedures, definitions, and Appendix A is quite clear.
. . . What I hear about cutting paperwork and implementing uniform
discipline policies is simply an outrageous attempt to give schools
yet more control . . . a way to relieve them of obligation.
Jeritza Montgomery, Special Education Teacher and
IEP Coordinator, Civil Rights Commission, Briefing on Reauthorization
of IDEA, April 12, 2002:
The main complaint is paperwork.
Dr. Kim Goodrich Ratcliffe, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
. . .The paperwork burden is fundamentally detracting
from the education of students with disabilities. . .. The tail
is wagging the dog when the focus of education is directed toward
paperwork rather than effective instructional practice. . .. Even
after extensive training, teachers find it necessary to stop and
consult with a process coordinator or director of special education
to ensure compliant paperwork.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The paperwork is firmly focused on compliance versus
the quality of instruction; did we get all the forms right; did
we get all the notices out? And very little time to really talk
about relevant instructional interventions relative to that student's
needs. . . .The majority of special educators spend a day or more
of the instructional week on paperwork . . . Eighty- three percent
spend a half to a day and a half days per week on IEP-related
meetings. It's reported that 68 percent of teachers spend less
than two hours per week on individualized instruction. And so,
significant amounts of required forms, notices, and reports consume
these blocks of teacher and administrative time.
Donna Carter, Parent, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 2002:
I am a parent of a child with special needs. The
IDEA act is wonderful on paper but it not enforced at the district
or state level. With the parenting group I have attended several
IEP meetings and have heard a variety of excuses why the IDEA
act is not enforceable. District doesn't have enough money or
teachers are untrained just to name two. There has to be some
way to enforce what is already written. It scares me to think
that teachers and district personnel already try to get out of
the paper work and implementing the goals. If they make the IDEA
act any more passive children with special needs will suffer.
Question 3: What, if anything, should be changed to
improve federal IDEA monitoring and enforcement of SEAs and LEAs?
What would that/those changes look like?
We must continue to insist on holding school districts
and States accountable for ensuring that children with disabilities
have access to early intervention services and a free appropriate
public education in the least restrictive environment. We must be
bold in our solutions, and committed to change areas that need improving,
but steadfast where the law works well. Assistant Secretary Robert
Pasternack, March 21, 2002
Summary: Monitoring and enforcement is not easily
contained as one specific issue. An effective monitoring system
involves an examination of the program as a whole: process vs. outcome-based
monitoring, IEPs, data collection, and systems of accountability.
Thus, this section is divided accordingly, with a lead-in of more
general observations. While comments reflect a clear divisiveness
between parents and systems on a number of the issues monitoring,
there is clear agreement that there are significant weaknesses in
the current systems of monitoring and enforcement. Recommendations
for improvements include who should monitor and what should be monitored;
enforcement; the relationship between the states and Federal Government,
outcomes; participation of parents, students and teachers in monitoring
activities; and, the role of general education.
General Public
Recommendations
There is a solid sense that monitoring will not
work unless accompanied by enforcement strategies, including sanctions
for states that are chronically noncompliant--
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony before House Education
and the Workforce Hearing, October 4, 2001:
Support improved monitoring and enforcement of IDEA.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, DC, May 2002
A complaint-handling process should be established
at the federal level, and state complaint systems should be monitored
by OSEP for efficiency and effectiveness. . . .The Federal Government
must ensure that state special education programs comply with
IDEA by gathering adequate data on each state's implementation
and developing national compliance standards.
DOEd should exercise its authority to sanction state
and local education agencies that repeatedly fail to comply with
IDEA by withholding allotments until compliance is achieved. To
accomplish this, DOEd must conduct regular and thorough reviews
of how states are spending federal funds. The amount of funds
withheld should be based on level of noncompliance, and sanctions
should be applied equally to all states.
Compliance is best achieved through consistent federal
enforcement bolstered by support activities performed by states.
. . .[S]tates should be given the same sanction authority as federal
enforcement agencies to ensure that local special education programs
comply with IDEA. States should scrutinize school district expenditures
and allocate or withhold funds accordingly.
Dr. Karen Scheinbaum, public comment before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
27, 2002:
I request Congressional legislation to change aspects
of IDEA to provide for equal application of IDEA across all states
and to require states like Texas, the President's home state,
to rise to the level of education offered by other states like
California, New Jersey, and Maryland.
Dr. Batya Elbaum, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The first principle is that the process should be
public and explicit. . . .District-level data on key indicators
must be made available to the public.
The formulas used to select districts for monitoring
must also be made public. . . .All data collection procedures
must be communicated in advance to the districts . . .. . .all
monitoring reports must be made public and disseminated not only
to school personnel but also to parents and other stakeholders.
Paula Goldberg, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
We recommend strengthening the state complaint procedure
by, one, requiring states to strictly comply with timelines, monitoring
and enforcing findings and corrective action plans. And we also
would like to see the complaints publicly stated as well as the
resolution.
Elizabeth Brant, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comment, April 10, 2002:
Try to find a way to federally mandate some standards
that the states must abide by when it comes to regulation of student
services.
Rebecca Walk, testimony before President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
With the new monitoring process, we write a state
improvement plan. It's a quality improvement plan. My belief is
that plan should be developed before we get our state improvement
grant because the plan is how we are trying to move forward in
providing quality services for children with disabilities. States
have to do a self-assessment. We determined in our own states
what our needs are. Where are our own specific issues? My issues
in Wyoming are different than Colorado's issues. My state improvement
plan has to be directed towards what I need to do in Wyoming.
The grant that I receive should drive that. So, the money that
I receive from the state improvement grant should drive my plan.
Richard Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment ,
May 21, 2002:
Opportunities to waive certain federal requirements
that may be barriers to creativity must be allowed when states
and school districts are able to show effective and innovative
approaches that improve results for students.
Barbara Ebenstein, NCD Request for Comment, May
31, 2002:
. . .We need to strengthen federal enforcement of
IDEA. We need the State Education Departments to take their obligation
to enforce IDEA seriously.
. . . Improved federal IDEA monitoring should include
prompt but thorough investigations of parental complaints with
federal review of state and local complaints and responses and
unannounced random spot checks of some denied parental complaints;
quick and severe penalties for deliberate noncompliance.
. . . Improved federal IDEA monitoring should include
federal monitoring of state impartial hearing office training
programs and review courses, state review offices in two tier
systems, and serious state enforcement of decisions of the impartial
hearing officers and state review officers that are not appealed.
. . .Funding of special education litigation by
state Protection and Advocacy agencies through their own attorneys
or their retention of private attorneys.
Christopher J. Dyer, NCD Request for Comment, May
31, 2002:
We the disabled do not need new laws; we do not
need more money spent on us. We need enforcement of the existing
laws. We need equal access, adequate teaching, and appropriate
accommodations so we can learn.
Marisa C. Brown, testimony before U.S. Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, June 6, 2002:
Schools must be accountable for delivering the academic
information to students that they need to fulfill post-secondary
school objectives. Our experience was that the academic program
was secondary to efforts to alter the student's disability.
Arlene Meyerson, testimony before U.S. Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, June 6, 2002:
. . .State and federal monitory and enforcement
is essential to assuring accountability with IDEA mandates. These
areas must also be enhanced so that chronic noncompliance is curtailed.
. . .For OSEP to be taken seriously in assuring
accountability, it must revise its monitoring procedures and sanctions
and enforcement must be vigorously pursued if compliance is not
reached within a reasonable time frame.
Parents
should not carry the burden of chief enforcer of the law:
Lillian Rangel-Diaz, Parent and Member of National
Council on Disability, testimony before Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
In other words, the real enforcers of the law are
parents, and as I will discuss later in my testimony, they are
not provided the tools they need to do this important work.
Kay Robles, Parent, NCD Request for Public Comment,
April 11, 2002:
Parents should not be bankrupting themselves in
order to have the current laws followed.
A Parent Named Ann, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 15, 2002:
IDEA needs to be enforced by the local school districts
and state Department of Education. Due process procedures need
to be there but only as a last resort to protect parent's and
kid's rights, not as the main enforcement tool.
Victoria H. Sheehan, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comment, April 2, 2002:
The reauthorization of IDEA should focus on . .
. closing the loopholes that have forced parents to battle in
a Kangaroo Court which most times lead to an appeal with a panel
of clueless individuals--enforcing accountability of the current
law ; and implementation corrective action procedures to coincide
with the monitoring process of the SEAs.
Sandra Dunleavy, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comment, April 21, 2002:
The only change that is desperately needed is enforcement
and accountability. . . . It should not be the parent's responsibility
to enforce IDEA and defend their child's constitutional rights.
Arlene Meyerson, testimony before Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
The more the federal and state Departments of Education
fail in their monitoring duties the more the burden falls on parents
and private litigation.
. . . but they should certainly be involved in the
monitoring process.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
I think the monitoring system should, number one,
include both parents and people who have disabilities, adults
who have disabilities, who may have gone through the special education
system, may have had a positive experience, may have had a negative
experience, but they bring reality to the situation. . . .I also
think in the monitoring system they should include local teachers.
I think increasingly we're leaving the teachers out of the equation
here, and I think that they need to be part of that.
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
We need to increase the focus on ensuring that parents
receive notice of substantial and substantive action so that they
know what's going to happen when they come to meetings, whether
it's a new IEP, whether it's a placement issue, whether it's eligibility
and that they have the right of refusal. They need to know that
the have a right to participate in those decisions and to disagree
with something substantive in the action, and they need to know
how and be able to act on their rights.
Dr. Batya Elbaum, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The process should involve parents and other stakeholders
in all phases of monitoring, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
It is especially important for parents to be members of these
teams.
Some feel that the Department of Education cannot
and should not do the job alone.
Nancy Diehl, Parent, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Nashville, TN, April 18, 2002:
[Enforcement] needs to move outside the Department
of Education. . . .It's really hard for the Department of Ed to
provide all the technical assistance and support to school systems
and then have to turn around after they've gained their trust
and to slap them on the hand.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, DC, May 2002:
The Commission supports NCD's recommendation that
DOEd and the Department of Justice be directed to develop national
compliance standards, improvement measures, and enforcement sanctions
that will be triggered by specific indicators. . . .Students,
parents, and teachers should be consulted in the development of
standards.
Carol L. Grissett and Carole H. Long, Parents,
NCD Request for Public Comment, February 24, 2002:
If something cannot be done at this time, the U.S.
Justice Department needs to get involved.
Arlene Meyerson, testimony before Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
We propose the adoption of a provision modeled on
the 1984 Civil Rights Act, which allowed parents to complain directly
to the Attorney General in desegregation cases. This remedy exists
side-by-side with the Department of Education's Title VI jurisdiction
over desegregation cases. Likewise, parents of disabled children
should have the ability to file systemic complaints directly with
the Attorney General, who is empowered to bring a lawsuit to remedy
the violation.
Marca Bristo, testimony before House Government
Operations Committee, February 28, 2001:
Currently, the U.S. Department of Education (DOED)
has neither the authority nor the resources to investigate and
resolve individual complaints alleging noncompliance. The Department
does consult with and share enforcement authority with the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ). DOJ has no independent litigation
authority. We found that, between the date it was given explicit
referral authority in 1997 and the date this report was published,
DOEd had not sent a single case to DOJ for "substantial noncompliance,"
and had articulated no objective criteria for defining that important
term. In turn, the Department of Justice, whose role has been
largely limited to participation as an amicus in IDEA litigation,
does not appear to have a process for determining which cases
to litigate. Congress [should] authorize and fund the Department
of Justice to independently investigate and litigate IDEA cases,
as well as administer a federal system for handling pattern and
practice complaints filed by individuals.
Advocates for the most disenfranchised spoke out
. . . While these comments do not make specific recommendations
about monitoring and enforcement, the absence of services for them
points to the need for change.
Kay Lambert, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
I'm a personal proponent of outcome and focus- based
monitoring . . . But if that's the direction you choose to go,
you must require measurable quantitative outcomes for all children.
What I want to talk about today in my brief time is to ask your
recognition of what I consider to be the most vulnerable children
in the system, and those are the children with significant disabilities
who live in institutional settings such as intermediate care facilities
for the mentally retarded, nursing homes, a variety of care and
treatment centers, and unfortunately, in Texas, state schools
for the mentally retarded. These are the children who always get
left behind. If you are able to design a system that does not
leave them behind, it should serve everybody well. Many of these
children who are school-aged receive their educational services
at the facility. LRE is not even discussed, much less seriously
considered. The physical space in which they receive their programming
is often a patient bedroom. They have inadequate teaching materials,
minimum staff, and few real educational opportunities. Why does
this happen? In part it's because the arrangement best suits both
parties. School districts often don't want these children because
they are expensive to serve, and their parents do not pay taxes
in that district. The facility is often understaffed and would
just as soon not have to get children up, dressed, and ready to
catch a bus first thing in the morning. The people who lose are
the children. In Texas, our Charter School Law allows those facilities
to apply for charter school status. If granted, the school district
does not even have any responsibility for these children, and
a new child can be admitted to the facility without even having
notified the local school district. The children who do get to
go into the local district for services tend to be segregated,
not just with other special ed kids, but often with other children
from the same facility in a separate classroom or a portable building
that has been put on the grounds of a school campus. I believe,
there are no outcomes, there is no accountability, and there is
very little going on in terms of meaningful instruction. This
system continues in part because these children typically have
no one that represents in the process. Surrogate parent requirements
are not being followed. If the children have surrogates at all,
they are likely to be one person who has been appointed to represent
every child at the facility and does not even know the individual
child.
Randi Turner, Advocate, public comment from hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, Texas, February 27, 2002:
I know a 14-year-old girl just outside of Fort Worth
that has to write her questions on a piece of paper and hand them
to her interpreter so they can be read to the teacher because
the interpreter is not qualified. The IDEA does not have a definition
for what a qualified interpreter is. The Americans with Disabilities
Act does. I would like to see the IDEA amended and take on that
definition. At least it would be a start. And require schools
as well as the State Education Agency to ensure that those are
the types of interpreters that are used, someone that can interpret
expressively and receptively, using any necessary vocabulary for
that specific situation, and be able to not just move their hands
in the air, but also read what the child says.
Dixie Jordan, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The Bureau schools, even those that are on tribal
land, must be subjected to the laws of the United States of America.
. . .A single process should be in place where state agencies
monitor BIA schools. . . .At the very least, there has to be an
intergovernmental agreement between the Bureau and each state
Department of Education so that the Bureau schools have the same
benefit from . . . the monitoring system of the future, which
they do not now have access to.
Wendy Snider, Parent, NCD Request for Public Comment,
February 14, 2002:
Districts evade accountability by identifying children
as learning disabled. They negate the unique need if unable to
provide an appropriate education based on a specific type of learning
disability. Dyslexia is included in this category; however schools
evade identifying it as a specific learning disability. Various
learning disabilities exist and should not be lumped together
in one category of Learning Disabled. Add Dyslexia as a separate
category of eligibility.
Barbara Raimondo, NCD Request for Comment, May
29, 2002:
[For students who are deaf and hard of hearing]
the purpose of monitoring and enforcement instruments must be
to promote systematic changes designed to define and eliminate
weaknesses in the educational system in order to promote educational
success for deaf and hard of hearing students on par with hearing
peers. . . . Language and communication access could be measured
by evaluating [specific] criteria [related to language and communication
needs of the students]; benchmarks must be put in place for the
accountability measure; the third part of the accountability measure
would be a requirement for school action where students are not
achieving at appropriate levels.
Sarah Webster, NCD Request for Comment, May 28,
2002:
Children in foster care suffer a range of assaults
on their well-being. Those children in foster care who are also
in special education because of their significant academic and
emotional needs are an especially vulnerable subgroup of this
population. We understand IDEA is committed to meeting the needs
of under served and diverse populations. However, IDEA makes minimal
reference to students with disabilities who are also in foster
care. The problems of mobility, insufficient cross training within
the social service and education systems, and the lack of advocacy
that plague most foster children are especially acute for foster
children in special education.
. . .PRS believes that children in foster care and
recipients of special education services have unique education
needs and that these needs should be enhanced in IDEA
. . .because children in foster care experience
many changes in care givers and school districts, school records
are often lost or their transfer significantly delayed. IDEA should
address the need for immediate access for schools to relevant
educational data on foster children with disabilities. This could
be accomplished through a statewide electronic database.
And other specific recommendations--
Rebecca Walk, comment from the hearing before the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Professional
Development Task Force," Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
The SIG [State Improvement Grant] and improvement
plan must be connected to monitoring, and it is not in all states.
Dr. Philip Burke, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
OSEP should be reorganized with the creation of
major divisions for research, personnel preparation, and leadership,
state assistance, and monitoring.
Process/Outcomes
Summary: Three common themes regarding the process
and subsequent outcomes are again evident in public hearings: 1)
Professionals make recommendations for reduction in paperwork and
process; 2) The question of responsibility for the paperwork requirements--federal
or state bureaucracy--gives rise to the possibility that clearer
and more concise instructions are needed in order for the States
to limit paperwork to include only the most essential information;
and (3) More emphasis should be on meaningful monitoring activities
leading to improvements in student outcomes. Recommendations for
systemic simplification such as standardized forms for reporting
also appeared regularly in the comments. Again, these issues frame
a lively public debate over how much paperwork is actually necessary
for implementation of the IDEA and whether it is the process itself
or the implementation of the process that causes the problems.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
. . .The requirement that each state annually submit
to OSEP documents that demonstrate compliance with each federal
regulation is a cumbersome, time-consuming and costly activity
that has little impact on the provision of services and improved
results. This requirement should be repealed.
. . .The statute needs to consolidate the process
accountability measurements in the planning and reporting requirements
for both SEAs and LEAs.
. . . The complex and technical issues included
in the basic constructs of the current statute have compelled
federal, state, and local education agencies to focus on the technical
and procedural aspects of the law, to the detriment of efforts
to improve results for students. The monitoring and oversight
of program delivery from both the federal and state levels should
focus on the mechanisms for improving student outcomes.
Randi Turner, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
The other point I wanted to talk about was the procedural
requirements. I have seen a push that Congress reduce the procedural
requirements in IDEA for school districts. This is one of the
few ways that parents have to ensure or to follow up to track
to see if schools are doing what they should be doing. I would
like to ask that that not happen, that the requirements stay as
they are. I know it's a lot of paperwork. It's probably also a
lot of paperwork for the Immigration and Naturalization Services,
the IRS, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, but
we would never ask them to reduce their procedural requirements.
Congress would most likely laugh at us. So I ask that you do the
same thing and leave those requirements in place for school districts.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
. . . It is our job to maintain the protections
of IDEA while solving our dilemma with paperwork.
. . .A local education agency can be in total compliance
with every procedural step and still not guarantee positive educational
outcomes for its students. That is why it is so important to continue
to strengthen our focus on outcomes.
Katherine Beh Neas, testimony from the hearing
on "Rethinking Special Education: How to Reform the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act," before the Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 2, 2002:
The CCD Education Task Force understands policymakers
are committed to increasing educational outcomes for students
with disabilities served by IDEA. We welcome that goal. In reauthorizing
IDEA, the Task Force urges policymakers to analyze carefully each
issue of concern to determine whether the concern results from
a problem with the current statute or a problem of inappropriate,
ineffective or incomplete implementation of the current statute.
Such an analysis should guide policymakers in determining whether
changes are required to enhance implementation of current law
or whether requirements of the statute need to be changed.
William Dussault, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Procedural compliance is what we have been monitoring
for the past 25 years. Litigation is a bottom-up accountability
system. It is an accountability system that is oriented specifically
to an individual case; it tests the system from the bottom of
the system up, rather than from the top of the system down. We
need both. I think it must be a combination of both a process
and an outcome monitoring.
Dr. Sally Arthur, from the hearing on "State and
Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal Barriers
to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee
on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
8, 2002:
Insist on a system that is focused on quality of
instruction rather than compliance and process. Remove the constant
threat of litigation over procedural compliance and focus it rather
on accountability.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, DC, May 2002:
State education officials should
be charged with developing plans that lead to the desired outcomes.
The IDEA is unique in that it is at the same time a state grant
program and civil rights statute, requiring a balance between
the flexibility necessary in the former with the uniform requirements
of the latter. Federal standards of sufficiency are needed, but
at the same time states should have the discretion to meet the
unique needs of their districts and enforce compliance locally.
The Commission finds that compliance with civil rights statutes
such as IDEA requires proper implementation, not just adherence
to procedural requirements. In other words, outcomes are as important
as the process by which they are achieved.
Dr. Batya Elbaum, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"System Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Monitoring should focus on the extent to which
students with disabilities are achieving important outcomes. Monitoring
activities should be designed to investigate those areas of performance
and compliance that bear the strongest relation to important outcomes
so as to inform the design of interventions aimed at improving
these outcomes.
Commissioner Adela Acosta, from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"System Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Policy makers and regulatory authorities must
look for new ways to reduce paperwork so that teachers can focus
on the most important task at hand, teaching children.
Bill Freund, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Federal regulations requiring paperwork should
be eased if it is determined that sufficient procedural safeguards
exist. And I happen, by the way, to like quite a bit of the paperwork.
There have been studies on paperwork in our state--in fact, several--and,
in reviewing those, I considered them a roadmap for school districts
to keep out of trouble, for one thing. But maybe something can
be simplified.
Gene Lenz, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
. . .IDEA must focus educator time, attention,
and effort on what matters most. . . student results. . . . IDEA
must be simplified and complexity eliminated. . . .If the current
process and procedural requirements remain intact, then serious
consideration must be given to limited state waiver authority,--for
the purpose of implementing innovative practices at the local
level when the community can all agree on what that would take.
Lawrence Gloeckler, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
Monitoring and oversight at the state and
federal level has to be allowed to focus on improving outcomes
rather than just devoting extensive time on every process requirement,
significant or not. . . .There's lots of room for consolidation
of process. It's not about giving up rights. It should never be
about giving up rights; those are fundamental. But the processes
built around some of those benefits have become impediments. Some
things have to be moved out of the way, because we only have
enough time and resources to do what's important, and therefore
we have to put in place what's important.
Dialogue between Dr. Joyce Bales and Commissioner
Steve Bartlett, hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence
on Special Education, Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
Commissioner Bartlett: You may be the first superintendent
in the history of--since 1975 not to complain about paperwork.
And I am curious to know about that. Do you not have excess paperwork
you want to complain about or are you trying to figure it out?
Dr. Bales: Actually, we have a business model,
whereas the performance, the principal they received from performance
pay depending on 65 percent of student achievement, and that also
includes making sure IEPs are written and followed, and we look
at those each quarter to be sure they're done correctly and accurately.
IEPs are time-consuming, but it's in the best interests of children,
and if I were making a blanket statement, I would say every child
needs an education plan.
Dr. Douglas H. Gill, remarks from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 26, 2002:
Suggest development of federal forms as opposed
to each of the states and locals, buildings, districts, et cetera
developing their own set of forms. . . .which causes a cumulative
effect on paperwork over time. . . . clarify exactly what the
requirements in an IEP procedure, et cetera are so that we know
so that when kids transfer from one district to the other we've
got consistent information. . . . there's some commonality so
that the IEP is in fact an instruction document.
Beth Foley, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
. . .Redirect the resources and efforts of the Department
of Education and OSEP to provide states with support to improve
student outcomes rather than focusing on the processes by which
students are identified and served.
. . .Allow state waivers that provide flexibility
in the design and implementation of programs. Focus federal monitoring
and evaluation activities on improving student and system outcomes
and program quality.
