http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/michigans-special-education-proposals-alarm-teachers-parents/
This article is about a 19 page proposal about changing policies concerning children in special education classes in Michigan. The basic purpose of the proposal to change ways that children with special needs are identified and taught in the classroom. Some of the changes from this proposal include: evaluations in order to determine who is eligible for special education programs, an outline of the eligibility professionals qualified to perform the evaluations and determine eligibility, and the fact that a student designated as special needs retains that designation until graduation. One of the biggest issues with this is the fact that some parents say they didn't know the hearing was happening; others weren't given time to read and understand the proposal. Lori Lofton-Doniver, secretary and treasurer for the American Federation of Teachers said the changes would affect the power parents have in speaking for their children. She also stated that special education teachers would not need a Master's degree and would be categorized as a teaching consultant (TC), thus not requiring the 3 years of classroom experience currently needed.
Michigan's Department of Education responded by saying many parents and teachers are making judgments based on erroneous interpretations and mistaken information. They also stated that this is Michigan's effort to conform with special education rulings on a federal level. A lot of contention surrounds the language of one of the proposed changes. This change requires the administrators to review caseloads at the end of the year. Some fear that this will allow the classrooms to exceed the standard teacher-student ratio in struggling districts. The Michigan Department of Education claims that the language is the way it is to help determine necessary staff for the following year.
Mark McWilliams of the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service stated "Any time you make a change of this scale in the rules-and these are fairly major changes-you're going to have confusion"
I think there are several important points from this article. First, if you were the parent of one of these students, how would you feel knowing that these changes are going to impact the daily life of your child? How about as a teacher for these students? Finally, what are the good/bad parts of these changes that you can see?
I think as a parent I would be enraged if my child had special conditions placed on him/her in a classroom setting and I wasn't informed. I would feel like the school did not have my child or my best interest by making a decision without the parent. The school doesn't should not override the parents decision. Second, if i was the teacher I would be frustrated. The people who will be helping the child in the classroom are no longer required to have a degree. That is like a person trying to be a social worker with no educational background in social work. Its not fair to the teacher who went through a rigorous curriculum to obtain their degree. Also, how would the person lacking credentials effectively serve a child with needs.
ReplyDelete