Baltimore seems to have made a lot of progress in terms of
supporting students with special needs.
I was very happy to hear my professor, Gordon Porterfield, proclaim
that after 44 years of teaching, he believes one of Baltimore’s largest areas
of growth has been in providing more students with special education
services. However, I did not
realize that this growth was initiated 28 years ago by a lawsuit against the
school system for failing to provide proper special education services. An article
from The Baltimore Sun explains that even though the lawsuit ends
this year, Baltimore school officials pledge to continue developing all special
education services. This makes me
wonder: will this promise be enough?
As many of my classmates know, I love considering the
Finnish education system. In a
previous class, I mentioned how Finland has one of the best public education
systems in the world, with highly educated and well-respected teachers. Besides exceptional teacher quality and prestige,
there are many other factors that may contribute to Finland’s educational success
(please check out the links below!), including their revolutionary special education services. Recently, I watched a short video about
Finland’s special education approach.
The video explains the special education strategies: early
intervention and tracking, a culture of accepting help (being “special” is
actually the norm), personalized attention and support, and intensive
collaboration through a “student welfare team.” I was amazed by the value of Finland’s special education system. While I know that adapting this type of
system to Baltimore schools would require restructuring, human capital, and
other additional resources, it is exciting to consider the possibilities of
this reform. Since Baltimore has
already been making strides in special education, could this be the next
step? Could special education in
Baltimore be conceptualized differently?
Overview of Finland's education system (all really fascinating… CHECK
IT OUT!!):
Short BBC Video
Wikipedia
4 comments:
Will this promise be enough? I hope so, unfortunately many schools in Baltimore city are not upholding their promise and make significant strides in improving special education. As I sat in my Differentiation and Inclusion course last week, I heard numerous stories of special ed law being violated in classrooms in Baltimore City. These situations were in no way brought about by maliciousness towards special education students, but due to a lack of knowledge by general educators and the short supply of special educators. I wholeheartedly agree that innovations in the realm of special education are necessary, but I hope that Baltimore City continues to take measures to ensure the basics are covered. This could look like professional development for general educators and more accountability in the classroom for implementing the legally required mandates of an Individualized Education Plan. What will it take for all special education students to benefit from these strides?
Again, this is Drew Indorf.
I love what Finland has done with their special education system, and I agree that improving the quality of special education students should be a major goal for Baltimore City Public Schools. Too often special educators are assigned a caseload that makes truly individualized attention extremely challenging, while general educators are often ill-trained to accommodate each need appropriately.
Interestingly enough, though, the White House's executive order to create the Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans (announced 2 days ago) actually aims to decrease the "disproportionate number of referrals of African American children from general education to special education." While this is certainly not in opposition to improving the quality of special education in struggling urban school districts, I found the objective interesting. Apparently, the overrepresentation of African American students in special education has become quite a problem over the decade. A 2000 Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of IDEA, the U.S. Department of Education noted that African American students were 2.9 times as likely as white students to be labeled as mentally retarded, 1.9 times as likely to be labeled emotionally disturbed, and 1.3 times as likely to be labeled as having a learning disability.
The eradication discriminatory referrals and implementation of more early interventions for African American students may help curb this data. Not only would these programs help more students start strong in their early years, but it would may also reduce the caseload for special educators in the long term, which would hopefully correlate with more effective instruction and support. If this is the case, it seems like Obama's initiative could be a double win for Baltimore City's teachers and students.
For more reading, check out the Executive Order here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/26/executive-order-white-house-initiative-educational-excellence-african-am
Also, here is the report on the overrepresentation of African American students in special education:
http://www.dcsig.org/files/AddressingOverrepresentationAfricanAmericanguide.pdf
I think Finland has a really interesting model for delivering genreal and special education services to their students. The main takeaway from the short video is the importance that trust plays in education programs. It seems that Finnish teachers and schools are trusted to innovate and take chances. This is an important aspect of eduction and the development of any industry. People must be free to take chances and risks. America does not seem to have such a wide window to experiment as consequences can be severe if they are not good innovations.
Additionally, it did seem like the Finnish system had a lot more resources available to them to help cater to all students needs and learning styles. Having three licensed teachers in every classroom would certainly make an huge impact on student achievement, especially if one teachers primary mission was to identify and assist lower preforming students in every class. I would love to see such opportunities come to all American classrooms but we just do not have the money available.
Overall, I think the Finnish system is great for their country but it is not an applicable model to America, unless we had some dramatic shifts in funding and school structure.
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