A.C.O.E . Special Education Presentation

1. A.C.O.E.Special Education Presentation December12, 2018 Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission

2. Outcomes • Understanding the role and responsibility of education in providing educational opportunity and access for all students • Building on your understanding of special education law and processes using an equity lens • Building on your awareness of how Trauma Informed practices can support positive student outcomes

3. Our Special Education Team • Monica Vaughan – Chief of Schools • SheilaghAndujar – Special Education Advisor • Dr. Sean Moffatt – Director of Juvenile Court Schools • Barbara Baker – Licensed Educational Psychologist • Constance Jones – Speech Therapist • Davide Noack – (Court School) - Case Manager • Alque Ryans (Camp Sweeney) - Case Manager • Ninette Serna – Para Educator • Laura Gomez – Para Educator • Robert Butler – Para Educator • Dezryn Devent – Para Educator

4. EducationAcronyms-Terminology • OCR – Office of Civil Rights • FAPE – Free and Appropriate Public Education • IDEA – Individual with Disabilities Act • LRE – Least Restrictive Environment • IEP – Individual Education Program • RTI – Response to Intervention • TI – Trauma Informed • MTSS – Multi-Tiered System of Supports

5. Social Justice Framework • https://youtu.be/x1nrrvT2Q-w

6. Brief Historyof SPED • Ideology • Equal Educational Opportunity • The Education for All Handicap Children Act of 1975 changed to IDEA in 1990 • Disproportionality

7. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1975 “Overall, the goal of IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability.” • Access • Opportunity • Stigmatizing

8. The Sorting-and-Classifying Paradigm History has shown us: • School as a sorting mechanism • School success determined by test scores

9. Issues of ConcernEligibility for Special Education • EBD (Emotional/Behavioral) • ID (Intellectual) *Suspension data continues to be strongly correlated with race

10. The Role of Culture • Subjectivity regarding placement • Assumptions about an individual • The issue is complex

11. OCR Finding • Since the year 2000, the federal government, specifically the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), has monitored school districts more closely to watch for the over-referral of African American and Latino students to Special Ed programs—now there are voices that say too few have been referred. The issue remains controversial.

12. Inclusion Inclusion is not about a place, or an instructional strategy,or a curriculum; inclusion is about belonging,being valued, and having choices. (Allen & Schwartz, 2001, p.3)

13. Social Justice Frameworkand Trauma Informed Approach • Equity is access and opportunity for all students • New perspective …… The question changes from: “What is wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” ***Have Barbara add a quote about Trauma***

14. Restorative Justice Restorative Justice And Restorative Practices

15. Multi-Tiered System of Supports

16. RTI 2– Core Assumptions • The educational system can effectively serve all children • Early intervention is critical to prevention • Implementation of a multi-tiered service delivery model is necessary • A problem solving model should be used to make decisions between tiers such as Student Study Teams (SST) • Research based interventions should be implemented • Progress monitoring must be implemented to inform and support instruction • Data should drive the decision making process

17. Behavior-Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) PBIS is a proactive approach: to develop awareness; to establish behavioral supports; to achieve social, emotional and academic success for all students. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary(individual) systems of support that enhance lifestyle, i.e. personal, health, social, family, work, recreation for all youth.

18. Response to Instruction & Intervention

19. Free Appropriate Public EducationFAPE “Under the IDEA, every child with a disability is entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). The IDEA emphasizes special education and related services, which should be designed to meet a child’s “unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.” …IDEA requires schools to prepare Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), which confer “meaningful educational benefit” to children with disabilities. The “meaningful educational benefit” requirement includes a focus on raised student expectations, appropriate progress, and transition into postsecondary education and independent living. Public schools and local school boards are responsible for ensuring that every child with a disability receives FAPE

20. Child Find • There are two methods for identifying and referring a child to EI. The first is a referral, usually by an educator or a parent. The second is the Child Find program. Mandated by IDEA, Child Find continuously searches for and evaluates children who may have a disability with the use of Child Find activities, which can vary widely from school district to school district. For example, one district might hold periodic conferences to train staff on policies, while another may hold playgroups, during which parents are asked to complete a developmental milestone questionnaire.

