Chapter 6 Policies and Family and Professional Partnerships

1. Chapter 6 Policies and Family and Professional Partnerships

2. Sharing Their Story • Despite partnering with the school district staff, securing state funding and recommending teachers, free appropriate public education was not to be for Jay in 1975, without additional political advocacy on the part of his parents. • For Jay “Free Appropriate Public Education” meant separate special education programs for students with intellectual disabilities from 1975-1987. • In his last year of school eligibility he was fully integrated into extracurricular and other school activities.

3. Sharing Their Story • He had been given the diagnosis of both intellectual disability and autism. • While at his high school in Maryland, through his integration into extra curricular and other school activities, he developed skills that would serve him well into adulthood. • The Turnbulls give credit for the differences in Jay’s education programming to changes in law, special education reform, and research about teaching and learning. They especially give credit to a highly-qualified and value-driven professional.

4. Think About It • What were the elements of school reform in special and general education? What reforms benefited Jay and should benefit students these days? • Given that school reform makes schools accountable for assuring acceptable outcomes for all students, what opportunities exist for parents and professionals to be partners in an era of accountability? What are the alternatives to adversarial confrontation, such as Jay’s parents sometimes had to use?

5. Think About It • What are the basic principles of the two federal laws shaping children’s education and parents’ and professionals’ partnerships in an era of accountability? How do these laws benefit today’s student and how might they have benefited Jay when he was a student, one of the first cohort of students with disabilities to benefit from the federal special education law?

6. School Reform, Accountability and Partnerships • Four major influences on policy makers, educators and families have been: • Advances in technology by economic competitors; • Low achievement scores of American students; • The need for a well–trained domestic workforce; • The civil rights movement on behalf of diverse females (culturally, linguistically and with disabilities.

7. Evolving Federal, State and Local Government Roles In General Education Reform • The following laws by Congress were enacted to spur on general education reform after the landmark court case Brown v. Topeka Bd. of Education (1954): • Civil Rights Act (1964) • The National Defense Act (1958)

8. Evolving Federal, State and Local Government Roles In General Education Reform • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act Amendments (1988) • The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1993) • The Improve America’s Schools Act (1994) • The No Child Left Behind Act (2002)

9. Evolving Federal, State and Local Government Roles in Special Education • Civil Rights Movement • Court cases • PARC v. Commonwealth (1971,1972) • Mills v. D.C. Bd. of Education (1972) • Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act • P.L.94-142 (1975) • Amendments • P.L. 98-199 (1983) • P.L. 99-457 (1986)

10. Evolving Federal, State and Local Government Roles in Special Education • P.L. 101-476 (1990) • Renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act • P.L.105-17 (1997) • P.L.108-446 • Renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) • Section 504 • Rehabilitation Act Amendments (1975) • The American Disabilities Act (1990)

11. Families • Federal law directly acknowledges that families have a significant role and responsibilities in being partners with educators. • Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) PL 108-466 • Explicitly describes the role of families as partners in their child’s education

12. Individuals with Disabilities Education ActIDEA • IDEA requires state agencies (SEA) to provide to every student who has a disability a “ free appropriate public education ”. • Part B provides education for students age 3-21 • Part C provides for education of infants and toddlers birth to age 3 .

13. Outcomes of Free Appropriate Public Education • Section 504 (Vocational Rehabilitation Act and the American with Disabilities Act) includes four elements: • Equal opportunity • Full participation • Independent living • Economic self-sufficiency

14. Key Principles of IDEA • Zero reject • Nondiscriminatory evaluation • Appropriate education • Least restrictive environment • Procedural due process • Parent participation

15. Zero Reject • No school may exclude any student ages 3 to 21 who has a disability. • Schools must educate each student without regard to the type or extent of the child’s exceptionality. • Principle applies to the provision of special education and related services.

16. Zero Reject • What about children who pose a threat to others in the school setting? • IDEA requires the Local Education Agency (LEA) to determine whether the student’s behavior is a manifestation of his or her disability. • If the behavior is not related to the disability, schools may discipline students in the same way they would discipline non-disabled students. • If the behavior is a result of the disability, schools may not terminate the student’s educational services.

17. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation • Requires that each student is entitled to a fair, unbiased evaluation to determine if the student has a disability. • If a disability is determined, the evaluation must sufficiently determine the nature of special education and related services a student needs.

18. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation • IDEA requirements: • The evaluation must include more than one test. • Assessments must be validated. • Re-evaluations occur every three years or more frequently if conditions warrant. • A group of persons consisting of educators and parents work together to evaluate the data.

19. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation • Parental notice is required: • When the school wants to evaluate the child for special education services. • For subsequent evaluations. • Before placing a child in special education courses or services. • Before exiting a child from special education courses or services.

20. Appropriate Education • Schools must tailor a student’s education to the student’s individual needs and capacities. • School services must benefit the student. • The Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) provide a plan for services that support an appropriate education for the student.

21. Appropriate Education • More specifically, the IEP and IFSP: • Specifies the content that the student will be taught. • How the student will be taught. • How the student’s progress is determined. • Where the student will be educated.

22. Least Restrictive Environment • Schools must educate students with a disability alongside students who do not have disabilities to the “maximum extent appropriate” for each student with a disability.

23. Least Restrictive Environment • To ensure the student is being included in his/her LRE, the IEP requires: • A statement delineating the extent to which, if any, a student may not participate in general education. • A statement describing the special education, related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications, and other supports that will enable the student to make progress in the general curriculum and to participate in extracurricular and other school activities.

24. Procedural Due Process • Professionals and parents should be accountable to each other. • Accountability Procedures: • Due Process Hearing • Mediation

25. Procedural Due Process • Due Process Hearing: • Provides a forum for parents and schools to challenge each other’s actions in providing, or failing to provide, a student with a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. • Disadvantages: Adversarial process which may erode standing or potential parent-professional partnerships.

26. Parent Participation • Parents should participate in making decisions about their child’s education. • In addition to parental consent for evaluation, placement decisions, and membership on the IEP team, IDEA promotes parent participation through requiring: • Parental access to school records. • Parent participation on state and local special education advisory committees.

27. Key Principles of NCLB • Accountability for results • School safety • Parental choice • Teacher quality • Scientifically based methods • Local flexibility

28. Accountability for Results • Public policy should reward states, school districts, and schools for improvement in academics; conversely, public policy should seek to reform low-performing schools • To ensure accountability, each state is required to: • Establish academic standards for reading, language arts, math, and science. • Develop assessments to measure student’s efficiency in meeting the standards. • Define adequate yearly progress (AYP) for school districts and each school.

29. Accountability for Results • Implications for educating students with exceptionalities: • Students are expected to meet general education standards or demonstrate progress toward proficiency on state assessments based on the standards. • Provision of appropriate accommodations on statewide assessments. • Special alternative assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

30. School Safety • Schools must be safe and drug-free and alcohol-free in order to provide an effective content for teaching and learning. • Strategies for addressing safety: • Federal funding to prevent violence and enhance safety. • Option for parents to transfer their child from a dangerous school setting.

31. Parental Choice • Affords parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children, including: • “Transfer option”: Parents may transfer their child from a low-performing or unsafe school to a higher-performing school or safe school. • Funds for parents to organize charter schools. • Receipt and review of school performance data. • Participation in federally funded Parental Assistance Information Centers.

32. Scientifically-based Methods • NCLB emphasizes the use of scientifically based methods in reading instruction. • NCLB requires that each state develop a Reading Leadership Team to ensure that schools are using scientifically based instructional methods for teaching reading and that a comprehensive approach to reading instruction occurs in all schools.

33. Teacher Quality • Student learning and outcomes depend on teacher competency. NCLB: • Requires states to develop plans to assure that all teachers of core academic subjects will be “highly qualified” (i.e., a person who holds teacher certification, a bachelor’s degree, and passes a state administered test). • Applies to general and special education teachers.

34. Local Flexibility • Federal programs should encourage local solutions for local problems. • Schools should have more discretion to use federal funds in a way that they deem best, but they should also be held accountable for student results. • Permits states and school districts to designate themselves as charter states/ charter districts.

35. Revisiting Jay Turnbull and Public Policy • The four outcomes for individuals with disabilities were met by Jay. They came at a great emotional, physical and economic cost to his parents and sisters. It should not have been so difficult for them, since laws were in place. • Ultimately, he had equal opportunity for independent living (in his own home); full participation in his community; and economic self-sufficiency (working as a research and clerical aide) . • For all families with children with disabilities IDEA and NCLB should make a difference in helping children to achieve these outcomes.

36. Summary What You Have Learned This chapter reviewed the principles of IDEA and NCLB providing the background and professional implications of each.

37. Linking Content To Your Life As an educator you must be knowledgeable about IDEA and NCLB. Use the reflective questions found on page 132 to guide your self-assessment of these laws and the implementation of each in your practices.