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
Please clarify the purposes of IDEA. Clarify that
the overall purposes of IDEA are both protection of rights and
improving outcomes. We need to increase emphasis on educational
issues and access to effective instruction. We need to decrease
procedural prescription. The procedural prescription that talks
about timelines have the same weight and value as improving outcomes,
we need to look at what our balance is, what are our goals, what
are the benchmarks of what is acceptable and move to that. We
need to support OSEP to get on with their results-oriented oversight
process and research-informed technical assistance. If rights
protection is simplified and we're looking at more substantial
issues, OSEP will have more opportunity to work on outcomes, and
the outcomes focus should be on ensuring that states use
information on every child to guide and evaluate the effectiveness.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The goal of reducing paperwork in special education
must be coupled with improving student performance and achievement
for all students, particularly those with disabilities. If we
do a better job on the front end, students won't need so much
help afterwards. Special ed and general ed are inextricably linked
and any meaningful reduction in paperwork cannot occur without
looking at both systems and how one breeds the other. Reduce the
paperwork in special education by reducing the over-reliance on
special education for differentiated instruction; increasing the
presence of high-quality differentiated instruction in general
education for high- incidence of mild disability referrals. .
. .Leverage existing, new, and emerging technology towards increased
web-based automation of routine processes, procedures, and clerical
tasks. And then standardizing forms and data-collection procedures
nationally.
David W. Peterson, Superintendent, Northern Suburban
Special Education District, Highland Park, IL, NCD Request for Public
Comment, April 5, 2002:
Revise IDEA requirements so that local school districts
are accountable for student achievement, LRE goals and other meaningful
outcome measures. Minimize the process-oriented requirements and
simplify the paperwork.
Dr. Maggie McLaughlin, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"System Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
We need an unambiguous, reliable measure of individual
progress which should replace the paperwork compliance as our
accountability tool. The legal concerns should not be about satisfying
a checklist of services or procedures, but what has the child
learned and has the child made adequate yearly progress toward
those measurable outcomes. And finally, I think that--and this
is, of course, connected to this--we must provide opportunities
for local school districts, or local schools within school districts,
to begin to highlight different approaches to designing and documenting
FAPE.
Donnalee Ammons, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Three P's of poor performing pupils: Policy, Procedure,
and Paper. These need to be replaced with some new P-words: Progress,
Performance, and Product. And the product that we're looking for
is successful outcomes for students. . . . We care about what
happens to children, we measure success by the success of the
students. If they're scoring well in high-stakes testing, if they're
in regular classes and meeting with success, then the fact that
a regular teacher didn't sign the IEP or that the LRE justification
isn't written very well or maybe a box wasn't checked quite right,
well, that isn't so important when what you see is that the outcomes
for students are happening and those outcomes are right.
Commissioner Christopher Edley, Jr. remarks during
U.S. Civil Rights Commission Briefing: The Promise and Practice
of IDEA, Washington, DC, April 12, 2002:
What we want over a period of time to get to the
best ideas the research can tell us. . . .Figuring out an enforcement
track that's keyed to results, to your progress, to some outcome
measure about whether you're doing the job you're supposed to
be doing, as opposed to relying exclusively on procedural due
process kinds of strategies or paperwork kinds of strategies and
looks instead at the back of the pipeline to see what's going
on.
If paperwork is indeed the problem, it is imperative
that the source of the problem surface and be fixed at the level
that it exists--
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
But I think it's important to recognize that paperwork
just doesn't come from the Federal Government. And one of the
things we realized when we looked at paperwork was that a significant
amount in both of these states, close to half of the paperwork
that was required by providers in the field were required by states
and local school districts that were beyond what was required
under IDEA. So I think this issue needs to be addressed, but it
needs to be addressed in the spirit of partnership.
Dr. Martin Gould, testifying before U.S. Civil
Rights Commission Hearing on the Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington,
DC, April 12, 2002:
Congress may or may not need to look at the states'
own regulations that they have to write to implement a federal
special education law. In some instances, states have written
themselves into a corner.
Bill Freund, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
In Washington State, school districts and teachers
complain constantly to the legislature about the burden of Special
Education regulations and paperwork requirements. And the claim
is that substantial portions of a teacher's day are spent doing
paperwork. And, upon investigation, it turns out that most of
the complaints concern federal requirements, changing roles of
service providers, inclusion and building-based management. And,
if possible, simplification of federal requirements without affecting
. . .safeguards could improve the disposition of teachers and
might increase teaching time per day. . . .There may be some opportunities
for you to assess your requirements and maybe you can let go of
some of the ones that are not all that important.
David Gordon, Testimony before the Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
The sad fact is that our current monitoring system
has a voracious appetite for procedural minutiae and little or
no interest in the real bottom line--whether or not students are
achieving or accomplishing as a result of the programs we offer.
When asked by Senator Chris Dodd about the genesis
of the paperwork, whether the requirements are primarily from
the state or federal requirements Mr. Gordon replied: ". . . requirements
may result from over caution by the states." He added that in
his state this could be true, explaining that when one District
was found out of compliance, the "state ramps up extra requirements
for everyone."
Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
Summary: The IEP should be a "tool of instruction
rather than a paper chase" a standardized, manageable document
that provides a true blueprint for and documentation of progress.
No one suggested that the IEP be abandoned--rather the tendency
was towards standardizing the form so that there would be consistency
across states. Once again, whether the required paperwork is a result
of state or federal requirements seems to be an issue of debate,
but there is no debate about the need to make this a workable, user-friendly
document. The process must be made to be more user friendly for
the parents as well, with one recommendation to hold fast to due
process protections for the IEP and to oppose mandatory mediation
as too dangerous for students and their families. Some feel that
the fix is an abandonment of the short-term goals, while others
weigh in strongly in support of the short term goals as a means
of checking in with student progress during the year.
Dr. Kim Goodrich Ratcliffe, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
We need to flexibility to change IEPs during the
time span covered by the IEP without sending legal notices of
a meeting, without convening the full committee or rewriting the
entire IEP document. . . . limit the requirement for a comprehensive
IEP meeting to once annually.
Bob Vaadeland, testimony before Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
In Minnesota we are piloting Facilitated IEPs, where
a state trained independent facilitator actually facilitates the
IEP meeting. We think this could be a huge step in reducing adversarial
situations.
Arlene Meyerson, testimony before Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
There is an asymmetry to the IEP conference that
arises not only because the parents and professionals speak different
languages and view the world through different lenses, but also
because their status at the conference table is fundamentally
different. . . . one party enters the discussion with control
over resources while the other has only needs and rights. ..,.
The negotiating process for the parent is, therefore, a matter
of attempting to bargain for resources by citing needs--a frustrating
and sometimes humiliating process. . . . Any proposal to dilute
even further the parents' ability to utilize due process procedures
should be resoundingly rejected.
. . .Some believe the solution is the increased
use of mediation, even mandatory mediation. While seemingly benign,
these proposals threaten to entrench the power imbalance to the
detriment of disabled children . . . Given the power imbalances
between the two parties, there is high potential for a 'compromise'
that does not adhere to the statutes requirements for FAPE and
LRE. . . . mediation could make it easier for districts to win
concessions that would be harder to achieve through a formal hearing.
It is for these reasons that proposals to mandate mediation are
not benign.
Ken Lassesen, Parent, Response to NCD Request for
Youth Comment, May 29, 2002:
There is a major implementation loophole, if a powerful
administrator takes an attitude against a child with disabilities,
the entire IEP committee can be persuaded (for the sake of contract
renewals...etc.) to conform to this opinion. It is recommended
that: a) Roll-call votes (For/Against/Abstain) be done of all
decisions b) that no more than 50 percent of the votes be assigned
to employees of the school district c) that the child's MD's,
independent psychologist, etc. comprised 50 percent of the committee
votes. . . .The right to tape-record all IEP should be written
into law. Denial of information and false claims appear to be
rampant issues and this would allow this issue to be 'cleaned
up'.
Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, testimony from hearing before
the President's Committee on Excellence in Special Education, Denver,
CO, March 6, 2002:
I would like to replace the language for using IEPs
and using things like expected performance task outcomes. What
do you really want Amanda to be able to do? And how is she going
to demonstrate that knowledge? A better statement for little Amanda
might be she will demonstrate oral fluency by reading 80 to 90
words per minute of grade-appropriate text materials. That is
going to deal with the issue of what is probably causing Amanda's
problem to begin with.
Gregory Lock, testimony from the hearing on "Rethinking
Special Education: How to Reform the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee
on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
2, 2002:
Standardize sections of the IEP to reduce the time
spent reviewing and rewriting the document. . . .Provide for the
use of technology to automate the written components of the IEP
process. . . .When possible, tie the IEP goals to the annual assessments
now required . . . eliminating the short-term objectives that
impose a heavy time requirement on the teacher to include in the
IEP.
William Dussault, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Being an unabashed fan of the current IEP requirements,
I look at an IEP requirement that says I am supposed to have a
baseline of data, current levels of performance on how Abe's functioning.
I'm supposed to know where he is today. My suggestion is, you
already have the tool that allows you to measure outcomes. You've
determined the outcome by setting the goal; it's a valued item,
"I want Abe to be able to do 'X'. I know where he is on 'X' now
because I'm required to have a current level of performance; I
know where he's supposed to be in three months, six months, nine
months, and 12 months and I can measure it through objective criterion."
If you simply use what there is now and implement it without anything
further, implement what's there now, I don't have a case. And
I'll tell my parent that.
Paula Goldberg, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
We strongly support keeping the short-term objective
to help parents and teachers know where the student is progressing.
We strongly support keeping the annual IEP as a tool for learning
with outcome. It is the heart of IDEA. We recommend that OSEP
develop a model that includes outcomes.
Chancellor Harold Levy, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
[The IEP should] address four basic questions: Where
is your child now -- where is the student now? Where should the
student be?; How are we going to plan to get that student there?;
and How are we going to evaluate and measure whether, in fact,
the student gets there?
Dixie Jordan, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The other part that really works is the IEP process.
People complain about its length and the amount of trees that
have to die in order to write down the service continuum for children;
and, indeed, I agree that there are probably ways that the IEP
document can be shortened so that the requirements are clear to
both state agencies and local education agencies, that the federal
requirements for educating children through the IEP process do
not demand a 19- or 25-page IEP, they demand that we write legitimate
goals for that child's progress, measurable objectives in order
to evaluate whether progress is being made, a fairly small group
of people.
Dr. Susan Hasazi, testimony before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Nashville, TN, March
2002:
. . .Implement effective practices and develop policy
for more closely linking the IEP and transition plans. IDEA currently
requires, quote, a statement of transition service needs for all
students with disabilities at age 14. Then at age 16, quote, a
statement of needed transition services. The definition of transition
services assumes an interdisciplinary, inter-agency, and community
focus that requires leaders who are willing and able to look beyond
the school campus and involve the community at large. In this
regard, I would hope that OSEP continues to fund personnel preparation
grants and leadership that include both general and special education
administrators and relevant human services leaders who can collaborate
with colleagues both within and external to the school.
. . . Support the development of strategies for
enhancing parent participation in the transition-planning process.
Parents often lack the needed information regarding the purpose
and processes associated with transition planning including knowledge
related to community agencies and resources. Relatively simple
strategies such as providing information on the IEP transition
process prior to meetings, maintaining open and frequent communication
among parents, school, and agency personnel and formally acknowledging
the critical role that parents and students play in the transition
process can help build more-trusting relationships between parents
and teachers.
. . .Support the development of strategies for enhancing
parent participation in the transition-planning process. Parents
often lack the needed information regarding the purpose and processes
associated with transition planning including knowledge related
to community agencies and resources.
Ron Benner, Psychologist, public comment from the
community at the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence
in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification Task Force,"
Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
I would suggest that the government give us the
individual education programs forms they want filled out, make
it uniform across all states.
Sheila Buckley, public comment before the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
Change the behavior plan into an inclusion plan,
and make it for all students requiring like a 20 percent or more
self-contained classroom have an inclusion plan for them. Instead
of addressing the child acting out, change it to what strengths
does the child have that can contribute to their success in the
classroom. . . . really make the functional assessment a requirement
instead of just something that they need to do if they really,
really have to or the parents sue us.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Streamline the IEP process away from one-size-fits-all
without impeding students' and parent rights. For some students,
you don't need the 19 pages, if you're looking at some quality
reading instruction. Allowing flexibility in the scope, nature,
and timing of requirements in IEP reviews relative to the need
and based on results. . . . I'm not sure that a one-size-fits-all
is really helpful. Some students do need five, six, seven, eight,
people that are in IEP and regular reviews. In fact, I would argue
I know some kids who need to be reviewed at least every six weeks.
But there are others that maybe don't need that and so, allowing
for that flexibility would help to address part of this paperwork
burden that people are feeling.
Dr. Richard Schoonover, testimony from the
hearing on "State and Local Level Special Education Programs that
Work and Federal Barriers to Innovation," before the Subcommittee
on Education Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S.
House of Representatives, May 8, 2002:
Rethink the Individualized Education Program (IEP)
process to emphasize that it is primarily an instructional process,
not a compliance process. If necessary, create a compliance process
and document separate from the IEP.
Lynn Fuchs, testimony before President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, Nashville, TN, March 2002:
It's, therefore, critical to supplement general
education tests with an accountability system that provides a
more proximal and sensitive framework for indexing learning. In
fact, a second approach to accountability already exists in the
IEP process. But for years IEPs have been based on a mastery measurement
framework which creates onerous paperwork while failing to provide
a basis for quantifying outcomes. Most agree that the IEP system
requires revamping. We argue that CBM (curriculum-based measurement)
should become an important part of a revamped IEP process.
Wendy Snider, Parent, NCD Request for Public Comment,
February 14, 2002:
Parent input is denied and not documented. If parent
input is denied and not documented, parents should be able to
conclude the District is unable to provide FAPE . . . and use
this as a procedural violation.
Vernon M. Arrell, NCD Request for Public Comment,
June 2002:
To better prepare students with disabilities for
life after high school, Transition Planning Services as stated
in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA section
300.347), should focus on strengthening links between high school
and real world experiences for students receiving special education
services. . . .
Measurable goals and objectives to strengthen links
should include educational and community activities that promote
the following:
- Decision making
- Self-advocacy
- Community-based employment opportunities
- Age-appropriate instructional setting
- Curriculum and instructional designs that focus
on real world and practical application of academic principles
- Education and Information about state and community
programs and resources
- Recreational and civic activities to foster community
integration and involvement
Data
Summary--The issue of uniformity emerges as a common
theme, especially in data collection, to ensure comparability across
all states. Recommendations are for data that is useful to states
for improvement purposes; it must be accurate and replicable; it
must be outcome-based and meaningful to individual students; it
must be aligned across local, state and national lines and it must
also be in alignment with data from the No Child Left Behind Act.
A minority opinion - comparisons of data should remain in state,
that is, state data should only be compared to other instate data
to measure and improve state programs rather than compared across
states.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
. . .More money should be allocated for IDEA research,
including the development of a single uniform data collection
effort nationwide.
Commissioner W. Alan Coulter, remark during the
hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, "The Role and Function of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington,
DC, April 26, 2002:
I was struck by your comment that, if I heard this
correctly, that OSEP permits different definitions as data are
reported? There was no good answer to this - the states want not
to be compared to incomparable states.
Alice Parker - I don't want to be compared
to them. I want to be compared to California over time. Are we
making progress in that area?
Barbara Gantwerk - I think the issue is,
what are the data used for? If they're going to use it to compare
states to states and then identify problem states, then the data
have to be comparable.
Sheila Buckley, public comment before the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
Report suspensions and expulsions of students with
IEPs, as well as the graduation rates because a lot of these kids
end up in prison when they don't get services.
Donnalee Ammons, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
I would think that many states would continue to
look at exiting with a standard diploma in performance on the
high-stakes testing is a factor in assessing systems.
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
We need to reconceptualize data collection and analysis.
In order to support increased emphasis on outcomes, data collection
needs to focus less on standardized testing from states for the
purposes of cross-state comparisons because we have different
standards. We need to have national ideas of where you want the
states to move and measure for that. We need to focus more on
making data useful to states, and states need to do it, conversely,
making it useful for districts in guiding and assessing the effectiveness
of their own improvement efforts.
Dr. Batya Elbaum, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
The process should utilize rigorous research methods.
Multiple data sources and data-gathering methods should be used.
It should be possible to trace all data back to their sources
so that the accuracy of the data can be verified. The data-gathering
process must be described in great enough detail so that it can
be replicated. This means that it would be possible, in principle,
to have a different team of monitors apply the same procedures
to a comparable sample of individuals, schools, and classrooms
in the district. The process should be feasible. No state can
investigate every valued outcome of a free appropriate public
education and, even if the focus is on a single outcome, no monitoring
system can apply every conceivable data-gathering method to the
investigation of that outcome.
. . .There is a component to the overall monitoring
system, which is what we call the "random component" really big
outcome variables, high school graduation, completion, exit with
a standard diploma, participation with regular education students,
and those are relevant and exceedingly important to post-school
outcomes for a large percentage of students in the system. However,
I would like to acknowledge that there are students who--for whom
the most important outcomes are not captured in the ones that
I've just mentioned. So, for our more severely involved students,
there may be other outcomes that need to be looked at that are
not captured in those very large outcome indicators. And those
need to be looked at, as well. Some of my research is on social
outcomes for students with disabilities, I look at the issues
of self-concept and friendship and social adjustment. And, thus
far, we have not developed state-level or national-level indicators
of progress in those areas; and I think that's something we should
be looking at, as well.
. . .State educational agencies should work collaboratively
with stakeholders to develop a common understanding of how data
can and should be used to inform the monitoring process. My next
recommendation is that SEAs should use multiple sources of data
and multiple data-collection methods so as to make the findings
of monitoring visits as robust as possible. . . .SEAs should make
all data and data-gathering procedures public and explicit; they
should also streamline data collection and compilation procedures
so that high-quality reports can be produced within several weeks
of a monitoring visit.
. . .SEAs should have their monitoring activities
reviewed and evaluated by an external evaluator to assess the
extent of stakeholder involvement, the consistency of implementation
of established monitoring procedures, the reliability of the data
collected, the extent to which the findings are supported by the
data, and finally, the usefulness of the monitoring report in
terms of providing guidance for future action.
Barbara J. Ebenstein, NCD Request for Comment,
May 31, 2002:
If the Federal Government really wants to monitor
outcomes, it would have to require SEAs and LEAs to monitory high
school graduates with disabilities. How many graduate with a regular
high school diploma? How may are employed immediately following
high school?
Missy Steed, public comment from hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
I strongly suggest that the Commission look at the
inclusive education setting data of the secondary schools taken
out of the elementary setting to see what those numbers really
are in the State of Texas. The biggest benefits of the last reauthorization
of IDEA is the statement of students' rights to have access to
general curriculum, the strengthening of parental roles, the addition
of regular education teachers on the IEP team, and the requirement
for the team to consider assistive technology. The educational
services and opportunities that a student with disabilities receives
should not depend on the knowledge of a student's parents or the
Zip Code that a parent or student lives in.
A Parent Named Ann, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 14, 2002:
I would like to see reported somewhere . . . the
case load of the service providers, number of paraprofessionals
and mental health personnel.
Daniel Reschly, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
We urge combining the OCR and the OSEP data collection
procedures... To make sure that happens, to make sure that we
get the right information with the least amount of intrusion on
the schools as we possibly can.
Cathy Healy, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Washington, DC, April 30, 2002:
Develop a national data collection and tracking
system to determine which children in foster care are served under
IDEA and what their outcomes are.
Dr. Susan Hasazi, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Nashville,
TN, April 18, 2002:
School districts [need] to conduct follow up studies
to determine what has happened to these young people in terms
of employment, independent living, connections with their communities,
and so on. It needs to be used for program improvement.
Rick Tisch, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, Houston, TX, February 27, 2002:
Schools must be held accountable for student outcomes.
Accountability ratings of schools should include the percentage
of student goals reached as set out in the student's transition
plan. The assessment should report on student status within four
years of leaving school either through graduation, dropping out,
or aging out of the school system.
Jim Comstock-Galagan, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
If we're going to monitor--and we do need to monitor--they
need to be able to generate data that determines whether local
education agencies are providing a free appropriate public education,
and they need to generate data and information that will support
technical assistance, training, and if necessary enforcement activities
directed towards obtaining compliance on real issues. [e.g.],
Fundamental to 95 percent of all parents in this country is the
issue of LRE. And the reason it is fundamental is because we know
what happens to kids when they end up in pull-out programs.
Daniel Losen, New Research on Special Education
and Minority Students with Implications for Federal Education Policy
and Enforcement, Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, Part Two:
Discriminatory Practices in Education, Chapter 18:
Perhaps the best way to measure whether quality
has improved is by using graduation rates for accountability purposes
under the IDEA along with test scores reported by race and disability
under Title 1.
Beth Foley, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, Houston, TX, February 27, 2002:
And to the extent practical, establish systems of
accountability and performance standards based on common data
elements and definitions and collected in common formats.
Accountability
Summary: The first statement in this section--that
of Sally Arthur sums up the bulk of the responses in this section:
"Accountability systems should include special education students--both
in assessments and accountability." The law now requires that all
students be tested, but according to public comments, most schools
appear to be stopping there, with few results from special education
students finding their way into the accountability reports. Recommendations
are for reports that include the assessment results for all students;
individualized accommodations and/or alternate assessments, as needed
for individual students; and consistency in reporting across all
states to ensure comparability.
Dr. Sally Arthur, testimony from the hearing on
"State and Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and
Federal Barriers to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 8, 2002:
Accountability systems should include special education
students. High stakes assessment, however, is not the only quality
indicator of our nation's schools. Students should not be penalized
for the lack of ability to perform on a standardized test. True
quality alternative pathways ensuring graduation for our students
with disabilities need to be made. Millions of student futures
are at risk. Build a system with encouragement to remain in school,
not punishment for disability, poor instruction, or unforgiving
environments.
Dr. Thomas Parrish, remarks from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
If we can figure out the accountability part, a
lot of the rest of it would kind of fall by the wayside. And so
that would be one recommendation, in my view, is we've got to
figure that part out. So I would say the second has got to be--the
first one is accountability and maybe the second one is accountability,
in my view, in terms of thinking about what we really mean about
accountability.
Dr. Bennett Ross, public comment, hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Finance
Task Force, Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
And I think accountability is a wonderful thing
but I think we need to be very careful when we talk about accountability.
For the kids with learning disabilities, you want to look at outcomes,
you want to look at how these kids are doing; but you don't want
to really be looking at whether or not they are passing the high
school exit exam, you want to look at whether or not they are
functioning as adults in the community. You want to look at what
are the attributes that predict success that lead to that. And
so I think we need to be very careful when we set up guidelines
and accountability standards that those standards are in keeping
with what it is that we really want to achieve.
Dr. Patrick Wolf, testimony from the hearing on
"Rethinking Special Education: How to Reform the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act," before the Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 2, 2002:
Greater customer choice is likely to enhance accountability
in special education. The power of parents to move their disabled
child out of a program that is failing and into a more promising
alternative would likely improve the educational results for that
child and motivate more teachers and administrators to achieve
positive results for their students with disabilities. . . .By
using the metric of student-specific educational gains instead
of an arbitrary standard of attainment to evaluate special education
students, the system would automatically control for a number
of pre-existing conditions that are particular to each student.
The use of gain scores also minimizes the incentives for classifying
a non-disabled student as disabled, since they measure individual
progress instead of lowering the achievement bar.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, testimony
before Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions,
March 21, 2002:
The inclusion of children with disabilities in these
assessment programs does not necessarily mean that these children
are part of accountability systems that are designed to ensure
improved results. . . . We must build on the accountability provisions
enacted in NCLBA to ensure that States and local school districts
are accountable for results and that students with disabilities
are included in rigorous assessments of student performance.
. . .We need to do more to provide research and
technical assistance on alternate assessments and appropriate
accommodations for children who need them. . . . we need to push
for assessment tools that are created using universal design concepts
that can significantly reduce the need for alternate assessments.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, remarks
at the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, Houston, TX, February 26, 2002:
Students with disabilities have to participate in
state and district mandates tests. It [the law] does not talk
about students with disabilities participating in the accountability
system... Consider looking at changing the statutory language
so that we in fact insist on students with disabilities having
to participate in the accountability systems.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Hearing, March 21, 2002:
While state standards measured by achievement tests
have great value, it is important that these tests are kept in
balance with other key outcome indicators. Along with achievement
scores, these outcomes include: graduation rates, dropout rates,
numbers of disciplinary referrals, rates of employment following
graduation, rates of enrollment in postsecondary education programs,
and parent and student satisfaction.
