What Happened to the “I” in IEP?

We’ve heard time and time again from parents that special education is one of the key reasons they move their students to charter schools. In some cases it’s their student with an IEP who, due to changes in programs in CASD, no longer has the supports they need to be successful. In other cases, it’s a neurotypical student without an IEP whose education is affected by teachers who lack adequate supports to meet the needs of special education students in classrooms where they make up more than 1/3 of the student population.

One explanation we’ve heard from the district is that there is a statewide push towards full inclusion that the district is trying to meet. Not being experts in special education, we asked our guest writer to tackle this difficult topic and help us understand how IEPs are supposed to work. While their explanation shows things aren’t working properly today, there are some positive signs.

The board recently approved a dedicated special education supervisor for each building, an increase of five positions. And an independent special education audit is being conducted to show what needs to be improved. If we know what is wrong and have the experts in place to put it right, we are confident we can be a district that helps ALL students live up to their potential.

IEP. Individualized Education Program. In the text “Evidence-Based Practices for Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders,” the authors pen a section on individualization: “A central principal of IDEA is that a student’s individual needs are the most important consideration when determining educational services. This is also true of placement. Requiring that all students with disabilities be placed in general education classrooms, therefore, is just as illegal as placing all these students in special schools” (Yell, 2013, p. 29). As a special educator, I would go farther to say that this practice does – and should not – just consume itself to those with Emotional and Behavioral disorders, though to all of our learners. With that, I’ve got to say that Coatesville, when it comes to following an IEP and taking our students’ best lives into play, ethically, academically, socially and emotionally, we have done our children wrong. 

It was the end of the 2014-2015 school year, and our special education team sat, crying in our principal’s office, trying to figure out a way around what was coming down the pike. August 2015 came, and along with it came haphazardly introduced inclusive practices that left our students that qualified for special education services, lumped in all general education classes with no direct or supplemental support, despite what their IEP stated. 

Additionally, special education teachers’ schedules required them to be in math and ELA classes to “co-teach” leaving no time for additional tasks such as resource rooms, or the ability to pull students for tests, checking in on emotional well-being and functional skills, or even finding time to pull for progress monitoring. Even more concerning, was that IEPs from the year prior still stated that students were to be in direct instruction classes. Additionally, in the PENN Data reporting section, the students’ time spent in a general versus special education setting was completely out of compliance due to this change. While most would agree to a point with Dr. Taschner’s mantra that “Special education is a service, not a location,” it becomes a big deal when students’ Individualized Education Program says otherwise, especially when the need is legitimately warranted. It becomes even more of a big deal when parents are not even notified of the change. 

In IEP meetings, which could have been months after the implementation of the new inclusionary practices, teachers were left struggling to find words to explain to parents that their child’s direct instruction time was removed, and that their student would now receive all instruction as same aged peers in all educational settings due to the district’s initiative of inclusion. 

Questions to principals about when and how parents should be contacted, or when a large meeting would be held to introduce this new initiative were replied with statements such as I’m not sure, or, We’re waiting to hear back ourselves. Yet there we were. Students with well below-grade reading levels were left to individually comprehend their 9th grade social studies text without additional support, or students with well below-grade math levels were left sitting in 8th grade CPM classes, fully included without receiving direct instruction on skills needed to function in this spiraling class. Additionally, programs like the Wilson Reading System were being phased out and not even spoken of unless parents were privy enough to specifically ask for it. 

Sadly, to this day, minimal change has occurred. At the elementary school level, in at least one school, special education teachers co-teach and rotate between 8 classes a day for approximately 30-40 minutes per rotation, with direct instruction happening in the class, or pulling a small group into the hallway. Progress monitoring is often completed whenever the teachers can find time (breakfast, lunch, etc.). At the middle school level, special education services look different depending on the school. In at least one school, resource has been built back into teachers’ schedules as an every other day class. Students of mixed abilities are in these small group classes that are scheduled during the time that peers were participating in a special such as music, physical education, or Spanish. Another school, that had enough teachers to support daily remediation, had reading and/or math intensive classes, sometimes taking away two specials for those who needed both math and reading support. At the high school level, the same occurs. Long gone are the Autistic and Emotional support classrooms, as well as the Life Skills program. There are no longer direct instruction classes for math or English/Language Arts. Special Education teachers spend their days co-teaching and have to find time during advisory or their prep to meet with students. 

You won’t find a teacher that disagrees with inclusion; however, the process in which Dr. Taschner and her administration rolled this out was completely unethical. A thought behind all of this was that students would learn from each other, and that the expectation would be that the grade level peers would assist in learning for their peers below grade level. Another idea was that grade level exposure would only benefit the students that had difficulties in respective subjects. This frame of mind looks great on paper and in a planned world, could work. The problem though, is that when all programming for students is ripped out from under them, and they are in a brand new general education learning environment, and there’s not an additional support teacher available for the student because they are pushing in to another class, and there is nowhere for them to go for help, the students may then exhibit behaviors in which impede not only their learning, but possibly the learning of their peers. This is something that as a community we have been discussing – the direct correlation between behavior and services is real. 

Coatesville, when you hear there is no programming for your kids, it’s true. And while it is also understood that “programming” (life skills, autistic support, emotional support, etc.) doesn’t fit all students in the same way, the difference is that there is a pocket of students that can be serviced and have their day differentiated in a better manner if the availability is there, and right now, the availability is nonexistent. Coatesville, our teachers are unable to best support our most vulnerable community members because of an initiative that was brought to us by this current administration without a plan. They threw it against the wall in hopes that it would stick, and it has stuck in the most negative way possible. It has stuck in the way in which students, teachers, and principals of the district continue to participate in a mass exodus. It has stuck in the way in which test scores continue to lack growth, and in some areas, decline. It has stuck in the way that vital sectioning of high school academics is being ripped out from these kids’ hands, and therefore impeding their futures. It has stuck in the way that students with social and emotional needs have little to no support in their day, and therefore impede the learning of others, and may only to be moved to a more restrictive environment where there is support, but therefore, away from their home school. 

Coatesville, we cannot stand for this, and must demand positive, ethical change from our current administration. Coming up as just a kid from Coatesville, and as a teacher who has left the district, I have committed to help better my community now from the outside, in. Please join me in making sure all of our Coatesville kids have their needs met and are given the ability to succeed.

Written by: Former CASD Special Ed Teacher 

Yell, M. L., Meadows, N. B., Drasgow, E., & Shriner, J. (2013). Evidence-Based Practices for Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Boston, etc.: Pearson.