A Texas Education Agency investigation, launched in 2021, has uncovered “systemic issues” in Austin ISD’s special education department, The Texas Tribune reported. Agency officials said in a 31-page report that Austin ISD failed to follow a state-imposed improvement plan that found the district did not evaluate students in need of special education or provide services to those students, according to The Texas Tribune. 

More than 13% of Austin ISD’s students—some 10,032—require or receive special education services and as of March 20, 1,808 special education evaluations were overdue, KUT.com reported.

“TEA’s final investigative report sheds light on the systemic issues found within Austin ISD’s Special Education Department and the district’s shortcomings in identifying and providing services for students with disabilities,” the TEA said in a statement cited by the Austin American-Statesman. “The lack of support for these students has significantly hampered their ability to achieve academic success and negatively impacted their school experience.”

Under a conservatorship, Austin ISD’s board of trustees and interim superintendent will remain in place—unlike the state’s takeover in Houston, which will include the replacement of Superintendent Millard House II and the school board with a new district leader and an appointed management team. Also unlike in Houston, where liberal activists have accused the state of targeting a majority Black and Hispanic district, this latest takeover has gained the support of even Democratic officials.

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“I have been aware of AISD’s shortcomings regarding students in special education for some time now,” state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) said in a statement. “In fact, it has been a challenge to access these services for my own son in AISD. AISD’s deficiencies regarding our students in special education are unacceptable.”

My statement on @TEA's intent to place a conservatorship over @AustinISD pic.twitter.com/kIqNWDbPcb

— Gina Hinojosa (@GinaForAustin) March 31, 2023

In Austin, the team of conservators will help the special education team catch up on evaluations and deliver services, the district’s board of trustees said, adding that educators there have been working for many months to make improvements, including:

• Creating a centralized database to track evaluations and implementing new systems to support special education services on campus and at the central office.
• Working closely with a nationally recognized special education expert to provide training for campus teams and central office staff.
• Launching an aggressive recruitment effort to hire educational diagnosticians and licensed specialists in school psychology, including annual incentives of up to $20,000.
• Forming an ad hoc committee of our board that meets multiple times a month to monitor activities and progress.
• Communicating with the public with new openness and transparency about the needs the district is working to address.

The board of trustees was set to review the Texas Education Agency’s report at a special meeting on Monday night. In Houston, meanwhile, a coalition of civil rights groups has filed a federal complaint against the state, claiming the takeover violates the rights of district voters to choose their own school leaders.

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Unfortunately, that’s the case for districts across the country in terms of teacher recruitment and retention. And when you narrow the scope to special education staff, the situation becomes even direr.

The statement comes from Raúl Peña, chief talent officer for Fort Worth ISD, a district that has been forced to resort to hiring non-certified teachers on an emergency basis to fill special education vacancies. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the district has hired nearly three times as many special ed teachers ahead of the 2022-23 school year using emergency permits compared to the previous year.

In Texas, districts are allowed to use emergency permits to hire non-certified teachers to meet staffing needs. According to the initiative’s guidelines, the candidate must meet “minimum requirements depending on the grade level and type of assignment.” Special ed teachers hired with an emergency permit must have met a certain number of college credit hours working with students with disabilities.

Between 2018 and 2020, Fort Worth ISD hired three special ed teachers using emergency permits (one per year). Last year alone, the district hired 11, and another 31 this year.

Unfortunately, it’s a trend that echoes in districts across the state and the nation, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. For the first time, the Northwest Independent School District has been forced to use emergency permits to recruit four special education teachers this year.

While this program proves itself worthy of its ability to help districts resolve teacher vacancies, disability advocates worry about its impact on students.

“An emergency certification just simply means you’re not where the state otherwise expects you to be to do this job, but we’re going to make an exception,” Senior Policy Specialist for Disability Rights Texas Steven Aleman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Unfortunately, districts are simply too desperate to weigh the options, University of Texas Professor Katie Tackett told the Telegram.

“I understand why districts are making the move that they are,” she said. “There’s not a deep, wide pool of certified special education teachers that districts are choosing not to hire.”

Across the country in Wake County, North Carolina, some students were without a teacher for months. According to one parent, her child went nearly five months without a certified special ed teacher.

“I am concerned that the mandated services in my son’s [individualized education program] are not being delivered in this environment,” one parent wrote to the state’s superintendent of public Instruction Catherine Truitt. “This is a group of students who need a certified special educator leading their day. I’m curious what is being done on the government level to end this teacher shortage? I heard about a $1,200 sign on bonus, but frankly that number is missing a zero.”