Jean Palochino, public comment at the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
We need guidelines with targeted behaviors and skills
for holding a job, living independently, and participating in
society, and examples of models that get results. As a component
of any accountability recommendation, I urge you to include provisions
that address this important issue.
Barbara Raimondo, NCD Request for Comment, May
29, 2002:
The following principles must be followed when considering
the use of assessments and accountability to raise student achievement:
- Deaf and hard of hearing children should have
an equitable opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills
and abilities;
- Appropriate and individualized programming and
assessment for deaf and hard of hearing children are needed;
- Individual accommodations and modifications in
administration are needed;
- Attention must be paid to the child as a whole;
and,
- Assessments should be performed for the purpose
of identifying and correcting weaknesses in the educational
system, not for high stakes decisions.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
Accountability measures and performance outcomes
must be established for school districts and states to ensure
that students with disabilities have access to early intervention
services and free appropriate education in the least restrictive
environment, as required by the law. Such measures must also include
accountability for achievement and ongoing progress assessments
of students with disabilities.
Gene Lenz, testimony from the hearing before the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
IDEA must require, consistent with No Child Left
Behind Act, the establishment of a rigorous, all-inclusive accountability
system that is focused on student performance and program effectiveness
measures. Characteristics of the system must include: [1] Measures
of student performance and program effectiveness that include
the establishment of yearly stretch targets or goals across subgroups
of students. That is, you must disaggregate by race and ethnicity
and limited English proficiency and poverty. [2] Full disclosure
and reporting of state, district, and campus results to the public
so that everyone can make an informed choice, also disaggregated
across student groups. [3] Sanctions and interventions in states,
districts, and campuses when stretch targets and goals are not
met. [4] Continuous sanctions and interventions until such time
that the state, district, campus begin to show progress toward
those goals. [5] And then, ultimately it needs to tie into what's
happening in the state as a whole, and that is a report the state,
district, campus results to state, local boards, legislators,
governors, Congress, et cetera as it relates to meeting those
stretch goals and targets.
Lawrence Gloeckler, from the hearing before the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
Every student has to be included in the accountability
system. Accountability must be on key performance indicators.
If you measure everything, you measure nothing. Measure what is
really important. . . . All students must be included in all systems
of accountability for student results. . . .Accountability must
focus on key performance indicators. . . .Data must be collected
on key performance indicators and disseminated widely in plain
language to stakeholders and the public at large.
Dr. Lizanne DeStefano, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Accountability Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
It is time for the Federal Government to begin to
endorse basic principles that underlie effective accountability
systems and to promote the adoption of those principles through
its entitlement and discretional programs. . . .Provide guidance
for and monitor the quality of state accountability systems. .
. .All students with disabilities are included in the assessment
system, LEAs and SEAs should report the number of students who
are not included and the reasons for exclusion. . . .Decisions
about disabilities are included when students' scores are publicly
reported in the same frequency and format as other students, whether
they participate with or without accommodation or an alternate
assessment. . . .The assessment performance of students with disabilities
has the same impact on the final accountability index as the performance
of other students, regardless of how the students participate
in the assessment system. . . .There is improvement of both the
assessment system and accountability system over time through
the process of formal monitoring, ongoing evaluation and systematic
training in the context of emerging research and best practice.
NAEP should be improved using principles of universal design,
[and developed] as an exemplar of a universally designed assessment.
. . .Promote the use of technology to enable educators, parents
and policy makers to ferret out the connections between student
outcomes and education processes and plan for change.
Dr. Martha Thurlow, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Accountability Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
Require states to include all students with disabilities
in accountability systems regardless of the way in which they
participate in the assessment system. . . .Alternate assessments,
when they've been carefully developed can serve the same function
for driving improvements in instruction for students with significant
disabilities. . . .Allow those alternate assessments to evolve
through the typical assessment development process. I think that
there are many states now that have really followed that process,
so that they think very carefully about what the standards are,
that they go through a process of scoring portfolios if that's
the approach that they use, that they do standard setting in the
same manner that standards are set for regular assessments, that
in those cases of thoughtful processes resulted in an alternate
assessment that truly does identify standards for students with
the most significant and complex disabilities and that can assess
whether students are proficient or not. . . .Limit the array of
alternate assessments so that states do not shuttle students into
non-standards-based assessments. Off the shelf individualized
assessments is an avenue for an alternate assessment that I worry
about.
Dr. Gerald Tindal, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Accountability
Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
Need to be thinking about links between the classroom
assessments and the large-scale assessments. . . . there should
be [common] guiding principals that provide the blueprint for
state assessments . . . some very specific pinpoints that would
help states leverage appropriate assessments, whether they be
of the functional living skills of the academic skills. . . .We
need alternate forms or an alternate assessment system . . .linked
to state testing and/or standards. . . .On state report cards:
it is very critical that the public be uniformly reported to and
that we don't have different systems.
Alice Parker, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
We need to ensure that all children are included
in the accountability system. We need to require that state general
education data systems ensure that the entire population of students
served in special ed can be identified for purposes of accountability
and governance. And we need to acknowledge that some children
have very different learning needs and different ways are needed
to assess them.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Allow for the substitute of norm-referenced assessments
with quality criterion-referenced, standards-based performance
assessments emerging in regular education reforms.
GAO Report, "Title 1: Education Needs to Monitor
States' Scoring of Assessments," April 1, 2002:
Only 17 states are in compliance with ESEA requirement
to establish curriculum content and performance standards, assessments
aligned with content standards and accountability system to assess
programs in raising student achievement. Thirty-five states are
not in compliance, and one of the issues reported was failure
to take steps to ensure that students with disabilities are accommodated
in the systems of accountability. Forty-one states reported that
had taken such steps but there was no assurance the guidelines
are followed. According to the NCLBA, states that are not in compliance
by 2004 face withholding of funds. States report hiring contractors
to score the tests, but most do not monitor the work of the contractors.
GAO recommends that Education include monitoring of state actions
regarding contractors and scoring provisions in state compliance.
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
It would be helpful to have assistance and direction
as to how to do this in an educationally appropriate way, and
in a way that will be acceptable to all the monitors that are
going to come in from the various programs and tell us if we've
done it right. We'd like to have that before, understanding that
states will do things differently. . . .So, I think it's critical
to have clear directions from OSEP.
Dr. Thomas Parrish, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Finance Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
The current accountability system is misguided.
There are at least three kinds of accountability, fiscal, procedural,
and results. All three are important and need to continue in one
form or another. But the first two are only important in relation
to the third.
Focused and Targeted Monitoring
Summary--How are we really doing in educating students
with disabilities in our classrooms? There was a repeated message
that the traditional monitoring system has been more about filling
out forms than collecting data that reflects the effectiveness of
the system and how well individuals are doing in that system. The
focus should be on those areas that are problematic, rather than
a broad sweep, with monitoring and technical assistance activities
targeted to solutions. The message is not "toss out monitoring,"
rather, make it a meaningful activity that will benefit students,
teachers and administrators.
Leslie Seid Margolis, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
The problems with federal monitoring have been persistent
enough and pervasive enough that a few years ago a number of advocates
from protection and advocacy agencies and national disability
and education groups joined together to determine a course of
action that would result in meaningful change. It's this process
and the resulting work with OSEP to develop a focused monitoring
system that I would like to talk about today. . . .We have identified
possible OSEP interventions ranging from technical assistance
to sanctions, along with a system for how the determination of
what level of OSEP intervention would take place. . . .To enable
the promise of the IDEA to be fulfilled by true implementation
of its requirements, OSEP has to put that last piece of the monitoring
system in place and use its enforcement authority in accord with
the provisions of the system we have laid out or in accord with
another system that's subjective and that people understand clearly.
. . .I urge the task force to recommend the adoption by OSEP of
the focus monitoring system that includes a database examination
of priorities and enforcement to ensure implementation of those
priorities.
Dr. Batya Elbaum, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
A monitoring system needs to focus its investigations
on those districts where outcomes are poorest and, within districts,
the state's investigations need to focus on areas of performance
and compliance that are highly-prophesized to have the strongest
relation to the outcome under study.
Lawrence Gloeckler, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
. . .We must be allowed . . .to target our resources
and our energy where the problem exists, and not continue to treat
everything as if it's a systemic statewide problem.
. . .We look at our monitoring not by cyclical checklists
of regulations. Our monitoring is about looking at the data, what
we think is important, achievement, classification, dropout [rates].
. . .And then, we have others that need focused
reviews, where LRE has been a problem forever and ever and hasn't
gotten resolved; where achievement has been a problem and hasn't
gotten resolved; where dropouts are a problem and hasn't gotten
resolved. Rather than looking and trying to fix everything all
at once, let's deal with the critical issues and move on from
there.
Jim Comstock-Galagan, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
. . .The historic monitoring systems in this country
have been process based and haven't really looked at progress
and outcomes for students. It's time to move from process forms
of monitoring to what I consider to be real substantive focused
monitoring on issues that count, and that is student progress
and outcomes. Districts know that, once the state Department leaves,
they're not coming back for five to seven years. That's . . .a
free pass. Focused monitoring says we look at data every year.
We track every district's data on key indicators every year. And
where you're doing great, we compliment, commend you, we triumph
your successes, we give you publicity. And where you're not doing
well, we may be in your district every year for five years. But
it's fundamentally about how are districts performing, and let's
recognize where districts need help, and let's recognize where
districts can help others. . . .We believe in what's known as
a focused monitoring system, where you focus your resources:.
. . first . . .information and data analysis and use . . .monitoring
efforts should be focused based upon data . . .second should be
what's called validation visits . . .incorporate . . .validating
people's data just so there's no fudging . . .Third, focused compliance
monitoring. . . .And then, enforcement. I think there should be
graduated sanctions. I would never propose terminating some administrator's
certification as a matter of first recourse. I would suggest it
as a matter of last resort, however, and that it is a matter that
is in the course of graduated enforcement options. But enforcement
cannot be in a vacuum.
Brian McNulty, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Accountability
Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
I am a big fan of focused monitoring--we need to
look at our data to tell us how well we're doing. . . .I would
supplement focused monitoring with some random selection . . .just
so every state knows they're in that mix, and some cyclical monitoring,
meaning over a five-year period of time so that all states would
be chosen at some period of time. . . .National assessment raises
red flags for people.
Bill East public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April
26, 2002:
Speed up the transition of the focused monitoring
system that was described to you this morning by Leslie Margolis.
Dr. Donnalee Ammons, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"System Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
In focused monitoring, . . .everyone knows what
the problem is; that's why the system is in focus. The role of
the focus monitoring team is to try to find the systemic issues
that are causing the focus results. It's then up to the state
Department of Education to assist the-- help the system develop
a corrective action plan that is measurable, doable, and designed
to bring about change. In Louisiana, the focus indicators are:
Percent of students exiting with a standard or regular high school
diploma; Percent of students served in regular setting; Percent
of students passing the Language Arts portion of the fourth grade
state-wise assessment. In the focus monitoring visit, the visit
is based on hypotheses as to why the focus issue is occurring.
The hypotheses are developed by reviewing a variety of data, including
statistical comparisons of data on disabled and non-disabled students
in the system, within the region of the state. What we want to
look at is, are those regulations being implemented on a day-to-day
basis. Most of all, the teams determine if the programming for
students is carried out so as to reasonably confer educational
benefit. If the IEP is seen as a map to a destination, then it
should be well used.
Dialogue between Dr . Donnalee Ammons, Commissioner
Cheryl Rei Takemoto and Dr. Batya Elbaum Commissioner Takemoto:
One concern--that low incidence kids will be left out of focused
monitoring: Is there a way that you could marry some of the ideas
about accountability for individual students with this more targeted
monitoring system?
Dr. Ammons: When we go in on a focused monitoring
visit, we are still looking at compliance issues, but compliance
from the standpoint of how that focus indicator keyed us into
it. If we see that services are not being provided in a setting--or
in a system for certain students, then we begin to look at, are
they not providing services that are meaningful for all students.
Dr. Elbaum: One is to have a component of
the random monitoring be specifically targeted to certain groups.
Question 4: To what extent does local capacity building
need to occur for effective monitoring and enforcement of IDEA to
be assured? How is local capacity building designed, implemented,
and achieved?
Summary--Infrastructure and indicators, both recommendations
for a stronger capacity to monitor the progress or a local system.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
for the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
When states do not have adequate infrastructures
for implementing IDEA, achieving compliance is difficult. Therefore,
federal enforcement efforts should help states establish infrastructures
and specific requirements for compliance. Working in collaboration,
the Federal Government and states should develop timelines for
building the infrastructure needed to conform to the established
guidelines. Local teachers should have a clear role in the monitoring
system and the development of compliance standards. Finally, OSEP
should provide more technical assistance to states struggling
with compliance and identify best practice models for replication.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
Strong leadership, staff development, and resources
are the foundation of local capacity building. To build local
capacity, effective research-based practices must be identified
and states must have the resources to promote the replication
of such practices and provide technical assistance to parents,
school district personnel, and special education programs. IDEA
needs to enhance federal and state resources to support local
capacity building. (See Funding question 3#)
Issue
2. Funding
They used my funding to help buy new football jerseys
and kept telling me they didn't have a laptop available for me to
use. Anonymous Student Comment
A common theme of full funding has been resonating
across the country for some time.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack testimony
before Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions,
March 21, 2002:
The Federal Government should honor its commitment
to fund 40 percent of the cost for programs and services mandated
by IDEA. However--without basic revisions to key provisions of
IDEA, our efforts to better serve all students will continue to
be severely hampered.
Kimberly Ann Brusatori, Parent, public comment
from hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, Houston, TX, February 27, 2002:
The fact that a school district is faced with funding
shortfalls and has to deliver special education to so many with
so few dollars is, Governor and fellow Committee members, in my
opinion where your and my trouble lies. It's not in IDEA as it's
written, but in the lack of full funding that Congress has determined
over the last 28 years not to do. How can anyone expect something
to work if the money is not given that is necessary in order for
it to succeed? You and I both know that it can't and it won't.
I ask this Commission to do the only thing that will make IDEA
work as it was initially meant to, fund it to at least the 40
percent that was recently approved.
Dr. Kim Goodrich Ratcliffe, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
It is imperative that the IDEA is fully funded.
Bob Vaadeland, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
. . . there should be an increase in federal support
to meet the mandates of the federal law.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
I cannot overstate the need for increased federal
funding for the IDEA.
Dr. John Lawrence, testimony at the hearing on "Special
Education Finance at the Federal, State and Local Levels," before
the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education and
the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, April 18, 2002:
Bring the federal share to 40 percent as soon as
possible. We think that means six years of $2.45 billion dollar
increases. This would bring the federal share to an estimated
$3,650 in FY 2008.
Dr. Sally Arthur, from the hearing on "State and
Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal Barriers
to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee
on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
8, 2002:
Full funding of IDEA would benefit all students
by providing relief from local budgets stretched thin by skyrocketing
costs.
Dr. Richard Schoonover, testimony from the hearing
on "State and Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and
Federal Barriers to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 8, 2002:
We would encourage the full funding of IDEA.
Dennis Dykstra, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Accountability Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
Integral to any dialogue on accountability systems
is a discussion on adequate funding for special education services.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations for
the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
IDEA should be fully funded immediately.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony before House Education
and the Workforce Hearing, October 4, 2001:
Fully fund IDEA.
David W. Peterson, NCD Request for Public Comment,
April 5, 2002:
IDEA must be fully funded at the 40 percent level.
Elizabeth Brant, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comment, April 10, 2002:
Fully funding IDEA may help provide states with
the ability to hire more people to provide services. But in truth,
as long as regulations stay the same, the states do not feel it
necessary to change the way services are provided.
Beth Foley, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
To address the significant increases in the cost
of providing a free and appropriate public education, we need
to get up to the 40 percent for IDEA for Part B programs, as well
as including Section 619, the preschool and including Part C,
early intervention and Part D, discretionary programs.
Dr. John Lawrence, testimony at the hearing on
"Special Education Finance at the Federal, State and Local Levels,"
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, April 18, 2002:
Bring the federal share to 40 percent as soon as
possible.
Tom DiPaioli, public comment from hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
We favor the proposals to have the full 40 percent
of excess cost funding reinstated or to be instated.
Barbara J. Ebenstein, NCD Request for Comment,
May 31, 2002:
Congress must fund 40 percent of special education
as promised so long ago. The lack of sufficient federal IDEA funds
generates resentment and discrimination against children with
disabilities in their public schools. Any new funding must be
linked to state/local school districts' compliance with and enforcement
of IDEA statutory requirements. Anything else will continue to
fuel noncompliance.
If full funding is to be accomplished, Congress
must decide if it is to be mandatory or subject to the annual appropriation
process. Two comments weigh in against mandatory funding. This position
is countered by the amendment sponsored by Senators Harkin and Hagel
last year in the No Child Left Behind legislation establishing mandatory
full funding.
Chairman John Boehner, House Committee on Education
and the Workforce Fact Sheet, Fact Sheet, "IDEA Must Be Fully Funded,
But First It Must Be Fixed," April 6, 2000:
Making IDEA a mandatory spending program will make
it very difficult to enact much needed reforms to its current
structure. Once the program is mandatory, any changes to the program
must be scored. If these changes cost money, then an offset must
be found to pay for the changes. Offsets are typically difficult
to find. . . . If . . .costs are much higher than twice the costs
of education for non-disabled students . . . the Federal Government
is locked into funding the program at 40 percent of the national
average per pupil expenditure, . . . revising it is extremely
difficult [and] . . . could prevent IDEA from receiving substantial
funding increases.
Lisa Graham Keegan, Education Leaders Council;
William J. Bennett, Empower America; Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas
B. Fordham Foundation:
Nor do we believe making the federal contribution
an entitlement would make the program itself any more accountable
or effective. . . .We need to be able to monitor its effectiveness
through the appropriations process (among other accountability
mechanisms), rather than allowing it to automatically continue
to sop up funds.
Question 1. What, if any, changes should be considered
in federal special education funding formulas?
I realize that school systems don't have enough
money. However, I can't imagine how much money is wasted on districts
trying to somehow defend their failure to comply with the law rather
than just providing the service. A Parent Named Ann, May 14, 2002
Summary: Integrated funding, that is, the utilization
of IDEA funds in general education classrooms, has been an issue
for years, with advocates for student rights strongly opposing earmarking
any IDEA money for use outside of special education. It was clear
that administrators strongly favor such changes in IDEA from the
strength of their recommendation, but this position was not reinforced
by parents and other advocates. A myriad of other recommendations
also surfaced--weighted or differential payments based on severity
of the disability; elimination of funding supporting segregation;
examination of costs versus expenditures as the funding formula
base; creation of federal safety nets for cost overruns; addition
of more administrative allowances; coordination of funding with
other federal programs with IDEA responsibilities; reduction of
state maintenance of effort requirements; creation of a state match;
creation of a cap on Part B expenditures and attorneys fees; and
elimination of disability categories.
Dr. Irving Lebovics, public comment before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Finance Committee
Task Force, Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Our parents have realized that, if they enroll their
child in a private school, there are no services available and,
therefore, have opted not to go for IEPs; there was no reason
to do that. Therefore, we find that we have significantly under
counted under this formula. And, going back to the old or the
way I--summations of total students in public versus private,
or some other child-find method that properly identifies the children
. . . Some other formula which would equitably give that proportion
of federal funds to the private school student would be in order.
Differential funding was examined to create a safety
net for states and localities and/or to cover extra costs of students
with severe disabilities--
Paul Goldfinger, testimony from the hearing on
"Special Education Finance at the Federal, State, and Local Levels"
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, April 18, 2002:
Might there be some caps imposed on special education?
One form of a cap would be on total costs: for example, a cap
that would limit a district's obligation in terms of total costs
for special education programs to some percentage--say, 15 percent
of a school district's budget. . . . Alternatively, a cap could
be placed on the annual cost of services for one pupil. Yet another
approach would be a federal extraordinary cost pool. As an example
of how this would work, suppose that $40,000 is determined to
be a very high cost of a particular disability. If a placement
costs more than that, federal aid would pay for 50 percent (or
some other percentage) of the costs in excess. . . . One of the
things that I think is very important is to recompute the 40 percent
level. The original . . . was a study from around 1970 that identified
that the cost for the average special education pupil was about
100 percent more than for a general education pupil. . . .there
is a need for greater flexibility in spending those new dollars
with the local revenue.
Dialogue between Commissioner Jay Chambers and
Bill Freund, from the hearing before the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance Task Force," Los Angeles,
CA, March 21, 2002:
Dr. Chambers: From a funding perspective,
. . . what should the federal role [be] in funding Special Education,
or IDEA? How would we structure that?
Mr. Freund: Well, it occurred to me that
you're facing a large problem if you're trying to figure how to
lay out federal funds and you're trying to use a 40-percent number;
what do you base . . . your reimbursement rate on? Can you come
up with cost or expenditures? I think that, ultimately, you end
up having to use expenditures. . . . The problem is that I don't
think that you know what excess [expenditures] are, because not
all state accounting systems are the same. And that is why I said
to use some sort of a national average because, otherwise, . .
. suppose . . . somebody is giving you a full cost number as opposed
to an excess cost number; if you're using costs then you are rewarding
the state that gave you that kind of number for allocation purposes.
I think, in the end, you have to do the kind of thing that we
do when we do budgets, which is to generalize, hang your hat on
something, and then, in our case, we established the Safety Net
so that in case that it doesn't work properly for everybody, there
is a safety valve.
Dialogue between Deputy Executive Director Troy
Justesen and Bill Freund, at the hearing before the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Finance Task Force,
Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Mr. Justesen: Do you believe . . . it should
be the role of the Federal Government to have a safety net, then
. . . for kids with the most severe disabilities?
Mr. Freund: I don't think that it's an absolute
necessity. In our state, we do have a federally-funded Safety
Net for high-cost students. I think that you could make provision
for that for states, you know, within your federal funds allocation;
I just suggest that that's what they do.
Dr. John Lawrence, testimony before House Subcommittee
on Education Reform, Washington, DC, April 18, 2002:
The issues of high cost, low incidence disabilities
needs to be addressed, by either creating a separate funding stream
or dedicating a portion of the state 25 percent set aside to the
high cost, low incidence students. . . .
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
A federal safety net should be established to help
states with small populations and school districts faced with
children who require significant resources. . . .Adequate resources
must be provided for state and federal monitoring and enforcement
programs, including increased funding for the Department of Education's
(DOED) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
Dr. Julie Berry Cullen, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
We start by recognizing there really are two programs
within special education. There's one part of the program, which
addresses severely disabled students that are not subject to these
same sorts of moral hazard. There's the second program . . . where
moral hazard is really important. What that implies from a funding
perspective [is that] one system of reimbursement is probably
not appropriate for both of these programs. . . .I think it is
reasonable policy to fully fund [the severely disabled program]
either at federal or state level in order to insure localities
against the risk of having high costs for extremely disabled students.
. . .The reason is that moral hazard is not a big issue on the
classification side, [and] these students will be identified in
the same way regardless of where they live, so it reflects differences
in incidences of disability regardless of location. . . For the
mildly disabled, fully funding is not an appropriate option because
moral hazard is so important in terms of classification. So there,
if we knew a great deal about costs, knew a great deal about appropriate
interventions, then we might be able to implement a system like
a pupil weighting system that basis the ability of a district
receives on the diagnosis of a student , but I think we probably
aren't there label wise. . . .The danger which I highlighted before
with prospective payment systems is we worry it may return us
to a system where students are not receiving adequate services,
and so what I would recommend, if you move towards prospective
payment to combine it with some system of accountability.
