ESSA and the Dismantling of Programs for Students with Disabilities and/or Gifted Students
I am excited I will be interviewed about special education by educator/blogger Steven Singer, on the BAT’s segment on The Rick Smith Show, Saturday, December 5 at 12:30 Eastern.
The Rick Smith Show | Where Working People Come To Talk http://bit.ly/1Yv7OYW
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 instruction of students with disabilities and/or gifted students springs from that statement.
Reformers chipped away at P.L. 94-142 which provided parents with options—a continuum of services—first, with the IDEA 97, and then with IDEA 2004, tied closely to No Child Left Behind. Both re-authorizations involved cuts to special education services with claims that all students were served better in the general education classes.
But students, with P.L. 94-142, had never been denied placement in those classes, unless they had difficulties that required more individualization. Teachers always worked to mainstream students if they could.
Now you will find students with special needs denied services.
Students with Disabilities and Standards
If the new ESSA bill ultimately passes, and unfortunately it looks like it will pass, students with disabilities will have to reach the same standards as students without disabilities, unless they have severe cognitive disabilities—but even then, the standards ESSA and the Dismantling of Programs for Students with Disabilities and/or Gifted Students:
