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... falls on the urban school districts. These are the teaching positions that many traditionally prepared teachers are unwilling to take. (Urban Education: Definitions and Perceptions, Monday, November 1, 2004) Public schools are in crisis and the situation is even worse with disable children. The needs of disable children increase but counseling do not hurry to help them. They suffer from a growing lack of public confidence, a routine series of financial crises, low student achievement gains, and continuous conflicts with the communities they serve. As a result of increasing criticism of urban public education, educators in almost all specialty areas. (Professional school counseling in urban settings: introduction to special issue, February, 2005) Counselors in rural and suburban schools do not pay attention to the urban schools.
But their attention and their help is essential to those for whom life was not merciful since the day of they birth. The issue of special education ingram shool's is very painful but still nobody seems to be concerned. Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy states Evidence-based research on counselor practices and strategies in urban schools is greatly needed as well as research on effective practices with diverse urban student populations. (Professional school counseling in urban settings: introduction to special issue, February, 2005) Urban schools demand reform, maybe it will also help the special education. Many people mistakes greatly about the state American education is in.
No body decline that US education is good and getting better but still there are communities in which educational situation is begging for help. In many ways the view of education by the general public has not changed in decades. For example: "Forty percent of High School graduates haven't a command of simple arithmetic, can not multiply, subtract, and divide correctly in simple numbers and fractions. Over 40 % of them can not accurately express themselves in the English language or can not write in their mother tongue. " Chairman, National Association of Manufacturers, Education Committee, 1927! Dissatisfaction with schools is not a new phenomenon.
Schools present an easy target and they are possibly the only social institution in America that everyone believes they have expert knowledge about. This is unlikely to change in the future. However, as schools focus their attention on improving the basic skills competencies of its students, some criticism is likely to be muted. (Urban education: Connections between research, propaganda and prevailing views of education, Spring 2003) Level of American students is equal to the level of foreign students. Our students have prominent abilities and even more prominent future. But children with disabilities also are gifted and can be useful to the society.
Ruefully but truthfully US has the highest child poverty rate (18. 9 % in 1997) of any industrialized nation in the world! This clearly impacts educational attainment. And disable children have no chance for decent future (or any future at all) in such environment. Martin Haberman emphasize Narrowing down the curriculum is particularly evident among the burgeoning populations of students labeled as special or exceptional.
The urban districts have disproportionately large and wildly accelerating numbers of students labeled with some form of disability. In urban districts the numbers of special students currently range from 6 % to 20 % of the student body. This means that exceptional education may account for between 20 and 35 % of a total urban districts budget. Well intentioned but sometimes misapplied state and federal initiatives for special education students encourage the labeling of increasing numbers of students as learning disabled, cognitively disabled or having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
It is not uncommon for many urban teachers who do not have in depth knowledge of child development to perceive undesirable behavior as abnormal rather than as a temporary stage or as student responses to poor teaching. Thus it is common in urban middle schools to find many students doing well academically who have been labeled as disabled in primary grades and who will carry these labels throughout the remainder of their school careers. Teacher expectations are likely to be very modest for such children; testing may be waived. Some low-income parents may be enticed to agree to have their children labeled exceptional because of financial grants. Recent efforts at inclusion for exceptional students in regular classrooms are aimed at breaking the cycle of low expectations and isolation. In urban districts, however, inclusion mandates are most frequently followed in the primary grades but seldom at the high school level.
The disproportionate number of children of color, particularly males, labeled exceptional further exacerbates this problem. (Urban Education: Definitions and Perceptions, Monday, November 1, 2004) Lets try and find what statistic says about number of educated disable children. According to the Barbara LeRoy, Ph. D. In 1999, 45. 7 % of special education students, ages 6 - 21 years, were included (at least 80 % time in regular education classrooms), while in 2001, 44. 4 % were included. Only Hispanic (40 % vs. 37 %) students and students with hearing impairments (50 % vs. 49 %) fared better in 2001. In looking at particular demographic groups, here is what we know.
