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Susan Luger Associates Newsletter |
Happenings in the World of Special Education September 2009 |
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Nation Loses a Champion for Students with Disabilities
Senator Ted Kennedy's demise leaves a "hole" in the leadership fabric
All of us have sat through the media coverage of Senator Ted Kennedy's death, anticipated but still bereaving. Senator Kennedy was the champion who promoted the causes and developed the legislation and tone that provide advocates with the legislative tools to help.
Senator Kennedy's record on civil rights, education (regular and special), immigration, health care, and peace initiatives are too numerous to list. His "timeline" in the Senate runs over 14 pages!
From our perspective, the Senator will forever be known as:
- championing the National Teacher Corps (1965)
- establishing legislation creating the national community health center program (1966; currently, 1200 health centers serve more than 20 million patients)
- in 1969, he gave his first speech calling for a national health insurance program for all Americans
- in 1975, he was an original sponsor of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which later became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- he introduced legislation to enforce the constitutional rights of persons in government institutions, such as the elderly, the disabled (1980)
- the Senator introduced the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), prohibiting discrimination in the working world (1990)
- in 2004, he lead the fight for reauthorization of the IDEA
We'll need someone with REALLY big feet to fill his shoes!
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A 2-Year Study:
What Makes Teachers Good
Gates Foundation foots the bill for study costing $2.6 Million |
The NYC DOE Chancellor Joel Klein and UFT president Michael Mulgrew have signed a joint letter to union members announcing the start of the 'Measures of Effective Teaching' study -- intended to measure teacher effectiveness beyond student performance on standardized tests (see article below).
The study, funded by the Gates Foundation, will explore a broad array of teaching measures to recognize the work of teachers in fair and valid ways. Researchers will use student standardized test scores (which is a starting point) plus student and teacher surveys and videotaping classroom activities.
Volunteer teachers will receive a $1,500 stipend for participation.
Readers are probably awaiting a punch line right now. Something the Geico gekko might say. There is none.
There is something more serious to consider: teaching; inculcating receptive minds with knowledge and curiosity; overcoming students' disabilities -- these are just a few of the jobs courageous teachers must do. Quantifying these activities is downright impossible. The ultimate effectiveness of inspired teaching comes years later, when the student (perhaps having aged into a responsible adult) uses that knowledge and curiosity to be a better citizen-parent-whatever, perhaps remembering that teacher in some fond or quirky way.
Attempting to quantify teaching effectiveness through some measure, although well-meaning, will result in the numerics similar to those that led the financial markets to disarray recently, that earlier had Robert McNamara declaring body-count victories in Viet Nam, and leave all wondering what it all proves.
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A course in DOE arithmetic |
There was an interesting article in the NY Times on July 1st, reported by Jennifer Medina and Robert Gebeloff. The article title is "With More Money, City Schools Added Jobs".
For sure, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have been rolling out statistics as proof of accomplishments ... increasing graduation rates (other Times articles argue against that statistic), test scores, smaller classrooms, etc.
The May-cellor (a single entity, to be sure) has placed budgetary control in the hands of local principals. While this sounds democratic and 'power to the people'-ish, the end result is (once again) that special education needs are overlooked. If a principal does not offer special education services, then the school cannot service special education children. And who ends up looking better in the statistics without special education children in the mix? The principal, of course.
But, this isn't what struck me in the Times article. At the end of the article, after discussing DOE personnel getting Wall Street salaries because of their expertise (not in education), the Independent Budget Office reports that the May-cellor is providing their Accountability Office (where statistics are churned out) with $350 million over a two-year period. That averages to $175 million per year.
Why is that galling? Because the special education funds paid out for private schooling and related services have assailed (by Michael Best, Counsel for the DOE -- last Newsletter's article) while being $89 million.
$89 million that helps some of our kids versus $175 million that puffs up the May-cellor with statistics. Hmmmm. My suggestion is to throw the $175 million into the special education pot and develop some real programs. | |
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Groundbreaking Autism Study Underway |
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Researchers look for pregnant women who already have an autistic child
A study has commenced, Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI), will follow families with an already-diagnosed autistic child through pregnancy, birth and the baby's first three years.
The EARLI researchers will be looking at genetic and environmental factors in pregnant mothers and their babies to help identify causes of autism.
Participants in the study will meet with researchers, keep diaries, and allow researchers to collect biological samples from both the mother and the child.
Researchers will combine genetic information with environmental factors, vaccine information and other factors. This study is the first time that this information will be collected in real-time. Prior studies depended on participants memory to recall events. |
Swine Flu Poses Greater Risk to Children with Developmental Disabilities |
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As of this writing, 36 children have died from swine flu. Most had an underlying illness or developmental disability, according to the CDC.
Doctors are warning that extra attention must be given to children with special needs who present with flu-lie symptoms.
It is unclear if the swine flu pandemic will ultimately impact children more than a typical flu season. |
Share this Newsletter with your friends and colleagues by forwarding this email to them. |
If you learn of any newsworthy item related to Special Education, contact us with the information. |
Our Series of Talks and Workshops to Continue |
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We will be continuing our series of talks and workshops in the Fall, 2009. Last year's series ran the gamut from Trust Planning through selecting the appropriate residential placement.
For the 2009-2010 year, we have lined up some astounding professionals in the areas of neuropsychology, speech-&-language and other areas of interest to parents and advocates of children with special education needs.
Keep an eye on future Newsletters and on the SLA website for the upcoming schedule. | |
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End Notes
The Newsletter took a summer recess, along with students, educators, and mental health professionals. SLA, however, was neck-deep in preparation for the 2009-10 school year. All hands were working at full speed.
The 2009-2010 School Year begins with a series of interesting events and non-events.
Susan Luger Associates is now on Facebook. If you have a Facebook account, please join us as a fan. Susan has her own Facebook page as well. Why not become her "friend." We will be using these Facebook pages to keep people updated on things happening in our office, such as upcoming events, hearing decisions, new DOE policies, etc. For those still not on Facebook, we were reluctant to join too. But it is a cool way (take it from old hippies!) to keep in touch with old friends and new.
Please note our new logo at the top of this page. We want to thank Michael Thibodeau, for working with us to design this new symbol of SLA. Michael's organization, Verse Group is the "Narrative Branding Company." He can be contacted at [email protected].
We love our new logo and you will probably be seeing it on everything we do!
Sincerely,
Susan Luger Susan Luger Associates, Inc.
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