(US Department of Education)
On December 3, 2004 President George W. Bush signed The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This National Special education law, also known as IDEA, provides for about 6.8 million children. It guarantees public services and education to infants, toddlers, children, and young adults up until age 21 with disabilities. This national law puts aside money and funds for each state to improve their special education programs. Besides improving the quality of educational services and finding quality teachers the IDEA also improves special education by funding research, supporting demonstrations, parent training, and information centers. Overall the IDEA has been a very important contributing factor to the Special education in the US.
The IDEA (part C) promotes and provides early intervention by offering services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. It is thought that if they are given special attention and help at an earlier age they will be able to gain a better education and learn more efficiently in the future. OSEP has funded research in RTI to improve and better the education of children with special needs at an earlier age.
The Percentage of students receiving early intervention services ages 0-2
Special education enrollment - 3s & 4s
State- Number of 3 & 4 year olds served by the Preschool Grants Program of the IDEA
Alabama- 4025, Alaska-1181, Arizona-8302, Arkansas-6617, California-38,588, Colorado-6281, Connecticut-4865, Delaware-1166, Florida-17,847, Georgia-10,257, Hawaii-1459, Idaho-2446, Illinois-20,223, Indiana-10,760, Iowa-3466, Kansas-5428, Kentucky-12,435, Louisiana-5394, Maine-2787, Maryland-7191, Massachusetts- 9152, Michigan-13,378, Minnesota-7753, Mississippi-3740, Missouri-8573, Montana-982, Nebraska-2732, Nevada-3025, New Hampshire-1747, New Jersey-10,729, New Mexico-3794,
New York-40,422, North Carolina-10,618, North Dakota-852, Ohio-12,594, Oklahoma-4101, Oregon-5093, Pennsylvania-16,565, Rhode Island-1,609, South Carolina-5,422, South Dakota-1,545, Tennessee-6,051, Texas-21,244, Utah-4,485, Vermont-961,Virginia-9,614,
Washington-7,511, West Virginia-2,835, Wisconsin-9,214,Wyoming-1,620
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was proposed by President George W. Bush and signed into law on January 8, 2002. This law was created in attempt to improve the quality of public school education as a whole and assure that no child is left behind in terms of receiving an education. This law attempts to do so by increasing accountability for states, school districts, and schools by offering more choices to students and parents, more flexibility for states and local use of federal education money, and more focus on improving the literacy rate by focusing on reading. While the NCLB was not created specifically for special education programs, it does have a large impact on Public School Special Education programs by providing them with the same benefits and increase funding.
List of Video Clips- National Special Education Programs (IDEA)
Children Enrolled by their Parents in Private Schools
Discipline
Early Intervening Services/Response To Intervention (RTI)
Highly Qualified Teachers
Individualized Education Program (IEP) - Changes in Initial Evaluation and Reevaluation
Monitoring and Enforcement
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)
Procedural Safeguards
How bad is the current situation?
While significant improvements are being made in all states across the country not all of them are meeting the requirements of the IDEA. Despite all the Federal Government’s implementation of the IDEA only nine states Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming are currently fully meeting federal requirements outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This means over 4/5 of the states in the US are not meeting these federal requirements. However, while requirements are not being fully met, there are improvements being made to the system. (States Rated on Special Education Programs)
Since the IDEA has been made law the number of students enrolled in special education programs have significantly increased. Today the US provides services to more than 6.7 million disabled students. The national average percentage of students in special education is about 14%. Areas of higher poverty have fewer students enrolled in their programs. The national overall increase in the number of students receiving special education can be viewed as a positive thing, because this means more children are getting they help they need.
Increase in the Number of Children enrolled in special education programs
A current issue that is being debated is who should be responsible for paying for special education. Currently all the funds for special education come out of the pockets of tax payers. Many children have disabilities so severe that they cannot function in a regular public school classroom setting. Educating a special needs child is about 2.5 the costs of educating a regular student. About $7,777 is spent on educating a regular student while $18,492 is spent on educating a special education student. Parents have resulted to sending to private school but forced the state to pay the tuition for their child's private school education because the federal law requires school districts to provide children with extended day education even to children with disabilities. This is just one example of the debates the costs and funding for special education in the United States. (Sate-Level Cost Analysis: Kentucky Case Study) (Where does the money go?)
