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My professional perspective is working as a Special Education Director. I received my M.Ed. in Special Education with a Diagnostician certification and am currently working on an additional certification in school administration. I have worked as both a General and Special Education teacher as well as being a Diagnostician for 5 years. Currently, I am a Special Education Director at TLCA. I hope to use the knowledge I have acquired in all areas of education, as well as my personal skills, to build a Special Education Department that focuses on student progress and overall program compliance.

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Exploration Option 1: According to a Current Professional

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Exploration Option 1: According to a Current Professional

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I spoke with a fellow Special Education Director in our region, Brian Arrott about current legal issues that are impacting his district and position.

#1
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) recently implement monitoring of compliance issues in Texas' school districts .  This monitoring was initialed to ensure that districts were in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  As a result of the monitoring of OSEP,  Texas Education Agency created a corrective action plan (CAP) to address some of the issues in the OSEP letter. The CAP is intended to address the issues in the letter.  The requirements of the CAP and monitoring have lead to increased monitoring and responsibilities of LEAs.

#2
Parent requests and Child Find claims for Full and Individual Evaluations are on the rise due to the Texas Education Agency's implementation of the Corrective Action Plan. This has created an overload of initial assessment for our staff.

#3 Communication with parents is vital to the Special Education process and making sure that parents understand the process is always a difficult task. They typically want the process to be much quicker but don't always understand everything that must be included in a Full and Individual Evaluation.

#4
Ensuring that our staff has adequate training to follow the legal requirements and procedures outlined in the CAP.  Training is the foundation of all legal issues pertaining to special education. If the director has done their job, as far as training, then the monitoring process should be smooth since the staff will know the expectations during the monitoring process.

#5
Dyslexia is a new issue as far as IDEA is concerned. A new Dyslexia handbook was released and court findings have indicated that Dyslexia can now be considered a Specific Learning Disability. This impacts our Special Education program since previously our students with Dyslexia are covered under the 504 umbrella. There is also contradicting information from educational attorneys on the subject of Dyslexia and TEA is standing by the statement released in June of 2018 that Dyslexia could be addressed with either a 504 plan or an IEP. The contradicting information makes this a possible legal issue for LEAs in Texas.

(B. Arrott, personal communication, January 16, 2019)

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Exploration Option 2: National Association of Secondary School Principals 

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Exploration Option 2: National Association of Secondary School Principals 

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In my review of the NASSP website, I focused on the section related to Special Education and IDEA. Districts across the US are struggling to recruit and retain Special Education staff/teachers. This issue is problematic across the US and 98% of school have reported shortages in Special Education teachers.
NASSP also referenced the website NCPSSERS that outlined some specific reason for the shortages, such as increasing demands for services and decreased supply of personal to meet the demand. The NCPSSERS highly encourages high schools to share their recruiting tool to encourage students to explore the field of Special Education and/or related services.

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In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), reaffirmed the nation's belief that all children deserve a free and appropriate public education.

NASSP continues to advocate for robust policy and fiscal support in the education of students with disabilities and other special needs. In 2009, NASSP convened a task force to study the effects of the IDEA law and related regulatory language on school leaders. The IDEA task force later released recommendations regarding a series of changes that it believes should be incorporated into a newly reauthorized IDEA law.

NASSP also supports the full funding of the IDEA. Full-funding refers to the federal government's commitment to pay 40% of the average per-pupil expenditure costs of educating special education students.

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In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), reaffirmed the nation's belief that all children deserve a free and appropriate public education. NASSP continues to advocate for robust policy and fiscal support in the education of students with disabilities and other special needs.

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Make a Difference in Schools: Become a Related Service Provider!

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This is the second installment of our blog series, Solving Teacher Shortages .
On the first day of school last fall, Daina Lujan, the principal of Meadows Elementary School in Millbrae, California, opened her doors fully staffed-but just barely. In order to begin the year with all vacancies filled, she hired an intern to teach a special education class for students with moderate to severe learning disabilities. The novice teacher entered the classroom with no student teaching experience before becoming responsible for the education of students with autism, traumatic brain injuries, and motor delays, including some who are nonverbal.

Night and weekend coursework and support from three paraprofessionals weren't enough to offset the new teacher's lack of preparation. For the first two months of the year, the students did not take well to their classroom, recalls Principal Lujan. "They began running. A lot," she told legislators at a special hearing on the teacher shortage. While the new teacher worked to improve her practice over those first few months of the school year, Lujan explained, students' safety took precedence over their learning goals. "That's tragic," she added, "because they can and should be productive, engaged members of society in the future."

" When facing these shortages, principals often resort to filling special education vacancies with underprepared teachers. This could mean hiring a teacher certified in a field other than special education, an intern with just a few weeks of training, or-in the most extreme cases-a teacher on an emergency credential who has no training whatsoever. "

Lujan's challenges are not unique. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia reported having shortages of special education teachers in the 2016-17 school year. In a 2016 national survey of districts, colleges, and universities, the American Association for Employment in Education found that districts reported shortages in every special education subfield and considerable shortages in 10 out of 12 of them. When facing these shortages, principals often resort to filling special education vacancies with underprepared teachers. This could mean hiring a teacher certified in a field other than special education, an intern with just a few weeks of training, or-in the most extreme cases-a teacher on an emergency credential who has no training whatsoever. In California, for example, special education teacher shortages are so severe that among new teachers, those with substandard credentials and permits outnumber those who are fully prepared 2:1.

Fortunately, programs around the country show promise for filling the pipeline of special education teachers who are well prepared to meet the needs of their students and to remain in the profession. Letitia Payne, a Westchester, NY, special education teacher, found that her participation in one such program, Today's Students Tomorrow's Teachers (TSTT), sparked a long-term commitment to teaching.

