Friday, September 23, 2011

Semi-Annual News Round-Up

Just kidding!  I hope to summarize recent news more frequently than that.  But admittedly, it's been a while.  So let's plunge in:

1. Earlier this week, the WSJ published an article about the increased prevalence of certain diseases and conditions - like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome - in school aged children, and the ability (or lack thereof) of schools to provide them with FAPE.  The particular challenge with these conditions is that often, the student struggles to attend any classes at all; home and online tutoring are often necessary (but expensive).  Add to that general skepticism that CFS and fibromyalgia are "real" conditions, and you have a situation where schools are pushing back and challenging requested accommodations.

I thought the article was reasonably balanced, weighing the truly difficult issues of how to educate kids with such draining conditions.  However, there were a few statistics thrown around that I thought were a little disingenuous.  One special ed consultant (guess whose side he's on) estimated that in 1970, special education's share of school budgets was 4%  - in 2005, it increased to 21%.  He also cited the figure that the average cost for special ed students is $17,500, roughly double the figure for typical students.

Now, I don't know if the numbers are at all accurate.  For one thing, I really doubt that the $17,500 figure is true nation-wide.  But regardless, these figures are misleading.  Special ed students are not stealing from typical students' education.  States receive extra funding from the federal government under the IDEA to support special ed students - so comparing the cost to educate special ed students vs. typical students is apples to oranges.  So I worry that a parent of a typical kid who's reading this article says to herself, "Wow, those valiant school districts doing so much for these ungrateful kids and parents.  The cost of the special ed kids must be the reason that our middle school cut the art program."    And if you think I'm worrying for no reason, I've quoted an actual comment to the article below:

"Made-up diseases: Chronic fatigue syndrome, learning disability, and marginal personality disorder.  Whatever happened to words like lazy, stupid, and jerk?"

Sigh.

2. A few days ago, the US House of Representatives  approved H.R. Bill 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act (who comes up with these names??).  Here's a 3 page summary, here's the full monty, and here's a policy slant on it.

This is one of a number of bills that will be reauthorizing ESEA.  It's certainly good news that students with disabilities were expressly mentioned, but I'm not sure what, if anything, will end up changing.  Charter schools seem to be a total crap shoot when it comes to educating kids with disabilities.

And that's all for now folks!  Want to try to end on a semi-positive note!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

It's Back to School/IEP Season!!!

I'm a little bit late on this topic (since I was dealing with my own Back to School/IEP Season), but as parents of special needs know, September is not just about buying a new backpack and the long list of school supplies.  It's also about evaluating your child's IEP, and making sure that it's still appropriate for him and her.

Hopefully, you've already had your pre-school IEP meeting.  I think it's always a good idea to bring the team together before school starts, and discuss what's happened over the summer (good and bad) that may impact the IEP goals.

I'm going to repost some excellent thoughts from my colleague Charmaine Thayer (who has a great website of her own - Visions and Voices Together).  I think Charmaine has a really balanced perspective on parent/school collaborations - optimistic, and still realistic.  Here you go from Charmaine:

Your Back-to-School IEP Check:

1. I understand the goals my child is working on this year and these are still appropriate for my child.

2. Teachers and related service providers are working on the goals, and I know this because ______________________.

3. My child is receiving all the services and supports written on his/her IEP, and I know this because ______________.

4. I do not agree to any amendments to my child’s IEP without considering all of the possible repercussions of an amendment. 

* CAUTION: some parents have been receiving proposed amendments to their child’s IEP to decrease amount of time for services, or change services from direct (actually working with your child) to indirect (consulting with school staff) and asked to “Sign here and send back to school.”

5. I have a communication plan in place to receive daily/weekly communication from people working with my child.

6. I share with school staff what strategies work well with my child.

7. I consider not signing a release (or revoking if I already have) of information between the school and private providers.  Instead, I provide written reports to each party when I think it is appropriate.  If school staff and private providers want to speak to each other, I am on the phone with them, or meeting with them.

8. I thank school staff and recognize when things are going well.

9. I celebrate my child’s successes!

And given the time of the year, it seems like a good time to post some general IEP resources, relevant to any time you're considering an IEP meeting.

IEP Guide: This is a pretty basic primer on your, and your child's rights under IDEA, and how to navigate the IEP process.

NCLD on IEP Teams:  This is a parent-advocate's perspective on the "dream" IEP team....and what is often the ugly reality.  So this is not what I'd call a balanced perspective, but it's certainly one that parents are quite familiar with, and speaks to the frustration and anger that many parents feel. 