21. IDEA Evaluation Process • Before a child’s eligibility under IDEA can be determined, however, a full and individual evaluation of the child must be conducted. There are at least two ways in which a child may be identified to receive an evaluation under IDEA: • (1) Parents may request that their child be evaluated. Parents are often the first to notice that their child’s learning, behavior, or development may be a cause for concern. If they’re worried about their child’s progress in school and think he or she might need extra help from special education services, they may call, email, or write to their child’s teacher, the school’s principal, or the Director of Special Education in the school district. If the school determines that an evaluation is needed, it must evaluate the child at no cost to parents. • (2) The school system may ask to evaluate the child. Based on a teacher’s recommendation, including observations, research based interventions, and/or results from tests given to all children in a particular grade, a school may recommend to the parent that a child receive further screening or assessment to determine if he or she has a disability and needs special education and related services. The school system “must” ask parents for permission to evaluate the child, and parents “must” give their informed written permission before the evaluation may be conducted. • *It is important to know that the Student Study Team (SST) may not determine that an assessment is appropriate if the determinant factor for making that judgment is the child’s lack of instruction in reading or math or the child’s limited English proficiency. The child must otherwise meet the law’s definition of a “child with a disability”– meaning that he or she has one of the disabilities listed in the law and, because of that disability, needs special education and related services.

22. 14 Special Education Eligibility Disability CategoriesHaving a disability, though, does not necessarily make a child eligible for special education. Consider this language from the IDEA regulations: Child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with 300.304 through 300.311 as having [one of the disabilities listed below] and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. This provision includes the very important phrase “…and who, by reason thereof… “This means that, because of the disability, the child needs special education and related services. Many children have disabilities that do not bring them the need for extra educational assistance or individual educational programming. If a child has a disability but is not eligible under IDEA, he or she may be eligible for the protections afforded by other laws—such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. It’s not uncommon for a child to have a 504 plan at school to address disability-related needs. Such a child will receive needed assistance but not under IDEA. Autism Deafness Deaf-blindness Developmental delay Emotional disturbance Hearing impairment Intellectual disability Multiple disabilities Orthopedic impairment Other health impairment Specific learning disability Speech or language impairment Traumatic brain injury Visual impairment, including blindness

23. Old Model for Determining Specific Learning Disability (SLD) Eligibility Discrepancy Model This model required students to exhibit a discrepancy between their ability (measured by standardized testing as IQ-Ability: either verbal or non-verbal) and academic achievement (measured by standardized achievement assessments). To be SLD eligible a student must display a 20 point discrepancy between Ability and Achievement.

24. New Model for Determining Specific Learning Disability (SLD)Response to Intervention Tier 1-3 • IDEA’s regulations specify additional procedures required to be used for determining the existence of a specific learning disability. Sections 300.307 through 300.311 spell out what these procedures. • It’s important to note, though, that IDEA 2004 made dramatic changes in how children who are suspected of having a learning disability are to be evaluated. • States must not require the use of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement. • States must permit the use of a process based on the child’s response to scientific, research-based intervention; and standardized assessment. • States may permit the use of other alternative research-based procedures for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability. • The assessment team that makes the eligibility determination must include a regular education teacher and at least one person qualified to conduct individual diagnostic examinations of children, such as a school psychologist, speech-language pathologist, and/or remedial reading teacher.

25. Determining Eligibility for Speech and Language • A Student has a language or speech disorder as defined in Education Code section 56333, and it is determined that the pupil's disorder meets one or more of the following criteria:  • Articulation disorder. 1. The pupil displays reduced intelligibility or an inability to use the speech mechanism which significantly interferes with communication and attracts adverse attention and which adversely affects educational performance.  • Abnormal Voice. A pupil has an abnormal voice which is characterized by persistent, defective voice quality, pitch, or loudness.  • Fluency Disorders. A pupil has a fluency disorder when the flow of verbal expression including rate and rhythm adversely affects communication between the pupil and listener.  • Language Disorder. The pupil has an expressive or receptive language disorder when he or she meets one of the following criteria: 1. The pupil scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the 7th percentile, for his or her chronological age or developmental level on two or more standardized tests in one or more of the following areas of language development: morphology, syntax, semantics, or pragmatics.​

27. Conclusion • General Education and Special Education are partners of one system designed to educationally support all students equitably • As a result of OCR findings, education has developed processes to address disproportionality • There has been a shift toward healing trauma