Teach Effectively!

It’s flattering when someone uses something I’ve written in a news story. But, it’s disconcerting when the content is wrong.

Emily Berg published a story in the Desert Dispatch, a news source in the high desert area of California (US), with the headline, “Expect more, get more” and a sub-head of “Special education students learn faster when placed in regular classes, educators say.” Here’s a quote with my underlining:

Districts are making the change based on research that shows the old pull-out programs don’t work.

John Wills Lloyd of the University of Virginia, Steven R. Forness of the University of California, Los Angeles and Kenneth A. Kavale of the University of Iowa reported that putting students in special classes reduces their academic achievement. For every year they are in the special placement they lose two months of academic growth, said Ron Powell, the director of the Desert/Mountain Special Education Plan Area, which manages special education for the area.

It must be that Ms. Berg is basing this statement on the graph in that article, which shows a negative overall effect size (ES = -0.12) for special class placement. However, as Steve, Ken, and I take pains to explain in the text of the article, that overall negative effect size is misleading. There is actually a positive effect size (ES = +0.29) for special class placement for students with Learning Disabilities and those with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders, as shown in an image of a direct quote from the article. See this graph for an illustration. (I encourage interested readers to follow the links in the box on the lower portion of that page to learn about effect sizes and other common methods of serving students with disabilities.)

I don’t know whether Ms. Berg actually read the article that she sites. If she did, she must have missed the part where we explained that positive effect. I’d be glad to review it with her.

Of greater concern to me is that Ronald J. Powell, Ph.D., didn’t explain that positive effect to her during the interview she likely conducted with him. I have to trust that he didn’t deliberately mislead her by citing only the part of the article that aligned with a policy of his office. As a professional responsible for a public school organization that serves local education agencies and charter schools, Dr. Powell should be capable of understanding that not-so-subtle point we made in that article.

I’ll write to Ms. Berg and Dr. Powell, inviting them to respond.