In the News...
International:
By 2020 Dubai has set a goal that students with disabilities will not longer be rejected in attaining an education in an inclusive setting. The para/teacher ratio to students is still pretty high, 200 students to one special educator and 125 students to one paraprofessional. The article states that previously students with a disability were seen as having a disease and were separated due to "medical" reasons. (11/24/17)
http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/education/private-schools-colleges-in-dubai-should-be-fully-inclusive-by-2020-1.2129581
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Rochester:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/11/28/rcsd-special-education-principals-deane-williams-cse/863756001/
A school district where special education parents and advocates have resigned themselves to head straight to mediation due to a complete lack of training to hold meetings and write IEPs. Below are some quotes from the article:
"Can we please have an outline (of) who is responsible for what? It is unclear," one person wrote. The district responded: "Examples were provided."
"We still need clarification on who will be responsible for running the meetings," someone else wrote. A third person said: "Show us how to write an IEP!"
I am not sure if those in charge are unaware that an IEP is a legal document. The meeting and the writing of the IEP has specific rules and regulations. Mediation should rarely occur. Mediation is costly for the district in legal fees. Spending that funding training educators properly on IEPs would be a more efficient plan. (12/2/17)
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Race Issues in Special Education:
www.blackenterprise.com/racism-reaches-special-education/
Robin Goode states that in some school districts students of color, Latino or black, are not being provided with the same services as white students, such as speech therapy. She also states that special needs children who are attending public schools are graduating on time and even going on to attend college where this is not happening in the public schools.
The educator's code of ethics and standards prevents educators from being biased in this way. In fact, we are supposed to be culturally sensitive. The Department of Education has put out statistics for the rate of nationalities and race for students in special education and the population of students that are much more likely to have students in special education is African American. It is incumbent on educators to be sensitive to this fact - we will most likely have more students of color in special education. (12/10/17)