Special Education problems

Here are some interesting thoughts from Lowell J. Greenburg's website, www.earthrenewal.org:

"...Why do I feel that there were significant barriers that prevented my aides and I from delivering the most effective instruction?

"A caseload (number of students), that throughout the school year was well above the legal caseload limit in California of twenty-eight students per RSP teacher. My caseload generally hovered around thirty-six. Note: Twenty-eight is the legal limit, not the desired or ideal number of students per RSP teacher. Further, all of my students were seen for a minimum of one hour per day, some for as many as two hours per day.

"For most of the year, to address the needs of thirty-six students, I was given only one instructional assistant who worked four hours per day.
I taught in an extremely noisy and distracting room environment that at times required students and staff to literally shout to be heard. This environment was not created by any group of RSP students, but rather by noise from the adjacent school library and four surrounding classrooms.

"An internal school policy resulted in an excessive number of students being academically screened and tested by the RSP teacher (over one-sixth of the student population!), in lieu of regular classroom instructional modifications. Parents were not invited to the screening meetings where the decision to formally test was made.
A teaching schedule so demanding, that it was impossible for me to even take a ten minute "lunch" break, without compromising the instructional needs of my students. Despite my best efforts, there were, on occasion, 20+ students and multiple grade levels within the RSP room during a given time period. And of course, as in the regular classroom, within the grade levels there was significant variation in abilities and academic need. Even though I was new to the RSP position, I was given only one two day Special Education related instructional course during the school year. I requested training in Project Read and other VAKT (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Tactile) programs, but my requests, not surprisingly, were ignored- as were my written pleas for additional instructional aides, etc.


"Besides adversely effecting instructional effectiveness, a partial result of items (1)-(6) included:

"The long and sometimes stressful hours compromised my health and general well being.

"Because at times my job resulted in the "physical impossibility" of completing certain tasks, I had to make difficult choices on whether to test new students or deliver quality and timely instruction on a given day. I often choose the later and because my paperwork was not always timely (though it was quite thorough), I was ridiculed and professionally attacked by the school psychologist, often in front of staff and parents. In my opinion, her verbally abusive behaviors were also caused by deep-seated insecurity stemming from her own substandard job performance. She exhibited behaviors such as: (1) Blaming/shifting responsibility for behavior; (2) Lying /fragmentation (appearing one way, but actually acting another way behind closed doors); (3) Assuming knowledge of what others were thinking; (4) Acting as if "above the rules" (including flouting state regulations regarding special education); (5) Promoting disharmony with others; (6) Vagueness and making frequent excuses for tardiness; (7) Power plays, including refusing to talk, walking out of a room while the other person is speaking, etc; and (8) Self-glorifying behavior/exhibiting a false sense of superiority.

"Because of my caseload size, the school district decided to give me another instructional aide in early April. The offer was conditional on my signing a waiver, indicating that I could effectively handle a caseload of thirty-two with the additional aide. The day I signed the waiver my caseload exceeded thirty-two and the District Pupil Services staff knew it! Many District teachers, in similar situations, refused to sign the waiver out of "principle." After much reflection, I signed the waiver so that my students could receive the help they needed. I was fortunate to have hired a wonderful, bright and creative instructional aide, which greatly helped me in the remaining three months of the school year. I had her work intensely, often one on one, with those students having the greatest needs.

"What happened to me is only a microcosm of what goes on throughout the country in RSP Special Education Programs. In addition to poor teaching conditions and excessive caseloads, pressures are put on programs that result in inferior instruction, incorrect student placements, lack of teacher accountability for student progress, etc.

"Parents must take an active role, not only during the IEP meeting were a child's instructional program is discussed, but also in the day to day workings of the school's programs. Parents should have a legal right to know, for example, if their child's RSP program is over the legal caseload limit, or if conditions for learning are not optimal. We need to insure that parents are informed. Parents need to understand that Special Education services, even under the best possible conditions, are not a magic bullet. Pullout programs need to be very carefully evaluated for effectiveness. Teachers should never be put in a position of jeopardizing their own health for the well being of their students. An excellent information resource for parents, students and professionals that deal with Special Education issues is the LD Online web site..."


http://www.earthrenewal.org/silence_is_not_golden.htm