Anonymous wrote:From experience, I can report that the ( now) former head of Resolution and Compliance was a vocal advocate for the school's position in IEP meetings, regardless of the stated purpose of R&C. Attitude towards parents was to "manage" them. .

Our experience as well. She also didn’t do a good job in keeping the school system compliant as she chaired the IEP meeting. Due Process is a real probability considering the violations. She will be called to testify given her participation in the IEP meeting.

I get that MCPS is short staffed to the point students are still not receiving the services MCPS has agreed to. Either work with parents to pay 100% of the expense of a private provider or hire an employee to provide services. Don’t neglect your responsibility then expect parents to carry the burden for the expense. In the end, students are not receiving the education they need and there will be a lifetime of repercussions for students with disabilities being passed through MCPS without fundamental skills for life after high school graduation.

From experience, I can report that the ( now) former head of Resolution and Compliance was a vocal advocate for the school's position in IEP meetings, regardless of the stated purpose of R&C. Attitude towards parents was to "manage" them. .

Accommodations are less work for the Special Education Coordinator (often the chair of IEP meetings) and cheaper for MCPS to provide than educational services to a child with disabilities. General Education Teachers are then forced to meet the demands of delivering a laundry list of accommodations without support from Special Education staff. The General Education Teachers should be unhappy with a broken school system instead of blaming students with disabilities for the documents school teams write. The time for them to express concerns is on their teacher reports to the team and at the meetings the attend for the student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

This sounds like something either needs a parent, student, teacher conference or an IEP meeting to resolve. The student is having difficulty getting the information he/she needs to learn from the class discussion. You are providing slides but are not sure what more is needed to be helpful. A face to face conversation might help the student say what he/she is needing to be successful.

As a parent, I don’t know what a prep is. My child has received PowerPoint slides as notes which are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. My child last year had teachers who didn’t provide any notes despite my child’s IEP which impacted my child’s performance till the notes were provided.

Finally, as a General Education Teacher, you should send input of your concerns to the 504/IEP team if you have a child with 20 accommodations. A child with 20 accommodations is a child in need of Special Education Services to teach skills and coping strategies to have greater independence. 20 accommodations is an example of a school system that teaches learned helplessness (we are going to do XYZ for the student) vs. teaching students skills to help them compensate for their disabilities.

A prep is a course. High school teachers teach multiple courses and must PREPare for each of them. As far as the 20 accommodations are concerned, my take is this teacher is not writing about one student with that many accommodations. Instead, this teacher has 20 other students with 504s/IEPs amongst the 150 or more students this teacher sees every day.

The sped kids at our MS school average about 12-15 accommodations each. The 504 kids have about 5 each. Out of about 1000 kids, 150 are sped, another 50 have 504s.

It's a meaningful workload.

Nationally, 15% of public school students have IEPs.

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg/students-with-disabilities

Therefore, your school numbers are not outside the norm. What is unusual are the high number of accommodations needed per student with IEPs. MCPS has understaffed Special Education Teachers and Para Educators for years. Are these students receiving appropriate special education services to teach them independent skills so they don’t need double digit accommodations? Seems like an example of learned helplessness that puts the burden on the General Education Teacher versus teaching the students skills to help themselves.

Examples - you can teach a student skills to read or you can simply provide audio accommodations so they never have to read. You can teach a student how to write or you can provide a scribe so they never learn how to write. You can teach a child organization skills so they are self sufficient or you can assign responsibility to a teacher to remind students of daily tasks.

Look at the individual needs of the student and if skills can be taught in lieu of doing something for the child, the special education services should be provided to teach the skills to the student. The number of accommodations should be decreasing as a child progresses through a school system, not increasing. The goals and objectives should adjust as needed so the students is making meaningful progress.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

This sounds like something either needs a parent, student, teacher conference or an IEP meeting to resolve. The student is having difficulty getting the information he/she needs to learn from the class discussion. You are providing slides but are not sure what more is needed to be helpful. A face to face conversation might help the student say what he/she is needing to be successful.

As a parent, I don’t know what a prep is. My child has received PowerPoint slides as notes which are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. My child last year had teachers who didn’t provide any notes despite my child’s IEP which impacted my child’s performance till the notes were provided.

Finally, as a General Education Teacher, you should send input of your concerns to the 504/IEP team if you have a child with 20 accommodations. A child with 20 accommodations is a child in need of Special Education Services to teach skills and coping strategies to have greater independence. 20 accommodations is an example of a school system that teaches learned helplessness (we are going to do XYZ for the student) vs. teaching students skills to help them compensate for their disabilities.

A prep is a course. High school teachers teach multiple courses and must PREPare for each of them. As far as the 20 accommodations are concerned, my take is this teacher is not writing about one student with that many accommodations. Instead, this teacher has 20 other students with 504s/IEPs amongst the 150 or more students this teacher sees every day.