TSTT recruits a diverse group of students as early as 9th grade into a program that offers internships and classroom-based training throughout high school, and then provides college tuition scholarships to help students earn teaching degrees, regardless of their economic circumstances. These supports allow TSTT participants-90% of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and 75% of whom will be first-generation college students-to receive high-quality teacher preparation. As a result, 90% of TSTT graduates are still teaching after 5 years, exceeding national averages. Payne is doing her part to bring up the average. She has been a special education teacher for more than a decade in the same county in which she joined TSTT in high school.

States can also play an important role in building a cadre of special education teachers who are well prepared to support the growth and achievement of their students-and who stay in the profession. Based on the evidence of what works, policymakers could consider the following program and funding strategies:

Offer service scholarships or forgivable loans that cover tuition and living expenses for teachers who earn special education certifications and commit to teaching in that field for at least 3 to 5 years. Many states have launched these initiatives. In Nevada, for example, high school and college students who decide to pursue teacher certification can be eligible for up to $24,000 to cover their tuition costs. In exchange, scholarship recipients commit to teach for at least 5 years in Nevada public schools. This program allows the state to prioritize applicants who will work toward degrees in high-need fields, like special education.

Support "Grow Your Own" programs that recruit and support high school students and other community members, such as paraprofessionals, into teaching. During the last legislative session, California invested $20 million in the California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program. Interest in the program far outstripped the program's capacity. Applicant districts requested funds to train 5,582 classified staff, but just 1,000 slots were available.

Create and support teacher residencies that train teachers through one-year apprenticeships linked to credential coursework and mentoring. Residents commit to teach in the high-need districts where they are trained-and in the fields and grades where they are most needed. The Seattle Teacher Residency, for example, offers residents the option of receiving a dual credential in elementary education and special education, which was identified as an area of need for Seattle Public Schools.

Fund high-quality support and mentoring for beginning teachers. States can develop induction and mentoring programs using ESSA, Title II funds, and competitive grant funds, such as the Supporting Effective Educator Development program.

While shortages persist, states could also consider providing incentives to retain talented and experienced special education teachers who would otherwise retire, or to bring those who have retired back to the profession. Some states offer a Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to teachers nearing retirement. Teachers can elect to have their retirement benefit deposited in a DROP account while they continue to work and earn a full salary, providing an incentive to delay their decision to retire. The Oklahoma state legislature is considering a cost-neutral proposal to lift earnings limits to recruit retired teachers back into the classroom.

Back in Millbrae, Principal Lujan, with support from her district, has taken steps to avoid a similar start to the next school year. Principals in that district determined their hiring needs and began recruiting early, working with local universities to connect graduates of teacher preparation programs with schools that have openings. They are also hoping to attract special education teachers by offering pay incentives and capping class sizes.

Principal Lujan acknowledges that while these strategies will make her school and district more attractive, they don't address the overall shortage and can exacerbate shortages in districts without the resources to offer similar incentives. "These strategies are quite effective in ensuring an individual district opens the school year fully staffed, but they do nothing for a neighboring district down the road," says Lujan.

That's why state-level efforts are so important. Strategic statewide policies and investments can help every district begin the school year with enough well-prepared special education teachers to meet their needs.

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The Special Education Teacher Crisis: Who's Teaching Our Most Vulnerable Students?

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This is the second installment of our blog series, Solving Teacher Shortages . On the first day of school last fall, Daina Lujan, the principal of Meadows Elementary School in Millbrae, California, opened her doors fully staffed-but just barely.

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Special Education staff retention and increasing student numbers are leading to shortages of individuals in the field of Special Education and related services. There is a high percentage of districts that have reported declining staff for their Special Education program and related services and this will be even more prevalent with the implementation of TEA's Corrective Action Plan.

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Angelo State University - Library Online Resources

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Legal and Ethical Issue of Interest to Me

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Legal and Ethical Issue of Interest to Me

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After my exploration of legal and ethical issues related to Special Education, I am most interested in how Texas Education Agency's Corrective Action Plan is impacting districts in Texas as far as staffing and compliance issues. This is interesting to me because I have been following the information that OSEP has been sharing the past 2 years regarding IDEA and the under identification of special education students in Texas.

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In the current state of our Special Education programs, staff and service provider retention is vital to being able to provide the needed services for our growing number of students with disabilities.  High pressure and workload demands are influencing the field thus creating the shortages.  Education week stated that our Special Education programs are claiming both quantity and quality shortages of professionals in the field.  When filling these shortages, school administrator hire out of necessity and that creates situations where teachers are unprepared.  In some cases, a mentor teacher will be assigned to the individual but due to staff shortages, that is not always an option.

All educators have a certain amount of pressure associated with their position. Those that work with severely disabled students have a greater amount of pressure because they are responsible for academic progress, as well as social, emotional, and functional progress.  This creates a greater demand on that individual causing a number of them to leave the field.

Campus and District Administrators have an important role in retention of special education staff.  As administrators, we must support our staff by creating a practical working environment.  School culture, mentor programs, and professional development are just a few of the ways that administrators can ensure that retention rates increase.

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Exploration Option 2, Part 2: National Center on Secondary Education and Transition

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Exploration Option 2, Part 2: National Center on Secondary Education and Transition

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Transition services have been a hot topic the last couple of years when I have attended conferences or professional development sessions. The NCSET is an organization devoted to to helping students with disabilities have future successes beyond high school. Transition planning is required on or before a student turns 14 years old and goals related to transition are vital to ensure student success beyond graduation for our students with disabilities.

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Samuels, C. A., & Harwin, A. (2018). Shortage of Special Educators Adds to Classroom Pressures. Education Week, (15). Retrieved from https://easydb.angelo.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgov&AN=edsgcl.565981637&site=eds-live