Director's Message, by John Copenhaver "Other Duties as Assigned" — General Education Responsibilities
Special education continues to take the lead on certain initiatives that are really general education responsibilities, and end up on the school district special education director’s job description as “other duties as assigned.” With the passage of IDEA 2004, there were some surprises for the general education community. The word is slowly getting out about early intervening services and response to research-based strategies, better known as Responsiveness to Intervention (RtI). It is the hope that RtI and EI will close the gap of children who are at risk academically and behaviorally to participate and benefit from the general education curriculum. The proper implementation of early intervening and RtI should decrease the number of children being identified as having a learning disability and needing special education.
Section 504 has been around since the mid 1970s, but is often delegated to the special education administrator. There continues to be confusion regarding who is responsible for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 504 is about civil rights and should be a general education management responsibility. The students who have a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity are in general education first. 504 accommodations should be implemented in the general education environment. Ideally, the school district Section 504 coordinator should be someone from general education. Expenses for 504 accommodations should come from the general education budget.
Early intervening is a new opportunity for general education. School districts can use up to 15% of their federal Part B special education dollars for early intervening activities.
The two conditions are:
- The school district is providing FAPE to all eligible children with disabilities; and
- There is no problem with disproportionality in special education.
This is revolutionary — use part of your special education money for general education activities like professional development, purchasing research-based programs, hiring support staff, and promoting literacy. These activities are general education responsibilities; the outcome should be reduced numbers being served in special education and improved results for students at risk.
The phrase “response to research-based strategies” is peppered throughout the IDEA 2004 regulations. The now popular Responsiveness to Intervention (RtI) models have several well-defined levels of intervention. This idea is to intervene early in general education with research-based strategies. This is the responsibility of general education. RtI is an excellent process to build the capacity of general education teachers in the areas of academic and behavioral interventions. As capacity grows in a school staff, teachers are better equipped to handle educational challenges.
Congress seems to be sending a message to schools—to apply the following formula:
RBS=Research-Based Strategies
HQ=Highly Qualified Staff
PD=Ongoing Professional Development
RBS+HQ+PD=improved results for children and reduced numbers in special education.
Section 504, early intervening, and RtI are golden opportunities for general education. These are tools that continue to close the gap and increase opportunities for students at risk. Even through these processes are primarily general education responsibilities, both general and special education should be working together to create a seamless system of education, so every child needing assistance will have that opportunity. Special educators need to provide information regarding these processes to general educators. The goal is to work together, build the capacity of general education, and then hand the baton off to them for implementation.
It seems like we are moving closer and closer to a unified educational system—perhaps the next re-authorization will be one education law combining NCLB and IDEA, with special education being a part of a larger education law. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 23 April 2007 )
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