The sped kids at our MS school average about 12-15 accommodations each. The 504 kids have about 5 each. Out of about 1000 kids, 150 are sped, another 50 have 504s.

It's a meaningful workload.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

This sounds like something either needs a parent, student, teacher conference or an IEP meeting to resolve. The student is having difficulty getting the information he/she needs to learn from the class discussion. You are providing slides but are not sure what more is needed to be helpful. A face to face conversation might help the student say what he/she is needing to be successful.

As a parent, I don’t know what a prep is. My child has received PowerPoint slides as notes which are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. My child last year had teachers who didn’t provide any notes despite my child’s IEP which impacted my child’s performance till the notes were provided.

Finally, as a General Education Teacher, you should send input of your concerns to the 504/IEP team if you have a child with 20 accommodations. A child with 20 accommodations is a child in need of Special Education Services to teach skills and coping strategies to have greater independence. 20 accommodations is an example of a school system that teaches learned helplessness (we are going to do XYZ for the student) vs. teaching students skills to help them compensate for their disabilities.

A prep is a course. High school teachers teach multiple courses and must PREPare for each of them. As far as the 20 accommodations are concerned, my take is this teacher is not writing about one student with that many accommodations. Instead, this teacher has 20 other students with 504s/IEPs amongst the 150 or more students this teacher sees every day.

In all likelihood the teacher has 100 out of 150 with accommodations. It's gotten so pretty much anyone who wants that can get them which sadly makes it difficult for those who really need them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

This sounds like something either needs a parent, student, teacher conference or an IEP meeting to resolve. The student is having difficulty getting the information he/she needs to learn from the class discussion. You are providing slides but are not sure what more is needed to be helpful. A face to face conversation might help the student say what he/she is needing to be successful.

As a parent, I don’t know what a prep is. My child has received PowerPoint slides as notes which are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. My child last year had teachers who didn’t provide any notes despite my child’s IEP which impacted my child’s performance till the notes were provided.

Finally, as a General Education Teacher, you should send input of your concerns to the 504/IEP team if you have a child with 20 accommodations. A child with 20 accommodations is a child in need of Special Education Services to teach skills and coping strategies to have greater independence. 20 accommodations is an example of a school system that teaches learned helplessness (we are going to do XYZ for the student) vs. teaching students skills to help them compensate for their disabilities.

A prep is a course. High school teachers teach multiple courses and must PREPare for each of them. As far as the 20 accommodations are concerned, my take is this teacher is not writing about one student with that many accommodations. Instead, this teacher has 20 other students with 504s/IEPs amongst the 150 or more students this teacher sees every day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there an announcement for the new Acting Associate Superintendent? This is the second Acting Associate Superintendent in two years and Ty get new Acting Superintendent was the Resolution and Compliance Director hired by MCPS last October. So who is now the Director for Resolution and Compliance?

And what about all the vacancies for Special Education Teachers and Para Educators at the school level? Did MCPS just give up on finding employees for those positions as well?

I don't believe MCPS has given up on finding special education teachers or paras. The problem is that people just don't want the jobs. Special Ed jobs are hard-besides the mounds of paperwork and meetings to attend, add to that being verbally and physically assaulted in some cases, would you want that job? I know special educators in the county that literally had to go on disability because of physical incidents in their classrooms. On top of all of that, they aren't paid enough at all.

As for paras, similar issue, except the money is REALLY bad and they are treated as less than professionals in a lot of schools. Take a look at the job listings on the MCPS website-the majority of para jobs open are the ones with no benefits. I think most of the para jobs start at $18-19 an hour. There are lot easier jobs out there for that kind of money and no benefits.

Just a little food for thought...

And meanwhile no one will talk about the elephant in the room …what he hell is going on that our children need so much special education anyway? Something is really really wrong . And it’s not just “better diagnosing “. There is an epidemic afoot not to mention the sometimes ridiculous expectations of parents that will bankrupt the country at some point. It’s just not sustainable to do education this way

Agree. Maybe we aren't teaching them properly.

Maybe we aren’t parenting them properly.

Tell me how you parent a child to cure their disability that the school system agrees the child has. Realize that it takes a comprehensive evaluation and specialists to identify the disability and needs of the child. None of whom said bad parenting is the cause of the disability.

People like you are the very reason why there are civil rights laws to protect students with disabilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there an announcement for the new Acting Associate Superintendent? This is the second Acting Associate Superintendent in two years and Ty get new Acting Superintendent was the Resolution and Compliance Director hired by MCPS last October. So who is now the Director for Resolution and Compliance?

And what about all the vacancies for Special Education Teachers and Para Educators at the school level? Did MCPS just give up on finding employees for those positions as well?

I don't believe MCPS has given up on finding special education teachers or paras. The problem is that people just don't want the jobs. Special Ed jobs are hard-besides the mounds of paperwork and meetings to attend, add to that being verbally and physically assaulted in some cases, would you want that job? I know special educators in the county that literally had to go on disability because of physical incidents in their classrooms. On top of all of that, they aren't paid enough at all.