As always, Wrightslaw has a variety of really helpful resources, including an email newsletter, the Special Ed Advocate and their website full of archived materials and analyses.

Good luck!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

LiveScribe Pens, Round II: Illegal to use in the Classroom?

I remain bemused (saddened?  not surprised?) by stories in which schools actively reject new technologies on spurious premises.  Why can't they see the value of these new tools?  Why is there such a lack of creativity?

This week's tale of bureaucracy comes from a colleague of mine in the special education legal world.  One of her clients is a 10th grader with auditory processing dysfunctions.  On the recommendation of a neuropsych, his parents bought him a LiveScribe pen and he brought it to school to assist with notetaking and reviewing the lectures later on at home.  (This, by the way, is precisely one of the ways that the LiveScribe pen is SO AWESOME.  This is EXACTLY in line with best practices).

The teacher, however, told him he couldn't use it because it was "illegal".  Now, there is one potential legal issue at hand.  Some states prohibit you from recording conversations without the other party's consent (these are "two party" states).  Other states have no such restriction, and you can record away (these are "one party" states).  Apparently, this kid was in a one-party state, so the teacher was flat wrong. I love how people make these things up. 

Now, turn your legal brain on to the next logical question: would use of the LiveScribe pen be illegal in a two party state?  After all, you'd need the other party's consent to record.  Well, really, what thinking teacher would refuse consent to the student's recording?  What about the other students - would schools need to get consent from each and every student, if one student wanted to record a lecture (in which the other students are presumably participating)?  I would argue no.  Students don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what they say in a classroom, vis a vis the other people in the class.  Now, maybe you'd want the student doing the recording to agree to only use the recording for educational purposes, and that seems reasonable.  But again, nothing about the use of the LiveScribe pen is illegal.

So, back to the example.  What was the teacher's real concern?  Well, maybe the teacher was nervous that if the kid recorded her lectures, his parents would find that that she really couldn't teach!  Or maybe the teacher just didn't understand the potential of the LiveScribe pen to really help the student learn.  I really have no idea, but this really reinforces the principles I posted about earlier.  In sum, the coolest and best technologies for learning will be entirely useless if teachers don't know how to use them and if schools don't support their inclusion in the classroom.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What's the value of an online education?

 Happy return to the school year!  After a little summer break, we are back in action.  And, talking about education again.

I've talked about online education before - I generally think it presents some interesting new options, but it's fairly untested.  And you certainly know I'm not anti-technology or anti-choice.  So I read with interest a set of surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center.  One survey was a telephone survey to 2,000+ random adults (the "public") and the other was a online survey to over 1,000 college presidents (2 and 4 year, private and public).  You can find the link to the study here - but here are some interesting highlights:

1. The general public doesn't value online learning very highly.  Only 29% of the public says online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom. Half (51%) of the college presidents surveyed say online courses provide the same value.  What's the difference?  Perception.  A Harvard education is viewed to be superior to most other undergraduate colleges - but it's not necessarily true.  It might be the best for some students, but other students might do better in a college with smaller class sizes and a different choice of majors.  But Harvard remains "on the top" because of perception.  The issue of perception arises after you've graduated, when you're trying to get a job on the basis of your academics.  Online education is new, and mostly unproven.  It will need to prove that it's not a fluffy option for people trying to do minimal work. 

2. ....and yet,  Roughly one-in-four college graduates (23%) report that they have taken a class online. Not surprisingly, the share doubles to 46% among those who have graduated in the past ten years (I mean, really, 10 years ago there wasn't even Google). Among all adults who have taken a class online, 39% say the format’s educational value is equal to that of a course taken in a classroom.  But on this point, how would they know?  I would argue that the value depends on the course and the curriculum - is it a topic that can be easily (or best?) taught online?  Compare a law school lecture - where minimal student input is expected or required - with a class on teaching methods, where presumably you need to try your methods out on other students.

3.  Despite recent evidence to the contrary, digital textbooks may well conquer.  Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.  I believe this.  Tablet computing is taking over, and it's replacing the 15 pounds of textbooks I carried in high school.

There are some other interesting factoids, like, how plagiarism is on the rise due to the Internet.  I find this fascinating - this was simply not an option when I was in high school.  Perhaps we'll explore this issue in a future post, because I think this is definitely a downside to technology, and I'd like to research what teachers and schools are doing to combat the problem.  (Part of the solution might be to flip the classroom a la the Khan Academy - do lectures at home and homework at school).  Another interesting point is that colleges have yet to figure out how to regulate the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in the classroom.  Do you permit wireless?  Do you require wireless?  How do you keep students engaged if they can access Angry Birds at any time?

Worth some thinking!