Good School, Bad School

I’m taking my first course just now towards my doctorate degree in Educational Administration. It’s actually pretty easy stuff. The writings are scholarly (no surprise there) but not difficult to figure out after I re-read parts of them once or twice. What interested me were our readings this week about what makes a good school versus a bad school. I heard all these lovely sentiments in class discussions. Then I read the articles and I liked them a lot more than the input from my colleagues. Why? Because there is no way a person can define in simple, clear terms what a good school is in one sentence or less. No one. And the articles don’t attempt to do that.

In fact one of the articles stated it is almost impossible to define what a good schools is and it is much easier to define what it isn’t. The articles I read were written within different theoretical frameworks of course but I expected that at this level. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with them. One of the most interesting articles was the application of neoliberalism to local schools and Ontario education. Neoliberalism. You gotta love that word. I still don’t know what the heck it means but I know what it defines.

Neoliberalism is a view of the education system in light of the province’s social economy, privatization, and in particular, powerful politic influences that occasionally impose educational reform on the province. It states that politicians pretty much dictate how our education system is going to look since they formulate curriculum and provide funding to deliver that curriculum. The budget has to account for various expenditures that generally reflect the curriculum at work in the schools, so I’m inclined to agree that it is the powers that be that create both good schools and bad schools.

The framework states that politics determines funding for schools and how much schools need to turn to the school community for financial assistance. For instance, when Mike Harris, the evil Conservative, cut $50 million dollars from the special education budget over 4 years of his first term in office, a lot of children in need of special services suffered. The cut affected such issues as purchasing assistive devices (eg. special computers), reduced the number of teacher assistants to help children to learn and remain in the classroom (inclusion), and it increased the number of special needs students who worked with special education teachers. This is a problem because the whole point of withdrawing children from class (exclusion) is to have them work in small groups, thereby receiving more teacher attention. When class sizes increased and the hiring of teachers froze, these groups became much larger and tutoring all but vanished. These are direct results of the social economy affecting education.

Turning to outside agencies for financial assistance is another. Selling chocolates door to door, gaining sponsorship from sports shops for softball or basketball teams, and ordering bulk pizzas for pizza days at reduced prices with a local pizza restaurant are all examples of external agencies that are very necessary to help fund school activities. There’s nothing wrong with community involvement in schools. In fact, it’s vital and provides a great experience for the children. But the need for financial donations and support from the community arose from the severe cuts in educational funding that began in Canada between 1978 – 1982.  Government withdrew significant financial funding for schools and left schools to work with capital enterprise in order to keep afloat.

This is the system neoliberalism doesn’t like much. The theory states it is biased and, depending on the poverty or wealth of a school community, there is great inequality in funding for schools in different regions. That makes a lot of sense. Low-income neighborhoods are not able to donate money or purchase goods from schools to the same profit as schools in high-income neighborhoods. Is this a disadvantage for low-income school communities? You bet.

The powers that be determine how financially profitable a school will be during a given academic year. The “profit”, btw, is directed back into the schools. Money from pizza lunches and bake sales purchase text books and technology. No one pockets a fatty paycheck. Not unless you’re a crook. Neoliberalism is all about the capital market that discriminates against the many and benefits the few. It sounds quite Marxist, doesn’t it? And that, of course, is the next article on the itinerary.

 

What is an Individual Education Plan?

In special education an individual education plan, or IEP, is created for a single student’s learning needs whether these needs are challenging or advanced. An IEP creates a modified curriculum for a student. Modification means the curriculum is tailored specifically to this child’s needs. As a result s/he does not follow most of the regular classroom curriculum. That special needs student may learn the same subject at the same time as his or her peers, for instance transformational geometry strand in mathematics, but the IEP student does not learn or get taught curriculum at the provincial or state level. Rather, the student’s curriculum is modified to assist the student in improving his or her learning skills, or putting advanced (gifted) skills to better use. An IEP requires the consent of the student’s parent or guardian and cannot be put in place without it. Yearly, the school is required to re-test the child in order to determine whether or not the child needs to continue using an IEP.  Watch what is an individual education plan?

An IEP is part of the Education Act in Ontario.  It is a legality and any student who requires curriculum modification is entitled to an IEP by law.  If deemed necessary, the student is also entitled to assistive technology, for example software that translates a student’s speech into text in a word processing program.  This type of assistive technology is especially helpful for children with reading difficulties or phonemic dyslexia. Since assistive technology is very expensive a school requires additional funding to provide AT to its special students.  In that case the school’s Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC)  examines the student’s full academic history, receives feedback from the classroom and special education teacher about the student’s progress, and discusses the situation with the student and/or parents. Watch what are learning disabilities?

All schools are required to establish an IPRC by law. Sometimes consultants from the school board, such as autism specialists, attend the meetings to provide valuable input.  Although parents and the student are invited to offer suggestions about the IEP, the IPRC has the right to reject these suggestions if they are deemed unreasonable, unhelpful, irrelevant, or otherwise.  In that case the family may appeal an IPRC decision to an Ontario tribunal to determine whether or not the IPRC has made a correct decision. If the tribunal supports the school’s decision the parent is permitted to take the matter further and appeal to the Ontario Supreme Court. Watch best practices and accommodations.

