Why more focus on ELL than special education?

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that I have not paid much attention to trends in school metrics. But the recent news about the continued refusal of congress to fully fund the IDEA (which has been going on for a long time) made me pay attention to some recent school “report cards” I have seen in different states.

I also have a friend whose child has been recently diagnosed with dyslexia and there is an appalling lack of effective services in public schools for a disability that is easily remediated with appropriate instruction and that is quite prevalent (up to 20% of kids may be affected).

I then went down a really sad rabbit hole of articles about the school to prison pipeline for boys of color who are often put in special education for behavior issues that might actually be primarily learning issues.

So why is it that schools seem to report so much more readily on ELL investments/ achievement than special education? Who is keeping track of the kids with special needs who get home schooled because their schools aren’t even trying to meet their needs?

What is the history I am missing?

[Anonymous]

ELL is poorly funded too. Many kids who have needs different from the middle are poorly served. No need to pit different groups against each other.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t assume that what they report reflects how much they’re putting into the programs. It’s easier to measure progress and demonstrate success with an ELL program. You take a bunch of kids who don’t speak English, teach them English, measure their proficiency by standardized testing, and then graduate them as a success when they can pass. SpEd doesn’t function the same way. No “graduates” from dyslexia. Even if you show progress on reading scores, what are you measuring it against? What they did the year before, or their potential (which isn’t something you can really test)? And what about for those kids whose disabilities are more profound and who realistically are never going to get into “typical” territory, even with all the services in the world? Did the school “fail” if the student never passes a standardized test meant for their typical peers, even if the school did great work with them in a life skills sense?

[Anonymous]

In our district and maybe others, students who have tested out of ESOL go on to out perform their non-ESOL peers in math and English. Money well spent while many students in special education will never get out.

[Anonymous]

The easier to measure ELL/ ESOL progress makes sense.

But there does seem to be a lot of research that dyslexic kids who get appropriate early remediation will also outperform many of their peers.

What is the funding mechanism for ELL/ESOL versus special education?

[Anonymous]

MCPS is seeing a huge increase in kids who are both ELLs and children with a disability. Don’t assume that they are two separate populations.

[Anonymous]

It's fake statistics to say that 20% of English language children are dyslexic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our district and maybe others, students who have tested out of ESOL go on to out perform their non-ESOL peers in math and English. Money well spent while many students in special education will never get out.

So because my child will always have a disability, money spent on her education isn't well spent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our district and maybe others, students who have tested out of ESOL go on to out perform their non-ESOL peers in math and English. Money well spent while many students in special education will never get out.

So because my child will always have a disability, money spent on her education isn't well spent?

Of course it is, if you value the actual education EVERY child is legally entitled to. Unfortunately not everyone in the position to do anything substantial about it has the same priorities when test results are involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ELL is poorly funded too. Many kids who have needs different from the middle are poorly served. No need to pit different groups against each other.

+1 OP's premise is flawed. Reporting ELL achievement != choosing to prioritize ELL funding over special ed.

[Anonymous]

The premise may be flawed, but it is an interesting question. In business we say that we manage what we measure. So it seems like there may be some truth. I wonder how the budgets are managed/ reported.

[Anonymous]

I am an ESOL teacher and I find that more lip service is paid to prioritizing ELLs in schools while more actual time, services and attention is paid to special ed students even though the student numbers are disproportionate.

ESOL teachers can have around 60 students in multiple grade levels on their caseloads while special ed teachers have a maximum of 10 in maybe 2 grade levels max, and they have special ed paras to support the special ed teachers with their admin work and students in the classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and I find that more lip service is paid to prioritizing ELLs in schools while more actual time, services and attention is paid to special ed students even though the student numbers are disproportionate.

ESOL teachers can have around 60 students in multiple grade levels on their caseloads while special ed teachers have a maximum of 10 in maybe 2 grade levels max, and they have special ed paras to support the special ed teachers with their admin work and students in the classrooms.

We should move to your school. Our self-contained special education classes are the only ones with anything like those ratios. Our kids resource special Ed teachers can have 30 kids on their caseloads with no para’s and all of the IEP paperwork: meetings.

Both seem to be impossible jobs to me.

[Anonymous]

Because it is virtue signaling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an ESOL teacher and I find that more lip service is paid to prioritizing ELLs in schools while more actual time, services and attention is paid to special ed students even though the student numbers are disproportionate.

ESOL teachers can have around 60 students in multiple grade levels on their caseloads while special ed teachers have a maximum of 10 in maybe 2 grade levels max, and they have special ed paras to support the special ed teachers with their admin work and students in the classrooms.

OP - This is NOT the case at our school. Please do not make such a sweeping generalization based on your individual experience. At our school, our ELL students often get short shrifted, as do their teachers, whereas SpEd students are top priority. Their SpEd teachers have smaller caseloads and increasingly get more and more classrooms, whereas we have not one room dedicated. They are NEVER pulled away from their students whereas ELL teachers often are. Your claim is unfounded and dangerous. Please go pick on someone else, like the greedy 1 percenters.