Race and restrictiveness in special education: Addressing the problem we know too well Edward Garcia Fierros Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal 3(1), 75-85, 2005 Dr. Phyllis B. Harris Claremont Graduate University Teacher Education Seminars on Special Education 18 February 2006

Least Restrictive Environment Places…A continuum General education With push-in or pull-out resource support Special Day Classes With general ed classes With or without a paraprofessional Nonpublic Schools Special State Schools Labels…Style not necessarily Content Mainstreaming Inclusion Full inclusion Integration Privileges??? Lunchtimes Recess Physical education Assemblies

How do we deliver education to students with special needs… …Inclusion is not just a place or a method of delivering instruction, rather it is a philosophy of supporting children in their learning…part of the very culture of a school...defining how students, teachers, administrators, and others view the potential of children… NASBE, 1995

Disadvantageous Placements What does that really mean? Is it defensible? Is it the greatest good for the greatest number? Is it just separate and unequal classroom environments? Does the teaching skill or behavior tolerance of the classroom teacher determine the students’ future? Once you enter the system, is there an exit?

Shattered Dreams: What does that really mean? The ideology of equal opportunity masks the reality of a country stratified along racial, gender, and class lines (Staples, 1984) California has an established history of disproportionality—it represents a model for inappropriate practices and processes for the charters and other schools

Is it defensible? The purpose of an assessment for special education needs to distinguish a student with a disability from other individuals with academic or behavioral problems which may be caused by other factors Professionals are supporting solutions that have done nothing but perpetuate past problems Where is the data on effectively supporting the civil rights of overly identified populations?

Is it the greatest good for the greatest number? Cultural Discontinuity – Inappropriate to identify ethnically diverse students as having problems because they look, learn, talk, and behave differently – Use instruments in assessment that are based on legal mandates that may lack validity and reliability in assessing these students – The use of the IEP as a regulatory device instead of one that is reasonably calculated to achieve educational benefit

Does the teaching skill or behavior tolerance of the classroom teacher determine the students’ future? Need to adopt interventions that try to resolve the academic problems of all students based on data collections The Achilles heel of preservice teacher preparation and professional development—time and money Cultural dissonance is a direct result when individuals from different backgrounds have different views about the educational goals and objectives for ‘other people’s children’

Once you enter the system, is there an exit? Should there be… Do you know anyone who has exited? When school finishes, is the learning disability gone? Is there a way to work for strength, or do we put all our efforts on trying to make the deficit go away? Is there any joy in stigma or labeling…

How we can exit 49% of our Special Education population… Change in the mind set of educators at all levels Identify the values and beliefs that underlie priorities, goals, ad visions for the child Culturally responsive practice requires service providers to identify their own interpretation of a student’s difficulties and the student’s context in the recommendation of service Change the identification process so that there is flexibility and change in the ‘formal’ assessments which are determined by some combination of federal law (IDEIA ’04), state requirements, and district- and school-level practice

Response to Intervention (RtI) The potential to create change… Explanation of RtI RtI can be an integrated approach to service delivery that encompasses general, compensatory and special education systems RtI requires collaborative planning and implementation by professionals from across the spectrum of our educational system RtI is a tiered system of increasingly intense intervention with the emphasis on prevention of failure rather than identification of SLD—academic screening becomes universal

Alignment with NCLB The implementation of scientifically based curriculum and instruction Identification and intervention of learning and behavior problems early when they occur in the general ed classroom without early referral to special education Modifications based on ongoing student assessment Inclusion of all students within a single (unified) standards-based accountability system, including district and statewide assessments