Bringing Special-ed Students Back to Neighborhood Schools (CA)
August 17, 2010
Special-needs students in California are heading back to their neighborhood schools’ classrooms as districts look to cut costs and revisit how to improve their learning environment.
As students are redirected from costly independent schools to their local public school districts, officials say, they will be able to save millions of dollars.
For the program to work, however, special education teachers say the districts have to do a better job of identifying the needs of these students at an earlier age.
Ed Amundson, a special education teacher at McClatchy High School in Sacramento, said having special-needs students in general classes is a good thing, but it isn’t for everyone.
Amundson supports bringing special-needs students back to the Sacramento City Unified School District."But that means we need to develop the programs to serve those kids," he said. "If you do it correctly, you have to commit a lot of time and money."
This semester, Sacramento City Unified is bringing back 69 special-needs students. Elk Grove Unified is returning 70 to 80 students – mostly emotionally disturbed and autistic children – when school resumes today.
"This is about having all of our students served in our communities," said Becky Bryant, director of special education services at Sacramento City Unified. "It will be a cost savings, but we are doing it because we are doing an effective job."
On average, Bryant estimated, the district pays $35,000 annually for one special-needs student to attend an independent sc hool, which educators refer to as a nonpublic school. The district has 357 special-needs students at nonpublic schools.
The average cost of educating a special-needs student in house is about $17,000, Bryant said.
Sacramento City Unified will add 10 special education classes this fall to handle the demand.
The district is undertaking a new program aimed at identifying struggling students before they need special education services.
It will begin using the Schoolwide Application Model, or SAM, a data-driven approach to catching students before they fall behind.
That "response to intervention" approach is an emerging assessment strategy that stresses early intervention.
"Special education was based on you have to fail and then we can help you," said Richard Villa, who assists districts across the country on inclusive education practices. "Now, there is a huge emphasis on early detection."
Sacramento City Unified has committed $79,000 to begin training teachers and staff members this week on the SAM model for early intervention for all students.
The teachers are from six schools that will pilot the program this fall. Those schools are Jedediah Smith Elementary, Oak Ridge Elementary, Sutterville Elementary, Caleb Greenwood K-8 School, California Middle School and McClatchy High School.
"Our long-term goal is for every school to become high-level experts so students wouldn’t need to leave to get their services," Bryant said.
Villa said districts have steadily moved away f rom separate classes for special-needs students. He said research shows that results improve when those students are placed in general education classes.
Special-needs students receive varying degrees of general education lessons, along with support services.
Elk Grove Unified is known for its inclusion practices, with nearly all the district’s special education students participating in some level of general education.
Some parents question whether mainstreaming kids with disabilities means they receive less specialized support.
Todd Winslow, the father of a special-needs student in Elk Grove Unified, said he doesn’t understand how the district can bring in more students with disabilities when, he feels, it has a hard time serving the ones it has now.
"Oftentimes, it seems that (specialized services) are in a group setting, instead of one-on-one," Winslow said.
He said his daughter has benefited from some general education classes such as art and physical education.
The issue over inclusion was put in the national spotlight in the early 1990s, when the parents of a special-needs student in Sacramento City Unified fought to have their daughter Rachel Holland, 11, fully included in general education classes.
The Holland case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the family.
McClatchy’s Amundson said sometimes other districts are so inclusive "that they come to Sacramento City Unified for specialized services."
Currently, Sacramento City Unified serves 5,632 special-needs students, whic h is about 12 percent of its overall student population. A third of those special-needs students are taught only in self-contained special education classes.
In the Elk Grove district, less than 1 percent of the students are taught only in self-contained special education classes. A very small percentage – also less than 1 percent – are referred to nonpublic schools for services.
Bill Tollestrup, director of special education at Elk Grove Unified, said a majority of his district’s students at nonpublic schools are emotionally disturbed, with behavioral concerns. He said those, along with autistic children, are primarily the students the district is returning.
"As they get older we can replicate a therapeutic environment and can manage them with the right support systems," Tollestrup said. "We are bringing back those with a record that says they are manageable. The students we have already brought back are doing well."
The goal is to bring kids to their neighborhood schools – so they won’t have to be bused out of their neighborhoods.
Elk Grove Unified has been working with a similar model for 16 years, Tollestrup said. A majority of Elk Grove’s 6,200 special-needs students are served by their neighborhood schools.
The students benefit from the general education and the district gets a cost savings on transportation when the students go to neighborhood schools.
"It’s a win win," he said.
"Special education was based on you have to fail and then we can help you. Now, there is a huge emphasis on early detection."