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My current professional perspective is that of an educational administrator on the high school level within a public school setting. I am currently work to complete my masters in educational administration.

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I had the opportunity to sit down and interview my current high school principal, Dr. John Denson.  He is very knowledgeable about issues concerning the high school setting, especially issues that deal with legal and ethical scenarios.

He has been a principal for 4 years and an Ag teacher for over 18. He understands the ins and outs of both the classroom and the educational administrators office.

The top 5 issues he currently deal with the most in his profession are...
1. 504/Special Education
2. Bullying issues between students and between students/adults
3. DAEP and legal issues concerning students who are, or will be, assigned there for over a 10 day period.
4. Staff training and qualification issues
5. ELL/Telpas

There are many more issues that arise often within his job role.  But, he handles issues concerning the above 5 on a frequent basis.

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Very interesting article on the funding of school districts.  In this particular article "crowdfunding" is addressed and legal issues are examined.

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Chiefs for Change has released a new guide to help schools and districts use crowdfunding effectively, safely, and equitably, and to develop policies concerning approval, collections, ownership and tracking of results.

EdSurge, the organization that developed the guide, consulted more than 40 educational and crowdfunding experts in the process and determined that education leaders' major concerns include whether crowdfunding may violate district policies or state laws, that it causes confusion regarding the ownership of resources obtained through crowdfunding, creates legal issues, raises equity concerns and fails to align with school district priorities.

The guide seeks to answer these questions as well as provide guidance about how crowdfunding best works in education, how to create policies that provide transparency and accountability, and how to choose crowdfunding platforms that best align with school district priorities and needs.

Dive Insight:

Though funding for schools is slowly recovering from the recession, this funding rarely reaches the classroom in a way that teachers can use to implement special projects or gain needed supplies. In some cases, teachers want to gain access to technology or resources they feel will improve the learning experience and create more hands-on opportunities for students. Some teachers want to raise funds for field trips or other experiences they feel will broaden their students' knowledge. Other teachers are simply trying to help meet basic student needs for school supplies or clothing.

In recent years, crowdfunding has become a growing source for money to meet these needs and wishes. Over the past decade, millions of dollars have been raised for education-related projects, some from small donors and some from major organizations and charities who are looking for ways to support students in ways that will go directly to the school or classroom. Multiple case studies and examples show how crowdfunding benefits schools and provide ideas for teachers about the potential of crowdfunding. There are also a growing number of platforms joining existing sites such as GoFundMe and DonorsChoose. Ed.Co is one such example. Each site has its own rules and guidelines, and navigating them may create confusion for teachers and school districts.

Despite the good crowdfunding can do, some school districts remain skeptical about crowdfunding because of the potential for abuse and difficulties in tracking its use among teachers. Just this week, the Metro Nashville School District banned teachers from using crowdfunding out of concern over teachers keeping the cash or using the money to buy items that would not meet school district approval. And in Ohio, a 2018 state auditor's report shows that 55.4% of reporting school districts have banned crowdfunding, 26.2% are not aware if teachers are crowdfunding, 56.2% of districts that allow crowdfunding have no idea how much money was raised in the last year and 59% have no crowdfunding policy in place.

Guides such the one just released can help clear up some of the confusion and pave the way for school districts to craft clear policies and procedures that may allow for crowdfunding, but also place needed protections and guidelines in place to prevent abuse or waste of resources. School districts may need to consider adding policies specific to funds for technology resources to ensure those purchases meet the technology specifications for the school district. And while legal discussions about crowdfunding for schools are available and can help guide deliberations about crowdfunding policy, school districts need to consult with their own attorneys to make sure these policies align with established state laws and district policies.

Top image credit: LendingMemo

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Crowdfunding guide helps districts develop safe, effective practices

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Chiefs for Change has released a new guide to help schools and districts use crowdfunding effectively, safely, and equitably, and to develop policies concerning approval, collections, ownership and tracking of results.

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Article concerning mandatory recess within school systems. Article looks into the issues surrounding making recess mandatory for each child and school system.

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Dive Brief:

As educators look to strike a balance between rigorous academics and time for socializing and play, at least five states have mandatory recess laws at the elementary level, while seven others require elementary schools to have daily physical activity. Several other states, including Massachusetts and Arkansas, are also expected to consider recess laws this year, Edutopia reports.