Along with IEPS, classroom teachers usually provide accommodations for special students. An accommodation does not require parental or administrator consent and is not a legality. An example of an accommodation includes moving a student’s desk beside the teacher’s; not seating an ADHD child near a window since outside activities are distracting for this student; reducing the number of questions a struggling student answers in math compared to the assignment given to the rest of the class and so on.  Accommodations are not necessarily used for children with IEPs.  They are also used for children with disruptive behaviours and weak academics. Watch learning disabilities accommodations

There is no such thing as Good or Bad Labels…they’re all Bad

I remember when I was working for the Peel Regional Police in Mississauga, Ontario.  I was a secretary in a bureau and one day a police officer strolled into the lunch room grinning from ear to ear. “I just got a phone call from my wife!” He crowed. “The school told her my son is gifted.” Watch What is an IEP?

I wasn’t a teacher then and I had not even been to teacher’s college yet, but instinctively I was dubious about both the label and the telephone call.  As it turns out it was a public school and I was not surprised.  Public schools can be so laissez-faire about serious matters. I wonder if a teacher also calls a family to inform them that their child has a learning disorder or needs to be in special education classes?  Imagine hearing such poignant information over the phone?  You just don’t do that.  My school system (Roman Catholic or Separate) doesn’t permit teachers to simply call up families and say “guess what?…”  It is unprofessional.  It denies the parent the ability to have an extended conversation with the teacher since a mere phone call is not intended to be an in-depth interview. Most of all however using a label about a student misleads parents and students.  It marks students for better or for worse.  Let’s not forget that special education also includes “gifted” children. Watch Special Education Teaching: Understanding Special Education Terms

I can hear opposition to my statement about public  boards and their laissez-faire attitudes. Yes public schools can be wonderful places of learning and they do have terrific teachers but the issue I am discussing here is not about that; it’s about the manner in which a student assessment is communicated to families.  Imagine you are contacted by your doctor’s office and the receptionist informs you that you have cancer.  Just like that.  Wouldn’t it be more prudent for the receptionist to telephone you and ask you to attend an appointment with your doctor?  And yes you want to believe that educational labels do affect families as hard as if someone has cancer.  In fact I have researched families who committed murder after a special education assessment was made about their child.  No joke.  One family murdered its own child; the child had been assessed as low functioning and the parents were ashamed to have him as a family member. This is the incredible impact that schools and educational labels have on families. (Public schools take note:  Watch Special Education Referral

Special education is a label that leaves me feeling ambiguous.  A “gifted” child belongs in special education but most of us forget that and assume the child is behind. Besides every child has gifts to offer the community. Sometimes a family thinks gifted means the child is a prodigy. Wrong. I think it’s time to lose the “special” in special education, too (see my post Taking the Special out of Special Education). How about advanced? And I really have no use for slow learner.  This has to be the unkindest label of all, and again one of the most confusing for families.

Often when a family hears it’s child is a slow learner it is believed the child eventually can catch up to the rest of the class. Wrong.  It means the child will always work beneath curriculum standards for his/her grade level and will always be a step behind his or her peers academically. These are the sort of details parents need to discuss with both the special education and the regular classroom teacher in an interview about a child’s assessment; not a frivolous phone call that leaves many questions unanswered and may be very misleading. I couldn’t entirely pinpoint why that phone call irritated me before I became a special ed teacher.  Now I get it. Watch Special Education Teaching: Defining Special Education

Taking the Special out of Special Education

I teach special education to elementary school children.  They have their own individual education plan (IEP) that differs from the curriculum their peers study.  They, and the class, are well aware of this especially since I am frequently obliged to withdraw children from the regular classroom. The youngest children I work with on average are 7 years old but I do work with children as young as 6.  By 7 children are painfully aware they are different and not in a good way. Their peers are also well aware that students who are withdrawn from the classroom are getting “extra help” because school is “hard” for them. Watch Special Education Teaching: Teaching Students to Accept Special Education Teachers

School is a challenge for everyone, otherwise how will children learn?  It is the concept of withdrawal from classrooms when this is not always necessary as well as labels that concern me.  For instance when a teacher is teaching, say, a math lesson in probability the class and the special education child are all learning this particular lesson.  The special education child has a considerably modified (easier) curriculum with lowered expectations. That being the case why not include the special education teacher into the regular classroom instead of withdrawing the “special” child? The special ed teacher can work with the student within the regular classroom just as easily as in the special ed office. Watch what are learning disabilities?

Schools try to make this happen for their special students. They do make the effort but continually I encounter odd situations where students are withdrawn during a language arts lesson to study math with the special ed teacher.  What?  Why not dovetail the two subjects so the child be included in the classroom with the assistance of the special ed teacher?  Sometimes scheduling is an issue for the teacher however when I was a regular classroom teacher one thing I noticed at the start of the year is that no special education teacher approached me to coordinate our curriculum schedules. At that time I was unaware that special ed teachers had the authority to do this, and since then I approach all of the teachers I will be working with during the year to try and coordinate our schedules. Read Special Education Inclusion

Inclusion is fair.  Inclusion prohibits embarrassment and develops a higher self-esteem in students. Clearly children whose learning issues are strong or severe cannot be included in the classroom. They require an intensive one on one with the special ed teacher so as not to be distracted by the rest of the classroom, but I am not referring to those students. The students who are slightly to moderately substandard in their learning deserve as much inclusion as possible. Treating them like everyone else rather than “special”, an unfortunate lable that everyone knows means “learning difficulty”, may even result in higher report card grades.  High self-esteem is proven to be a positive consequence as it relates to learning. Watch Special Education Teaching: Inclusion in the Classroom