Engaging Students With Disabilities in their Education

The following blog is an installment in the DCAYA“School Climate” series where we asked experts, community members, and youth to write about the variables affecting school climate. Guest blogger Juanita Huff from School Talk, Inc. writes about the need to engage disabled students in school because they are most at-risk for dropping out. 

Students with disabilities[1] are faced with many challenges throughout their education, including becoming disengaged and dropping out of school. In June of 2002, the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) cited that the dropout rate for students with disabilities was approximately twice that of general education students. The problem persists, as evidenced in a NCES compendium report which specifies a 2008-2009 national status dropout rate of 15.5 percent for students with disabilities and 7.8 percent for students without disabilities, ages 16 through 24. The report links this trend of non-completion to lower earnings, higher rates of unemployment, poverty and illness later in life.

What leads so many students with disabilities to abandon their education? A publication of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) “Dropping Out and Disabilities” offers the following explanation for the higher dropout rates observed among students with disabilities

“Although they are often held to the same standard as the general population, students with disabilities must overcome serious obstacles that can interfere with their education. To graduate from high school, students with disabilities may need to work harder, study longer, or possess greater academic ability than their peers without a corresponding physical, emotional, or learning handicap. The added work and frustration associated with a disability can take its toll over time[…]”

As parents, educators, and school officials continue to collectively explore ways to ensure special needs students’ success, it is important to remember that the students themselves are valuable sources of information and insight. Students who are given meaningful opportunities to participate in their education typically display higher levels of motivation, more positive attitudes, and better behavior. Promoting students’ involvement in their education can support them in (1) creating their own academic success, (2) contributing to a caring and supportive environment, (3) clearly identifying with the connection between their education and future goals, and (4) addressing their own social challenges; which have been identified as “four broad intervention components that are important to enhancing student motivation to stay in school and work hard (McPartland, 1994).” (Cited in “Students with Disabilities who Drop Out of School – Implications for Policy and Practice”)

Students who receive special education and related services must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP is individualized for each student and is created by a team of teachers, parents, school administrators, students, and related services personnel. Providing students with the ability to actively participate in their IEP meetings allows them to express their individual needs, goals, ideas, and interests. In an article published in TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, author Becky Wilson Hawbaker maintains that meetings led by students promote greater parental involvement, undermine stereotypical assumptions concerning intellect, build students’ confidence and determination, and prepare students for transition to adulthood. Students are more likely to remain engaged when they are actively involved, reducing the risk of dropping out. Programs, such as I’m Determined in Virginia, have developed innovative practices for involving students from elementary to high school, and spanning all disability categories.

Support for improving students’ participation in their IEPs is gaining momentum in DC. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the DC Secondary Transition Community of Practice (members from OSSE, DCPS, charter schools, non-publics, community organizations, government agencies, etc.) are supporting a Student-led IEP Demonstration Project. The project team is working with selected District schools to support and document their efforts to increase the involvement of DC youth with disabilities in decision making about their education. For more information, contact Leila Peterson (Executive Director, SchoolTalk, Inc.) at leila.peterson@schooltalkdc.org.

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[1][1] The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (P. L. 101-476), defines a "child with a disability" as a child: "with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services." An important component of IDEA is Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE), which requires school districts to provide access to general education and specialized educational services for children with disabilities. It requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. 

Juanita Huff is a recent graduate of George Mason University and currently works as a Transition Specialist at SchoolTalk, Inc. (www.schooltalkdc.org) Born with a mix of moderate hemiplegic and spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, Huff is familiar with the challenges that many students with disabilities face. She is passionately committed to improving the ability of youth with disabilities to succeed in education, employment, and independence.

It's Time for Another Blog Series!

Last week’s community convening with members of the Anti-Bullying Task Force and the DC Office of Human Rights really got us thinking about some important issues that bullying contributes to and BOOM! an idea for a new blog series was born. So, without further adieu we introduce you to our latest blog series on ... SCHOOL CLIMATE!

