Reply to Basis PCS runs afoul with the Charter Board over special education instruction

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[quote=Anonymous]Another interesting article about special education in Massachusetts: Disproportionality: A Look at Special Education and Race in the Commonwealth ([url]http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/reports/Edbrief_final.pdf[/url])

Some excerpts:

[quote]On average, African American and Hispanic students are found 
eligible for special education services at higher rates than their populations would suggest, 
while white and Asian students are less likely to be found eligible for special education 
relative to the size of their respective populations. This national trend, known simply as 
disproportionality, has recently become the subject of greater scrutiny from the U.S. 
Department of Education (USDE).[/quote]

[quote]One of the foundations of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 
arrived at after decades of education research, is the notion of educating students in the
“least restrictive environment.” That is, students with disabilities learn more in the 
general education classroom among their nondisabled peers. They are removed for 
specialized instruction only when it is absolutely necessary (i.e. when bringing services into 
the classroom would not do the job). [/quote]

[quote]In a recent study by special education professors Beth Harry and Janette Klinger, students 
from different cultural backgrounds were found to have different learning styles. When 
unsuccessful in general education classrooms, these students were referred for special 
education evaluations and subsequently found to have disabilities requiring special 
education services. These students were served in more restrictive settings, instructed at a 
slower pace, and subjected to lower expectations for skill- and knowledge-building in a less 
rigorous curriculum.
[/quote]

[quote] [b]Compounding this problem is that once students are identified as 
eligible for special education services, they are rarely exited from those services.[/b] Therein 
lies the central problem of disproportionality: While special education benefits thousands 
of students in the Commonwealth, some students are inappropriately identified as disabled 
and may actually lose ground rather than benefit from the manner in which such services 
are typically provided.[/quote]

[/quote]

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