Reply to Near half of MCPS full-time teacher voids fall within Special Education

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending[/quote]

This was tried in a midwestern city with ESL certification.  They tried to force everyone to get that certificate so they wouldn't have to offer a separate teaching spot.  It didn't work.  I've thought about this, that states could require all those graduating with a teaching degree to also take the additional coursework for sped.  Even if that happened, all that would actually happen for students with IEPs would be nothing.  One human person cannot meet the needs of a gen ed room, the needs of students who speak other languages, the needs of students with IEPs, the needs of students in poverty, etc.  It's just not possible.  You can theoretically require those courses, but just because someone is certified doesn't mean they can apply what they know given the scope of classroom responsibilities.

I think the federal government needs to wake up, realize that probably quadruple the number of kids who currently have IEPs, need services.  They need to pony up and provide billions of dollars in funding.  The US needs to offer full ride scholarships for anyone willing to teach special ed, set strict limits on caseloads (ie, 12 kids total instead of 50-75), and limit the number of meetings, and limit the required paperwork.  And laws need to be passed to offer sped teachers a 25-50% increase in pay over their gen ed peers.  (I'm a gen ed teacher with sped certification who will NEVER be willing to teach sped)

Maaaaaaaybe then we'll attract people willing to teach it.  Maybe.  Of course this will never happen and students with special needs will suffer.  Nothing is ever going to change.  [/quote]

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