November 18, 2008

A Really Good Study - But Where is Due Process?

I’m always skeptical about special education research studies. Many are written to confirm already determined outcomes. But a brand new one, SPECIAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA, THE STATE OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE NATION’S HIGH SCHOOLS, has been published on November 3, 2008 (www.edweek.org/rc), is beautifully objective and well researched. Written by Christopher B. Swanson, Ph. D., and Director of Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, it is a comprehensive analysis of the state of special education today in our high schools. One can always find fault with anything when it does not include the issues of importance to the reader. But this one is a fair and thorough examination of what we know and don’t know about kids in special education who are graduating or dropping out of our country’s high schools. You only need to review the issues in the Zena Rodrigues case in my recent blogs to understand the enormity of these problems.

The Executive Summary of Swanson’s piece asks, “What do we know about students with disabilities today?

1. African American students are identified as having disabilities 40 times more often than the national average; twice as likely to be diagnosed with mental retardation and emotional disturbance.
2. Native Americans are over represented in special education.
3. Asian Americans are underrepresented.
4. Males are diagnosed at two times the rate of females.
5. Students with disabilities graduate from high schools at lower rates than their peers.
6. Those who don’t finish high school are more likely to earn an alternative credential than a regular diploma.

How can we strengthen special education for tomorrow’s students? Two factors prevent the understanding of these critical issues:

1. Widely accessible data/research on disabled students tend to deal with very broad age ranges, so that it is difficult to impossible to focus only on high school students.
2. Available studies examine only disabled high school students. There is no way to directly compare their experience with those of the nondisabled student population.

Appreciating diversity means understanding that the disabled population is not monolithic.

1. Across every dimension the study examined, significant differences in outcomes and experiences were found
2. The importance of considering how the disability reaches into every aspect of the student’s life is crucial.
3. Public policy mistakenly treats disabilities as a homogenous group with common needs and capabilities.
4. Evolving public policy must be more enlightened to the diversity of the population of students with disabilities.

Opening the black box of special education in the high school is very difficult.

1. Not much is said about the specific services received by special education students or their families so that surprisingly little is known.
2. Scant attention has been given to understanding the process through which special education services are delivered and the effectiveness of those services.
3. A concerted effort is needed to truly open the proverbial black box and examine the actual process and practice of special education.

The study is a polite introduction to the tragedy of special education for older students. During elementary school it is easier to get more individualized services and related services. But once the kids enter middle and high school, it is all over. The common dialogue at these transition meetings goes like this:

CST - Well, Jimmy must learn to do things on his own now because he’s going into high school. We have to get him ready for the world.
Parent - But Jimmy still can’t organize himself. He’s afraid of the big building. He still reads at a 3rd grade level. The other kids will pick on him.
CST - That’s all part of growing up. He needs to learn responsibility. We’ll be there for support if he has trouble.

Nothing is written into the IEP. Often there is no IEP, just the printout of the core curriculum standards for general education. Jimmy goes into the high school and he has a melt down. He is unable to initiate going to the CST. His general education teachers don’t know he is “an IEP student”. And the case loads of the OT, speech therapist, and guidance counselor are so huge that Jimmy gets lost someplace on their schedules. There is no monitoring by the CST. They count saying ”Hello” in the hall as monitoring. Jimmy is told that he must learn to function in a regular classroom with accommodations. Of course accommodations means he’ll never learn the skill he lacks because adjustments will get around it- like the use of a 1-1 aide.

Or how about the kid in a self-contained class? In a private school? How about dating? Sexuality? Judgment? Strengths? Working independently? This study confirms that there is no way to understand the transition process from 9th grade until graduation. The diversity of the students is so huge that subgroups need to be examined apart from the rest. In the daily life of special education, the primary emphasis is on gaining enough credits to graduate. It is virtually never on social skills or actual independent living. The list is endless. I hope that something comes from this fine piece of research. But as with so many other such reports over the years, it is likely to end up in the dust pile. Somehow, teeth must be added to scholarship. We need to take a large and bloody bite out of somebody’s backside with their endless excuses and lies about the progress of our kids. We so want it to be true, and to believe they are ready for the world. But many are not, and schools push them out like cookie dough in a tube, to end up at home, unemployed and miserable. For the ones who succeed, success is measured by how each parent defines it. Our bottom line is that we want them to achieve all that they can for themselves, to be employable and financially independent, to have family and friends. Simply put, we want them to be happy and able to survive when we are gone.

Is somebody going to do a comparable study on special education due process in America? This is the key that often unlocks many of the variables to which Swanson refers. Once kids get into high school, it is often too late to fix much. The clock is ticking toward graduation. Why is graduation important to this terrible public school system? Because it ends eligibility and all the rights the students and their families have. Schools hope to keep it all a secret, push kids through, then heave a sign of relief when they’re gone.

This year I’m tutoring kids one night a week who otherwise couldn’t afford it . Some are in high school and should have been classified years ago. But here they are, and their parents have little idea what the problems are and absolutely none about the school’s responsibility. Take that statement, together with all of the kids who have 504 plans (none of whom are counted in this study), and the enormity of the problem starts to dawn on you. The system cannot be held accountable without parents who push it to accountability or, using the newest “in” word, transparency. Let’s get a real look at those puppies. To quote Judge Judy, “You’re not cooked yet. Go home until you’re ready.” What she means is- go back to school until you are prepared to live on your own. Now what other blog can you read that includes a classy study, discussion, and Judge Judy!