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Special Education has come a long way in many respects since the most recent reauthorizations of IDEA- the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. However, Special Education needs an overhaul because of three persistent areas of weakness: 1) Standardized testing, 2)the massive amount of paperwork expected of special education teachers and 3) the practice of putting children with a variety of disabilities in the same classroom.

Standardized Testing-
All students must be assessed annually, but the standardized tests are not appropriate for some students. Let's take students with learning disabilities. A sixth grade student with a documented reading level of grade 2 must take the grade 6 state reading test.

Extensive evaluation has already documented all his areas of reading weakness and has stated that his skills are at the grade equivalent of grade 2. If the test results are looking for annual progress, he should take a grade 2 or 3 test, but no, he must take the grade 6 test. The student will be very frustrated taking this test and will fail.

You have heard there are alternatives?
Yes, there are but they are not a good match either. One alternative is intended for more severe disabilities, not a reasonable option. The next alternative is his teacher can collect a portfolio of his work to submit in lieu of the standardized test, but the work is expected to be at grade level and he is supposed to do the work independently. How can that be if his reading level is at the grade 2 level.This testing is problematic for students and the teachers who want the best for them. Ironically, this testing requirement is part of NCLB- No Child Left Behind.

Paperwork-
Special Education teachers have lesson plans and communications with parents. The nature of special education, though, means that lesson plans are multi-tiered, almost customized for each of the students on a special educator's case load. Each child has and IEP, an Individualized Education Plan which must be written and updated. To do that, the special educator must also set up a meeting with the parent, teacher, administrator, and related services provider. If the student is due for a three year review or needs to be re-evaluated, an entire stack of papers must be completed and submitted. From within the school system, there are seemingly endless reports and projections that must be filled out to report monthly enrollments.

This exhaustive paperwork takes away from the time the teacher has with an individual student.

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