Sign the petition to stop the reauthorization of ESEA. HERE! __________________________________ What are the problems with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and students with disabilities and/or gifted students? First, A Little History Politicians have never wanted to pay for special education. Everything you see today in the way of policy and rhetoric concerning the […]
Response to Intervention: Derailed!
Response to Intervention (RtI) is assessment all children get, starting early, in order to determine if they need special assistance to address learning disabilities. It has been plugged as “research” or “scientifically-based” programming to identify problems in young children so they can avoid special education. Those descriptors were often used, sometimes unjustifiably so, with programs […]
Dyslexia and Teachers in a World with No Special Education
What happens to students with dyslexia and learning disabilities when there are no more special education services? This from a teacher in Mississippi: I am an Inclusion teacher at my son’s high school. Our special ed department lost a certified position and two paraprofessional positions. Students receive services, but we have cut our presence in […]
Repercussions of Losing Part-Time Resource Classes for Students with Mild/Moderate Disabilities
It is interesting that so many titles and posts I write involving school reform have to do with loss. The resource class for students with learning disabilities and sometimes behavioral problems is one more loss when it comes to students and their public schools. Resource classes were designed to help students in elementary, middle and […]
Happy Father’s Day to Dads Who Speak Out: Keep Up the Great Work!
As a teacher, I once arrived at my classroom early in the morning to find a father of one of my students quite upset. I shakily ushered him into the classroom where he proceeded to lecture me about what his son had missed out on in school, up to that point, and what he believed […]
Special Ed. Labels—Why We Still Need Them in the Era of Common Core
Work hard at living the idea that differentness is just fine—not bad. Your child will learn most from your example. Help him to think of problems as things that can be solved if people work at them together. ~Nicholas Hobbs from The Futures of Children (p.288) Years ago a poster circulated that said “Labels are […]
Common Core and Ability Grouping—Ignoring Critical Questions
Common Core does not honestly tackle a problem that should be front and center in our public schools. How do we address ability grouping? Should students with learning disabilities be educated separately or in the regular class? Do autistic children learn faster mainstreamed or with specialized help in a self-contained classroom or separate school? Are […]
Misguided Education Reform
A nice thing that happened to me this past year was the publishing, back in July, of my book, Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students, by R & L Books (Rowman & Littlefield). It covers many of the same topics you will find on my blog. I discuss special education which might be […]
Reading Instruction—Same Old Ugly Story
A conversation on Facebook about reading became touchy yesterday, reminding me that you only need to scratch the surface to find serious differences when it comes to education and public policy. While many come together against Common Core State Standards, yesterday’s arguing resulted from the same old differences about how to approach reading…phonics or whole […]