Teach Effectively!

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a parent’s complaint that her son’s school failed to provide special educatioin services, according to a story by Sheena Dooley of the Fort Wayne News Sentinel (IN, US). Ms. Dooley reported that a letter from the principal of the boy’s school and the director of special education for Fort Wayne Community Schools indicated that the school failed to provide the services.

[Tammy] Stein’s son was diagnosed with dyslexia in fall 2004, after struggling with reading, spelling and writing since he was a second-grader. To bring his reading level up to that of his peers, the IEP called for 30 minutes of one-on-one reading instruction and 30 minutes of academic support daily, starting the first day of this school year.

Lincoln Principal Craig Martin and FWCS Special Education Director Theresa Oberley admitted in a letter to Stein and her husband dated Sept. 15 the school did not give her son the 30 minutes of daily reading instruction he was entitled to. The assistant to her son’s special-education teacher, whom Martin and Oberley said in the letter has a master’s degree in elementary education, provided the 30 minutes of academic support.

I’ll be interested in following this story. It’s important that schools conform to IDEA. If a school does not do so, it deserves censure. In this case, there are some features to the story that appear contridictory; I’d like clarification about whether the boy actually did or did not get services. Here’s the reason for some of my confusion:

Stein contacted the federal government after Laura Cooper, her son’s special-education teacher, told Stein she hadn’t worked with her son.

Before that conversation, Cooper had sent a note home with Stein’s son that said he was “a joy to work with every day.”

Why would a teacher contridict herself like that? What do the attendance records show? Are people using the words “worked with” differently here?

Regardless of all these matters, I have my most importan question: Is Ms. Stein’s son receiving evidence-based reading instruction? Is just 30 minutes a day sufficient? Why does it have to be one-to-one? How is Ms. Cooper monitoring whether the boy’s reading performance is improving? Is she communnicating the results of her progress-monitoring assessments to Ms. Stein?

While the legal matter progresses, it’s important not to forget about teaching Ms. Stein’s son how to read. It should be done effectively and now.

Link to Ms. Dooley’s story.