Dialogue between Dr.Eric Hasushek and Assistant
Secretary Pasternack at the hearing before the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
. . . Dr. Hasushek: . . .What I'm advocating
on the high-cost side is that the Federal Government could actually
pay for some of -- whatever mode it chooses for various kinds
of high-cost disabilities, wherever they reside and they would
go to the individual school districts. And it's not based upon
any particular number proportion or anything like that; it's based
upon . . . paying off when the high-risk event happens.. .
.Dr. Pasternack: I think there are a lot of people in the
country who would agree that it doesn't cost the same to educate
all kids with disabilities, yet we have a federal finance system
that provides the same amount of money for all kids with disabilities,
so I think your comments are particularly timely. Who are severe?
Those disabilities that are evident, which no one would debate
whether a disability exists or doesn't exist and that may evolve
with assessment, with knowledge, with medical practice, but those
cases where there would be no debate about whether a student was
disabled or not would be the cases that I would count as being
objective, and not subject to the same level of moral hazard.
Barbara Ebenstein, NCD Request for Comment, May
31, 2002:
Congress should permit states to offer financial
incentives to schools that develop day and residential special
education programs for children with complex disabilities and
for severely emotionally disturbed children who display high-risk
behaviors.
A Parent Named Ann, May 14, 2002, NCD Request for
Public Comment, May 14, 2002:
I would like to see reported somewhere is how much
districts spend on special education--not in general terms, but
itemize by service. For example, costs of occupational therapy,
speech, etc. with administrative costs and fees paid to lawyers
as well.
Administrators strongly recommend flexibility to
use special education funding in the general education classroom;
advocates are of a different opinion--
Steve Johnson, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Allowing us to use some of the federal funds for
some early-intervention type programs is important. In summary,
provide more money from the federal and/or state level to relieve
the local burden.
Marca Bristo, Chair, National Council on Disability,
testimony before House Government Reform Committee, February 28,
2002:
NCD also has deep concerns regarding proposals pertaining
to (1) private school voucher plans and/or charter school options;
and (2) increased flexibility for states in relation to federal
IDEA requirements. Such proposals have the potential of seriously
undermining the education and civil rights of children with disabilities
if they are unable to gain the provision of IDEA services and
supports to which they are entitled by federal law. Information
from around the country (e.g., Massachusetts) indicates that charter
schools too often provide unlimited freedom from critical special
education requirements. Questions about the constitutionality
and effectiveness of vouchers for student with disabilities are
also beginning to surface around the country (e.g., Florida).
Any educational "reforms" or "innovations" that involve IDEA must
first safeguard against exclusion of students with disabilities
from services and/or supports, abridgements of student and family
rights and responsibilities under IDEA, and ensure that their
educational needs are timely met. Until these standards or guidelines
are met, state and/or local school districts should only be allowed
to have 'flexibility' with non-federal education funds, regardless
of which type of reform or innovation they want to try. It is
imperative that NCD, children and youth with disabilities, their
families, their advocates all be afforded an opportunity to provide
their input as proposals are developed and raised to Congress'
attention.
Barbara Ebenstein, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 31, 2002:
Funds should not be used for prevention strategies
to reduce the number of referrals to special education. This will
only move much needed and long sought federal special education
funds out of special education population. Essentially, the Federal
Government would be funding Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act rather than IDEA.
Daniel Reschly, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
In many places those processes have been combined
such that, especially in small school attendance centers, Title
I and special education cooperate fully. And I think the panel
would argue that we need greater integration of special and general
education along those lines. Moreover, I think special education
personnel, especially related services personnel, have to be available
to general educators to prevent the development of disabilities
or the required recognition of disabilities through more effective
interventions. And that's especially true on the behavioral side.
Barbara Raimondo, NCD Request for Comment, May
29, 2002:
Special education funding formulas should truly
be "placement neutral."
David W. Peterson, NCD Request for Public Comment,
April 5, 2002:
Innovation and flexible use of resources must be
encouraged as long as local districts can demonstrate full compliance
with IDEA. Innovations must be focused on research based interventions,
prevention and early intervention with students.
Dr. Carol Topinka, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Remove fiscal requirements and incentives for qualifying
and placing students in separate programs by merging funds. I
think ESEA is beginning to talk about that movement of some amounts
of dollars between Titles, but I don't believe that's adequate.
You start out with separate programs and separate funding streams,
that's what you end up with in the schools at the practitioner
level. . . .And then we need to develop fiscal policies and funding
mechanisms that adequately fund those children with significant
cognitive and sensory impairments.
Dr. Judy Elliot, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
. . .I think that, if there's any blending . . .
of funds, it really needs to be based on outcomes and indicators
about what you're using it for so that there is a valuation of
the use of funds accordingly.
Dr. Richard Schoonover, testimony from the hearing
on "State and Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and
Federal Barriers to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 8, 2002:
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) should encourage the integration of IDEA, Title 1, Comprehensive
School Reform, state special education funds, and local funds
so that programs can be innovative, efficient, and cost effective.
. . .. Providing excellent innovative services to students with
disabilities requires the full partnership of all levels of government
and the flexibility to use funds to address the specific needs
of each community.
Dialogue between Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack
and Dr. Julie Berry Cullen at the hearing before the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Dr. Pasternack: Would you favor giving the
states the ability to use more of the IDEA money for things other
than providing special education and related services to students
with disabilities?
. . .Dr. Cullen: About half of the states,
actually 35 of the states do not tie the receipt of special education
funds to having to expend those in special education, so it's
a smaller issue, but it's currently a smaller amount of funding.
. . .I would be in favor of a movement that addresses students
at need and at risk more generally and places less of an emphasis
in identifying who is and who is not disabled.
Randall Moody, public comment from hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Nashville,
TN, April 18, 2002:
The National Coalition for Public Education urges
this commission to reject any efforts to fund special education
and services for children with disabilities through vouchers or
other similar mechanisms.
Dr. Thomas Parrish, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Finance Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
. . .We need to stop spending money in ways that
promote segregation. Although some children will need more restrictive
services during part of their school experience, we know that
socialization is a vital part of the education of all children.
Far too many children are receiving educational services in isolated
settings because ways in which we allocate funds for these services
encourages this segregation.
. . .I'm not sure I agree [with] the notion of federal
funding being targeted for high-cost for so-called severe students.
I would like to see substantially increased federal support for
children with special needs. However, I would be concerned if
considerable new funds were restricted to add Special Education
spending without the flexibility to use some of these funds on
other types of interventions for children. If these funds were
to be targeted, in my view, rather than directing them to cover
the costs of the nation's most severe, or highest-cost children,
I would urge consideration allowing at least some of these dollars
to be spent on better early intervention and alternative intervention
services.
How can special education funding be used with other
related sources of funds to cover the wide range of student needs?
Encouraging interagency collaboration--
Lawrence Gloeckler , testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
There is substantial research that says that health
and mental health services in schools [have] a dramatic effect
on key performance indicators. We have to resolve the age-old
disputes that are allowed still by federal statutory provisions
so that we can quickly and easily have program collaboration and
pooled funding to get those services into our schools where the
need is. Prevention and intervention have to be available to everyone
that needs them when they need them.
Beth Foley, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
Finally, we'd like to talk about providing funding
to support a coordinated services model for students with disabilities
including other programs that have a federal obligation to provide
educational and noneducational services.
Cathy Healy, testimony from hearing before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Washington, DC, April
30, 2002:
Provide funding to demonstrate best practice models
of educating students with disabilities in foster care. . .. Strengthen
interagency collaboration with child-welfare partnering agencies.
Dr. Brenda Scheuermann, public comment from hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 27, 2002:
One of the recommendations that we [CCBD] urge the
Commissioners to consider is, find ways to improve interagency
collaboration in the provision of services to children at this
tertiary or Level 3 level [i.e. children who need services and
supports outside of IDEA).
Dr. Mark Batshaw, testimony before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
There has to be an improved interchange between
the school and the HMOs, the other insurance companies, to decide
who is going to pay for what and whether you can do things together.
Right now you'll have, for example, physical therapists at school
and private physical therapists in the home paid for by two different
mechanisms working on two completely different things and not
talking to each other instead of having synergy between them.
. . There needs to be improved funding of adaptive equipment that
is going to be necessary for the child's ability to learn. If
they're not in an adaptive wheelchair, for example, with a child
with cerebral palsy that allows them to focus on the teacher,
to be able to respond in class, they're not going to learn effectively,
and yet there isn't adequate funding for that.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
In addition to changes in IDEA, it is important
for Congress to address corresponding changes in the Medicaid
program. CMS should be required to work with the Department of
Education on policies and procedures that will enable school districts
to be reimbursed for services more consistent with a federal,
state and local partnership.
Bob Vaadeland, testimony before Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
As it presently stands, school districts are the
payor of last resort, meaning that the present Act allows for
an unequal sharing of responsibility when it comes to service
provision. A . . . School Districts are obligated to provide services,
even if it is believed that they don't have the dollars to pay
for them. I believe this premise should hold true for all agencies
involved in Interagency Collaborative Agreements. As a collaborative
group, agencies should collectively become the payers of last
resort.
Dr. Kim Goodrich Ratcliffe, testimony before Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
When money runs out in the budgets of agencies such
as the Department of Mental Health and Division of Family Services,
services are terminated. . . . The concept of collaboration needs
to be replaced with mandated services for children and shared
partnerships with schools for the benefit of children. Designate
additional social service agencies . . . as zero reject agencies
to act in partnership with public schools on behalf of children.
There were numerous recommendations on how to distribute
the funding within the State--
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April
26, 2002:
[We need] additional dollars to support the increased
administrative activities at the state level, and of course additional
funds to support the costs at the local level.
Beth Foley, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
An important piece of this funding is to simplify
the formula for distribution of state funds, providing a breakdown
of 80 percent flow-through to the LEAs, the local education agencies,
5 percent for state administrative expenditures, and up to 15
percent for monitoring, technical assistance, program development,
and other support programs. . . .providing funding to support
a coordinated services model for students with disabilities including
other programs that have a federal obligation to provide educational
and non-educational services.
Paul Goldfinger, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
. . .With . . .full funding of the 40-percent level,
I think there's a need for greater flexibility. Here in California
many school districts have backfilled the shortfall in federal
dollars with the local revenue; that's the encroachment that I'm
talking about, $1.3 billion. And, for the Federal Government to
say, "okay, I didn't fund what I was supposed to fund, I'm going
to give you the dollars now but the rules are only 20 percent
of the new dollars can be used to offset local revenue." That
implies that 80 percent of the new dollars must be used . . .to
augment funding.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
. . .In my state we have found that the current
funding formula, based on census and poverty, is an effective
means for determining allocations of federal dollars to SEAs.
However, more flexibility is needed by states in their distribution
to local districts. Allow state education agencies to keep up
to 15 percent of a state's Part B funds to provide support and
technical assistance to local education agencies and to conduct
monitoring activities. . .. Allow SEAs to keep up to an additional
5 percent of a state's Part B funds for administrative activities.
At the very least, increase the minimum amount of funding for
small states and federal jurisdictions to enable them to support
their administrative services to LEAs.
. . .Provide flexibility in maintenance of fiscal
effort similar to the Hagel and Harkin amendment to the IDEA that
was previously proposed. The maintenance of fiscal effort provision
in current law limits the ability of federal funding increases
to rebalance the relative state, local, and federal partnerships
in covering the costs of special education. . . . Montana educators
feel strongly that this 20 percent limitation should be changed
in order to provide more relief from the restrictions imposed
by the maintenance of fiscal effort.
Brian McNulty, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Accountability
Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
. . . If there were significant increases in IDEA
we do need to look at the maintenance of effort and supplanting
issues. [Administrators] would be very willing to hold themselves
and school districts responsible to using those state and local
revenues for prevention or for intervention such that we could
serve kids prior to their entry into special education, and that
might be a nice trade-off in terms of how we look at preventative
services for kids. . . . Performance based alternate assessments
are incredibly expensive for states and therefore, very few states
are using [them] . . . states would welcome help in terms of resources.
Dr. John Lawrence, testimony before House Subcommittee
on Education Reform, Washington, DC, April 18, 2002:
. . . Strengthen the state maintenance of effort
to insure that all partners contribute appropriately . . .. Enforcing
the state maintenance of effort provisions will also insure that
the increase in federal funding will result in a net add to school
funding and not simply an opportunity for states to shrug more
costs to local taxpayers.
David W. Peterson, NCD Request for Public Comment,
April 5, 2002:
The 20 percent of IDEA funds that school districts
can use to support current educational costs should be increased.
Steve Johnson, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Increased Special Ed funding is needed to relieve
the local burden. And the maintenance-of-effort rules, I believe,
must also be changed in conjunction with this increase in funding.
. . . In order to reverse that disproportionate increase that
we have experienced at the local level, I am recommending that
the maintenance-of-effort should be changed to allow us to decrease
100 percent our local share by the amount that we receive from
the--the increase we receive in federal contributions bring all
other state and federal resources to the table to help share costs
for related services.
Dennis Dykstra, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Accountability Systems Task Force," Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002:
Congress needs to modify the maintenance of effort
and treat as local provision as large IDEA annual increases continue
to be appropriate.
Dialogue between Dr. Alice Parker, Barbara Gantwerk
and C. Todd Jones at the hearing before the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, "The Role and Function of the
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26, 2002:
Dr. Parker: I was hoping that you all would recommend
to Congress that there be a formula that requires a certain federal
dollar percentage stay at the state level for administration.
Dr. Jones: Should the state be required to
put up money too?
Dr. Parker: The match. It would get to the
same end point, yes. I could live with that easily.
Ms. Gantwerk: I think many of the state activities
that we're engaged in are a result of the federal requirements,
and as such, it would be helpful to provide the funds. Additionally,
the state is providing a tremendous amount of funds to the local
districts, and as they see it, a lot of that is the result of
the federal requirements as well. And since the state is providing
the greatest share of the funds totally, I'm not sure it's such
an issue.
Tom DiPaioli, public comment from hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
We were hoping for some language that would allow
us to have sufficient funds at the state level to be able to administer
the programs and to provide technical assistance to the District.
Dialogue between William Dussault and Commissioner
Jay Chambers at the hearing before the President's Commission on
Excellence in Special Education, "System Administration Task Force,"
San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
Mr. Dussault: Get rid of the
categories and stop having the money follow the category.
Dr. Chambers:
In thinking about your comments regarding the categories,
I'd be curious as to your perspectives on what the implications
are for funding of special education, the type of formulas that
are existent within the states and also how we think.
Mr. Dussault: Once you take away funding
by category, what you then do is remove the incentive to place
by category and to identify by category, especially in funding
systems where categories are funded differentially. Because, what
you do is, you provide an incentive to place in the highest-funded
category. And I've always sort of naively suggested creating a
funding system based on the IEPs. We have the technology now to
computerize IEPs and, if they aren't, they ought to be. So why
aren't we looking at cost centers based upon the actual program
requirements of the children instead of categorical or averaged
or incidence-rated formulas? Why don't we look at the real data
and fund based on the real data?
Eytan Kobre, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Base IDEA funding on the ratio of total non-public
school students to public school students, since the incidence
of disability is likely the same for both groups.
Rabbi Abramchik, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
My proposal is to give the entitlement to every
nonpublic school student with special needs on par with public
school students. The current method of federal allocations of
money does not seem to come down to the states and to the local
public school system in Denver. The formula should be set up in
such a way that both public and nonpublic schools are given the
same amount of grant money proportionate to the number of students.
Paul Goldfinger, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Put a cap on reimbursement for private attorneys'
fees, again. . . .States can get a waiver of the "supplement and
not supplant" standard during times of fiscal crisis; why can't
school districts apply for that?
Dr. W. Douglas Tynan, from the hearing on "Rethinking
Special Education: How to Reform the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee
on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
2, 2002:
Attach funding to students identified as in need
of special education through the use of vouchers for both evaluation
and education. Parents could use the voucher to pay for both the
evaluation process and the specialized educational experience
of their choice. This could be done either within, or independent
of, a broader school voucher program.
Larry Gloeckler testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
Resources must be targeted to areas of need based
on key indicators.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
New federal funding should be targeted to high need
schools to improve student outcomes and to support the replication
or research-based effective practices.
Question 2. Is the current distribution of the total
Part D appropriation appropriate?
Summary--There are continual shortages of trained
special education personnel training and other infrastructure development
systems. There is support for the recommendation of indexing Part
D funding toPart B, especially to increases in Part B appropriations.
A number or comments touched on the funding issue; some made compelling
arguments for strong personnel preparation and other infrastructure
programs that presume increased funding.
Cassandra Archee, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
When we look at the issues around the reauthorization
of Part D, we are very concerned . . . about it being fully funded.
Dr. Stan F. Shaw, testimony from Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
I believe at this point, IDEA needs very little
revision in its mandates but significant upgrading of the preparation
of personnel who are critical to its implementation. It is evident
that IDEA has succeeded in assuring access for students with disabilities.
We now need skilled personnel to provide effective instruction.
. . . It is no exaggeration to state that there
is a severe and chronic shortage of qualified personnel to serve
students in the schools:
- 98 percent of the nations school districts report
special education teacher shortages and shortages are most sorely
felt in poor and urban schools;
- a 1998 survey completed by the American Federation
of Teachers shows that special education is the nation's highest
shortage area in the 200 largest cities;
- in data collected for the 23rd Annual
Report to Congress . . . a shortage of 39,140 teachers resulting
in approximately 618,412 students not served by qualified personnel.
. . .In addition, our capacity to prepare teachers
has been undermined by a shortage of college and university special
education teacher educators:
- the Council for Exceptional Children predicts
that the U.S. will need over 200,000 new special educators by
2005;
- 30 percent of special education faculty searches
do not get filled each year often resulting in lost positions;
- 30 percent of special education faculty searches
do not get filled each year often resulting in lost positions;
- if every college and university facility position
in special education were filled, about 3,000 more special education
teachers could be trained annually to serve about 48,000 K-12
students a year.
. . .Focus reauthorization of IDEA on enhancing
personnel preparation so that we have professionals who are trained
to effectively implement the mandates of IDEA and foster productive
outcomes for students with disabilities.
. . .Provide resources for states and institutions
of higher education to raise standards and create incentives for
attracting individuals to personnel preparation programs.
. . .Index Part D funding to Part B so that it will
be 10 percent of Part B. This funding should be provided to institutions
of higher education to address faculty shortages and to foster
development and implementation of effective teacher education
programs that feature on-going field experiences with reflective
seminars, integration of general and special education students,
intensive internships and implementation of Professional Development
Schools.
Dr. Mary Brownell, testimony from hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver,
CO, March 6, 2002:
Also, Part D funding in terms of constant dollars
has been cut in half. Part D funding supports personnel and preparation
programs. The capacity to prepare these teachers is well below
what it needs to be. In addition, about one-third of faculty--this
was mentioned earlier in IHEs --one-third of faculty positions
goes unfilled yearly. There's not the capacity to produce teachers,
nor is there the capacity to produce the kind of research that
we need to make informed decisions.
Deborah Zeigler, public comment, from
hearing before President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
CEC recommends and the law requires that resources
be dedicated through B, C, D, to address the following priority
areas: Priority area number one. Ensure that the nation has the
capacity to prepare and maintain a sufficient supply of highly-qualified
persons, special ed teachers, service providers, as well as general
education teachers to improve results for children and students
with disabilities. . .. Establish a standing commission of research
for teachers and parents to provide the necessary cohesive, long-term
research to improve teaching and learning conditions and enhance
the achievement of children.
Beth Schafner, public comment from hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver,
CO, March 6, 2002:
We need to ensure that families are included as
key participants in professional development activities, and that
is as collaborators, as mentors of educators, and also as learners
themselves. It can't be a hierarchical kind of a set up. It needs
to be a truly collaborative kind of set up where families are
seen and are interacted with and participate and often can be
leaders in this approach. . . . it's critical that families and
educators learn together. It's critical because both belong to
the communities they serve, and indeed, for them to be successful,
families must be actively inspired leaders and standards-based
achievement for all students with no student left behind only
occur if there's alignment and a collaborative relationship between
schools and families, and when families are recognized by educators
as a necessary and substantively involved in school and reform.
Robin Brewer, public comment from hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver,
CO, March 6, 2002:
Expand professional development so that three-tiered
systems [school wide, classroom and individual) are implemented.
Develop plans for professional development that is a requirement.
Ensure that all students with emotional and behavioral disorders
are taught by fully qualified teachers. Develop programs that
train teachers who work with the students with emotional and behavioral
disorders, using alternative programs as well as traditional programs,
to make sure they are fully certified to a high standard.
Dr. Thomas Bellamy, testimony from hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver,
CO, March 6, 2002:
If I may, I want to close with four quick recommendations.
The first relates to learning the strategies for earning federal
funding. I guess I would suggest it's a waste of money to spend
federal funds directly on a professional development program where
most of the funding is supported by federal funds. Since the federal
funding is such a tiny percent, we need a strategy built into
the legislation that assures that the primary purpose is to leverage
how the fund is already being spent by universities, districts,
and individual teachers and prospective teachers, to leverage
how that funding is used. A related issue is that we need to reduce
the decline in the investment in professional development with
inflation adjustments. It's less than half what it was 20 years
ago.
. . .My second recommendation is that the Commission
look seriously at the kind of partnership models between universities
and districts that can result in sustained ongoing improvements
in both in-service and preserves, or, in blended models of the
two.
. . . And third, I recommend that the Commission
look very seriously at funding models that stimulate cross-university
coalitions in these low-incidence areas. With distance learning
and other means of collaboration, it's quite possible to imagine
right now a coalition of five or six universities in a region
joining together to develop programs in some of these low incidence
areas that no university on its own can afford to do. We have
a long history of trying to regionalize those programs and what
that's typically done is create a lot of richness in the immediate
vicinity of the regional program and not much elsewhere. But with
distance learning and some other connections, I think there's
some possibilities of some new models to address that.
Rebecca Walk, testimony from hearing before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
. . .Provide grant opportunities for colleges and
universities to develop new preservice curricula for colleges
and universities which will prepare all teachers to teach a diverse
group of learners.
. . .Discontinue teacher preparation programs that
continue to separate general education and special education;
. . . To provide financial incentives to institutions
of higher learning programs to attract and train new personnel;
. . .Provide funding for staff development for family
service providers and preschool teachers.
. . .Ensure that all teachers receive quality preservice
instruction that enables them to provide research-based instructional
activities to a diverse group of learners.
Tom DiPaioli, public comment from hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Relative to professional development, our hope
is to have a little bit more linkage between professional development
dollars [and] our state improvement activities.
Barbara Raimondo, NCD Request for Comment, May
29, 2002:
Part D programs have provided needed research, personnel
preparation, technical assistance support and dissemination of
information. While all of these areas are important, we wish to
emphasize the importance of Part D to train personnel to serve
children who are deaf or hard or hearing and their families.
Dr. Thomas M. Skrtic, testimony before President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
We're producing half the number of special education
teachers we need a year, given the increasing number of students,
given the special education teacher attrition. A big part of the
problem is because we're only producing half as many special education
faculty member a year to actually carry out that trend. So, what
we're recommending is to double both of those and, of course,
both of those are funded and supported primarily through Part
D of the IDEA which would require increasing the support in Part
D to double the number of special ed teachers we produce, double
the number of special ed faculty.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
To address the increasing turnover rates and the
continued movement of our most talented and expert individuals,
the IDEA must support creative incentives to help attract and
train the next generation of personnel and allow IHEs to expand
and strengthen their preservice programs in general and special
education; provide each state and LEA with a significant pool
of noncompetitive monies to provide in-service training and technical
assistance for both school personnel and families; allow states
to administer Part D funds for pre-service development to ensure
that pre-service programs are aligned with state needs and standards;
provide increased funding for states comprehensive networks that
support state and local programs for students with disabilities;
provide financial incentives to IHEs to attract and train new
personnel to meet the needs of students with disabilities; and,
support research on current and anticipated personnel vacancies
and shortages.