As for paras, similar issue, except the money is REALLY bad and they are treated as less than professionals in a lot of schools. Take a look at the job listings on the MCPS website-the majority of para jobs open are the ones with no benefits. I think most of the para jobs start at $18-19 an hour. There are lot easier jobs out there for that kind of money and no benefits.

Just a little food for thought...

And meanwhile no one will talk about the elephant in the room …what he hell is going on that our children need so much special education anyway? Something is really really wrong . And it’s not just “better diagnosing “. There is an epidemic afoot not to mention the sometimes ridiculous expectations of parents that will bankrupt the country at some point. It’s just not sustainable to do education this way

Agree. Maybe we aren't teaching them properly.

Maybe we aren’t parenting them properly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

This sounds like something either needs a parent, student, teacher conference or an IEP meeting to resolve. The student is having difficulty getting the information he/she needs to learn from the class discussion. You are providing slides but are not sure what more is needed to be helpful. A face to face conversation might help the student say what he/she is needing to be successful.

As a parent, I don’t know what a prep is. My child has received PowerPoint slides as notes which are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. My child last year had teachers who didn’t provide any notes despite my child’s IEP which impacted my child’s performance till the notes were provided.

Finally, as a General Education Teacher, you should send input of your concerns to the 504/IEP team if you have a child with 20 accommodations. A child with 20 accommodations is a child in need of Special Education Services to teach skills and coping strategies to have greater independence. 20 accommodations is an example of a school system that teaches learned helplessness (we are going to do XYZ for the student) vs. teaching students skills to help them compensate for their disabilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

If you have the notes, give them to that kid. If you don't have additional notes, you don't have additional notes to give that kid. Sorry, mom.

My kid was allowed to record classes in HS when there weren't prepared notes.

Voice only or video also?

Only voice. Kid couldn't meaningfully both write what was on the board and listen at the same time so used the voice recording to review written stuff.

I have a child that has great auditory memory but was slow at writing. Basically she had difficulty writing and processing information at the same time.

If she just sat and listened, she retained more information than when she tried taking notes to the point she could quote the teacher. Some children have unusual strengths and weaknesses. The key to learning is teaching to a child’s strengths.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

You sound like a great teacher, but many teachers aren't willing to make even the most basic accommodations available. Many teachers wouldn't even bother to upload those slide shows much less think about how they could further help their students.

So you should know that you're already doing a lot. This is college but I know a child with notes accommodations in college who gets notes from a fellow student. I don't know how that works, whether that student gets paid for the notes or the teacher just asked and the child provides them as a favor or for extra credit.

Student note takers are paid in college. Schools advertise in classes they need note takers, a student applies to be the note taker, if hired, the student uploads the notes to the Disability Student Services, and the disabled child accesses the notes via their student portal. Confidentiality is protected.

Most professors however have begun uploading lecture notes before class for all students to access and annotate as needed. That’s just a good teaching practice so students are paying attention to the discussion and explanations vs. copying information onto paper. Students with approved accommodations can also record with their laptop to a program that transcribes what is said in class. Sometimes that’s a helpful backup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

If you have the notes, give them to that kid. If you don't have additional notes, you don't have additional notes to give that kid. Sorry, mom.

My kid was allowed to record classes in HS when there weren't prepared notes.

Voice only or video also?

Only voice. Kid couldn't meaningfully both write what was on the board and listen at the same time so used the voice recording to review written stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

If you have the notes, give them to that kid. If you don't have additional notes, you don't have additional notes to give that kid. Sorry, mom.

My kid was allowed to record classes in HS when there weren't prepared notes.

Voice only or video also?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special education is often just good teaching practices. Many children with disabilities can have their IEPs implemented with universal design, a method in which all students in the class benefits from what is legally required on another child’s IEP. For example, one child may need class notes from the teacher as an accommodation. The teacher then provides the entire class copies of notes because all students can benefit from the notes.

Teaching is not a zero sum game - this child gets more so this child gets less.

The thing that is hard to comprehend if you’re not dealing with it is the shear number of these accommodations that you just want teachers to implement. For example, you give the notes accommodation as one that is easy to implement. I have 3 different preps that I need to provide notes for. Fine. It takes time but I upload each of the 3 slides show daily. But last week I received an email from a parent that the slides aren’t enough. Her child needs the notes that go along with the slides or they’re not helpful. I’m not sure what she wants- a full recording of the class? Annotated slides? Whatever it is, it will be x3. And that’s one of 20 different accommodations.

You sound like a great teacher, but many teachers aren't willing to make even the most basic accommodations available. Many teachers wouldn't even bother to upload those slide shows much less think about how they could further help their students.

So you should know that you're already doing a lot. This is college but I know a child with notes accommodations in college who gets notes from a fellow student. I don't know how that works, whether that student gets paid for the notes or the teacher just asked and the child provides them as a favor or for extra credit.