Recess was long considered a staple element of elementary education, but when No Child Left Behind went into effect, it began to disappear under the more intense focus on testing and core subjects. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Edutopia notes, one-third of elementary schools had eliminated recess across all grades.

However, a growing body of research concerning the physical, cognitive, mental and social benefits of recess are convincing more lawmakers and educators of its necessity. Advocacy groups, such as the National PTA and the American Academy of Pediatrics have also voiced their support of recess requirements for kids as necessary in promoting physical and social-emotional activities.

Dive Insight:

In recent years, more state legislatures have come to realize what elementary school teachers and parents have long enforced through built-in recess periods - children need time to play. Most school hours are spent in learning activities that require students to be relatively still and quiet, and at some point, it becomes harder for them to concentrate and focus without any breaks. Research has shown that if kids have to wait longer for a break, they become less attentive and more antsy, but when given a break for play, their attention spans bounced back once they returned to the classroom.

In the wake of the death of recess at some schools - a byproduct of the No Child Left Behind regulations - more research has highlighted the benefits of recess as well as physical education. Children need physical activity to remain fit and healthy, but they also need unstructured play time to regulate emotion, strengthen memory, promote a normal sleep schedule and digest what they've learned in the classroom. Under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) regulations, physical activity is considered part of a well-rounded education.

States and school districts play a role in meeting children's physical need for exercise. According to Active Living Research, scheduling time for physical education during the school day study can "help more students meet national recommendations for physical activity."

Recess also helps students with social-emotional learning, as it is one of the few times during the day children can interact with one another freely. During group play, children learn how to collaborate, socialize and regulate their own emotions. Recess not only allows kids to relieve stress accumulated during hours of study, but it also leads to a better school climate, according to a report by Stanford University.

Another impact of recess is cognitive benefits for students, who learn better and are more focused when they return to the classroom. Experiments have shown that play can stimulate growth of the cerebral cortex, improve memory and trigger the secretion of BDNF, a substance necessary for the growth of brain cells. It also improves cognitive processing, which is most effective when there's a period of interruption after a period of concentration.

A 2013 statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics sums up the need for recess: Safe and well-supervised recess, it says, "offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it." The statement also notes that "recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child's development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons."

While the benefits of recess are plentiful, some school administrators are still reluctant to make it a regular part of the school day or to increase its time frame, as this takes away from class time and can present liability risks, such as potential bullying or injuries that could occur. Seen Magazine notes a 2010 Gallup poll, which revealed that 89% of discipline-related problems took place during recess. And, as noted in a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this time of day is when schools have the biggest behavior management challenges. For recess to reach its full potential, children should have adequate supervision or the experience may do more harm than good.

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More states weighing mandatory recess, physical activity laws

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As educators look to strike a balance between rigorous academics and time for socializing and play, at least five states have mandatory recess laws at the elementary level, while seven others require elementary schools to have daily physical activity. Several other states, including Massachusetts and Arkansas, are also expected to consider recess laws this year, Edutopia reports.

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Vaccinations are a hot topic among educators and parents alike. This article explores the recent measles outbreak, the effect it had on school systems, and the legislatures plan to look at closing the no-shot option.

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Dive Brief:

Though public health officials declared in 2000 that measles had been eradicated, 206 cases have been confirmed in 11 states during January and February, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Public health officials have spent more than $1 million trying to contain the illness, and legislators in multiple states - including Washington, Colorado and Oregon - are moving to close loopholes that allow families to opt out of getting vaccinated, Education Week reports.

In Washington state, in light of a measles outbreak that hit at least 70 students - 61 of whom weren't vaccinated - in one county alone has declared a state of emergency, and hundreds more unvaccinated students were sent home for weeks to avoid exposure, Education Week notes. Only 88.6% of the state's students are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the debate is being played out on the national stage, with those in favor of vaccinations arguing they are safe, economically beneficial and can prevent community outbreaks, while some opponents argue the risks of vaccinations have not been fully explored and that government agencies should not be able to mandate medical decisions.

Dive Insight:

The anti-vaccination movement is taking heat amid the current measles outbreak, which has struck some areas of the United States and the Philippines. The World Health Organization has declared the movement as "one of the top 10 global health threats for 2019." The anti-vaccination movement has also taken blame for similar disease outbreaks in 2013 and 2015; however, there have also been confirmed reports of measles outbreaks in the past in schools that, in at least one case, had vaccination compliance levels as high as 98%.

