Anonymous wrote:Btw high income women are the most likely to have kids later in life. Advanced maternal age is a risk factor for developmental issues including autism.

Advanced paternal age too!

Btw high income women are the most likely to have kids later in life. Advanced maternal age is a risk factor for developmental issues including autism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you that in the very high income school I work in there is a disproportionate number of students with emotional and behavioral challenges, too. This is not an income problem.

This is an attention problem. Kids aren’t getting enough attention at home and it is manifested in problematic behaviors.

Numerous surveys show parents spend more time playing with their children now than during past generations

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you that in the very high income school I work in there is a disproportionate number of students with emotional and behavioral challenges, too. This is not an income problem.

This is an attention problem. Kids aren’t getting enough attention at home and it is manifested in problematic behaviors.

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you that in the very high income school I work in there is a disproportionate number of students with emotional and behavioral challenges, too. This is not an income problem.

Did you not see the multiple other factors listed above?

I can tell you that in the very high income school I work in there is a disproportionate number of students with emotional and behavioral challenges, too. This is not an income problem.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary teacher.

The number of kids that need to be serviced is unmanageable. Therefore, to make it a little more reasonable, schools do tend to group a lot of the higher needs kids together and then provide more support to that classroom. However, in addition to these children who need extra academic support, they often also add in kids with behavior needs (whether or not they have IEP's) because of the extra support.

The problem is that a lot of these children need almost a 1-1 (when you have a kid screaming and running down a hallway, it doesn't matter if they have an IEP, they still need direct support). The extra support that was supposed to be shared by all of the kids who deserve it, gets funneled to the one out-of-control child and the classroom teacher is left with the rest. Then there's the paperwork/IEP meeting day where there is no support for any of the children.

The idea is right, to provide the needed support, but with so many children needing so much support right now, there are just not enough bodies!

It seems like the number of kids who need major support is going up exponentially! When I started teaching 15 years ago, we had a few per grade level that we split up. Now, there are around 10 per grade level that have MAJOR needs and many more with minor needs. I don't understand what is going on, but we need a better system for meeting the needs of the children while still allowing all of the children to learn!

1. Large segments of the population never recovered from the Great Recession so more kids growing up with ACEs
2. Parents are having kids later on life (it takes a long time to become financially secure these days)
3. Assortative mating
4. The middle class is shrinking and in MoCo families are most likely to be very high income (e.g. HHI of $250k or more) or very low income. Nobody in the middle. A significant percentage of the very high income people send their kids to private school.
2. MCPS started putting giant screens in classrooms just about 15 years ago. Today my child talks about "watching" books in school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think all kids with IEPs/504s/EML are shunted into only one section or class. They are supposed to be "spread" around all the classes, with limits on the number per class. After all, one teacher can't realistically provide all the support that is needed. Heck, even two adults in the room aren't able to do that.

Co-taught simply means there is one more adult in the classroom. Not necessarily a teacher, could be a para, but sometimes a sped teacher. Depends on the context.

MCPS really should move back to some differentiation. Too many new articles nationally about lumping everyone into one class and then *no one* is served well. Sorry folks, that's not equity as intended.

I am the PP that you are probably responding to. It doesn't seem like they actually ended up putting every IEP or EML child into one class. I know of a few kids with IEPs and they are in different classes.

But before the school year started, school staff absolutely indicated they might have one "co-taught" class where they place kids that receive services. I specifically asked them what "co-taught" meant and they said different staff would push in to the class depending on the needs of the kids. It sounded awful and illegal to me but I didn't say anything, I was just really confused. And I've heard people complaining that they did this in previous years.

My DC has been in MCPS with an IEP since K, now in middle. The schools absolutely did this in both elementary and middle. My DC has no behavioral needs, only academic, and the behavioral disruptions make the classes almost unbearable at times.

I'm an elementary teacher.

The number of kids that need to be serviced is unmanageable. Therefore, to make it a little more reasonable, schools do tend to group a lot of the higher needs kids together and then provide more support to that classroom. However, in addition to these children who need extra academic support, they often also add in kids with behavior needs (whether or not they have IEP's) because of the extra support.

The problem is that a lot of these children need almost a 1-1 (when you have a kid screaming and running down a hallway, it doesn't matter if they have an IEP, they still need direct support). The extra support that was supposed to be shared by all of the kids who deserve it, gets funneled to the one out-of-control child and the classroom teacher is left with the rest. Then there's the paperwork/IEP meeting day where there is no support for any of the children.

The idea is right, to provide the needed support, but with so many children needing so much support right now, there are just not enough bodies!