Special ed teacher recruitment and retention has been an ongoing battle for districts across the country since the pandemic. However, there’s hope that it will soon get better, according to the Biden-Harris Administration’s recently released education budget for the fiscal year 2024.

According to the budget, the administration plans to allocate $150 million to increase grants to recruit and retain special ed personnel.

“As an educator and a father, I know that nothing unites America’s families more than the hopes we share for our children, and that’s why the Biden-Harris Administration is pushing for bold investments to ensure all students have equitable access to schools that welcome and support them, inspire their love of learning, and prepare them to succeed in whichever career they choose,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement.

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1. Use evidence-based curricula.

The term “evidence-based practice,” or EBP, refers to an approach in which the process of clinical decision-making utilizes current, high-quality research evidence, integrated with practitioner expertise and client preferences. Organizations such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association have published position statements encouraging the use of evidence-based practices in clinical care.

Several mechanisms can be put into place to support special educators in utilizing evidence-based curricula and programs to help students accelerate progress. For evidence-based programs to be effective, the content must be easily accessible, searchable and structured with clear sequences.

Train educators on how to implement the EBP as intended, along with a set of guidelines that includes specific information on the practice (which students should participate, how long the program will take, the length and frequency of sessions, required materials, etc.).

2. Ensure fidelity of instruction.

Educational research consistently shows that the success of evidence-based programs depends on high-quality and consistent implementation by educators. Often referred to as “fidelity,” a learning platform designed for special education can utilize technology to ensure that educators follow the instructions within each lesson plan so that all of the points and objectives are covered.

Mechanisms such as easy navigation within a program/curriculum, scripted instructions for the educator, and a recommendation engine for specific programs and sequences can help educators identify, select, and implement individualized programs and curricula adapted to the varied needs of their students.

3. Increase practice intensity.

Studies have shown that increased practice time yields improved outcomes for special education students. One way to measure intensity in special education is the number of practice repetitions (e.g., trials or productions). By using a dedicated, special education learning platform, students will receive individualized instruction and practice, as well as an increase in practice opportunities.

With a dedicated special education learning platform like Amplio Learning, therapy minutes are individualized, based on areas of need. Additionally, the amount of repetitions per minute can be significantly greater. The result is that students utilizing a dedicated special education platform may experience 10 times the opportunities, or trials, to practice their individual goals when compared to status quo therapy models.

4. Provide feedback.

Providing feedback is often mentioned as a powerful influence on learning and achievement, though the impact may be positive or negative. Studies show that effective feedback should be corrective, immediate and specific. Corrective feedback focuses on what the student should do, rather than on the incorrect response.

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Timing of the feedback is also important because feedback that is delayed from the performance is less effective than feedback delivered immediately. Lastly, feedback should be specific or modeled so that the student can grasp what was missing from the response.

For example, when a child working on an advanced learning platform responds with a partial or incorrect answer, the platform can immediately react with supportive and specific messages, offering hints and tips as to what needs to change in the answer, as well as the opportunity to try again.

5. Use the data.

Data-driven instruction has long been the holy grail of education, taught in universities, yet classroom teachers often do not know how to make use of the data. Education leaders can look to other professions for guidance on creating a clear decision methodology around data. For example, the medical field uses advanced tools to assist in data-driven decision-making, which results in actionable insights for practitioners and improved outcomes for patients.

Educators can use data to fine-tune and improve their instruction and interventions to help students make faster progress. However, they also need a systematic approach to collecting the data, analyzing it for insights, and implementing it. By providing data-driven research, EBP-enabled platforms help teachers readily achieve these goals and create individual learning opportunities for students in special education.

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Date & Time: Thursday, February 16 at 3:00 pm ET

Student mental health is a top concern for educators today, and supporting social-emotional learning is critical to a healthy school and district culture.

At the same time, students are immersed in more digital media and technology than ever. How can we use this technology to support the wellbeing of students? This is the central idea of digital wellness.

Attend this web seminar to learn more about digital wellness and how to leverage existing tools in your district to promote SEL and the digital wellbeing of students.

Topics will include:

• The importance of social-emotional learning and relationship building
• Ways to champion the whole student through technology
• Approaches to encourage more empathy
• How to promote and support digital wellness

Speakers

By submitting your contact information, you are agreeing to receive communication from Dreambox Learning.