However, the anti-vaccination movement is still very much present as the debate has transcended to areas including education, health care and political circles. Though concerns about a supposed link between vaccinations and autism may have fueled the debate in recent years, vaccinations have long been a concern to some parents, either because they fear the unknown effects, were presented with inaccurate information, maintain religious beliefs against these practices or feel the risks of outweigh the benefits.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, the federal government, during the lifetime of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, has awarded roughly $4 billion in compensation to parents whose children were injured by vaccines. Between 2006 and 2017, 6,197 petitions made it to the vaccination court and 4,250 were compensated. Though the CDC points out that these cases represent only one per 1 million doses of vaccine distributed, no parent wants his or her child to be the one affected. Additionally, some argue a lack of accurate records reflecting other adverse reactions to vaccines has caused skepticism.

There is research that proves vaccines can help prevent the spread of serious communicable diseases. When state lawmakers examine the issue, it's important for them to consider which decision benefits the most people, as well as what the potential effects of such a decision might be. Additionally, state laws concerning required vaccinations for public schools and allowed exemptions vary widely. As the vaccination debate reaches a fever pitch during the most recent outbreak, at least 20 states have fronted bills this year to expand vaccination exemption rights.

School leaders have little control over legislative decisions but are left to deal with the fallout. As the specter of an outbreak continues, these officials can consider how they would handle an outbreak in their community and how they can keep students learning - even if they have to remain at home. They can also expand vaccination education campaigns for parents. At the end of the day, treating parents and community members with respect as you share information - regardless of where they might stand in the debate - will spark more productive conversations.

Top image credit: Army Medecine

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206 measles outbreaks across 11 states leave schools grappling with effects

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Though public health officials declared in 2000 that measles had been eradicated, 206 cases have been confirmed in 11 states during January and February, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Article discuss a policy from President Obama concerning racism and special education. This law was illegally withheld for a time period according to a Federal Judge.

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Dive Brief:

A federal judge ruled last Thursday that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos violated the law in delaying for two years an Obama-era regulation that mandated states to examine and address any racial disparities in special education. The rule was drafted under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which requires states to implement a "more consistent, standardized evaluation process" in evaluating whether there is "significant disproportionality" in the way school districts identify and discipline minority children with special needs.

The ruling is a favorable one for the Council for Parent Advocates and Attorneys (COPAA), which sued the Education Department, arguing the delay would lessen the number of school districts required to examine their special education practices, Education Week reported. The Education Department initially argued, among other issues, that the rule needed more study because it could create quotas and prevent some children from receiving services because of their race.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled there were enough measures in place to prevent quotas and that the Education Department "failed to provide a reasoned explanation for delaying the 2016 Regulations" and "failed to consider the costs of delay, rendering the Delay Regulation arbitrary and capricious." The Department of Education is reviewing the ruling.

Dive Insight:

While rules requiring school districts to pay attention to the way minorities are identified for special education services and disciplined within them have long been a part of IDEA, the Obama-era rule aimed to streamline the evaluation process. A Washington Post article noted that "a 2013 report from the Government Accountability Office found that states identified just 2% of districts nationwide as having problems with disparities. Advocates suspect the problem is far more widespread."

Other statistics have supported the notion that minority students are often improperly placed in special education. One study, published in July 2018, found that students of color are often put in special education due to socioeconomic inequalities and social injustices. And when these students are placed in special education programs, COPAA notes, they're subjected to "a less rigorous curriculum," "lower academic and career outcomes than their peers" and "significantly higher high school dropout rate[s]."

The Department announced last summer that it was delaying the date by which states needed to comply with the "significant disproportionality" regulations. Initially, this compliance date was July 1, 2018, but the department postponed it to July 1, 2020. However, the recent court decision means these regulations go into effect immediately, COPAA Executive Director Denise Marshall wrote in a statement released Thursday.

In her statement, Marshall said she feels the ruling will improve conditions for many students who have discriminated against in the past. "While identification of children for special education is deeply complex ... Today's decision assures States will be required to help their districts who have historically discriminated against children and provide those children with early intervening services rather than ordering their suspension and expulsion from school."