Boys and girls fare equally in the inclusion option - approximately 44 % of each gender is included. With regard to race, Whites fare best at 48 %, while Blacks fare worse at 30 %, and Native Americans fall in the middle at 42 % included. By age, elementary students are more included (54 %) than secondary students (31 %). Not a surprise to the parents of children with more challenging disabilities, 81 % of the children that were included in 2001 were children with speech and language impairments (37, 421 students or 91. 6 % of the category label) and learning disabilities (36, 242 students or 38. 2 % of the category label). The most disturbing thing is the tremendous differences in rates of inclusive education placement by type of disability. The following Table shows the rates by year and disability label.
Inclusive Education Placement (%) by Disability Label and Year Disability Label
1999
2001
Speech & Language Impaired
91. 1
91. 6
Learning Disability
40. 7
38. 2
Physical & Otherwise Health Impaired
50. 3
49. 4
Hearing Impairment
49. 2
49. 9
Visual Impairment
60. 8
59. 7
Emotional Impairment
30. 4
29. 4
Autism
25. 2
25. 6
Educable Mental Impairment
9. 6
6. 5
Trainable Mental Impairment
3. 2
2. 1
Severe Mental Impairment
1. 8
1. 3
Severe Multiple Impairment
2. 9
2. 5
In other words if we will translate all these numbers we can say that only 1, 393 from 27, 202 of students with cognitive disabilities (last 4 categories on the table) are included in regular education numbers of actual students. The parents whose children receive special education in urban schools wish their children to receive education somewhere else. As we can see there is a disconnection between what parents want for their children and what the system provides. Parents in focus groups were asked about this around the state. Parents named five main reason of the disconnection. A lack of supportive principals The constant and elusive "treasure hunt" for information on the special education system, including processes, placement options, services, and outcomes Purposeful isolation of parents A system that is more focused on meeting the systems' needs than the child's needs A lack of adequate training for teachers.
As it was mentioned above special education in urban schools need special attention because situation is rather oppressive. Here are main legislative acts which concern special education Notable examples include the Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959 (PL 86 - 158), which helped train leaders to educate children with mental retardation and the Teachers of the Deaf Act of 1961 (PL 87 - 276), which trained instructional personnel for children who were deaf or hard of hearing. PL 88 - 164 expanded previous specific training programs to include training across all disability areas. In addition, in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (PL 89 - 10) and the State Schools Act (PL 89 - 313) provided states with direct grant assistance to help educate children with disabilities. Finally, the Handicapped Childrens Early Education Assistance Act of 1968 (PL 90 - 538) and the Economic Opportunities Amendments of 1972 (PL 92 - 424) authorized support for, respectively, exemplary early childhood programs and increased Head Start enrollment for young children with disabilities.
Public Law 94 - 142 guaranteed a free, appropriate public education to each child with a disability in every state and locality across the country. At least Government provided strong legislative basis for special education. Remember that you IDEA cannot afford to leave anyone out of our efforts. Bibliography Priscilla Parking, The History of Special Education, Rethinking Schools Online Volume 16 No. 3 - Spring 2002.
Retrieved October 13, 2005, from web HISTORY Twenty-Five Years of Progress in Educating Children with Disabilities Through IDEA). Retrieved October 13, 2005, from web History of Education, 2005, Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved October 13, 2005, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service web Richard Rothstein, The other role for the urban school, The New York Times, June 12, 2002. Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web History of LSS and Urban Education, 2005.
Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web Martin Haberman, Distinguished Professor, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Urban Education: Definitions and Perceptions, Monday, November 1, 2004. Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, Professional school counseling in urban settings: introduction to special issue, Professional School Counseling, February, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web Goldenberg, I Ira, Kunz, Dan, Hamburger, Martin, Stevenson, Joseph M, Urban education: Connections between research, propaganda and prevailing views of education, Education, Spring 2003 Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web Barbara LeRoy, Ph. D, Is Inclusive Education a Shrinking Option? , Retrieved October 13, 2005 from web Special Education, The Volunteer Lawyers Project, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2005 web
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