Sponsored by:

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The Okaloosa County School District in the state’s panhandle has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which in October 2020 began investigating Americans with Disabilities Act violations and “discriminatory use of seclusion and restraint on students with disabilities” in the system, the agency said.

As far back as the 2015-2016 school year, district personnel secluded and restrained students without attempting to use behavior management or de-escalation strategies, the federal investigation found. As a result, some students with disabilities suffered injuries and missed hours of class time, the DOJ said. The district, which cooperated fully in the investigation, has agreed to prohibit seclusion, reform its restraint practices and bring other disciplinary procedures into compliance.

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“Schools must provide students with disabilities appropriate educational supports and cannot resort to practices that physically and mentally harm them,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The Justice Department will vigorously pursue allegations of abuse and unlawful restraint and seclusion of students and will not stand by when their rights are infringed,” Clarke added.

The district has agreed to:

• Limit its use of restraint
• Clarify and improve crisis-response team procedures and post-restraint procedures
• Report all instances of restraint and evaluate if they were justified
• Train staff to collect and analyze restraint data and oversee the creation of appropriate behavior intervention plans
• Review procedures for students with disabilities who are restrained on the bus or who have behaviors that may manifest during transport
• Strengthen its multitiered systems and supports at all schools
• Reform district complaint procedures and improve internal district investigations into allegations of employee abuse or improper use of restraint or seclusion
• Strengthen practices related to employee hiring and transfers

The post Feds reach deal to protect disabled students in Florida district from seclusion appeared first on District Administration.

It is something we’ve known for a long time. When I speak to schools or educational support institutions, I often use a quote—which we believe came from Abraham Lincoln—“When I read aloud, two senses catch the idea: first, I see what I read; second, I hear it, and therefore I can remember it better.” Chances are we’ve all lived some version of that experience.

The thing about that is, it’s so easy to make educational material available in different modes and in different formats now. Students themselves are often the driver. They use text-to-speech apps to listen to their notes and reading assignments. Or, they play around with font sizes and styles to make reading materials more appealing often independently from what we’ve provided for them. Sometimes you see them print out pages so they can write on them.

For the most part, they do this organically with whatever happens to be on their phone. We educators, however, could provide all these accommodations and more. It’s a fair bet to say that every K-12 school and institution of higher ed already has some of the very tools that students want to use, but far too often, we limit access to the students who need accommodations for learning or physical disabilities. Every student should have access to them and to speed that along, I’ve identified a few of these tools that give students new ways to engage with learning materials.

Latest developments in text to speech

There are ‘readers’ all over the place, but with the newer versions of text-to-speech technology, students can have written materials read to them in different voices, representing and reflecting the diversity of their communities. They can also slow down sections of audio, which is essential for new language learners, or they can have text in their native language read back to them in that language. Most text-to-speech software has page masking and a reading ruler, which helps readers focus and not be distracted by extraneous information like ads and navigation tools on web pages.

We find students downloading audio files of reading materials to listen to on their phones, which is a real advantage for those with chaotic or disrupted non-classroom learning situations. One online school we work with, Strongmind, even commissioned a unique voice from our company so that it would appeal to a very specific group of learners—young children. This is a trend we’re likely to see more of with the growing interest in synthetic and digital voices.

Use Adobe Acrobat to restructure readability

There are visual accommodations, too. Every teacher should have the full version of Adobe Acrobat available to them. The tools that it offers are perspective-shifting for teachers and students alike. Restructuring how a document looks and functions so it’s accessible and readable is an important way to remove the barriers that exist between students and what we want to teach them.

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Like text-to-speech, many educators probably think of Adobe as an accessibility tool, and it certainly is that. But it’s so much more. Made universally available and with only minimal training, Adobe can be an educational delivery game-changer. I find that most educators can simply follow Adobe’s guidance on using how to use optical character recognition, tagging and reading order. The primary goal is that your documents are created so that text readers can follow the order of the document, which is especially important in forms or on pages laid out in columns and blocks of text.

Storyboarding with MindMaps for visual enhancements

If you’re not familiar with storyboarding or if you love your whiteboard, take a look at MindMaps, a revved-up storyboarding app. Like good audio is for listeners, MindMaps is for the visually inclined. Seeing material spatially represented can be the difference between truly understanding the material and glossing over it completely. You can truly see these students’ perspectives change as mastery deepens. It’s also great for tracking information and progress or for students working on collaborative projects.

