Reform Within NYCDOE

1. Reform Within NYCDOE Presentation to EDLS3300 K City College May 2, 2011

2. Reform Within NYCDOE Presenters: Meredith Handerhan Monica Rivera Vanessa Sandra Cain Paul Helgesen

3. History of Special Ed • What you will SEE • A Power Point Presentation • History of Special Education • Federal and Local (NYS) legislation affecting Special Ed • History of the DOE, with the unique creation of District 75 • Council of Great City Schools – Peer review (2008) • NCBL compliance (The bombshell of 2010) • The need for reform – bending the stick the other way, • Emphasis on: Inclusion • The new architecture: The Continuum of Services • New focus on the IEP

4. Reform Within NYCDOE What you will HEAR Presenters (In Order of Appearance) Meredith Vanessa Monica Sandra Paul

5. Reform Within NYCDOE What you may READ The paper forming the backbone of this presentation is approximately 40 pages. In order to save trees, we have archived the paper for your benefit. (URL referenced in your one-page summary)

6. Reform Within NYCDOE What you can ACCESS Our bibliography, including archived copies of key source documents. In order to save trees, we have archived the bibliography and copies of the key source documents for your benefit. (URL referenced in your one-page summary)

7. History of Special Ed And now, without further ado, we will start our presentation. Meredith will address the HISTORY of Special Education. _________________________________________________ A Brief History of Special Education in New York City and the United States: A glimpse at the work that pioneered Special Education in the United States and New York. “Educational Equality is the Civil Rights issue of our time…” - Barack Obama

8. History of Special Education Introduction: a look at where it all began in the United States First publicly and privately funded schools for the disabled The uprising of Advocacy groups for the disabled 1965 and Title VI (OSEP) 1973-1975 and the development of Section 504, FERPA, EAHCA/IDEA History of Special education in NYC and creation of D75 NYC specific reform: AFC, Rudy Crew and the Special Education Wasteland of the 1980’s and 1990’s Further Development of IDEA NCLB

9. Reform Within NYCDOE Principles of IDEA Free Appropriate Public Education Least Restrictive Environment Find Child Special Education Services (The Continuum) Related Services Special Education Teacher Support Services Collaborative Team Teaching Special Class Services State Education Department Approved Non-Public Schools State Operated and Supported Schools Home and Hospital Instruction

10. Continuum of Services

11. Continuum of Services

12. Continuum of Services

13. Continuum of Services

14. Reform Within NYCDOE Working on a Broken System ·Academic Gap between children with a disability and non-disabled children · The Purpose of Special Education The “New Continuum”

15. Reform Within District 75 Compliance with No Child Left Behind Citywide statistics - DOE

16. Federal Legislation The goal of NCLB is to have 100 percent of students proficient by 2013-14

17. Federal Legislation The goal of NCLB is to have 100 percent of students proficient by 2013-14 So how did New York City fare on this upward-spiraling, noble and extremely aggressive objective?

18. Throughout 2009, in Math, NY City looks compliant – EVEN AHEAD of the curve Nice annual Increments From 2006 to 2009 NOTE: “Passing” is considered “proficient”

19. OOPS What happened In 2010 A DROP Of 27% In Math Proficiency

20. OOPS But it gets WORSE

27. The Gist of the Special Ed/District 75 Reform Initiative

28. Reform Within NYCDOE •    The Action Plan • The need for reform • The five principles • Action plan • Support Systems • Issues to be resolved

29. District 75 – 23,000 students Special Ed – Community Schools 141,000 General Ed – 970,000 students

30. Special Education 164,000 students 39% of total Budget General Education 970,000 students 61% of total Budget DOE Annual Budget $21,000,000,000

32. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Legal Framework: Created under IDEA An IEP forms the cornerstone of the education of any student referred as a Special Education Student

33. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Classification of disabilities autism deaf-blindness deafness hearing impairment emotional disturbance learning disability mental retardation (Intellectual disability) multiple disabilities orthopedic impairment other health impairment speech or language impairment traumatic brain injury visual impairment including blindness

34. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 1 Josue, age 12, attends a NYC public school. He has a disability Is Josue automatically referred to Special Education ?

35. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 1 Josue, age 12, attends a NYC public school. He has a disability Is Josue automatically referred to Special Education ? Answer Not necessarily. Josue’s disability must be one of the 12 SPECIFIC qualifying disabilities to even clear that first of several prerequisites for obtaining an IEP

36. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 2 Elijah, age 13, attends a NYC public school. He is diagnosed with autism His teachers and AP recommend him for a “Special School” Is Elijah automatically referred to Special Education?

37. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 2 Elijah, age 13, attends a NYC public school. He is diagnosed with autism His teachers and AP recommend him for a “Special School” Is Elijah automatically referred to Special Education? Answer Not necessarily. A student’s parent is an important member of the IEP team. If the parent disagrees, the balance of the IEP team has no power to enroll Elijah in Special Education

38. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 3 Edwin, age 10, attends a NYC public school (General Ed) He has been absent from school for long, protracted periods every school year since he came to New York City from the Dominican Republic. Now in fourth Grade, Edwin reads at the pre-K level He appears learning-disabled His ELA teacher recommends Spec Ed and Edwin’s Mother agrees. Will Edwin automatically be referred to Special Education?

39. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry # 3 Edwin, age 10, attends a NYC public school (General Ed) He has been absent from school for long, protracted periods every school year since he came to New York City from the Dominican Republic. Now in fourth Grade, Edwin reads at the pre-K level He appears learning-disabled His ELA teacher recommends Spec Ed and Edwin’s Mother agrees. Will Edwin automatically be referred to Special Education? Answer Not necessarily Even though Edwin may be classified as Learning Disabled, he may not be eligible for Special Ed. If his reading performance is deemed to be based on inadequate instruction, he falls outside the purview of Special Education

40. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry #4 Edwin, age 10, attends a NYC public school (General Ed) He has been absent from school for long, protracted periods every school year since he came to New York City from the Dominican Republic. Now in fourth Grade, Edwin reads at the pre-K level He appears learning-disabled and there is no evidence his language instruction has been insufficient. His ELA teacher feels Edwin is a “slow learner” and recommends Spec Ed. Edwin’s Mother agrees. Will Edwin automatically be referred to Special Education?

41. The Individualized Education Program - IEP Rhetorical Inquiry #4 Edwin, age 10, attends a NYC public school (General Ed) He has been absent from school for long, protracted periods every school year since he came to New York City from the Dominican Republic. Now in fourth Grade, Edwin reads at the pre-K level He appears learning-disabled and there is no evidence his language instruction has been insufficient. His ELA teacher feels Edwin is a “slow learner” and recommends Spec Ed. Edwin’s Mother agrees. Will Edwin automatically be referred to Special Education? Answer: Discussion

42. Reform Within NYCDOE Presenters: Meredith Handerhan Monica Rivera Vanessa Sandra Cain Paul Helgesen