Improving Special Education For All Students

Recently I spoke with someone knowledgeable and credible who has experience with Special Education in the Middletown schools. It made me wonder about who is watching out for the students. 

Special Education is unique in that it is almost always adapted to the student. While general education students can be grouped according to age, grade, and level of knowledge, special education students range across the spectrum with few common denominators. That is why they require special education.

Special Education teachers are also unique in that they walk a line between the expectations of the parents (which might differ from the expectations of the school) as well as a close-up knowledge of the individual student’s strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities.

Special Education is expensive, not only because of the range of differences but also because of the extent of a teacher’s ability to adequately service all his/her charges’ needs. If it is possible to service the child within the school, it may require full services, partial services, or supplemental services, all of which require time and staff.

As a result of their close association with the special education teacher, students form relationships that are generally closer and perhaps even more educationally dependent than the typical student does with a regular education teacher, who could be providing learning experiences for 100 or more students.

What does all this mean for the special education students and teachers in the Middletown schools?  It means that special education staff – resource teachers and aides – are vital components in the broader educational environment, and consideration needs to be given to ensuring that, when they are absent, the needs of the students are still being met. 

How is this situation different from the absence of a teacher in a regular education classroom? In the latter, a substitute can follow the lesson plan for each class that the responsible teacher has left behind. It might not be accomplished as efficiently or effectively as the regular classroom teacher would do it, but the majority of the students will still have a learning experience in that class

However, when a special education teacher is absent, students may be placed in an alternative setting or the substitute might be not much more than an unknown baby sitter who may lack the individualized training that special education requires or be personally unable to relate to the students.

The absence of a special education aide who works with teachers in the classroom is just as detrimental because there is not usually a replacement so the students who get services in that classroom are on their own.

The scenarios above reflect the issues related to special education in the public schools, not just Middletown’s. Some students have so much greater needs that they have to be out-placed. 

All of the special education options are expensive. What is important is the way schools ensure the best services for their students.

Until special education personnel are recognized as vital components of an educational institution, some of our students will fall through the cracks along the way.

Cost is always the biggest factor. So when I talk about consolidating high schools, I see it as pooling our knowledge base, our resources, and our capabilities to provide better education and services for all students.