. . . Further we recommend noncompetitive funds
to states to support research-based effective instructional practices
that maximize student outcomes; research and technical assistance
efforts on balanced accountability systems that provide students
with disabilities the opportunity to achieve the same high standards
as their non-disabled peers; and, provide noncompetitive funds
to states to support coordinated service models, including effective
models for successful transition of students with disabilities
to post-school endeavors.
Dr. Sally Arthur, from the hearing on "State and
Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal Barriers
to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee
on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
8, 2002:
Our legislation needs to reflect some of the known
methods. Universities have made effective first steps in establishing
a strong research base. Fiscal bridges need to be built through
IDEA Part D to focus on practice that is supported by research.
Those practices can change systems.
Katherine Beh Neas, testimony, "Rethinking Special
Education: How to Reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on
Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives, May
2, 2002:
All IDEA programs, the Part C early intervention
program, the Section 619 preschool program, Part B, and the discretionary
programs of Part D all must be fully funded. All Part B funds
must remain in education. Many of our task force members are advocating
for indexing Part D programs at 10 percent of Part B funding.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendation
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May, 2002:
Programs funded through Part D discretionary funds
should receive increases comparable to increases in the Part B
state grants. This should include increased funding for teacher
recruitment, preparation, and training.
Dr. Philip Burke, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April
26, 2002:
In the realm of teacher and leadership shortages,
as well as in research, every effort must be made to increase
the discretionary funding available for these critical programs.
As funding for IDEA is increased, it is strongly recommended that
concomitant and proportional indexed funding increases be made
available in the discretionary budget.
Paul Marchand, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of the Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington,
DC, April 26, 2002:
So I would strongly encourage you to think about
a way to create, through Part B, some mechanism to make Part D
much more real.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The
Role and Function of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
in the Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April
26, 2002:
I believe that one of the things that you'll bump
up against is the relatively small commitment to Part D in relationship
to the overall enterprise. . . .I would suggest greater funding
for discretionary programs under IDEA. . . .Having a larger base
is critical and having predictable funding sources for people
who are conducting large-scale research, people who are operating
technical assistance agencies, people who are running parent training
centers. When asked how do you feel about indexing Part D to all
the federal funding for Parts B and C? Answer: I would support
that. . . .It is very important to have predictable resources
than having an annual appropriation. . . .Predictable for people
who are conducting large scale research, people who are operating
TA agencies, people who are running parent training centers.
Dr. Mark Batshaw, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Professional
Development Task Force," Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
We need to reduce the decline in the investment
in professional development with inflation adjustments. It's less
than half what it was 20 years ago.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
. . .Since school improvement activities are necessary
in all states, it seems wrong to selectively finance a state's
school improvement effort. A stable formula-driven revenue source
for all states is necessary to help states meet their obligation
and to successfully engage in long-range improvement activities.
Arlene Meyerson, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
To be fair and to realize the goal of the IDEA,
of leveling the playing field between parents and school districts,
parents should have assistance available to prepare for and attend
IEP meetings. The current funding for Parent Training Information
Centers is woefully inadequate to fulfill its role.
Lawrence C. Gloeckler, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
In the end, the best indicator that a child will
receive a quality education is having a well-trained teacher.
We have a shortage of qualified special education personnel and
we are having difficulty retaining the personnel we have. . .
. We must seize the opportunity of this reauthorization to address
this issue.
Marca Bristo, Chair, National Council on Disability,
testimony before House Government Reform Committee, February 28,
2001:
Teachers are still not receiving adequate training
in special education issues. States need to increase the mandated
level of college-level teacher training 'special education' course
work beyond the all too general 'Introduction to Special Education'
undergraduate-level course for all teacher preparation programs.
Special and general education practices reflect teacher preparation,
just as teacher preparation drives school practices. This symbiotic
relationship between practice and preparation means that the implementation
of promising practices is quite uneven on a national basis. While
many students preparing to be teachers benefit from experience
with state-of-the-art practices in their education, far too many
still do not have access to the quality of practices and preparatory
experiences that should have been created by now. Therefore, outmoded
and ineffective practices are reinforced and perpetuated.
Dr. Douglas Fuchs, testimony before hearing of
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Nashville,
TN, March 2002:
Contributing to the impact of this research on practice
are the close connections among Parts B, C, and D in IDEA. The
deliberate alignment of Parts B, C, and D does much to close the
gap between research and practice. We urge the commission to support
a version of IDEA that continues to ensure that the research and
service components of the law remain together with one informing
the other.
Question 3. Should any new federal funding be linked
to particular student outcomes? If so, what should those outcomes
be and how would this work?
Summary: Among the individuals who addressed the
connection between funding and outcomes, there seemed to be unanimity
that such a linkage should exist. There was, however, no strong
common theme evident about what outcomes should be targeted.
Bill Freund, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance
Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
With respect to student outcomes, data linking Special
Education expenditures and outcomes --and by outcomes, I mean
test results--is not available in our state. It may be possible
to generate some high-level information soon, but it may turn
out to be counterintuitive and that the data will probably show
that, the higher the expenditures, the lower the student outcomes.
And, for that reason, linking expenditures and outcomes may not
be useful unless other variables are also considered.
Dialogue between Dr. Eric Hanushek, Commissioner
Jay Chambers, and Dr. Jack Daray at the hearing before the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance Task Force,"
Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
Dr. Hanusek: Pay attention to outcomes and
that ought to drive our thinking; that you need information on
outcomes in order to make decisions about efficiency of operations
of the system; you need information on outcomes in order to provide
the right incentives for schools to do well. . .. Now that, again,
is going to take some effort, but it basically says that, for
lower-price systems, the first thing to think about is providing
block grants--perhaps calculated on the basis of demographics
of districts; it puts a little bit of risk on the district if
they have more or less but, at the same time, it has great beneficial
things, if they can provide good outcomes . . . .So, secondly,
as I said, when you start thinking about outcomes and spending
and efficiency of systems, I think it leads you to try, as best
you can, to not distort the decision-making of local school districts.
. . .You want to hold them responsible, reward when they do a
good job; you do not want to reward them for things that are unrelated
to doing a good job, like getting more kids classified in some
category because that changes the expenditure payment. . . .You
have to have some sort of cost-sharing, . . . some way where you
might have a set fee that goes with a certain diagnosis. . . .Now
it's also clear to me that just saying, "We're interested in outcomes
and we're going to provide incentives," doesn't get you away from
a lot of regulatory issues because, first, it's hard to get incentives
right, it's hard to make them so that they work in the way that
you want them to and so there is going to be some regulatory environment
that stays forever. . ., in reality. But it's a different climate
because it's a regulatory environment that's linked to, also,
the performance measurement and making sure that people aren't
just being provided what they should be. . . .For lower-prices,
they get rewarded for it, they get to take some of this grant
and use it for other purposes or even to improve the education
of Special Ed kids more. But it's all, then, trying to mobilize
the local districts.
. . . Dr. Chambers: So leave it at a block
grant and some kind of an insurance program for the federal financing
system and let it go at that?
. . . Dr. Hanushek: Well, I think that's
part of it; or the Federal Government could, in fact, get more
involved in providing performance incentives, too, if it wanted
to pick up part of a larger proportion of the total amounts spent
on special education. There's nothing magic there other than somebody
once wrote 40 percent into a law. I mean, there's nothing magic
about what number you choose of how much the Federal Government
pays. But it could, in fact, provide some incentive grants or
it could provide incentives for, you know, specific outcomes,
you know, kids reading or something like that. And that would
be fine. And you could probably make that work.
. . . Dr. Daray: I would recommend, be the
change agent. That's your chance to be in the role of change agent.
So, if you want to get to this money and you want to see these
new--then you've got to decide what you want those new things
to look like.
Dr. Jay Chambers, testimony from hearing on "Special
Education Finance at the Federal; State and Local Levels, House
Subcommittee on Education Reform, April 18, 2002:
I think we need to design the funding systems that
create the incentives to accomplish what we want to. When . .
. [we] have gone into states and talked to them about special
education funding, the first question we ask is, "what do you
want your program to look like?" Not, "what do you want your funding
system formula to look like?" We say, "what do you want to accomplish?
What are your goals and objectives for this program?" And then,
once you have an understanding of what those goals and objectives
are for the program, you can then design a funding system to create
incentives to implement that program. And I guess I think one
of the things that we can do is to connect what our goals and
objectives are to the design of the funding system. That might
mean increasing the amount of funding or the proportion of special
education funding that comes from the Federal Government. How
[do] we tie funding increases together. . . .How [are] those funds
distributed and utilized by the states and what impact we might
have, .. in what ways we can tie the distribution of the federal
money to the way states design their own funding systems. There
are a huge variety of funding formulas and programs out there
in the 50 states, everything from full cost reimbursement to percentage
equalizing to weighted pupils to census-based programs. And if
we have a feeling that one or the other of those kinds of programs
is going to create the kind of special ed and general ed program
that we think ought to be going on out in the schools, then we
need to recommend something that is going to impact the way states
distribute funding.
Question 4. Should any new funding be linked to state/local
school districts' compliance with, and enforcement of, IDEA statutory
requirements? If so, how would this work?
Summary: Sanctions are a necessary part of the monitoring
process. This document includes suggestions that the withholding
of funds should be a sanction available for noncompliant systems,
but it should be a last resort as a guard against punishing the
students for the ills of the system.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendation
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May, 2002:
. . .Funding and compliance should not be mutually
exclusive, but rather intricately woven with accountability for
positive outcomes. Moreover, funding sanctions must not be imposed
at the expense of students. The Commission recognizes the difficulties
associated with achieving the appropriate balance. Therefore,
reauthorization provisions must include adequate resources to
support state and federal monitoring and enforcement. For instance,
the Federal Government has been criticized by states for monitoring
that is neither effective nor timely, causing OSEP reports to
be issued too late to be of any relevance. One of the problems
is that OSEP is largely understaffed in relation to the magnitude
of its mandate.
. . .Congress, in the appropriations process, should
ensure that OSEP is funded at levels commensurate with its responsibilities.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
Currently, a state may withhold IDEA funds for noncompliance
with IDEA statutory requirements. Additional funds are needed
so that technical assistance can be provided as necessary for
those districts to come into compliance and improve student results.
Kathleen Boundy, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
Briefing on the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, April 12, 2002:
[There could be] incentives for schools that are
decreasing their overrepresentation [of minority students in special
education], decreasing their suspension rates, their expulsion
rates. . . .[Given] additional federal funds, . . . in order to
get that new money, the schools that were in noncompliance . .
. because of the overrepresentation or disparities in discipline
would have to get those numbers down in order to get the new federal
monies.
Chairperson Mary Francis Berry, U.S. Civil Rights
Commission Briefing on Reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities
Act, Washington, DC, April 12, 2002:
How about a proposal that relates to how many complaints
they have about people being misidentified in some way? . . .If
there were some kind of sliding scale . . . where if you reduce
the counts by X amount, you get more money or less money. How
about some sliding scale related to . . . some measure of Overrepresentation
or how hard you were working to reduce the numbers of something
like that?
Question 5. Should funds be used for prevention strategies
to reduce the number of referrals to special education? If so, how
might this work?
Summary--Both in respect to this question and the
series of answers in Question 1 tied to integrated or blended funding,
there is a strong voice for allowing IDEA funding to be used in
general education settings to prevent ultimate placements in special
education, especially among students who are at risk of receiving
a high incidence disability label and placement. However, as pointed
out by one commenter, this would be the equivalent of using IDEA,
Part B funds to finance Section 504 programs. Other sources of funds
are available and referenced for use in general education settings
for students with disabilities or students at risk of being identified
with a disability.
Dr. Thomas Parrish, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Finance Task Force," Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 2002:
With outcome accountability in mind, we need to
allow greater flexibility in the use of funds. If special education
is the only game in town, or the best game in town, the remedial
services, special education enrollments will continue to grow
as a percentage of total enrollments, as they have done every
year since the passage of IDEA. I think we need to consider flexibility
in the use of funds to provide some services to students prior
to referral to special education. We need to direct more money
and services to young children. Research consistently shows that
we have a great window of opportunity to intervene with children
at risk in the early years. And yet our funding patterns show
that we are much more likely to spend after failure has occurred.
Jim Comstock-Galagan, from the hearing before the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
We don't need millions of more dollars. We need
allocation of resources into regular settings, as we heard this
morning. We need to bring resources into regular settings, create
small pupil-teacher, pupil-instructor settings, and we can do
that with the vast majority of special education resources we
have.
Commissioner Jack Fletcher, at the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 26, 2002:
The recently passed Elementary and Secondary Education
Act has a Part B, which is called the Reading First Plan. It's
$1 billion. One of the more interesting provisions is that states
can keep 20 percent. It's unusual in that SEAs are actually allowed
to keep a substantial amount of money to implement a statewide
professional development program. And so states could have a substantial
amount of money to do professional development of both general
education and special education teachers in the area of reading.
So I think that part of it, the part of it that involves prevention
and early intervention and things of that sort, is on the table
now. And we have several states that have good models for this,
Texas, Florida's model is coming along. I think we need to make
sure we look at what we recommend for special education so it
ties upon these provisions.
Rebecca Walk, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Professional
Development Task Force," Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
We know that early identification and interventions
are the best methods for reducing the numbers of children who
are identified as learning disabled. The IDEA supports these efforts
through Part C and 619 funding. Unfortunately, these programs
have been consistently flat funded. The shame in this is we know
emphatically how critical the first five years are, especially
for a child with a disability.
Dr. Julie Barry Cullen, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
But as a practical matter, the method of funding
does affect both how students are classified and the types of
services that they receive. Research indicates, "there's definitely
room for the [identification] rates to respond to fiscal incentives.
. . . You see a close correlation between changes in disability
rates and changes in these relative financial incentives and what
the results implied is that if you were to increase the reimbursement
from the state by about 10 percent, you'd see a 2 percent increase
in the disability rate and that increase is coming where you would
expect it to come, it's in the categories where the definitions
are more subjective, so it's in speech impairment, learning disability.
The way that special education is reimbursed is a very significant
determinant of the number of students and the size of these programs
and composition of these programs.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
Congress needs to align the federal funding levels
and distribution formulas in the IDEA and the ESEA to promote
a unified system of education.
Issue
3. Discipline
All schools should establish and implement research-based,
effective programs that prevent school violence. Effective research-based
programs include classroom management strategies to help reduce
classroom disruption and increase student learning; positive behavior
intervention programs addressing emotional, behavioral, and educational
needs of students; and professional development to reduce the level
of inappropriate disciplinary actions. All school staff must be
trained to recognize and respond appropriately to troubled youth,
Katherine Beh Neas, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities.
Question 1: Are the discipline procedures under IDEA
clear and understandable?
Summary: While the advocacy community has held fast
to the discipline amendment of 1997 as the right and equitable answer
to the question of disciplinary treatment of students with disabilities,
there appears to be a strong body of evidence in public opinion
that the current system is too confusing. The recommendations for
the most part are in strong support of simplification. While there
are some arguments for eliminating FAPE for students who become
disciplinary problems, the bulk of the recommendations are to hold
firm to the precepts of the 1997 amendments, specifically protections
of students' rights to FAPE, but to make the process an easier one
through which to maneuver.
Isaac, Student, Response to NCD Request for Comment
from Youth, May 2002:
The discipline policy of IDEA would only be clearer,
if all parents and students who are disabled know about it in
the first place.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Report from Hearing
on Reauthorization of IDEA, Washington, D.C, May, 2002:
The 1997 amendments to IDEA require behavior-related
needs or disabilities to be addressed as an education matter,
in the same manner as other disabilities. Schools are now required
to assess each child's behavior and develop positive behavioral
interventions. While schools and parents have reported improvements
as a result of the amendments, one complaint of the 1997 discipline
provisions is that they are too complicated and confusing, and
therefore should be reviewed, clarified, and simplified for better
implementation.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, testimony
before Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing,
March 21, 2002:
As the law has been implemented since the
1997 amendments, it is evident that some of the requirements of
the statute and regulations may be too complicated or confusing
and need to be reviewed.
Barbara Gantwerk, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"The Role and Function of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the
Implementation of Special Education," Washington, DC, April 26,
2002:
The discipline section could be simpler while
maintaining important principles that schools should be safe for
all. Students should not be punished for their disability. Beyond
ten days, you get services. The major focus should be on identifying
and providing the appropriate program rather than a manifestation
determination. Whether it is or it isn't a manifestation, the
key issue is what is the right program for this child?
Erin, Student, Response to NCD Request for
Comment from Youth with Disabilities, May 2002:
I don't think the discipline procedures need
to be clearer. I think more accommodations need to be provided.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
The provisions are overly complex and cumbersome
and should be streamlined. However, the right of students with
disabilities to FAPE during suspensions or removals must be retained.
The IDEA should support alternative services through other agencies
that may be necessary so that appropriate alternative educational
programs are readily available to students.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
Everyone seems to agree that the compromise
discipline language included in the IDEA' 97 is too cumbersome
and too difficult to follow, let alone enforce properly. The process
of disciplining students must be simplified. . . . we should afford
all students the opportunity to engage in learning activities
designed to enable them to progress in school. If this basic principle
were followed, perhaps the complexity of the process and the double
standard of treatment of students with disabilities could go away.
Ronnie M. Jackson, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
Provisions of IDEA legislation dealing with
students' behavior causes confusion and misunderstanding in our
schools and communities.
Dr. Sally Arthur, from the hearing on "State
and Local Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal
Barriers to Innovation," before the Subcommittee on Education Reform,
Committee on Education and the Workplace, U.S. House of Representatives,
May 8, 2002:
The current regulations diminish the capacity
to follow the principles of PBIS by establishing variable rather
than clear guidelines of behavioral expectations to students and
parents. Loopholes are available and students can learn to misbehave
from the lack of consistency. Further, the possibility of human
error is monumental, reducing the ability of campus administrators
to ensure compliance to the regulations. Campus administrators
are expected to follow a maze of regulations and make decisions
in relation to their ability to discipline students for inappropriate
behaviors. This maze of regulations has numerous decision points,
all potential vehicles for litigation. This inequitable system
creates opportunities for exploitation of the system. Further,
it assumes that all individuals are capable of understanding and
applying these legal complexities
Lisa Graham Keegan, William J. Bennett, Chester
J. Finn, Jr. - letter to Chairman Terry Branstad, February 20, 2002:
Discipline remains one of the most divisive
and contentious issues in the special education debate. Unfortunately,
previous efforts to clarify when and how special educations students
may be disciplined have only served to make it more confusing.
Gene Lenz, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 26, 2002:
The discipline section of IDEA, both in the
statute and the regulation, requires massive simplification, with
priority clarification to the differentiation between behavioral
concerns requiring instructional interventions versus disciplinary
action. We have to make a clear distinction between those kids
that need behavior intervention as an instructional issue versus
a discipline issue.
Question 2: To what extent is the current IDEA discipline
policy properly implemented?
Question 3: What are challenges and obstacles to implementing
the IDEA discipline policy?
Question 6: To what extent are state and local school
districts not complying with the current IDEA discipline policy?
How can this policy be enforced?
Summary: We put these three questions together because
they seemed to play off of each other. Parents talk about the lack
of effective behavior management strategies in the classroom; suspensions
are still control mechanisms of choice in too many schools; proper
implementation of the disciplinary provisions in IDEA seems to still
be quite variable. The observations of continued inequity based
on race and behavior disorders are also prevalent.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, testimony
before Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing,
March 21, 2002:
As we have looked at the issue of discipline,
we have learned that appropriate use of these strategies (improved
classroom management, effective school-wide models of positive
behavior strategies, and the use of functional behavioral assessments
models and techniques) has had significant results in reducing
discipline problems for the entire school community and keeping
students safe.
Daniel Reschly, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
There are well-established programs to develop
individual interventions in natural contexts that have a high
rate of success.
Barbara Ebenstein, NCD Request for Public
Comment, May 31, 2002:
. . .The current IDEA discipline policy is
not properly implemented in manifestation determinations. Too
often, these determinations are really made by one or two district
administrators in advance of the meeting. The meeting is then
a mere formality.
. . .Legal resources are not available to
parents to ensure implementation of the IDEA discipline policy.
The timelines are short. They need to be short. But parents cannot
locate legal services fast enough or inexpensively enough. Too
often, parents must appear pro se even when they want representation.
U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
One of the key elements of the original IDEA,
as conceived in 1975, was the recognition that, for children with
behavioral disorders, access to school is meaningless if it does
not include programming that addresses behavioral needs. Many
schools still fail to appropriately accommodate the behavioral
consequences of disability by focusing on controlling students
rather than addressing unique social and emotional needs. Behavior
that can be attributed to a disability is commonly mischaracterized
as misconduct and treated with discipline rather than appropriate
services.
U. S. Commission on Civil Rights Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002 and Kathleen Boundy, testimony
before U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Briefing, April 12, 2002:
Evidence suggests that disciplinary action
differs among students in special education, with race/ethnicity
being a determining factor in the severity of punishment. According
to data released by the Department of Education, in the 1999--2000
academic year, Hispanic, American Indian, and African American
students with disabilities were substantially more likely than
white students to be suspended, removed by school personnel, or
removed by a hearing officer, and were more likely to be given
both short- and long-term suspensions.
Kathleen Boundy, testimony before Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Hearing, April 25,
2002:
. . .African American students with disabilities
are more than three times as likely as whites to be given short-term
suspensions, and racial disparities are nearly as great for long-term
suspensions for both American Indians and African American children
who are likely to be removed for more than 10 days.
. . .Given the data reflecting racial disparity
in the use of exclusionary discipline, and the harsh effects of
exclusion, we have reason to be concerned especially for those
students and parents who are unrepresented (generally due to low
income status and/or geographic isolation) and lack access to
legal and other expertise to challenge findings of "no manifestation"
. . .Behavior that is part of disability is
still all too commonly, inappropriately characterized as "misconduct"
and treated with harsh exclusionary discipline instead of appropriate
special education and related services. All too commonly, children
are members of racial or ethnic minority groups that are subjected
to this unlawful treatment.
. . .Preliminary research is encouraging.
It demonstrated improved outcomes for individual students with
behavioral issues when positive behavioral supports and intervention
strategies are included in their IEPs. Improvements are also reported
among individual schools that have implemented new positive behavioral
interventions to address behavior concerns systemically.
. . .In these explicit instances [possession
of a dangerous weapon, and possession, sale or distribution of
illegal drugs or a placement that is considered substantially
likely to cause injury to self or others] neither the 'no cessation'
provisions nor schools' obligation to address behavior as an education
issue (nor anything else in IDEA) prevent authorized school personnel
from disciplining children with disabilities when appropriate.
. . .If a school identified and tried unsuccessfully
different alternatives for addressing a child's inappropriate
behavior before proposing to remove the child from his/her current
placement, and the parent was informed and understood, the opportunity
might exist for collaborative planning
... This would seem far more conducive to
reaching an agreed upon decision than notifying the parent without
explanation that the child is being moved and leaving the parent
no recourse but to file a complaint . . . and thereby keep the
child in his current placement while the parent tries to figure
out what is happening. Data available raises concerns about racial
composition of alternative schools and whether or not students
placed in alternative schools are really learning what all other
students are expected to know and be able to do.
Laura Gardner, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comment, May 19, 2002:
Behavior problems arise when the program is
inappropriate. With early intervention, there is plenty of time
for schools to intervene to help students before a pattern of
disruptive behavior, or worse, violent behavior begins. . . .Despite
evidenced progress in this area, discrimination remains. In ways
that skirt the law, schools are effectively excluding our kids.
There are disabilities with social deficits . . . that absolutely
must be recognized as a disability. Not to do so, and treat accordingly
is discrimination.
