By getting it half right feds get it all wrong
After taking a step forward by incorporating student outcomes into the accountability index for students with disabilities, the Office of Special Education Programs promptly took a gigantic leap backward by relying solely on standardized testing as the only measure of program performance.
Politicians are glib when it comes to making pronouncements that sound invigorating on the surface but impenetrable, if not down-right obtuse, upon further consideration. Arne Duncan’s recent statement in support of the new federal standards is just one more example of this tradition.
“We must be honest about student performance, so that we can give all students the supports and services they need to succeed,” he announced.
The problem is that the results his department has chosen to measure are not necessarily the most “honest” indicators. As a matter of fact, considering the totality of special education, and the mixture of student needs therein, they are not even close.
The so called “Results Matrix” that will be used along with the traditional compliance elements in program reviews for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will be composed of participation and proficiency percentages of fourth and eighth grade SWD on statewide assessments and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
That’s it.
It makes a person wonder if anyone in the administration has ever looked at an individualized education plan or, for that matter, ever truly pondered the meaning of “free appropriate public education,” not to mention “least restrictive environment.”
If anyone had, in fact, engaged in any of the aforementioned cognitive exercises, at least three concepts would have become apparent.
First of all, academics are not always the first order of business for special education pupils. Often IEP teams write objectives for pre-requisite skills that must be attained long before scholastic achievement can be addressed. Suppose, for By getting it half right feds get it all wrong :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
Schoolwide Program status may provide broader benefits
Your annual evaluation for Title I effectiveness is the time to determine whether your Schoolwide Program schools are addressing the needs of their most at-risk students.