The primary point here is that the physical structure of our documents—including how they look and function—is just as important as the tools we add to make them more engaging and accessible. One of the best ways for this to sink in, however, is to test-drive them yourself. Turn on the page reader and see how it progresses through a complicated page of text. You’ll immediately see the importance of planning for accessibility in the creation phase. You’ll also understand the broader benefit these tools give everyone—how text masking, page readers, and mind maps make learning content richer and more engaging.

By definition, documents and web pages are accessible when individuals with disabilities can engage the content; however, everyone benefits from what these tools can do.

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Lumping disabled students together “masks critical variation in outcomes depending on students’ intensity of special education services, race, socioeconomic status, and English learner status,” concludes a new analysis from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University and the Center for Learning Equity. It is therefore difficult to gauge the pandemic’s impact on their academic, behavioral, social-and-emotional, and post-graduation outcomes. But here’s what the Center’s researchers can say for sure:

1. Almost all students declined academically, but students with disabilities were especially impacted.
2. Students with disabilities appear to be experiencing intensified mental health concerns during the transition back to in-person learning.
3. More students who need special education services may not be getting identified.
4. An unknown number of families are still waiting for compensatory services to make up for what students lost earlier in the pandemic. Many are not even aware they qualify.
5. Students with disabilities may have experienced exclusionary disciplinary practices with even greater disproportionality than they had pre-pandemic.
6. Reliance on underqualified teachers in special education positions may be increasing from pre-pandemic levels.

The researchers added that their review of ESSER spending plans left them concerned about whether states and districts can make long-term and systemic improvements in supporting students with disabilities.

Students with disabilities face wider gaps

Prior to the pandemic and the shift to remote instruction, students with disabilities scored lower than their non-disabled classmates on standardized English language arts and math exams. Between 2020 and 2022, that disparity was more pronounced, with students with disabilities scoring 8 points lower in math and 7 points lower in reading while non-disabled students lost 7 points in math and 5 in reading.

It also appears that fewer students with disabilities are being evaluated for special education services. The researchers cited a report that found special education referrals in New York City dropped 57% between the start of the pandemic and the fall of 2021.

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And students already in special education may be missing out on the services to which they are entitled. More than 250 parents of children with disabilities said their child suffered learning loss or skill regression during the pandemic, but only about 25% had received information about their school’s compensatory services and just 18% had received those services, according to a survey by The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.

Special education had the most vacancies with 53% of district leaders reporting being understaffed at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year. In Pennsylvania, the number of emergency-certified special education teachers nearly doubled from 2018 to fall 2020, according to a state department of education analysis. “While shortages of qualified teachers raise concerns for all students, it is particularly troublesome for special education students because their teachers need specific pedagogical training,” the Center for Learning Equity’s researchers wrote.

To overcome these challenges, K-12 needs better data systems to track outcomes and learning conditions for students with disabilities. These systems should be built on feedback from disabled students and allow educators and parents to disaggregate the data quickly to adjust instruction and services. Secondly, the report urges increased investment in district IEP teams so members know how to better serve children from diverse schools and backgrounds while also elevating “the voices of families and students when making decisions.”

Finally, district administrators and other education leaders should more regularly share effective strategies and models for enhancing learning opportunities and outcomes for students with disabilities. “We need examples of how districts used ESSER funding for students with disabilities to proactively provide compensatory services and navigate educator shortages,” the researchers wrote. “Disseminating examples of innovative and effective models will help prevent decision-makers from reverting to business as usual for educating students with disabilities.”

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For young children in Head Start programs, according to the letter, services like educational placement and determining eligibility for children suspected of having disabilities aren’t being provided to the fullest extent. This comes at a time when students in special education programs are disproportionately suspended from schools. The ED issued guidance in July on discriminatory practices for disciplining students with disabilities.

Now there are concerns about whether preschool-aged children with disabilities are receiving proper services related to their Individualized Education Programs and educational placements.

According to the letter, Head Start recipients continue to suffer from pandemic-related disruptions. “As we start this new school year, OSEP and OHS want to emphasize the importance of providing children with disabilities and their families the services and supports that they need to thrive,” it reads.

Regardless of the pandemic’s impact on such programs, the departments remind districts and Head Start programs of their responsibilities to provide special education services.

“The Departments acknowledge that the pandemic continues to present challenges to implementing appropriate programs and services for young children,” the letter reads. “However, OSEP and OHS want to emphasize that, notwithstanding these challenges, children with disabilities retain their rights under IDEA to receive appropriate special education and related services in accordance with their individualized education programs (IEP).”

