September 2, 2008

New School Year & the Mess of RTI

Sunday’s sermon was about the nature of evil. Our pastor emphasized that you knew evil when it made you lower your standards in order to meet it eye to eye. It’s more than about being your brother’s keeper. It’s about having a dead center of absolute faith and action that does not change no matter what. I’m holding on to that faith with the tightest of grips because of my anger and disgust at the circumstances of life and education that surround our kids with disabilities now. It is an ugly, evil time.

I was here when Reagan tried to completely dismantle special education in 1980 because he didn’t like the messy nature of parent involvement with decision-making. I was here when the Inclusion movement dawned in the late 80s. It was always a “pretend’ movement that had no substance, a philosophy and belief that had nothing to do with the child’s individual needs. It arose at the moment of too many crack and cocaine babies entering the school system with no money to pay for the increasing special education budget. As the numbers of children grew in special education nobody could keep up with it- not enough special education teachers, speech therapists, OTs, PTs, or placements. And never enough money to pay for services. So with the increased amounts of disputes about eligibility for IDEA services came more and more kids given services under Section 504. Parent involvement wasn’t required and neither was an IEP. The last eight years has seen record numbers of 504 children, their data not reported to anyone and viewed incorrectly as a regular education service. I’ve done hundreds of cases on eligibility. When the school district witness testifies, there is always a certain “Inclusion Vocabulary” your ear catches the pitch of after while- the curriculum and instruction is accessible and engaging for all learners. The learning barriers are reduced. We can meet diverse learning styles and roadblocks… This is the graduate school lecture in Methods 101 that everybody laughs about when class is over and we get coffee in the cafeteria. Meanwhile, check out the child who receives this inclusive instruction. More often than not, he or she is a mess.

When I read the Proposed IDEA reauthorization for 2004 and saw the term ‘Response To Intervention”, (RTI) I knew we were goners. Though there was no guidance at the time, anybody who had lived through the debates about Least Restrictive Environment, Inclusion, and 504 plans knew that something momentous was ahead. The goal was obviously money because it is never about kids or families. Friends assured me that nothing could take away the right to refer a child for evaluation for special education eligibility. They were proven wrong on July 28, 2008 when the Office of Special Education Programs published its Memorandum to local school districts about funding their RTI, also known as “early intervening services” (EIS). It characterized the memo as the “Department’s current thinking on this topic”, not imposing any requirements. It says that EIS is sound policy from the perspective of the child, and for administrative, fiscal and instructional reasons.” I’ll put money on having this memo appear as an exhibit in a hearing before the end of September.

Early Intervening Services and Response To Intervention mean the same thing as far as I can tell. 15% of IDEA money goes to pay for these local programs, none of which is to involve classified students. In giving examples of RTIs, a three level framework is presented. Tier 3 has specialized individualized instructional or behavioral support for students with intensive needs. I’m going to write that again. TIER 3 HAS SPECIALIZED INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTIONAL OR BEHAVIORAL SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS WITH INTENSIVE NEEDS. They are not classified. They have no IEP. Their families are not involved. No testing has been done. Good-bye Child Find. Good-Bye the requirement to seek out, find, and evaluate any child with a suspected disability. With the new IDEA, we now have students with intensive needs who will not be referred to special education because it is cheaper to have them self-destruct and let the prison system deal with them! I must not lower myself to this evil, but maybe I can get my foot near enough to kick the Hell out of it.

EIS is supposed to pay particular attention to Kindergarten through grade three children. These are the critical years when the foundations for reading and math are established, social skills developed, and the buds of science and history and literature open like flowers. How many times have first grade teachers told parents their children read when those kids have actually memorized the book from having it read to them with the picture clues? Millions. And now there will be millions more, after-school tutoring for allegedly nondisabled students available after school for students whose Statewide testing scores go below “ basic”. There is no referral to special education. IDEA money can be used for behavioral and educational evaluations to determine the general education supports the student needs. No parent consent is needed because it is all general education. There is no multidisciplinary team, nothing. This is an evil thing.

Over and over again OSEP tries to explain RTI and EIS as a remedy for “disproportionality”. This is defined in terms of over representation of race or ethnicity in specific disability categories, placements, or disciplinary actions. Under representation is never considered because lower numbers have lower financial outlay. I cannot count on all my fingers and toes how many back and Latino children I’ve represented who were denied services because of their race and socioeconomic status. The two areas in which I’ve seen disproportionality for them are the special education categories of mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed. But it is not clear how this is helped through general education and no comprehensive testing.

Many businesses and organizations have sprung up to support and implement RTI. The other new IDEA term is “Universal Design” that goes hand in hand with the general education scam. Check out CAST, http://udleditions.cast.org/ and http://www.advocacyinstitute.org/UDL/classroom_scenarios.shtml. Universal design makes curricula accessible to all students. If you believe that, I’ve got a large bridge to sell you about 15 minutes from my door.