Test scores for special education students on rise
Test scores for special education students in the state’s 501 school districts are reportedly on the rise with local educators lauding the efforts of inclusion implemented in January under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The law was revised to include a special emphasis on the achievement gap for all states that accept Title 1 federal grants that provide funding for remedial education programs for poor and disadvantaged children in public schools and in some private programs.
A class action lawsuit filed against the Pennsylvania Department of Education also determined that starting last January special education students be integrated into the regular education classroom for instruction where the special education teacher and regular education teacher co-teach.
To what extent however special education students remain in the regular classroom depends on the needs outlined in their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) determined by parents and school officials.
Dr. Dennis Spinella, superintendent at Frazier School District, said the 2005-2006 PSSA scores have dramatically increased across the board in reading and math with special education students achieving proficiency in both areas because of the move.
Anne Peters, Frazier special education supervisor, attributed the higher scores to a combination of administrating a state-sponsored assessment formatted after the PSSA at the high school/middle school and working with elementary students not only on the level they are functioning on but also at their current grade level.
“This way they’re getting double practice and becoming familiar with (test) content,” added Peters.
Spinella also praised the district’s staff for their efforts of the transition, especially now that all students are required by the state to be proficient in reading and math by 2014 under NCLB.
Annette Conti, special education teacher at Uniontown Area School District, said the district is also using the same assessment called the 4Sight, which provides more insight into the strengths and weaknesses of students in math and reading so they can be addressed in a timely and efficient manner.
“It’s working well,” Conti added.
While Conti said the district provides accommodations to special education students for instruction in the classroom she said having them take the PSSA without being able to break down the information or prompt them on the test doesn’t give an accurate measure of their current progress.
However, Conti said she has seen improvement in this year’s PSSA scores because of inclusion. “I’m getting a lot of feedback from the teachers of how much students have stepped up to the plate,”
Earlier this year, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a new policy designed to help states better ensure the achievement of students with disabilities.
The policy enables states to develop modified achievement standards and use assessments aligned with those modified standards for a group of students with disabilities who can make progress toward, but may not reach, grade-level achievement standards in the same time frame as other students.
“It’s a good idea to raise the standards of expectation but you have to bring them within reach as well,” said Peters.
According to the Education Department, Pennsylvania students generally maintained strong performance from last year, including those in special education.
At Frazier, Peters said the 2005 scores for reading and math came in at 0 percent for third and 11th grade special education students, which increased to 72 percent and 63 percent in both areas this year and 12 percent and 38 percent for 11th graders.
At the fifth grade level, Peters said scores increase from 27 to 43 percent in reading and from 9.1 to 31 percent in math while eighth grade scores were also up from 15.4 percent last year to 25 percent in reading and from 7.7 to 16.6 percent in math.
Since this was the first year the state expanded the grades taking the PSSA to include forth, sixth and seventh, Peters said she couldn’t compare previous test data, but was amazed by the students’ performance.
Test scores were made available to the public on Dec. 18 on the Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education Web site at www.bsereports.hbg.psu.edu
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As part of the sixth annual National Inclusive Schools Week observed earlier this month, Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said more than $1 million in grants were released to 74 school districts to enhance the classroom experience for students with learning disabilities.
In Fayette County, Intermediate Unit 1 received $12,000 to use in Fayette, Greene and Washington county school districts.
According to Toni Lozar, assistant director of special education at the Intermediate Unit 1, the grant will go toward resource material for classrooms at Canon-McMillan School District in Washington County to help with the transition for students with authism and ADHD from early intervention to the regular classroom.
The Inclusive Practices mini-grants help make schools more inclusive for students with disabilities by supporting the development and expansion of effective instruction that encourages meaningful participation in regular education settings.
The grants can be used to provide effective instructional practices to support the achievement of all students, including those with disabilities, in regular classroom settings as well as supplementary aids and services, professional development or related activities.