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By assessing quantitative data and other related information, the departments addressed the following inequities for children in Head Start programs:

• Delays in eligibility determination of children in need of special education services.
• Special education services/IEPs are not provided in a timely manner or fully implemented.
• Educational placements are not being made in accordance with IDEA’s LRE requirements.

The departments also highlighted the roles and responsibilities of state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs) and Head Start programs:

• SEAs: Ensure full implementation of child find and other IDEA requirements by enforcing necessary policies and procedures in ensuring free appropriate public education (FAPE) is available to all eligible children.
• LEAs: Evaluate children suspected of having disabilities “in a timely fashion,” in addition to implementing IEPs in accordance with IDEA requirements.
• Head Start programs: Refer children and families for IDEA evaluations, in addition to ensuring IEPs are implemented.

“It is the long-standing policy of our Departments that young children with disabilities be included in high-quality early childhood programs, including Head Start,” the letter reads.

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More than half—53%—of public schools reported “feeling understaffed” entering the 2022-23 school year, according to a School Pulse Panel survey conducted in August by the National Center for Education Statistics. Difficulty hiring special education teachers and transportation staff were among the biggest drivers of school staff shortages.

Those shortages are being felt the most in the West with nearly 60% of schools saying they are understaffed; meanwhile, the Northeast appears to be experiencing the least pressure, with 48% of schools reporting a shortage.

The top four reasons cited for vacant teaching and non-teaching positions are the same:

• Too few candidates applying for open positions
• A lack of qualified candidates applying for open positions
• Candidates felt the salary and benefits were not sufficient
• Applicants turned down positions for reasons other than salary and benefits

Administrators reported that, over the summer, the open positions they found most difficult to fill were for the subjects of foreign languages, computer science and special education. Here’s the full list, starting with positions that administrators ranked as “very difficult” to staff in August:

1. Foreign languages: 51%
2. Special education: 48%
3. Career and technical education: 48%
4. Math: 45%
5. Physical sciences: 43%
6. Computer science: 40%
7. English-as-a-second language/bilingual education: 40%
8. Biology or life sciences: 39%
9. Music or arts: 31%
10. English language arts: 24%

Nearly half—44%—of public schools reported full- or part-time teaching vacancies in a similar survey conducted in early 2021. Outside of teaching, transportation staff, custodians and mental health professionals were the hardest positions to fill, according to the more recent survey.

Looking at the overall employment landscape, 60% of schools said they had not been able to fill vacant non-teaching positions since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Nearly half said the same about open teaching positions. Just over a third of schools reported losing full-time teachers since the onset of the pandemic.

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The study, which was conducted by IU’s Center on Education and Lifelong Learning, focuses on Indiana high school students with disabilities and how time spent in general education classes impacted their learning.

Hardy Murphy, a clinical professor in the School of Education and co-author of the study, challenges schools to rethink how they place their students with disabilities. “Changing and elevating our expectations of what students with disabilities are capable of lies at the heart of people with disabilities contributing to and benefitting from being a part of our community experience beyond K-12 education,” she said in a statement. “Including students with disabilities in their school communities with their general education peers is an important place to begin this transformation.”

Using state student and school data, the researchers explored how high and low-inclusion educational settings impact academic performance among students with disabilities. High inclusivity was defined as having 80% or more time spent in a general education classroom, and anything lower than 80% was defined as low inclusivity.

Here are the study’s key findings:

• Students who spent 80% or more time in general education classrooms scored on average 24.3 points higher in reading and writing than their peers in low-inclusion environments. In math, they scored 18.4 higher.
• Those in high-inclusion environments were 22% more likely to graduate with a Core 40 diploma. According to the researchers, high inclusivity prepares students with disabilities for post-secondary and employment opportunities.

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Giving special education students the opportunity to participate in general education classrooms, according to Murphy, is something administrators ought to consider. “These results show that is as much a moral and ethical question as it is an educational one,” she said.

Sandi Cole, director of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community and the study’s lead author, calls for a radical transformation of K-12 education.

“We cannot, as a society, afford to continue to support policies and practices, academic failure, limited post-secondary options and continued separation and marginalization based on disabilities,” she said in a statement. “We can, however, accept the ambitious agenda to transform educational systems to create inclusive school environments, maximize student participation and increase the achievement of students with disabilities.”

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