. . .When disability affects behavior, everyone
is afraid to go there. "We must hold all students accountable
for their behavior" . . . is like telling a blind person, "We
must hold all students accountable if they cannot see" and then
promptly doling out some fitting punishment to make this person
change his mind and make himself see.
. . .There were numerous suspensions totaling
over 10 days, without services, a gym teacher had sat on my son,
an aide had shoved him up against the lockers and the Administrative
Assistant had made him stay in a 4 x 4 box, that was supposed
to serve as a voluntary study carrel for 2 1/2 hours sobbing with
no tissues. A Manifestation Determination unanimously determined
that all my son's behaviors were disability related.
...What schools need is to be educated about
disabilities, and educated about the current discipline procedures
and how to effectively apply them.
Elysa Hyman, public comment from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
. . . In New York City there were 50,000 suspensions
last year. Half of the long-term suspensions, which means suspensions
over five days, were of kids with disabilities. Almost 70 percent
of those suspensions were of African American students. 98 percent
of kids who are getting alternative education services, which
means they basically get no instruction for almost a year, are
minority students, and I really don't think that, leaving aside
the issue of disability discrimination from the juvenile justice
prevention perspective and looking at the disproportionate impact
on minorities, student cessation should even be considered. There's
nothing worse than having at-risk students out of school for months
unsupervised.
General Accounting Office Report 01-210 "Student
Discipline, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," January
2001:
IDEA provisions do not hinder school officials
in disciplining students. Principals generally rated their schools'
special-education discipline policies both under IDEA and local
policies as having "a positive or neutral effect on schools safety
and orderliness." The study acknowledged that a significant majority
of school administrators believe the law is effectively working
and does not create a "problem" for implementation. 36 percent
of the respondent principals reported that they operate under
a local policy that requires them to provide education and/or
support services to students with disabilities every day of suspension
and 87 percent of them considered this local not federal policy
to have a positive or neutral effect.
Teresa Peterson, Parent, Letter to Senator
Edward Kennedy, April 12, 2002:
This year IDEA has worked for our son; he
is receiving the supports and modifications he needs in the least
restrictive environment. I wish administrators and educators would
automatically implement the law. Instead we were forced to draw
the line and make them do it. What about all the other children
who do not have parents who can do that? Here in Texas we had
a little boy die recently in a "behavior management" class. An
hour after being restrained by his teacher and two aides, he died
of suffocation.
Dr. Joseph Wehby, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
Students with SBD continue to be removed from
school settings due to problem behavior more so than any other
disability group. . . .Numerous surveys have shown that teachers,
particularly those in general education classrooms, and school
administrators lack the training to address severe problem behavior.
Ronnie M. Jackson, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, April 25, 2002:
Restrictions placed on local school systems
concerning the removal of dangerous students and to maintain safe
schools. . . . it erodes the credibility of otherwise outstanding
IDEA legislation.
Marisa C. Brown, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
It has been our experience that schools too
often use suspension, both in school and out of school, to discipline
students. . . . it is too frequently used in the absence of more
effective strategies, and to simply get rid of the problem rather
than solving its root cause. For my child, suspension was used
so often that it actually began to reinforce the very behavior
that the teachers were trying to extinguish.
Question 5: Should changes be considered to the current
IDEA discipline policy?
Summary--This is "a line in the sand" issue, with
many teachers and administrators advocating for a unified system
of discipline for all students, while others are adamant that the
policy must only be "clarified and simplified," retaining the procedural
components crafted in 1997, including no cessation of services.
There was a recurring theme recommending equity for students with
discipline problems and many statements from both sides of the line
that indicate the need for more assistance from OSEP on the implementation,
monitoring and enforcement of the discipline provisions of the Act.
Parents point out the need for positive approaches in the classroom.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendation
on Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
. . .The discipline provisions of the 1997
amendments effectively strike a balance between protecting students
and protecting school administrators. They should not be significantly
changed, although they should be clarified and simplified. . .
.It is important that Congress preserve the no cessation provision
of the law, which ensures the continuation of educational services
to students removed from school for extended periods of time,
so that these students most in need of structured education do
not fall further behind.
. . .Appropriate funding should be allocated
for the development of behavior management programs that promote
school-wide models of positive behavior strategies and assessments.
. . .In testimony before the Senate Education
Committee, the Assistant Secretary for Special Education stated
that DOED's experience with the implementation of discipline provisions
has highlighted the need for schools to focus on improved classroom
management, school-wide models of positive behavior strategies,
and the use of behavioral assessments. The Commission supports
this approach to the discipline process and recommends that appropriate
funding be allocated to develop behavior management programs that
take a holistic approach to discipline. District discipline policies
should be proactive, research-based, and school-wide, and promote
positive behavioral support. OSEP can play an important role in
providing guidance to states and school districts as uniform discipline
guidelines are developed.
. . .The U.S. Commission encourages DOED to
look at state and local programs that allow the placement of students
with disciplinary problems in alternative schools. Removing students
from an integrated setting may not always be an appropriate response,
particularly given the fact that many alternative schools provide
less than adequate education. . . .Alternative schools only work
if there are adequate resources to ensure their proper function.
. . .DOED should monitor districts that use alternative schools
to ensure that they are not in violation of least restrictive
environment requirements of the IDEA.
. . .Other models, such as schools within
schools, may work without having the effects of complete segregation
and should be examined by OSEP for potential replication.
Barbara Ebenstein, NCD Request for Public
Comment, May 31, 2002:
Changes should not be considered to the current
IDEA discipline policy. It simply has to be implemented by LEAs
and SEAs.
Robin Brewer, public comment from hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
Expand professional development so that three-tiered
systems are implemented. Develop plans for professional development
that is a requirement. Ensure that all students with emotional
and behavioral disorders are taught by fully qualified teachers.
Develop programs that train teachers who work with the students
with emotional and behavioral disorders, using alternative programs
as well as traditional programs, to make sure they are fully certified
to a high standard.
Barbara Raimondo, NCD Request for Comment,
May 29, 2002:
Cessation of services should not be permitted,
but students who are removed from their educational setting should
be placed in settings where they have access to appropriate mental
health and behavioral support services provided by qualified professionals
with specialized training and expertise.
Marisa C. Brown, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, June 6, 2002:
The only way to ensure maintaining a child's
dignity and availability for learning is to implement positive
approaches. Language needs to be inserted to ensure that functional
behavioral assessments and positive behavioral support plans are
addressed for all students as identified in their present level
of performance, not only required once students have exhibited
a behavior that results in suspension or expulsion.
Dr. George Sugai, Ph.D., testimony before
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, April
25, 2002:
. . .Policy makers, administrators, educators,
and family members must invest in and give high priority to systems
and practices that facilitate a "working smarter" approach. .
. .
. . .Like academic skills, appropriate social
behaviors and skills must be taught directly and aggressively
if meaningful improvements in problem behaviors are to be realized.
. . .The research literature is clear that a better way of improving
the social culture and academic outcomes in schools is to adopt
a sustained, positive, preventive, and instructional approach
to school-wide discipline and behavior management. This approach
focuses on giving priority to teaching and encouraging positive
school-wide behavioral expectations, and increasing school capacity
to support sustained use of empirically validated practices.
. . . A science of . . . effective behavioral
interventions has existed for over 60 years, yet this knowledge
is not overtly considered and applied in many classrooms. . .
. Establishing and sustaining effective school-wide PBS practices
and supports requires more than "one-shot" training seminars,
packaged curricula, and administrative mandates. Careful consideration
and integration of systems, practices, outcomes, and data are
needed.
Sheila Buckley, public comment from hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
My kid has done a good job of adjusting because
we used the functional behavior assessment. That could eliminate
a lot of problems. We need to use the research and the data that's
out there and start using the appropriate programs.
Lisa Graham Keegan, William J. Bennett and
Chester E. Finn, Jr., letter to Chairman Terry Branstad, February
20, 2002:
The system needs to be fair to the teacher,
the special education student and other students in the classroom
and the school. It needs a single discipline standard. Youngsters
who cannot meet that standard need to do their learning in other
classrooms and schools. . . .Teachers need the authority to discipline
problem students without fear of being hauled before a judge.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, Written Statement for the Senate Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee on IDEA Enforcement, April 25, 2002:
The AACAP strongly supports the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act provisions for dealing with infractions
of school discipline codes. . . . IDEA's discipline provisions
are working effectively and provide local education agencies with
adequate flexibility to address these issues. The AACAP opposes
any attempts to amend IDEA to allow school districts to cease
educational services to students with disabilities. . . . Ceasing
educational and other services for students as a means of discipline
violates the principle of leaving no child behind.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
The major premise of the IDEA discipline procedures
need to be retained, including the requirement for the provisions
of FAPE to students with disabilities suspended or removed from
school for discipline reasons. We do not support legislation that
would remove a student's right to education services during suspensions
or removals. However, current law relating to discipline is unnecessarily
complicated and needs to be streamlined.
Ronnie Jackson, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Committee, April 25, 2002:
. . .It is imperative that a menu of dangerous
actions for which no student can exercise immunity be developed.
This list would be limited to those circumstances and actions
that directly impact overall school safety. At a minimum, it should
include: intentional assault on school personnel, repeated and
intentional assault of other students; possession and/or distribution
of illegal substances on school grounds or at school activities;
possession of handguns or other weapons on school campus or at
school activities; and, intentionally endangering the safety of
school personnel and/or students.
. . . School systems must be given authority
to deal with intentional misconduct that is not a direct and clear
manifestation of a student's disability.
Laura Gardner, Parent, NCD Request for Public
Comments, May 19, 2002:
Changing to uniform discipline policies will
not improve functioning in a student with a disability. All it
serves to do is relieve the teachers from having to try.
Dr. Joseph Wehby, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April
16, 2002:
. . .The emerging literature on building PBS
plans for students with disabilities clearly points to the need
to build larger overall school systems of supports to, (a) ensure
that PBS plans are implemented with a high degree of integrity
and, (b), to prevent problem behaviors from developing into chronic
patterns that will ultimately require specialized services. .
. .In addition, this literature suggests that FBA and PBS technology
should be routinely used with non-identified children to prevent
behavioral problems from developing into chronic patterns that
may then lead to special education services. . . .Increased behavior
management training should be provided to general education teachers,
special education teachers, school administrators and related
service personnel. This training should focus on evidence-based
practices that address behavior needs at the whole school and
individual child levels.
. . .Procedures for incorporating functional
behavior assessments within ongoing individualized education plans
are needed. What I would be saying is that before I would go towards
removing a child for disruptive behavior, I would conduct these
sorts of assessments of the behavior, the environment. . . .Perhaps
one of the greatest challenges in the field is working within
school systems that continue to use, advocate, and promote punishment
and exclusion strategies in response to behavioral challenges,
while the evidence is clear that these strategies not only failed
to reduce challenges, but may in fact increase problems.
Sharon Vaughn, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
So what I think we can say with confidence
is that a lot of the problems that end up identifying students
as emotionally disturbed could be prevented, and they could be
prevented with solid, appropriate school-wide behavior support,
not behavioral discipline--you heard a difference in the word--behavioral
support programs.
Teresa Peterson, Parent, Letter to Senator
Edward Kennedy, April 12, 2002:
There is no need for additional laws to hold
children with disabilities accountable for guns and weapons. It
already does!
Ron Benner, School Psychologist, public comment
from the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence
in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification Task Force,"
Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
First, we need to respond early to these behavioral
needs so that they have a better chance of positive outcomes.
Next, we need to offer continuum of services. These should have
multiple steps to allow movement to and from the most restricted
programs.
Kathleen Boundy, testimony before hearing
on "IDEA: Behavioral Supports in School", Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, April 25, 2002:
. . .The preservation of the no cessation
principle is critical . . .only now that our federal and state
framework for education reform has an accountability that is underscored
in the IDEA amendments in 1997 are students with disabilities
expected to participate meaningfully in the general curriculum
to the maximum extent appropriate to meet the performance goals
set for all children and to be included in all state and district
assessments . . . their right to stay put and not have their education
disrupted is paramount. . . . An amendment to eliminate the manifestation
determination would violate Section 504 and I urge "opposition
to such a provision. . . .I would suggest to you that alternative
schools, while perhaps a better option than exclusion, would exacerbate
resegregation of public education by race and disability, and
it is likely to be an unintended consequences of accountability
or the movement to hold schools to high standards, as failing
students will be shuttled or referred out the door. . . .Oppose
any amendments to use the right to attend alternative schools
as a means to weaken the LRE provision of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act.
. . . We cannot retreat from the intent and
new emphasis of the IDEA Amendments of 1997 that opened new vistas
to parents and their children with disabilities.
. . .IDEA must be implemented consistently
with the zero reject/no cessation principle established in 1975.
. . . Persistent efforts to further amend
the law to make it easier to exclude children with disabilities
are not based on substantiated evidence of need.
. . . [T]o retreat from the 'no cessation'
provision . . . will create a huge loophole for schools seeking
not to be held accountable for the education of these more vulnerable
children and youth. . . . We should be discussing ways to enrich
and expand students' educational opportunities to address the
long histories of absences and poor quality education they must
overcome--not attempting to eliminate their right to any education.
. . . If the statute is changed,. . . expanding
school personnel's unilateral authority to remove so-called 'disruptive'
students, thereby making it easier to send students with disabilities
to alternative education programs or settings where they will
not be ensured their right to a free appropriate public education
in the least restrictive environment, there is little doubt but
that resegregation without accountability for teaching and learning
will be the outcome.
Commissioner Christopher Edley, Jr. Civil
Rights Commission Briefing: Panel to Explore the Promise and Practice
of IDEA, Washington, DC, April 12, 2002:
To suggest that alternative schools are some
silver bullet is simply not the case. We're not providing adequate
resources in regular education, much less in this alternative
hidden education.
Dr. Maggie McLaughlin, testimony from the
hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, "System Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April
23, 2002:
I do believe that those pieces of paper are
important civil rights, protections for given children. I would
in this whole idea of flexibility say we may want to keep the
concept of manifestation determination . . . not the way, necessarily,
that individuals states and school districts have chosen to interpret
this because there is a great deal of ownership for this paperwork
that rests at the local district. -- but the basic civil rights
protections that are associated with some of those provisions
in law are not something that we should just automatically say
that, because it's burdensome, we're going to throw away.
Question 4. To what extent are resources available
to school districts, educational personnel, and parents to ensure
implementation of the IDEA discipline policy?
Summary: Testimonies shed little light on this question.
Gary Orfield, Harvard Civil Rights Project,
letter to Senator Tom Harkin, September 25, 2001:
We believe appropriate treatment will require
federal funding and increased support for earlier treatment, better
training, more careful screening, and alternative solutions to
classroom problems. . . .[M]ore funds are needed to bolster federal
enforcement, to ensure proper IDEA implementation, and to increase
the quality of instruction, supports and services received by
minority students in both regular and special education.
Dr. Ann Kaiser, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Research Agenda Task Force," Nashville, TN, April 18, 2002:
My number one priority is the prevention of
behavior problems in young children. . . .That makes the biggest
difference in how many students we see in special education. We
don't have an effective technology for identifying or preventing
the development of behavior problems.
Richard H. Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment,
May 21, 2002:
. . .We developed and issued a document to
explain IDEA discipline provisions, which is available at http://www.nysed.gov/sped/policy/discipcover.htm.
However, there is a need for extensive school-based training so
that school personnel and parents understand the provisions and
how to appropriately implement them.
. . . New York State's statutory and regulatory
provisions are in compliance with federal IDEA discipline policies.
However, given the high rate of suspensions and removals for disciplinary
reasons in the schools, states lack the necessary resources to
effectively monitor the enforcement of the discipline procedures.
New York State enforces the requirements through its quality assurance
reviews, complaint investigations and due process appeals.
Issue
4. Eligibility and Overrepresentation of Ethnic, Cultural and Racial
Minorities in Special Education
In the most recent IDEA reauthorization in 1997,
the U.S. Congress called for greater efforts to ensure that children
from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are classified
accurately and appropriately placed.
"Too many children are being wrongly placed
in special education classes under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), and we need to change that."
--January 15, 2002, Committee on Education and the Workforce
News Release
Over-all race was found to impact special
education rates far more than any other variable. The results demonstrate
conclusively that school districts do not make special education
placements in a color-blind fashion. Dr. Matthew Ladner, October
4, 2001
And it's a deficit-driven classification
model where all the blame for failure is placed on the child; there's
little or no assessment of the quality of the student's instructional
settings and interventions that are conducted prior to the referral.
Dr. Edward Vargas, April 23, 2002
Specific factors such as cultural, ethnic,
social or language background are definitely major factors in special
education. This includes students who are nonverbal and who must
rely on augmentative communication. Kids in special are minorities
and their civil rights are shamefully violated on a regular basis.
Mary Dickter, Parent, May 2002
Question 1. What policies, procedures, and/or practices
can be established related to prevention or early intervention that
can contribute to the elimination of the problem of overrepresentation?
Summary: The answers clustered, with the most prevalent
theme being the need for strong early intervention programs for
identification and prevention of special education placement. Likewise,
interventions in general education, with proper testing, rigorous
eligibility criteria, assessments, materials, and high quality instruction.
These lead to discussions of blended funding streams, referenced
earlier in the funding section. For successful early intervention
and general education prevention the shortage of teaching staff
is identified as a major issue and targeted for changes through
professional development, parent training and support. Finally,
appropriate data collection and manipulation is important, with
the issue of disaggregation for race and gender appearing several
times. These will be repeated in recommendations beyond this question
and beyond this section, but they are most relevant here to the
questioning of policies, procedures and practices.
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, testimony
in Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Hearing, March 21,
2002:
We must make sure that no child is determined
to be eligible for special education services merely because of
a lack of good instruction or because our teachers and administrators
do not have the skills, supports, and technical assistance needed
to properly serve them in regular classrooms where they can learn
to high standards.
Daniel Losen, New Research on Special Education
and Minority Students with Implications for Federal Education Policy
and Enforcement, Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, Part Two:
Discriminatory Practices in Education, Chapter 18:
Where state funding is weighted to spend more
money in relation to the degree of disability, black students
often face a greater chance of being labeled "retarded" and placed
in restrictive programs. . . .[They] receive less money per student
than in states where the funding is not weighted by severity of
disability.
U.S. Education Secretary, Washington
Times opinion editorial, November 30, 2001:
Our system fails to teach many of these 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.
Sharon Vaughn, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
25, 2002:
Think about very early intervention and [do]
not think about it as special education or . . . even . . . as
the path to special education, but think about it as the path
to prevention.
Daniel Reschley, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
25, 2002:
. . . The NAS Committee looked at biological
and social differences among groups to see whether those differences
contributed to Overrepresentation. The answer on both classes
of variables is yes.
. . . Our very strong argument is that these
differences do not justify continued differences all the way through
school. What these differences point to is how essential early
intervention is--early identification and early intervention is
more effective than later id and intervention. . . . The NAS Committee
strongly recommends early childhood programs--they need to be
intense and sustained, they need to provide direct learning experiences
in a planned curriculum, and the services need to be comprehensive.
. . . Some of our general education recommendations:
better integration of the systems; improved instruction; and perhaps
more important, multi-tiered academic and behavioral interventions
prior to special education placement, and that's really critical
. . . To provide behavioral intervention first as part of a school-wide
positive discipline program that pays more attention to appropriate
behavior than to finding reasons to suspend kids and that translates
further into good classroom organization and positive, effective
behavior management.
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students
in Special and Gifted Education National Research Council (2002):
. . .Federal guidelines should encourage better
integrated general and special education services. Eligibility
should ensue not only when a student exhibits large differences
from typical levels of performance, but when the student does
not respond to high-quality interventions. States should adopt,
and the Federal Government support, a universal screening and
multi-tiered strategy in general education to enable early identification
and intervention with children at risk for reading problems, as
well as conduct studies to test the plausibility of universal
behavior management interventions, early behavior screenings,
and techniques to work with children at risk for behavior problems.
. . .As is often the case when comparing research
and current policy, the committee found a wide gap between what
is recognized as best practice in special education services and
what is available to most students. Though research points to
ways to improve outcomes, applying this knowledge to improving
special education for minority--and all--children remains a challenge.
. . .Early identification and intervention
is more effective than later identification and intervention.
This is in opposition to the current "wait to fail" principle,
which increases the likelihood of failure because of the lack
of early supports, and decreases the effectiveness of the support
once it is in place.
Robert Runkel, testimony before Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, March 21, 2002:
. . .Two new programs--Reading First and Early
Reading First--have the potential to provide an infusion of both
funding and new programs to help target this at-risk population.
New Title I resources will clearly benefit our efforts to meet
the academic needs of children.
Dr. Sally Arthur, testimony at the hearing
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "State and Local
Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal Barriers
to Innovation," May 8, 2002:
The "Need to Fail" principles should be removed
to provide successful implementation of curriculum-based assessment
and increase service to students in earlier grades. Most early
grade teachers are able to identify, with relative accuracy, students
who are not making the necessary gains. Appropriate efforts could
contribute to a significant difference in numbers of students
in need of special education and long-range outcomes for all students.
Ron Benner, School Psychologist, public comment
from the hearing before the President's Commission on Excellence
in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification Task Force,"
Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
We need early intervention with programs that
are researched-based and field-tested. . . .Start with birth to
three.
Katy Beh Neas, testimony at the hearing before
the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education and
the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "Rethinking Special
Education: How to Reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act," May 2, 2002:
The Committee must examine strategies to ensure
access to early intervention services for all eligible infants
and toddler with disabilities and their families.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cartledge, testimony at the
hearing before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on
Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Preschool children from this population need
access to high quality preschool programs. Recent scientific reports
showing lasting effects of quality early childhood childcare into
adulthood [are] instructive. Children who were in these programs,
not only achieved better, but were less likely to be referred
for special education, were less likely to access the criminal
justice system, were more likely to finish high school, and more
likely to go into college. . . .For children at the greatest risk,
early intervention needs to parallel, if not exceed, those services
that are currently available to families of infants with low incidence
disorders such as sensory disabilities. Emphasis needs to be placed
not only on remediation for those at risks for school failure,
but also on stimulating the cognitive abilities for youngsters
who show promise of giftedness.
Kathleen Boundy, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
Briefing on the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act, April 12, 2002:
These youngsters should be in inclusive settings
and natural settings, and they also should be given educational
components to learn so that they're not starting kindergarten
already behind. I think an awful lot of what happens in learning
is that when children come into school behind, behavior becomes
the way to hide themselves as they age up.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony at the hearing before
the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives,
October 4, 2001:
Researchers have identified the lack of early reading
and behavioral interventions as a contributing factor. Support
early intervention programs. High quality preschool programs,
and early intervention for students experiencing difficulty with
reading and behavior have been shown to decrease the number of
children inappropriately referred to special education.
U.S. Education Secretary, testimony at the hearing
before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House
of Representatives, October 4, 2001:
Research shows that children who pass through the
early grades undiagnosed and undetected miss opportunities to
benefit fully from instruction. This occurs with too many children.
Schools need help in early identification and the provision of
appropriation special education services as soon as possible.
Chancellor Harold Levy, testimony from the hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education,
"Assessment and Identification," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
. . .There is no question, the earlier the identification,
the better. And what we need to do is train our people so that
the evaluation can take place at an early enough level and [be]
done in a professional way so that we have early intervention
or the opportunity to really do something to bring the kid back
into general ed.
. . .IDEA should be amended to allow funding of
intervention and prevention strategies to support students in
general education who are experiencing academic, social or behavioral
difficulties that place them at risk of referral to special education.
Whole school approaches create a single, seamless service delivery
system for all students, disabled and nondisabled alike . . .
predicated upon the belief that students are more alike than they
are different and that integrating resources results in improved
student outcomes for all. This strategy puts an end to what I
believe is an unhealthy and unproductive competition for resources
between general education and special education.