The American Psychological Association defines school climate as:

"the overall quality and character of school life, including teaching and learning practices, organizational structures, norms and values, and relationships"

Pretty simply put, school climate includes everything that happens in a school, but it's important to recognize school climate IS more than just the sum of its parts. School climate is really all about how the component parts of a school work together to achieve something greater.

As any youth development advocate will tell you this is an extremely important feature of any school or program. This is because everything, even programming options for children and youth, has at least some good component parts. However, these parts don't always combine in a way that we achieve an intended outcome. For instance, sometimes good elements of programming don't outweigh bad ones (having really great curriculum won't necessarily help if good staff aren't in place to utilize it), or good elements just fail to achieve synergy with other good elements of programming and they mute or negate one another. These occurrences shouldn't be especially shocking. Even as individuals, how often do we decide we don't like a bar or restaurant because it has a weird vibe or know we dislike a new person we meet but can't quite put our finger on why? These all have to do with the effect that occurs when various parts come together to form a whole, but sometimes the whole ain't so great.

There is a vast and ever growing body of research on the effect of school climate and negative outcomes for young people and its for that reason that we are dedicating an entire blog series to this subject. Furthermore, we're always excited to highlight and feature the exciting work of the DCAYA membership so expect plenty of guest blogs in the upcoming month about all the different facets of this exciting, but often hard to grasp concept.

We'll be kicking off the series with a guest blog from our friends from DC Lawyers for Youth so stay tuned for some more great information on school climate later this week!

Anne Abbott is a Policy Analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and is currently writing a report on disconnected youth in the District. 

To read more about youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

If you have an interest in guest blogging or contributing to a future blog series or post please contact DCAYA's Communications Associate, Angela Massino.

Skimping on Special Education

Policy Director Suzanne Greenfield from Advocates for Justice and Education guest blogs on the FY 2014 Budget proposals will have on D.C. children with special needs.

According to the District of Columbia Public Schools, there were approximately 8,200 students receiving special education services, this figure does not account for the number of children receiving services in the Public Charter school system.

The District of Columbia estimates that it expects to record a savings of approximately $30 million dollars by bringing special education students back from private school placements. What the District’s budget fails to acknowledge is the cost associated with creating and implementing programming sufficient to meet the needs of those same children.

The budget as proposed by DCPS provides little reinvestment to support students with special needs. Students in the District of Columbia are not placed in private school placements solely due to the will of their parents. The primary reason is that the District has failed to provide adequate services and supports to ensure that the needs of their children are met. 

These savings are not being reprogrammed into special education. A part of the savings is being used to increase the per student formula and the other part will go to support the expansion of services for Early Intervention students between 3 and 5 who have been identified as needing special education. While we whole-heartedly support the expansion of early intervention services - it does not address the needs of the students coming back to the system. We believe that any savings should be proportionately directed to improving and sustaining effective programs, programs that will genuinely support both the students returning from non-public placements and those future students. 

Advocates for Justice and Education (AJE) provides support, education and advocacy for students with special needs. As the Parent Training and Information Center for the District of Columbia we have two major goals: to work collaboratively with schools to improve educational outcomes for children with special needs and to ensure that all children have access to a free and appropriate public education. 

The Mayor has made bringing students back to the city and cutting the cost of non-public placements a priority. While we too would like to see those students have an opportunity to receive their education in a neighborhood school, we see no evidence that the school system is developing the programs to meet those student’s needs let alone the needs of students that are already in the schools.

Special education savings need to be directed to fully funding high quality educational programs. The schools are presently struggling to provide appropriate placements, services and supports for our students – adding more to the mix without first creating programs that are capable of supporting the students they are already serving seems self defeating at best – and truly immoral at worst.

In this city neither school system (DCPS or the charters) has the reputation for ensuring that students with special education needs are being served in an appropriate way. While we have seen individual schools support the needs of their students, we have never seen the school system support the needs of the schools. The issue mirrors the larger education issue in that there is no over arching plan, decisions are not based on actual best practices, and the results are too few and too limited and nothing is sustained long enough to see value. We believe much more needs to be done to improve quality of the programs in place and to ensure that schools are meeting the needs of all their students.

