From the Akron (OH, US) Beacon Journal, here’s the headline and lead for the story:
Posted on Fri, Apr. 29, 2005
Special-education students charged with raping classmate
JOE MILICIA
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - Three teenage boys have been charged with raping a fellow special-education student who said he was attacked three times last week.
We have got to do a better job of teaching students appropriate behavior. There are sources of good information (e.g., the work of Hill Walker and his colleagues).
Other reports (lots of redundancy):
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Julia Steiny, who writes a weekly column for ProJo—the Providence (RI, US) Journal—reported on the high achievement level of a school that has 54% of its student body in special education. According to the column, Boston’s George Conley School made annual yearly progress despite having at least a half dozen special services classes plus many students for whom English is a second or other language.
The bulk of the column implies that the reason for this remarkable achievement is the organziation of the school. There isn’t much about the instruction that’s going on there.
In 1998, Boston Public Schools embarked on an unusual initiative they call Unified Student Services, which melds special education with other student-support systems like counseling, health and after-school. The philosophy is: All students have special needs; some students have disabilities. The strategy was to build up each school’s capacity to support all special needs, including disabilities, at the school itself. So Boston Public Schools considers all students to be on a continuum of needs, some of which will be temporary and of low intensity, some on-going, frequent and highly-specialized.
But no longer is special education a silo unto itself, with its own budget spent only on those kids who meet its criteria. No longer do parents have to fight like tigers to get their child into special education just to get him some help or counseling. The special education teacher along with other support staff — social workers, psychologists — provide services to whichever child needs it, regardless of whether she has been anointed with the special-ed label.
The column contains some remarkable statistics about how the special education population has declined in Boston. It is said to have gone from 22% to 17%. This makes it odd that the school Steiny features has 54% in special services. Sounds as though the criteria for being counted as needing special education has changed, no?
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The William Dwyer Awards for Excellence in Education are sponsored by the Economic Council of Palm Beach County and Education Foundation of Palm Beach County. These awards recgonize execptional teachers in five different areas. In the special education area, Michael Berg, Tradewinds Middle School near Lake Worth (FL, US), placed first. He is quoted as saying, “I believe that students with learning disabilities need an environment with a consistent routine and an environment that encourages them to take risks.”
According to the story, Berg depends on motivation to help his students.
Berg has found ways to motivate his students and improve their reading skills. One method was inviting a local artist into his classroom. The artist taught students about dance, music and costume design. Berg prepared reading assignments on the same topics.
“These particular students were not successful in the past and needed this nontraditional approach that incorporated their love of music and art,” Berg said in his application. “Often a teacher needs to go outside the classroom and into the community.”
I have to hope that he uses powerful instructional procedures in addition to these motivational techniques. If not, he’s only really addressing those students who won’t, not those who can’t.
In another of the series of stories on these awards, there is a quotation from Anne Haskell. She teaches in the social studies and law areas at Sago Palm Academy, and she said, “I believe that all students can learn. Students should have universal access to good teaching with consistently high expectations.” She’s got it right!
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