So far, advocates and lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, have hailed Chutkan's decision, The Washington Post reported. Scott deemed the ruling a step forward in the quest for equity in education.

"Today's court ruling is a major victory for students and parents and an important step toward ensuring that all students have access to a high-quality, equitable education in a safe and healthy environment. The Equity in IDEA rule is necessary to address the over-representation, inappropriate placement, and over-discipline of students of color in special education," Scott said in a statement. "By forcing the Trump administration to implement the rule, the court's ruling will put us back on a track toward reversing systemic racial discrimination in education."

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Federal judge: Ed Dept illegally delayed Obama-era special education rule

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A federal judge ruled last Thursday that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos violated the law in delaying for two years an Obama-era regulation that mandated states to examine and address any racial disparities in special education.

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Special Education is also scrutinized due to legal and ethical issues. Race is no different. Students who are not admitted, or are admitted to often due to race has created an issue.

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There are many issues dealing Special Education which would fall under the legal and ethical umbrella.  A recent issue brought to light in both studies and legislation passed is race and its effect on special education.

This issue is two fold.  Some studies have found students are being admitted too frequently to special education due to race or socio-economic issues.  Other studies state students are not being admitted frequently enough due to race.

Either way it is examined, special education needs to be an avenue available for all students no matter their race, socio-economic status, and so on.

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Race and Special Education law concerning student admittance

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Are too many minority students being placed into special education who don't need to be there? And, once enrolled, are they kept in isolated classrooms or punished more severely than their peers?

For 423 school districts in the 2015-16 school year-the most recent year for which complete federal statistics are available-the answer was yes.

That's about 3 percent of the nation's 14,500 or so school systems. More than 20 states documented no disproportionality in their districts that year, according to an analysis by the Education Week Research Center.

So are states underestimating the problem? Are they even using the best methods to measure the status of these students?

Those questions are at the heart of a policy debate that is pitting the actions of a formerly hands-on U.S. Department of Education under the Obama administration against new leadership, under President Donald Trump, that says it wants to get out of states' business.

Which view prevails has real financial implications for many of the nation's school districts, though the complexity of the issue has kept it under the radar except for those steeped in special education rules and finance.

How We Got Here

The background: In its waning days, the Obama administration issued a policy that would require states to take a standardized approach to monitoring how their districts identify and serve minority students with disabilities. The administration's rationale was that all states should use a similar yardstick when it comes to investigating if districts are identifying and punishing minority students at markedly higher rates than their peers-what the law calls "significant disproportionality."

That marked a change in practice that had been in use since 1997. When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was reauthorized that year, it said states should monitor these issues, but left it up to them to figure out how.

There's money involved, too. When the IDEA was last revisited by Congress, lawmakers said that districts with problems must also set aside 15 percent of their federal special education money on remedies. For the 423 districts identified in 2015-16, that amounted to more than $211 million.

Minorities in Special Education: Which Districts Are Out of Line?
States have been required to monitor their districts for racial and ethnic disparities in special education since 1997, but few districts nationwide have been identified as having a problem. Here's a look at which districts identified themselves in the 2015-16 school year, which offers the most recent federal data.
No one knows yet how many of the nation's districts might be identified for disproportionality under the standardized monitoring process. Though the rule was finalized in December 2016, it doesn't go into effect until the 2018-19 school year. But it's almost certain that the number of districts flagged would be more than 3 percent. (An early Education Department analysis based on a draft of the rule estimated that around half of U.S. school systems could be identified as having significant disproportionality. When the final rule was published, the department said that analysis was no longer valid.)

The Trump administration, on the other hand, has declared that it doesn't want the federal government dictating policy to states. In December, the Education Department published a notice saying that one of its regulatory priorities would be rolling back implementation of the new rule for at least two years.

It's not just the Trump administration that may not like this rule. Back when it was still under debate, Senate Republicans were casting it as an example of departmental overreach. "Congress was clear that such decisions are best left to the states, whose differences in population size and composition did not support a one-size-fits-all approach," lawmakers said a 2016 letter signed by the Republican members of the Senate education committee.

If the rule is put on hold or retracted entirely, states would be left generally to their own devices when it comes to monitoring their districts, as has been the case since the late 1990s. That would likely mean a continuation of a trend where some districts have to divert a portion of their federal dollars to address an identified issue, while similar districts in other states would escape that fate because they are being evaluated under different rules.