It seems like the number of kids who need major support is going up exponentially! When I started teaching 15 years ago, we had a few per grade level that we split up. Now, there are around 10 per grade level that have MAJOR needs and many more with minor needs. I don't understand what is going on, but we need a better system for meeting the needs of the children while still allowing all of the children to learn!

Anonymous wrote:I don't think all kids with IEPs/504s/EML are shunted into only one section or class. They are supposed to be "spread" around all the classes, with limits on the number per class. After all, one teacher can't realistically provide all the support that is needed. Heck, even two adults in the room aren't able to do that.

Co-taught simply means there is one more adult in the classroom. Not necessarily a teacher, could be a para, but sometimes a sped teacher. Depends on the context.

MCPS really should move back to some differentiation. Too many new articles nationally about lumping everyone into one class and then *no one* is served well. Sorry folks, that's not equity as intended.

Kids with IEPs are not inherently disruptive. Some are, some aren't, just like kids without IEPs. It is good that schools face pressure not to pump them all together in one class. Federal law entitles kids to learn alongside non-disabled peers to the extent possible.

The problem is when it is not possible for a child to learn alongside non-disabled peers, it is a monumental task to get them into a more supportive environment.

But just because a child has a disability is not a reason to put them in a class with all the other kids with disabilities.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think all kids with IEPs/504s/EML are shunted into only one section or class. They are supposed to be "spread" around all the classes, with limits on the number per class. After all, one teacher can't realistically provide all the support that is needed. Heck, even two adults in the room aren't able to do that.

Co-taught simply means there is one more adult in the classroom. Not necessarily a teacher, could be a para, but sometimes a sped teacher. Depends on the context.

MCPS really should move back to some differentiation. Too many new articles nationally about lumping everyone into one class and then *no one* is served well. Sorry folks, that's not equity as intended.

I am the PP that you are probably responding to. It doesn't seem like they actually ended up putting every IEP or EML child into one class. I know of a few kids with IEPs and they are in different classes.

But before the school year started, school staff absolutely indicated they might have one "co-taught" class where they place kids that receive services. I specifically asked them what "co-taught" meant and they said different staff would push in to the class depending on the needs of the kids. It sounded awful and illegal to me but I didn't say anything, I was just really confused. And I've heard people complaining that they did this in previous years.

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of Secan. Truly awful individual.

She ain’t leaving until she retires

I don't think all kids with IEPs/504s/EML are shunted into only one section or class. They are supposed to be "spread" around all the classes, with limits on the number per class. After all, one teacher can't realistically provide all the support that is needed. Heck, even two adults in the room aren't able to do that.

Co-taught simply means there is one more adult in the classroom. Not necessarily a teacher, could be a para, but sometimes a sped teacher. Depends on the context.

MCPS really should move back to some differentiation. Too many new articles nationally about lumping everyone into one class and then *no one* is served well. Sorry folks, that's not equity as intended.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has been in a Home School Model class for 2 years as a peer and while I am sure it's a lot of work for the teacher, there haven't been any issues. The class is a good size and there is a special educator that comes in to do small groups. Many of the kids get pulled out for a variety of things so the class size winds up small. My daughter is doing well academically. Home School Model is good because the kids are all ready identified so the support is there.

The issue to me is the kids who come in unidentified. If a child is unidentified and has behavior issues then it can weeks/months to get anything done about it. Those child are usually not in a HSM class. Then the rest of the class is affected by the behavior and there are no supports in place.

I think you are confused. Every MCPS elementary class is HSM (unless it is a discrete program). And every school in MCPS right now has misplaced kids. If your child’s class does not have children with big behaviors, that’s great, but not really what this thread is about.

DP here. I am confused. When my child was entering K I was asked about putting him in the "co-taught" class. It sounded like at his school they put all the kids that needed services (IEP or EML) in one class. Maybe that is what PP is referencing.

Anonymous wrote:My child has been in a Home School Model class for 2 years as a peer and while I am sure it's a lot of work for the teacher, there haven't been any issues. The class is a good size and there is a special educator that comes in to do small groups. Many of the kids get pulled out for a variety of things so the class size winds up small. My daughter is doing well academically. Home School Model is good because the kids are all ready identified so the support is there.

The issue to me is the kids who come in unidentified. If a child is unidentified and has behavior issues then it can weeks/months to get anything done about it. Those child are usually not in a HSM class. Then the rest of the class is affected by the behavior and there are no supports in place.

I think you are confused. Every MCPS elementary class is HSM (unless it is a discrete program). And every school in MCPS right now has misplaced kids. If your child’s class does not have children with big behaviors, that’s great, but not really what this thread is about.