Dr. Richard Schoonover, testimony at the hearing
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "State and Local
Level Special Education Programs that Work and Federal Barriers
to Innovation," May 8, 2002:
IDEA needs to provide flexibility for local innovative
programs and procedures. . . . which encourage states and school
districts to . . . develop services for students that provide
the "ounce of prevention." Limited services should be available
for students prior to verification of a disability, and for students
who are at risk of being identified.
Bill Freund, testimony from the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, "Finance Task Force," Los Angeles,
CA, March 21, 2002:
[T]o prevent this potential, one possibility may
be to require one or two research-based instructional interventions
before labeling a student SLD .
Commission Chair Terry Branstad, remarks from the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 25, 2002:
Emphasis [should be] on early intervention and prevention,
the use of special education resources, particularly with regard
to dealing with behavior in general education contexts, and then
. . . on outcomes in special education.
Chaka Fattah, testimony at the hearing before the
Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives,
October 4, 2001:
Develop a district wide vision for the education
of all students. Review traditional school practices to identify
and address factors that may contribute to student difficulties.
Redefine staff roles to support a shared responsibility for all
students.
Richard Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment, May
21, 2002:
. . .Support innovative and research-based effective
practices and national models of program and service delivery
directed to improve the overall results for students with disabilities
and to determine how to remedy discriminatory practices that lead
to disproportionate representation.
. . .Training for evaluators, administrators and
teachers and more effective technical assistance and information
on effective approaches for preventing and corroding disproportion.
. . .Opportunities to waive certain federal requirements
that may be barriers to creativity must be allowed when states
and school districts are able to show effective and innovative
approaches that improve results.
. . .Comprehensive effort to establish adequate
support services in general education. Congress needs to target,
not necessarily through IDEA, more resources for systemic prevention
and early intervention and support services in the general education
system.
. . .States need to identify school districts with
high rates of identification, low rates of declassification, high
rates of placements in separate sites, and significant disproportion,
based on race and ethnicity [and] work with identified districts
to verity such rates, determine underlying causes and, if necessary,
require the development of a corrective action plan. Criteria
need to be developed to identify school districts significantly
above the average for each area of concern.
Sharon Vaughn, testimony from the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February 25, 2002:
States adopt a universal screening and multi-tiered
intervention strategy to enable early identification and intervention
for children at risk for reading problems. This same recommendation
also holds for students with behavior problems. . . .And the best
way to do that is through early identification. . . .All students
should be screened early and probably right around the middle
of the end of Kindergarten or early First Grade. . . .Students
who fail to make adequate progress can be provided with supplemental
instruction. . . .Based on progress monitoring benchmarks, we
can provide assessments or screenings in the classroom-by-classroom
teacher with fairly minimal training. . . .Students not meeting
the benchmarks will receive additional support--continued primary
intervention--core reading and supplemental intervention ...continued
monitoring progress at benchmarks and exit when it [is] appropriate
to do so.
Gary Orfield, Harvard Civil Rights Project, letter
to Senator Tom Harkin, September 25, 2001:
[Research by Osher, Woodruff and Sims] suggests
that the failure to provide less intrusive early intervention
and high quality services for African American children exhibiting
signs of ed and trauma leads to over identification in highly
restrictive programs and in our juvenile justice system. . . .Many
minority students would be better off if schools had additional
funds to improve the quality and effectiveness of early intervention
. . . a number of the findings from our commissioned research
call for greater training of both regular and special educators
to ensure that regular classroom teachers are well equipped to
deliver instruction to students with special needs or who are
struggling academically.
Kathleen Boundy, testimony before U.S. Civil Rights
Commission Briefing: The Promise and Practice of IDEA, Washington,
DC, April 12, 2002:
We should be going in and looking at those schools
[with disproportionate number of children excluded based on race]
and saying, do these kids have positive behavior strategies being
offered?"
Daniel Losen, New Research on Special Education
and Minority Students with Implications for Federal Education Policy
and Enforcement, Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, Part Two:
Discriminatory Practices in Education, Chapter 18:
. . .Improvements in the quality of instruction
and curriculum for minority students, in both regular and special
education, should be top priorities if the patterns of minority
Overrepresentation in special education are to be remedied. (Beth
Harry-Rocks and Soft Places)
. . .Greater support to meet the specific educational
and emotional needs of minority students, through improved research,
early intervention, and sustained services, is needed to stem
the dangerous flow of minority school children into the juvenile
justice system. (Osher, Woodruff and Sims, Exploring Relationships)
. . .OSEP and OCR should work together with states
to gather and disseminate school and district data on minority
identification and placement rates. . Solving the problems will
require a comprehensive systemic approach . . . state and federal
agents who intervene should provide technical assistance and supports
that consider the needs of the students and teachers in regular
education classrooms and not simply seek to correct numerical
disparities in special education.
American Youth and Policy Forum and Center on Education
Policy, Twenty-five Years of Educating Children with Disabilities:
the Good News and the Work Ahead:
Experts have suggested several strategies to reduce
inappropriate placements in special education. They include expanding
intervention programs in preschool and general education, addressing
other deficiencies in the school system that may lead to low achievement,
and increasing access of poor families to health and social services.
Other strategies include providing professional developmental
and other supports to special education and general education
teachers to make them work more effectively with a diverse student
population; using culturally-relevant assessments and materials;
and redefining staff roles to support shared responsibility for
all students.
U.S. Education Secretary, testimony at the hearing
before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House
of Representatives, October 4, 2001:
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.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cartledge, testimony at the hearing
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "Assessment and
Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
I strongly recommend that we focus on, one, prevention,
and, two, teaching children more adaptive ways to behave.
Daniel Reschley, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
25, 2002:
Most state regulations require an IQ discrepancy
for LD determination. . . .So we recommend that special education
eligibility focus on interventions, that it use non-categorical
conceptions of disabilities or markedly changed criteria for the
current high-incidence disabilities. No IQ test would be required,
and the results of an IQ test would not be the primary criterion.
Dr. Frank Gresham, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
The current approach to defining learning disabilities
based on IQ achievement discrepancy should be summarily abandoned
because it is fundamentally flawed, invalid and prevents early
identification intervention efforts. School study teams should
give more weight to teacher judgments in the special education
eligibility process. Assessment procedures that contribute information
to informed instructional decisions should become primary instruments
of special education eligibility determination.
Linda Wernikoff, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
I think if you would eliminate mandatory IQ testing
it would certainly be a way of having our school psychologists
spend their time doing intervention and prevention. One of the
major things that we have done in New York City is increase the
flexible way that school psychologists spend their time, so that.
. . they have been an integral part of our intervention [by] conducting
functional behavior assessments, doing behavior intervention plans,
not only for students who are referred to Committees on Special
Ed, but youngsters who are in general ed who are having difficulties.
Commissioner Cheryl Takemoto, remarks from the
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
[F]amilies who have the access to attorneys get
the services, while families in the lower socioeconomic brackets,
which in our country is represented largely by minorities, are
not getting the services that they need.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
. . .Increasing the presence of high-quality differentiated
instruction in general education for high-incidence of mild disability
referral;
. . .Underscore reading and math because most of
the students that are referred for special education are referred
for reading problems . . . provide for universal early screening
of all students.
. . .Capitalize on the emerging standards-based
instructional attainment strategies, achievement disaggregation,
and research based instruction. There are multiple systems now
emerging around the country that allow teachers to look very closely
at the learning standards for that state to disaggregate student
performance based on criterion-referenced assessments, to look
at content clusters, to look at the skill sets, and to look at
matching researched-based strategies with that.
. . .Shift the focus of identification from labeling
the children to matching each student's teaching and learning
to specific high-quality instructional intervention, eliminating
the classification labels that presume instructional relevance
and the interventions that may accompany the placement.
Commissioner Jack Fletcher, opening remarks from
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment
and Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
In order for our public schools to truly serve all
students and ensure that no child will be left behind, we have
to develop better methods of screening and identifying children
with high incidence disabilities. . . . .Here in New York City,
the Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education reached
agreement in 1997 allowing the City's school system to significantly
reduce the number of inappropriate and disproportionate referrals
of African-Americans, Hispanics and English-deficient students
. . .through the increased use of remedial and pre-referral intervention
programs. The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights
is awaiting further data from the Board to confirm the success
of these programs.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendation
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
. . .There should be increased emphasis on outcomes
and improving access to effective regular education and special
education services.
. . . Judgment as to whether a child has a cognitive
disability or emotional disturbance should be withheld until he
or she has received high-quality instruction in the general education
setting. More pre-referral interventions should be implemented
at the local level.
. . .Schools with disproportionate representation
in special education should be subject to federal evaluations
to determine whether individual placements are appropriate. Where
over-referral is found, districts should be required to develop
plans for better evaluative tools and reintegration of misclassified
students in regular education. . . . Timelines for completion
should be established and observed.
. . .DOED, in the disbursement of discretionary
funds, should focus on traditionally under served populations,
allocating adequate money to improving the assessment process.
Perhaps a percentage of federal funding could be used to tie demographic
and income data to state and local performance plans or strategies
designed to overcome Overrepresentation or inappropriate categorization.
Federal funding should be available to encourage and reward districts
that develop successful plans for reducing rates of over-referral
and that engage in activities targeting under served populations,
for example, by creating inner city or rural parent training centers.
Dr. Donald Oswald, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Briefing on the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act, April 12, 2002:
National progress . . . and an improved understanding
of the causes and remedies are dependent on the regular, systematic
collection of high-quality data and its continued availability
to the public in a usable form. Requiring states to disaggregate
special education data by race, ethnicity, and by gender is essential.
Race and gender data are critical not only for identification
but also for placement and exit data if we are to adequately grasp
how special education serves all of America's children.
Chancellor Harold Levy, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
The criteria for determining the existence of a
disability are inadequate within the current IDEA framework, and
in my judgment, contribute to misidentification and overrepresentation.
The reauthorization must address more rigorous eligibility criteria.
. . .There is also powerful research suggesting that a lack of
instructional and behavioral interventions is a contributing factor
to special education referrals.
Dr. Philip Burke, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The Role and Function
of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," April 26, 2002:
I think you can deal with part of it through personnel
preparation, part of it through improving the general education
that's available to children in the schools.
Dr. Kim Goodrich Ratcliffe, testimony before Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, March 21, 2002:
. . .An expressed concern has been the purposeful
over-identification of students with disabilities in order to
increase school district revenues. . . . School districts operate
in a limited resource model. There are only so many dollars available
and an increase in cost in one area must be offset by a decrease
in another area. There is no financial incentive to over-identify
students as needing services under IDEA.
. . .Continue to fund effective existing programs
and encourage the creation of additional programs for children
in poverty, or who are otherwise at risk of failure in school,
to prevent the over-identification of students with disabilities.
Effective existing programs would include but not be limited to,
Head Start, Parents as First Teachers, First Steps, Title 1, and
programs for migrant workers and homeless children.
Dr. Martin Gould, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "The Role and Function
of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation
of Special Education," April 26, 2002:
To the extent that you can target personnel preparation
programs, or even set expectations up within grants that go to
certain geographic areas, I would suggest that you consider those
kinds of approaches.
Question 2. What strategies and/or policies should
school districts creates or adopts related to culturally and linguistically
sensitive and appropriate family centered services?
Summary: Some answers are quite obvious: pre-natal
and other health care services, coordinated family services; culturally
appropriate technical assistance to schools, training in culturally
sensitive diagnostics and parent training. One individual recommended
cultural competencies for state certification requirements; and
also suggested culturally sensitive diagnostics.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on Reauthorization of IDEA, May, 2002:
. . .The reauthorized IDEA should give increased
attention to racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity to prevent
inappropriate over-referral of students of color. . . .OSEP should
develop culturally and linguistically appropriate technical assistance
materials, and develop programs to better serve students living
on or near Indian reservations.
. . .Teachers must receive better training in diagnosing
disabilities and recognizing cultural misconceptions that lead
to misdiagnosis.
. . . And better evaluative tools, that are culturally
and linguistically sensitive and allow for appropriate accommodation,
should be devised.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cartledge, testimony from the hearing
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "Assessment and
Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
. . .CLD children born into families with specific
markers associated with school failure, for example, extreme poverty,
premature parenting, parent criminality, family disorganization
and so forth, need to be targeted for early intervention . . .
[including] family support and education, health services, sustained
high quality care and cognitive stimulation.
. . .We need to aggressively pursue the involvement
of CLD families and schools need to be trained to make outreach
to families. Many of these impoverished families don't know the
kinds of things that they need to do to stimulate the children's
emotional as well as intellectual well-being, so I think there
is a real need to address that issue if we are serious about prevention.
But I also want to point out that a lot of our problems with culturally
and linguistically different children are the way we assess them.
We fail to assess them in their native language; we fail to understand
cultural differences.
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students
in Special and Gifted Education National Research Council (2002):
All high-risk children should have access to high-quality
early childhood interventions, which may include family support,
health services, and preschool learning opportunities that will
prepare them for success in school. Additionally, an ongoing program
for research and development in early childhood intervention strategies
should be developed and maintained.
Dr. Edward Vargas, testimony from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "System
Administration Task Force," San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002:
. . .We're finding, in agencies serving inner-city
communities, that many of the people providing the services are
experiencing stress, burnout, and depression; and these are people
that we're being expected to collaborate with. . . .Support institutional
health and collaborating agencies. We just can't assume that they
are going to be in any different shape than many of the families
that they're serving and, in addition to that, we need to support
the collaboration process. In California, for example, there are
things called local planning areas that work with programs that
are supposed to collaborate, to hand-hold along the way.
. . .Expand the availability of, and access to,
quality preschool, full-day Kindergarten, early literacy, health
care, and parent support systems. We know that, when young people
and parents have access to these services, they come to school
ready to learn reading and are not in need of remediation.
. . . If young mothers don't have access to adequate
pre- and postnatal, health care and get the support systems they
need and have access to high- quality preschool and -- it will
be very difficult to provide for the interventions that are necessary.
Maria Gomez, public comment from the hearing before
the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston,
TX, February 27, 2002:
The disproportionate number of Latinos also classified
as being disabled due to the language barrier puts them at a disadvantage
when there are tests. Could a different kind of test be available
to eliminate these overcrowded classes, perhaps to place these
students in regular education with the support of ESL?
Barbara Cheadle, testimony from U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights Briefing: Promise and Practice of IDEA, Washington,
DC, April 12, 2002:
Parents need to be trained too. . . . Parents do
not know what to do.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony at the hearing before
the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives,
October 4, 2001:
Increase access to health services for poor women
and children - failure to do so will increase the number of children
that have disabilities.
Chakah Fattah, testimony before House Education
and the Workforce Hearing, October 4, 2001:
Form policy-making bodies that include community
members, and promote partnerships with service agencies and cultural
organizations. Help families get social, medical, mental health
and other support services. Develop supports such as early childhood
and at-risk programs, and offer an array of services to the community.
Recruit and retain "qualified" educators who have course work
and experience with diverse student populations and who are from
diverse backgrounds.
Donald Oswald, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
Briefing on the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act, April 12, 2002:
The impact of cultural competence training is unknown.
. . .Considerable effort has been put into developing and disseminating
cultural competence training methods and materials over the past
two decades. But the extent to which these training programs significantly
affect outcomes for children has rarely been examined. . . .The
recent upsurge of overrepresentation suggests that cultural competence
training efforts have thus far been unable to stem the tide.
Question 3. What strategies and/or policies should
state systems of higher education implement to prepare, recruit,
and retain qualified professionals from culturally and linguistically
diverse groups?
Summary: Training, training, and more training is
being requested. Increased training in behavior management, culturally
sensitive training for both special and general education teachers;
pre-service and in-service training, including a National Advisory
Panel to develop partnerships between universities and the community
to strengthen in-service training. Quality research is also a critical
area of need. Especially important to note is the statement about
the importance of strong training for university trainers.
Donald Oswald, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
Briefing on the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act, April 12, 2002:
Educational policy initiatives should be scrutinized
for unintended consequences. . . .Policy initiatives such as the
. . .focus on school accountability and high stakes testing may
have unanticipated and unintended consequences with respect to
disproportionality.
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students
in Special and Gifted Education National Research Council (2002):
In addition, schools with higher numbers of low-income
children are less likely to have well-trained staff with experience
in effective classroom management.
Daniel Reschley, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
25, 2002:
We suggest a national advisory panel be convened
in an institutional environment that is protected from political
influence to study the quality and currency of programs that now
exist to train teachers for general, special, and gifted education,
. . . something that would specify very, very clearly competencies
that teachers need to master and then has the teeth to make sure
those things occur.
Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Des Moines, IA, March
13, 2002:
Second recommendation is knowledge of research-based
interventions. What are they? Do our regular education teachers
know what they are and do our special education teachers know
what they are? And everyone, teachers, administrators, para-educators,
everyone has to be trained in current theory and best practices.
They must know what to do, how long to do it, and why they're
doing it. Consistency of research-based message is critical. Everyone
has to hear the same message.
Dr. Mary Brownell, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March
6, 2002:
We have too many children that are minorities in
special education, so these teachers must understand not only
educational issues, but ecological, social, and political issues
surrounding children with disabilities. Special educators have
an even greater task. They need to be able to do most of those
things, if not all, and then some. Special educators need a specialized
knowledge of assessment, instruction, assistive technology, and
behavior. For example, special education teachers need to know
about functional assessments so that they can look at what kind
of situations are causing children's behavior problems so that
they can remedy those situations. . . . what we're arguing for
is looking at how initial preparation, beginning teacher induction,
and professional development can be used to help remedy this situation.
. . . five OSEP-funded research projects that looked at linking
research that had been done in the field to practice in the classroom.
Those projects found that with sufficient support in professional
development, those teachers could learn to implement evidence-based
practices in the classroom, and, in fact, improve student achievement.
. . . High quality mentoring programs in special education have
been shown to improve the collaborative skills of not only the
beginning teacher, but also the mentored teachers . . . teachers
who have more intensive field placement, enter graduate mentor
programs, were more likely to view themselves as effective in
dealing with children.
Dr. Thomas M. Skrtic, testimony from hearing before
the President's Commission on the Excellence in Special Education,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
Essentially what we're proposing is to complete
the circle. We've already linked IDEA with standards-based reform,
and we've linked that to Improving America's Schools Act, now
known as the Leave No Child Behind Act. What we really need to
do is to link all of that to the Higher Education Act. By that
we mean that Title II should be amended to require all general
education teacher education program completers to demonstrate
competency in the content, knowledge, and skills necessary to
serve students with disabilities under the requirements of the
IDEA.
Dr. Mark Batshaw, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Professional Development
Task Force," Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
. . .Look seriously at the kind of partnership models
between universities and districts that can result in sustained
ongoing improvements in both in-service and preservice or . .
.in blended models of the two.
Dr. Joseph Wehby, from the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
. . .Increased behavior management training should
be provided to general education teachers, special education teachers,
school administrators, and related service personnel. This training
should focus on evidence-based practices that address behavior
needs at the whole school and individual child levels. An emphasis
needs to be placed on the importance of quality academic instruction
as a critical component to any behavior management program. Teacher
training programs in the area of severe behavior disorders should
require at least one primary course in the area of academic instruction,
specifically in the area of reading. Both the general and special
education teachers should receive training that emphasizes the
importance of behavioral assessments to the initial development
of defective programming for these students teacher preparation
should include transition planning as an important piece of the
training process.
. . .Continued research on effective strategies
is needed to determine the efficacy of different models of behavioral
and academic intervention for students with severe behavior disorders.
As the number of evidence-based strategies increases this information
needs to be incorporated in both pre-service and in-service training
programs for general and special education teachers.
Richard Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment, May
21, 2002:
. . .IHEs need to provide creative incentives to
help attract, train and retain personnel and to expand and strengthen
pre-service programs in both general and special education. Teachers
of future teachers need to have solid understanding of factors
leading to disproportionate representation and be able to assist
students in addressing them in school settings. Strategies and
policies such as targeted field and student placements and involving
students from diverse backgrounds in the interview process are
among those that could help recruit and retain professionals from
culturally diverse groups.
. . .Coursework in higher education needs to better
prepare professionals in the areas of diversity and multicultural
education and to address the effects of cultural and language
differences on student assessment, appropriate interpretation
of results, and the identification of appropriate instructional
interventions.
Elisa Hyman, public comment from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
[There is a] tremendous need for cultural competency
in the School system. There's also a need to support teachers
and administrators to manage behavior, not only to use exclusion
as a method to address children with behavior problems. Certainly,
we need to insure that quality educational and other kinds of
evaluations are provided that actually can give recommendations
for instructional methodologies.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cartledge, testimony from the hearing
before the Subcommittee on Education Reform, Committee on Education
and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, "Assessment and
Identification Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Pre-service and in-service training for general
ed teachers needs to be designed to equip personnel with cultural
competence. . .. [and] behavior management skills. I have my highly
trained graduate students, Ph.D. level graduate students, working
in the classrooms with the teachers, serving as what I call coaches.
. . .We have helped teachers to identify, design, implement instructional
strategies to work with all of the children in the classroom.
And we have been collecting data [that] shows when these teaching
practices are in effect, not only are children responding more
correctly academically but the level of disruptive behavior goes
down dramatically.
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students
in Special and Gifted Education, National Research Council (2002):
Add to the state certification or licensure requirements
for teachers: competency in understanding and implementing reasonable
norms and expectations for students; experience in modifying an
education environment to meet children's individual needs; competency
in behavior management in classroom and non-instructional school
settings; instruction in functional analysis and routine behavioral
assessment of students; instruction in effective intervention
strategies for students who fail to meet minimal standards; and
preparation to deliver culturally responsive instruction. Beyond
initial certification, teachers and administrators should have
regular exposure to current knowledge on instructional techniques.
Dr. James Ysseldyke, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
Teachers sometimes know about things like retroactive
and proactive inhibition and they don't know what to do on a daily
basis with kids, so we haven't got as much good training as we
ought to have on implementation of empirically demonstrated strategies
and tactics so that teachers know precisely what to do on a daily
basis with kids.
Rebecca Walk, testimony from the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education, Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
Individuals who want to teach must be taught how
to teach to an increasingly diverse range of learners rather than
a single or homogeneous grouping. We need to work collaboratively
with our institutions of higher education to bring about the changes
in present curriculum and the practice this will require. In order
to promote the changes that need to happen so teachers leave colleges
and universities prepared to teach in an environment with a variety
of diverse learning needs, the institutions of higher education
should be provided financial incentives through grants to encourage
the use of a variety of methods to attract and train new personnel
Question 4. What strategies and/or policies should
state and local school districts adhere to to ensure that students
with disabilities from diverse backgrounds are included and accommodated
in new statewide and district-wide assessments of student performance?
Summary: Strengthen the law to require accountability
for all students--a theme that appears elsewhere in this document--staff
development with improved teacher preparation and in-service opportunities,
collect and share useful data, and promote research and technical
assistance on diversity in the classroom.
Dr. James Ysseldyke, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
We see standards in their IEPs. We see kids making
progress towards standards, and we see some school systems for
the first time in history, assuming that they have responsibility
for improving outcomes for those kids because they count. So I
would also encourage the Commission to just reinforce, strengthen
that part of our law right now, which says that you must account
for the performance and progress of all students.
Dr. William L. Sanders, testimony from hearing
before the President's Commission on Excellence in Special
Education, Denver, CO, March 6, 2002:
If I could be the czar for a moment, the first thing
I would do is spend every dollar, federal and state, in staff
development activities to assist teachers to learn how to monitor
the progress of individual children in the classroom . . . I certainly
can show that . . . children can make wonderful individual progress
. . . if people are differentiating instruction in reaching the
needs of individual children.
Question 5. How can we preserve the protections afforded
students and parents under federal and state special education regulations
and correct the problems of unnecessary over-referral of students
from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds for special education?
Summary: This is such an important question. The
lack of direct answers in no way undercuts its importance. The fact
is that it is addressed in other ways under the Monitoring and Enforcement
Section of the document.