Different States, Different Results

Sometimes those differences across state lines can be stark, the Education Week analysis found.

States are supposed to look at a handful of concerns: whether minority students are wrongly placed in special education, if they end up in certain disability categories out of proportion to their peers; and if they are placed in restrictive settings, suspended, or expelled out of proportion to their peers. Districts can be identified in more than one area.

Of the 423 districts identified with disproportionality in 2015-16, 78 were in just one state: New York. However, that represents only about 11 percent of the Empire State's school systems. Rhode Island had the highest concentration of identified districts-32 out of 61, or nearly 53 percent.

Discipline was flagged in more than half of districts across the country that were identified as having disproportionality-233 of the 423 school systems identified had problems in that area.

Sixty-eight districts were identified as having disproportionality in whether students were placed in special education. Separately, 186 districts were identified as having significant disproportionality in placing students in certain categories, such as emotional/behavioral disturbance.

Only 33 districts were found to have placed minority students in restrictive settings out of proportion to their peers.

The small percentage of districts identified for disproportionality in 2015-16 is not unusual. The Government Accountability Office took a look at this topic five years ago. Using 2011 data, it found that about 2 percent of school districts were identified as having disproportionality in one or more areas, and five states accounted for half the districts identified. In 2015-16, five states-California, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, and Rhode Island-had 60 percent of the identified districts. Then, as now, school districts in the Midwest and Mountain West were generally not identified by their states as having issues.

New Set-Aside Allowances

The new rule put out by the Obama administration came with other changes. Before the rule was finalized, the 15 percent set-aside could not be used for programs aimed directly at special education students. The point was to address problems in the general education system before they resulted in a misidentification or harsh punishment.

However, the new rule will allow a portion of the set-aside to be spent on programs that benefit students with disabilities.

That was great news for the 147,000-student Charlotte-Mecklenburg district in North Carolina, said Ann Stalnaker, the district's special education director. The school system has been identified as having disproportionality in the way it disciplines minority students with disabilities, as well as its placement in restrictive settings of African-American students with emotional disturbances. But it could not spend any of its 15 percent set-aside directly on those identified problems. Instead, the money went to behavioral support programs, graduation coaches, and other initiatives intended to help the entire student body.

In a district so large, the money can only fund a portion of those districtwide initiatives. However, the set-aside-about $4 million-is enough to be a noticeable chunk out of the district's funds for special education, Stalnaker said.

"It's not a bad thing that we're looking at issues of equity, we need to be mindful of this," Stalnaker said. But "it sure would be nice for us to spend some of that money on children with disabilities."

States Figuring Out Next Steps

In the meantime, states and districts are moving forward with their planning.

Rhode Island has convened public hearings, experimented with different formulas allowed under the new process, and is ready to move forward, said J. David Sienko, the state director of special education. Unlike many other states, it anticipates that it will have fewer districts identified moving forward.

His state has seen the monitoring process as an "exciting opportunity."

"We're having conversations across the aisle with our general ed. partners in ways that we never had before. It forced people to look at their practices-are we providing enough intervention; is special ed. the only intervention this child needs?" Sienko said. "I don't think it was time poorly spent."

In contrast, Nebraska is a state that would see a major increase in the number of districts flagged for disproportionality the new rule. In the 2015-16 school year, one district was identified. Currently, the state is projecting that around 80 of its 245 districts might be found to have significant areas of concern, generally in discipline, said Steven Milliken, the state's director of special education.

Nevertheless, the rule "has given us some information about districts that need good quality staff development," Milliken said, and he thinks that it is worth keeping.

"The department has been flexible in letting states develop their interpretation of their new guidelines. They were saying we'll look at each state individually, and I think that's what made it good."

Published in Print: February 7, 2018, as How to Measure Bias in Spec. Ed. Crux of Fight Over Federal Rule

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Racial Disparities in Special Ed.: How Widespread Is the Problem?

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Are too many minority students being placed into special education who don't need to be there? And, once enrolled, are they kept in isolated classrooms or punished more severely than their peers? For 423 school districts in the 2015-16 school year-the most recent year for which complete federal statistics are available-the answer was yes.

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Step 4: Angelo State University Library article 

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Step 4: Angelo State University Library article 

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Race and Special Education laws concerning student admittance

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Angelo State University - Library Online Resources

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