To learn more about Advocates for Justice and Education check out there website at http://www.aje-dc.org/

This blog is brought to you by DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. To stay up-to-date on youth issues in DC visit our website at www.dc-aya.org. You can also FOLLOW and LIKE  us on Twitter and Facebook!  

Reinvesting Savings To Support DC’s Fragile Families

For the fiscal year 2014 budget, Children’s Law Center urges reinvestment in children and families to prevent negative outcomes and avoid more expensive interventions in the future. Changes in policies and practices mean extra savings for the District: $30 million from sending fewer children to non-public schools and about half that amount from the reduction in the number of children in foster care. But these families will still need help from DC’s child- and family-serving agencies. The savings should follow the families and their needs through reinvestment in the education, early childhood, child welfare, and mental health system.

Education

The mayor’s office is planning to bring hundreds of students back to DC public schools (DCPS) from nonpublic placements and saving an anticipated $30 million in FY14 in tuition. While Children’s Law Center shares the hope expressed by Mayor Gray that all DC children be able to attend local schools, in our experience DC schools are already struggling to meet the current demand for special education services. Returning hundreds more children with disabilities to DCPS can only succeed if there is a major financial investment in expanding and improving DCPS’s existing special education services. Rather than such a meaningful financial investment, what is in the budget is simply a small increase to the foundation level for the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula. This increase is no more than what is necessary to account for rising teacher salaries and operating costs. The proportion of the DCPS budget going to special education is unchanged.

Early Childhood 

The FY14 budget for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) includes a significant increase in funding for one of the most critical components of the education system – services for infants and toddlers with developmental delays. Research shows definitively that children’s experiences during their first years of life set the groundwork for their future success. Children who do not receive the specialized supports they need as infants and toddlers have a much harder time making up lost ground later. However, when young children do receive the supports they need, the payoffs are enormous, with long lasting and substantial gains. OSSE has recently expanded the eligibility criteria for DC’s early intervention program and the proposed FY 14 budget provides the funding necessary for this. While DC’s eligibility criteria are still more restrictive than those of 32 other states, this is an important step forward.

Child Welfare

There have been remarkable, positive reforms in DC’s child welfare system. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) Director Brenda Donald and her team have been successful in realigning the agency’s philosophy and practice to remove fewer children from home, place more children with kin, and ensure shorter stays for children who ultimately must be removed and placed into foster care. This is a positive change for children and has resulted in a lower foster care population. With this decrease, it is not surprising to see some decrease in CFSA’s budget, simply because it costs less when fewer children are in foster care. However, the savings should be reinvested in programs that meet the needs of these still fragile families. While children and families are disappearing from the District’s foster care rolls, their needs remain as visible and as striking as ever.

CFSA’s budget proposal includes several reinvestments, to:

• add Family Assessment units to the differential response program
• maintain recently increased subsidies for grandparent caregivers
•  fund substance abuse treatment for families receiving in-home services
• contract for legal services for families before their children are removed

Reinvesting in these and other prevention-focused programs will build stronger families and continue to reduce the need for out-of-home care.


Mental Health

A properly functioning mental health system provides services to ensure children reach developmental milestones, aid their academic achievements, reduce their stays in foster care, and cope with the trauma in their lives rather than repeating the cycle of violence. The money we are not investing in mental health services today is reflected in the money we spend in our special education, foster care and juvenile justice budgets.

It is a positive step that the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) budget has been increased to raise provider reimbursement rates and allow for an increase in other services. Unfortunately, the budget for DBH’s specific children’s programs is flat this year, although the current budget for these programs does not come close to meeting the needs of children with mental health problems in our city. Despite many improvements this past year DC children still have insufficient mental health services to assist them as they struggle to address problems in their families, schools, and community.

The District is seeing savings from reforms – but this money should be reinvested, following the fragile families from one program or one agency to the next. Their need for services is not going away; neither should the funding to serve them.


Judith Sandalow is the executive director of Children’s Law Center, which works to give every child in the District of Columbia a solid foundation of family, health, and education. CLC serves more than 2,000 at-risk children each year. Learn more at www.childrenslawcenter.org or review Children’s Law Center’s testimony at www.childrenslawcenter.org/news-events/testimony-comments.