CURRENT SITUATION:
Another struggle special education programs across the nation are facing is the lack of qualified teachers. The retention rate of these teachers is very low. The departure rate of special education teachers is about 13.5% annually compared to the 6.5% for regular schoolteachers. This is because the demands in special education are much higher and require a lot more individual attention and work. Areas with high poverty suffer from this the most. This has a negative effect on the children living here because they are less likely to receive adequate educational services. According to the 2004 COPSSE report, about 1/3 of the special education teachers hired were not certified. There is also a shortage of special education administrators, paraprofessionals and disability specialists. Without adequate teachers and staff programs cannot be run efficiently and effectively. In attempts to fix this problem the US government now requires all teacher to be fully certified and licensed in any field they teach. Special education teacher are generally paid around a median of $48,000. This salary is not very high for the amount of work put into the job which does not provide teacher with much of an incentive to pursue special education. (Teachers- Special Education- Earnings)
WHO DOES THIS EFFECT:
The current situation regarding Special Education Programs in the United States impacts a wide range of people, similar to those mentioned below in local section.
Special Education Students:
Children across the nation who are identified as having learning disabilities have overall benefited from the current situation in the US with its attempts to improve special education through the IDEA. However, this varies from state to state. Some states have invested more time and money in their programs than others. However, overall in comparison to children (special education) across the world, the children (special education) in the United States of America have it pretty good. The results of the IDEA, such as increased funding, early intervention, response to intervention, and improved individual education programs all benefit the students by giving them a better education. All these services positively impact the children in need of special educational services and provide them with a greater chance of attending college and pursuing a career in the future. (New America Foundation- Impact on Schools)
The current situation regarding special education impacts people of differently economic statuses differently. Children who live in wealthier states and districts have a better chance of receiving an adequate education and getting the services they need. Children who live in poorer districts don’t receive the same high quality services and education.
Students not enrolled in Special Education:
Children not enrolled in special education, while benefiting from other acts such as the No Child Left Behind Act, don’t directly benefit from the improvements made to the special education system. In fact, in many ways the increased funding for public school education programs have taken away from the education of non-disabled children. The opportunity cost in this situation is improving education for children not in the special education programs. This is a huge opportunity cost.
Tax Payers/ US citizens:
The current situation with nation wide special education programs impacts every citizen in the United States through taxes. The improvements made to the special education programs are costly and have contributed to a rise in taxes. Over $60 billion a year has been put aside for the development and improvements of these programs in the nation’s attempt to improve the quality of education and increase the opportunities for children with learning disabilities. Everyone, regardless of if they have any connections or relations to anyone in public special education programs, has to pay these taxes. Therefore, people who are not receiving any benefits and services from the system are forced to pay for it through their taxes. This opens the door for another opportunity cost. If it wasn’t for the IDEA and federal government’s desire to improve special education services across the nation, this money could be used for other services. The $60 billion a year dedicated for national special education could go to fund projects or services that are used by a larger majority of the population.
(Who Pays for Special Ed?)
Society/ American Economy (In the long run):
The improvements made in these programs will, in the long run, benefit society and the nation’s economy. This is because if these children are able to receive adequate education when they are young, they are more likely to graduate from college and become a contributing member to society. If these children are able to get a good education and learn, when they get older they are more likely to get a job which will in the end contribute to society and improve the overall economy by filling job positions and making money. The IDEA has been installed with hopes that the investments made now will have beneficial effects in the future and boost the overall economy.
Rise in Number of Students enrolled in Special Education Programs across the US
The Students Behind NCLB's 'Disabilities' Designation
2 comments:
The idea here is to address the need for special education teachers, and to give an education to the disabled. Are people ever depressed about their disabilities? I couldn't imagine being blind or having dyslexia. I guess that is why it is good to educated them early so it appears more normal for them as they grow up. Are there programs for disabled and depressed students?
Maybe that is why we need schools for special education, so the students don't feel different, or uncomfortable in their surroundings.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires that all teachers go through a certain amount of schooling and training to teach specific types of subjects and students. When it comes to special education they are extremely strict. A good family friend of mine had worked in a school for over 25 years with a degree in def and hard of hearing. She began the career with that and moved into special education as the field was being broadened. When the act began there was and still is more of an emphasis on meeting all of the requirements for testing, this is even true for the teachers. What happened to her was that she was told that the credential for teaching did not have the exact formula for the requirements for the class that she was teaching in special education. Even though she was extremely successful she was a very active member of the school. She was even beginning to educate the children of her former student. So the DOE told her that she could no longer teach special education unless she went back to school. She ended up having to work with the field that she got her initial degree in which was the def and hard of hearing. She can no longer work at the school she loved but now has to go to fourteen different schools all over the Los Angeles County area. The DOE just doesn’t count for experience and it has no problem just leaving their well qualified teachers behind.
Lily~
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