Chancellor Harold Levy, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, "Assessment and Identification
Task Force," Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002:
The IDEA still provides greater protections for
classified students than general education, thereby contributing
to the over identification.
Richard Cate, NCD Request for Public Comment, May
21, 2002:
. . .States need to monitor progress of school districts
in meeting key performance indicators. They should collect and
analyze data, review annual progress reports, and review policies,
procedures and practices in those districts with significant overrepresentation,
based on race/ethnicity in the identification of children as children
with disabilities, or placement in particular educational settings,
to ensure that IDEA requirements are met.
. . .By increasing the pool of trained personnel
and promoting research on the effects of cultural and language
differences on student assessment, increasing the availability
of technical assistance, and identifying appropriate instructional
interventions, local districts will have a better understanding
of how to address the needs of students from diverse backgrounds.
Question 6. Are there additional policy or implementation
barriers that should be considered in order to eliminate problems
related to overrepresentation?
Summary: Funding and removal of financial incentives
for higher numbers of special education placements, and, once again,
targeted data--surface here as well as elsewhere in the document.
Many issues bump into each other, but we chose to highlight these
in this last question as well.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, testimony before House Education
and the Workforce Hearing, October 4, 2001:
The failure to provide adequate federal funding
for special education may exacerbate overrepresentation. Many
of the districts with large populations of poor and minority students,
will not have the resources to implement needed innovations.
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students
in Special and Gifted Education National Research Council, 2002:
The Department of Education should conduct a single,
well-designed data collection effort to monitor the number of
children receiving special education services and the characteristics
of those children. The committee also recommends that a national
advisory panel be convened to design the collection of longitudinal
data that would allow for a more informed study of minority disproportion
in special education. Finally, the committee suggests that research
be carried into practice more effectively, which would include
research on scaling up promising practices from research sites
into widespread use.
Dr. Frank Rusch, testimony from the hearing before
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Transition
Task Force, Washington, DC, April 30, 2002:
Mentoring has worked well as transition-based services
for African American students.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Recommendations
on the Reauthorization of IDEA, May 2002:
Racial and ethnic data collected by OSEP should
be disaggregated by gender. DOEd should fund research for those
tracks by race/ethnicity for students who are wrongly identified
as needing special education.
Daniel Reschley, testimony from the President's
Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Houston, TX, February
25, 2002:
We note that minority students are more likely to
be served in more restrictive environments, [but there is] virtually
no evidence on whether or not African-American teachers [are]
less likely to refer African-American males due to behavioral
difficulties. There is a huge amount of speculation . . . but
no data. We need data on those issues.
List
of Commenters
Commenters are listed by date of their appearance at
the Commission, Congressional and other public hearings
I. President's Commission on Excellence
in Special Education Public Hearings
http://www.ed.gov/inits/commissionsboards/whspecialeducation
Houston, Texas, February 25--27,
2002
Speakers
Dr. Daniel Reschly, Chair, Department of Special Education and Professor
of Education and Psychology, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
Dr. Sharon Vaughn, Mollie Villeret Davis Professor in Learning Disabilities
and Director of the
Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts, College of Education,
University of Texas, Austin.
Larry Gloeckler, New York State Deputy Commissioner for Vocational
and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities, Albany,
NY
Jim Comstock-Galagan, Attorney, Southern Disability Law Center
Gene Lenz, Texas State Director of Special Education, Texas
Public Comments
Beth Foley, Council on Exceptional Children, Washington, DC
Rick Tisch, Parent and Member of Texas Council on Developmental
Disabilities
Dr. Brenda Scheuermann, Council of Children with Behavioral Disorders
(CEC)
Kimberly Ann Brusatori, Parent
Randi Turner, Advocate, Texas State Commission on Deaf and Hard
of Hearing
Missy Steed, Director of Development of Family to Family Network.
Kay Lambert, Advocacy, Inc., Austin, TX
Jean Palochino, IDEA Partnerships Project, ASPIRE cadre, AOTA
Maria Gomez, Parent, Dallas, Texas
Dr. Karen Scheinbaum MD, Parent, Houston, TX
Professional Development Task Force,
Denver, CO, March 6, 2002
Speakers
Dr. Thomas M. Skrtic, Chair of the Special Education Department,
University of Kansas
Dr. Mary T. Brownell, Professor of Special Education, University
of Florida
Mark L. Batshaw, M.D., Chief Academic Officer and Director of Children's
Research Institute, Children's National Medical Center and The George
Washington University, Washington, DC
Dr. Joyce Bales, Superintendent, District 60 Schools, Pueblo, CO
Dr. G. Thomas Bellamy, Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs,
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, CO
Beth Schaffner, Director of Curriculum and Technical Assistance
of Peak Parent Center, Colorado Springs, CO
Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, Senior Officer for the Liberty Plus Initiative,
Pittsburgh Public Schools and teacher, graduate program, University
of Pittsburgh
Dr. Rebecca Walk, State Director of Special Education, WY
Dr. William Sanders, Manager of Value-Added Assessment and Research
for SAS, Carey, NC
Public Comments
Rabbi Abrhamchik, Principal, Hillel Academy of Denver.
Robin Brewer, Assistant Professor, University of Northern Colorado
Sheila Buckley, Parent, Learning Disability Association of Colorado
Deborah Ziegler, Council on Exceptional Children, Washington, DC
Accountability Systems Task Force,
Des Moines, IA, March 13, 2002
Speakers
Brian McNulty, McREL, former Colorado State Director of Special
Education, Denver, CO
Dr. Gerald Tindal, Professor and Head, Department of Educational
Leadership, Technology, and Administration; Co-director, Behavioral
Research and Teaching at the University of Oregon
Dr. Lizanne DeStefano, Director, Bureau of Educational Research,
University of Illinois, Urbana
Dr. Martha Thurlow, National Center on Educational Outcomes, University
of Minnesota
Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, University of Pittsburgh
Public Comments
Dennis Dykstra, Consultant, Bureau of the Children and Family and
Community Services, Iowa State Department of Education
Finance Task Force, Los Angeles,
CA, March 21, 2002
Speakers
Bill Freund, Senior Budget Analyst, Ways and Means Committee, Washington
State Senate
Dr. Jack Daray, former Fiscal Analyst, House Appropriations Committee,
Washington State House of Representatives
Paul M. Goldfinger, Vice President of School Services of California,
Inc., Sacramento, CA
Dr. Eric Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow, Hoover Institute,
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Steve Johnson, Assistant Superintendent, Bozeman Public Schools,
Bozeman, MT
Dr. Thomas Parrish, Director, Center for Special Education Finance
and Managing Director, American Institute for Research, Palo Alto,
CA
Public Comments
Dr. Irving Lebovics, Board Member, Etta Israel Center in Los Angeles,
CA
Dr. Bennett Ross, Executive Director, Frostig Center, Los Angeles,
CA
Assessment and Identification Task
Force, Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002
Speakers
Dr. Harold Levy, Chancellor, New York City Schools
Dr. James E. Ysseldyke, Professor of Educational Psychology, University
of Minnesota
Dr. Gwendolyn Cartledge, Professor of Special Education, Ohio State
University
Dr. Julie Berry Cullen, Assistant Professor of Economics, Faculty
Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, University
of Michigan
Dr. Joseph H. Wehby, Assistant Processor of Special Education, Vanderbilt
University
Dr. Frank Gresham, University of California at Riverside
Public Comments
Linda Wernicoff, Deputy Superintendent, Special Education Initiatives,
New York City
Ron Brenner, School Psychologist, Seymour, CT
Elisa Hyman, Deputy Director, Advocates for Children, New York City
Cassandra Archee, Director, Advocacy Center, Rochester, NY
Etyan Kobre, Associate General Counsel, Agudath Israel of America
Tom DiPaioli, State Director of Special Education, RI
Research Agenda Task Force, Nashville,
TN, April 18, 2002
Speakers
Dr. Lynn Fuchs, Professor of Special Education, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, TN
Dr. Douglas Fuchs, Professor of Special Education, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, TN
Dr. Susan B. Hasazi, Professor, Department of Education, University
of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Dr. Ann Kaiser, Professor of Special Education and Psychology, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, TN
Dr. Dan Reschly, Department Chair of Special Education, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, TN
Public Comments
Nancy Diehl, Parent and Director of Parent Training and Information
Center, Greenville, TN
Randall Moody, National Education Association, Washington, DC
System Administration Task Force,
San Diego, CA, April 23, 2002
Speakers
Dr. Maggie McLaughlin, Associate Director, Institute for Study of
Exceptional Children and Youth, University of Maryland, College
Park, MD
Dr. Edward Lee Vargas, Superintendent of Hacienda La Puente Unified
School District, City of Industry, CA
Dr. Batya Elbaum, Associate Professor in Department of Teaching
and Learning, and the Department of Psychology at University of
Miami, and Director of the University of Miami School of Education
Center for Research
Donnalee Ammons, CEO of Success Insites, LA
William Dussault, Esq., Vice President of the Council of Parent
Advocates and Attorneys, Seattle, WA
Dixie Jordan, Director of the Families and Advocates for Education,
Riverton, WY
Carol Topinka, Director of Special Services, Milwaukee Public Schools
Dr. Judy Elliot, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education
of Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach, CA
Public Comments
Steve Brown, Parent
Allison Brenneise, Psychologist and Parent
"The Role and Function of the Office of Special
Education Programs (OSEP) in the Implementation of Special Education,"
Washington, DC, April 26, 2002
Speakers
Alice Parker, Director of Special Education, California
Barbara Gantwerk, Director of Special Education, New Jersey
Dr. Thomas Hehir, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Former Director
of the Office of Special Programs
Paula Goldberg, Executive Director, PACER Center, Minneapolis, MN
Leslie Seid Margolis, Parent and Managing Attorney, School House
Discipline Project, Maryland Disability Law Center, Baltimore, MD
Dr. Philip J. Burke, Professor and chair of Special Education, University
of Maryland, College Park, MD
Dr. Martin Gould, Senior Research, National Council on Disability,
Washington, DC
Public Comments
Paul Marchand, Co-Chair of Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
Education Task Force and The Arc, Washington, DC
Bill East, National Director, National Association of State Directors
of Special Education, Alexandria, VA
Transition Task Force Hearing, Washington,
DC, April 30, 2002
Speakers
Dr. Frank Rusch, Professor of Special Education, College of Education
at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Cathy Healy, former Project Coordinator for The Parent Educational
Advocacy Training Center (PEATC), Springfield, VA (current Kennedy
Fellow, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department
of Labor, Washington, DC)
Commissioners
Terry E. Branstad, Iowa
Adela Acosta, Maryland
Steve Bartlett, Texas
William Berdine, Kentucky
Paula C. Butterfield, Pennsylvania
Jay G. Chambers, California
W. Alan Coulter, Louisiana
Floyd Flake, New York
Thomas Fleming, Michigan
Jack M. Fletcher, Texas
Douglas H. Gill, Washington
David W. Gordon, California
Nancy S. Gramick, Maryland
Stephen Hammerman, New York
Bryan C. Hassel, North Carolina
Douglas Carl Huntt, Ohio
Michael James Rivas, Texas
Cheryl Rei Takemoto, Virginia
Katie Harper Wright, Illinois
Ex Officio Members:
Elizabeth Ann Bryan, Washington, DC
Edward Sontag, Washington, DC
Assistant Secretary Robert H. Pasternack, Washington, DC
G. Reid Lyon, Bethesda, MD
Assistant Secretary Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary
Commission Staff:
Linda Emory, Senior Policy Advisor
C. Todd Jones, Executive Director
Troy Justesen, Deputy Executive Director.
Marisa Munoz, Confidential Assistant
II. Congressional Hearings, House
of Representatives
http://edworkforce.house.gov
House Committee on Government Reform,
Hearing on Reauthorization of IDEA, February 28, 2001:
Marca Bristo, Chair, National Council on Disability, Washington,
DC
House Education and the Workforce
Hearing, Overidentification Issues Within the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act and the Need for Reform", October 4, 2001:
The Honorable Roderick R. Paige, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education,
Washington, DC
The Honorable Chaka Fattah, Representative, Second Congressional
District of Pennsylvania
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC
Dr. Thomas Hehir, Lecturer on Education, Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Dr. Matthew Ladner, Director, Children First America, Smithville,
TX
House Subcommittee on Education
Reform, Hearing on "Special Education Finance at the Federal, State
and Local Levels," April 18, 2002
Dr. Jay G. Chambers, Senior Research Fellow, American Institutes
of Research, Palo Alto, CA
Paul M. Goldfinger, Vice President, School Services of California,
Inc., Sacramento, CA
Dr. John R. Lawrence, President-Elect, American Association of School
Administrators, Superintendent, Troy R-III School District, Troy,
MO
House Subcommittee on Education Reform Hearing on "Rethinking Special
Education: How to Reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act," May 2, 2002
Dr. W. Douglas Tynan, Director, Disruptive Behavior Clinic, A.I.
Dupont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE
Gregory J. Lock, Principal, Oak View Elementary School, Fairfax,
VA
Leslie Margolis, Parent, Baltimore, MD, Managing Attorney, School
House Discipline Project, Maryland Disability Law Center, Baltimore,
MD
Dr. Patrick J. Wolf, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown
Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Katherine Beh Neas, Co-chair, CCD Education Task Force, Assistant
Vice President, Government Relations, Easter Seals, Washington,
DC
House Subcommittee on Education
Reform Hearing on "State and Local Level Special Education Programs
that Work and Federal Barriers to Innovation," May 8, 2002
Lawrence C. Gloeckler, Deputy Commissioner, Vocational and Educational
Services for Individuals with Disabilities, New York State Education
Department, Albany, NY
Dr. Richard Schoonover, Director of Student Services, Bellevue Public
Schools, Bellevue, Nebraska
Dr. Russell Skiba, Associate Professor, Indiana University, Bloomington,
IN
Dr. Sally Arthur, Director of Educational Support Services, Humble
Independent School District, Humble, TX
III. Congressional Hearings--Senate
http://labor.senate.gov
Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, What's Good for Kids, What Works for School,
Hearing on Reauthorization of IDEA, March 21, 2002
Assistant Secretary Robert Pasternack, Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, Washington,
DC
Lilliam Rangel-Diaz, Parent and Board Member, National Council on
Disability, Miami, FL
Bob Vaadeland, Superintendent, Minnewaska Area Schools, Glenwood,
MN
Kim Ratcliffe, Director of Special Education, Columbia Public Schools,
Columbia, MO
Robert Runkel, State Director of Special Education, Montana, Helena,
MT
Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Hearing on IDEA: Behavioral Supports in Schools,
April 25, 2002,
Kathleen B. Boundy, J.D., .Co-Director, Center for Law and Education,
Boston, MA
Professor George Sugai, Ph.D., Co-Director, Center on Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Dr. Ronnie M. Jackson, Superintendent, Dale County School District,
Dale County, AL Testimony Submitted For The Record: American Academy
of child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, Hearing on Reauthorization of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, June 6, 2002
Arlene Mayerson, Directing Attorney, Disability Rights Education
and Defense Fund, Inc., Berkeley, California
David W. Gordon, Superintendent, Elk Grove Unified School District,
Elk Grove, CA
Lawrence C. Gloeckler, Deputy Commissioner, Vocational and Educational
Services for Individuals with Disabilities, New York State Education
Department, Albany, NY
Dr. Stan F. Shaw, Professor and Coordinator of Special Education,
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Marisa Brown, Parent, Vienna, VA
Written Comments: American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry (www.aacap.org)
IV. U. S. Commission on Civil Rights,
Briefing on Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities
Act, Washington, DC, April 12, 2002
http://www.usccr.gov
Chairperson Mary Frances Berry
Commissioner Chris Edley, Jr.
Dr. Martin Gould, Senior Research Specialist, National Council on
Disability, Washington, DC
Dr. Donald Oswald, Associate Chair for Child Psychology, Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Kathleen Boundy, Co-director, Center for Law and Education, Washington,
DC and Boston, MA
Barbara Cheadle, Program Coordinator, National Federation for the
Blind; President, National Organizations of Parents of the Blind,
Baltimore, MD
Jeritza Montgomery, Teacher and IEP Facilitator, Thomas Stone High
School, Charles County, MD
V. Commenters to NCD Request for
Public Comment and Request for Comment from Youth Advisory Committee
http://www.ncd.gov
NCD wants to acknowledge and thank the following individuals
who submitted comments during the Federal Register Request
for Comment period. While not all of the comments are included in
this document, they are on file for review.
Richard H. Cate, Chief Operating Officer, The State
Education Department, The University of the State of New York, Albany,
NY
David W. Peterson, Superintendent, Northern Suburban Special Education
District, Highland Park, IL, April 5, 2002,
Barbara J. Ebenstein, Parent and Attorney at Law, Scarsdale, New
York, May 31, 2002
Fred Arthur Tenzer, Brooklyn, New York
Christopher J. Dyer, Gwinnett County, Georgia
Donna Carter, Parent
Dr. Karen Quick, School Psychologist
Barbara Raimondo, J.D., American Society for Deaf Children, Conference
of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf,
Consumer Action Network, National Deaf Education Project, Washington,
Grove, MD
Teresa Peterson, Parent, Brazoria, TX
Dr. Barbara LeRoy, Director, Developmental Disabilities Institute,
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Vernon M. Arrell, Commissioner, Texas Rehabilitation Commission,
Austin, TX
Dr. Rozell Moulton, Research Associate, Developmental Disabilities
Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Sarah Webster, ADSW, LMSW-AP, Director of Child Protective Service,
Texas Department of Protection and Regulatory Services, Austin,
TX
Laura Gardner, Parent, NY State
Victoria Sheehan, Parent, Mineral Point, PA
Kay Robles, Parent, Modesto, CA
Carole L. Grissett, Parent, Louisville, KY
Carole H. Long, Parent, Louisville, KY
Wendy Snider, Parent, Beaufort, SC
Sandra Dunleavy, Parent
Elizabeth Brant, Teacher, North Carolina
Carla J. Sullivan, Parent - IL
Liz Miller, Parent
Mary Dickter, Parent
Ruth, Student, Tucson, AZ
Jennifer, Student, Ohio
Allison, Student
Ken Lassessen, Parent
Erin, Student
Alex, Student, Richmond, KY
Rosemary Palmer, Parent
Jo Rupert Behm, M.S., R.N., Parent, CA
Mary, Student
Adam, Former Student, IL
Jessica, Former Student- Utah
Isaac, Former student
Whiteney, Student-New Jersey
Other Resources:
American Youth and Policy Forum and Center on Education
Policy, Twenty-five Years of Educating Children with Disabilities:
the Good News and the Work Ahead, p. 48. www.aypf.org and
www.ctredpol.ort
Chairman John Boehner, House Committee on Education
and the Workforce Fact Sheet, Fact Sheet, "IDEA Must Be Fully Funded,
But First It Must Be Fixed", April 6, 2000--www.edworkforce.house.gov
Committee on Education and the Workforce News Release,
January 15, 2002 www.edworkforce.house.gov
General Accounting Office Report 01-210 "Student Discipline,
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, January, 2001.
www.gao.gov
General Accounting Office Report 02-393, "Title 1:
Education Needs to Monitor States' Scoring of Assessments , April
1, 2002. www.gao.gov
Lisa Graham Keegan, Education Leaders Council; William
J. Bennett, Empower America; Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas B. Fordham
Foundation--letter to Chairman Terry Branstad, February 20, 2002
www.edexcellence.net (Fordham Foundation)
Daniel Losen, New Research on Special Education and
Minority Students with Implications for Federal Education Policy
and Enforcement, Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, Part Two:
Discriminatory Practices in Education--Chapter 18
National Academy of Sciences, Minority Students in
Special and Gifted Education
National Research Council (2002, M. Suzanne Donovan
and Christopher T. Cross, editors
Washington, DC: National Academy Press--(prepublication
copy-uncorrected proofs)
Gary Orfield, Harvard Civil Rights Project, Letter
to Tom Harkin, September 25, 2001. www.law.harvard.edu
Representative George Miller, IDEA Newsletter, June
27, 2002. www.house.gov/georgemiller
U.S. Education Secretary, Washington Times op ed,
November 30, 2001 www.ed.gov
Teresa Peterson, Parent, Letter to Senator Edward
Kennedy, April 12, 2002
Appendix
Mission of the National Council on Disability
Overview and Purpose
The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent
federal agency with 15 members appointed by the president of the
United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The overall purpose
of NCD is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures
that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities,
regardless of the nature or significance of the disability, and
to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency,
independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects
of society.
Specific Duties
The current statutory mandate of NCD includes the
following:
- Reviewing and evaluating, on a continuing basis,
policies, programs, practices, and procedures concerning individuals
with disabilities conducted or assisted by federal departments
and agencies, including programs established or assisted under
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, or under the Developmental
Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, as well as all
statutes and regulations pertaining to federal programs that assist
such individuals with disabilities, in order to assess the effectiveness
of such policies, programs, practices, procedures, statutes, and
regulations in meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities.
- Reviewing and evaluating, on a continuing basis,
new and emerging disability policy issues affecting individuals
with disabilities at the federal, state, and local levels and
in the private sector, including the need for and coordination
of adult services, access to personal assistance services, school
reform efforts and the impact of such efforts on individuals with
disabilities, access to health care, and policies that act as
disincentives for individuals to seek and retain employment.
- Making recommendations to the president, Congress,
the secretary of education, the director of the National Institute
on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and other officials
of federal agencies about ways to better promote equal opportunity,
economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and
integration into all aspects of society for Americans with disabilities.
- Providing Congress, on a continuing basis, with
advice, recommendations, legislative proposals, and any additional
information that NCD or Congress deems appropriate.
- Gathering information about the implementation,
effectiveness, and impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.).
- Advising the president, Congress, the commissioner
of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the assistant secretary
for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services within the Department
of Education, and the director of the National Institute on Disability
and Rehabilitation Research on the development of the programs
to be carried out under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.
- Providing advice to the commissioner of the Rehabilitation
Services Administration with respect to the policies and conduct
of the administration.
- Making recommendations to the director of the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research on ways to
improve research, service, administration, and the collection,
dissemination, and implementation of research findings affecting
persons with disabilities.
- Providing advice regarding priorities for the activities
of the Interagency Disability Coordinating Council and reviewing
the recommendations of this council for legislative and administrative
changes to ensure that such recommendations are consistent with
NCD's purpose of promoting the full integration, independence,
and productivity of individuals with disabilities.
- Preparing and submitting to the president and Congress
an annual report titled National Disability Policy: A Progress
Report.
International
In 1995, NCD was designated by the Department of State
to be the U.S. government's official contact point for disability
issues. Specifically, NCD interacts with the special rapporteur
of the United Nations Commission for Social Development on disability
matters.
Consumers Served and Current Activities
Although many government agencies deal with issues
and programs affecting people with disabilities, NCD is the only
federal agency charged with addressing, analyzing, and making recommendations
on issues of public policy that affect people with disabilities
regardless of age, disability type, perceived employment potential,
economic need, specific functional ability, veteran status, or other
individual circumstance. NCD recognizes its unique opportunity to
facilitate independent living, community integration, and employment
opportunities for people with disabilities by ensuring an informed
and coordinated approach to addressing the concerns of people with
disabilities and eliminating barriers to their active participation
in community and family life.
NCD plays a major role in developing disability policy
in America. In fact, NCD originally proposed what eventually became
the Americans with Disabilities Act. NCD's present list of key issues
includes improving personal assistance services, promoting health
care reform, including students with disabilities in high-quality
programs in typical neighborhood schools, promoting equal employment
and community housing opportunities, monitoring the implementation
of the ADA, improving assistive technology, and ensuring that those
persons with disabilities who are members of diverse cultures fully
participate in society.
Statutory History
NCD was initially established in 1978 as an advisory
board within the Department of Education (P.L. 95-602). The Rehabilitation
Act Amendments of 1984 (P.L. 98-221) transformed NCD into an independent
agency.
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