District Reviews Special Education Process

On Wednesday evening, Dr. Patricia Barker, Head of Special Services for the South Orange-Maplewood School District, presented the Special Education Opportunities and Struggling Students Review, which was prepared by District Management Council, a membership network of public school districts. The presentation was meant to give an update on the current status of the district’s special education program, as well as provide a road map of what the district hopes to accomplish.

Among the commendations that Barker presented were that the school district has been successful with the inclusion of special education students in the general population of students. 

“In talking to everybody, teachers, administrators, principals and parents, the idea of inclusion was embraced by everybody,” said Barker. “There were no naysayers.”

Barker also said that the report lauded the accomplishments of the district for the staff they hired, their curriculum, the identification rate for special education and the availability of expert teachers for students who need reading intervention. 

Barker said the report also detailed where the district had an opportunity for improvement.  One was the implementation on a consistent basis of a district-wide core elementary reading curriculum supplemented by a robust intervention effort.  Barker explained that by third grade, if a student isn’t reading, then the curriculum would prove tough. 

A suggestion for the district was to hire 18 reading interventionists to support struggling students in the district’s elementary schools. The report suggested reworking the budget to hire the teachers.

"For some students, (intervention) is not enough, they need a very targeted support structure," said Barker.

The report suggested targeting more specific problems that students may have with reading in particular. Instead of sending students to special education classes right away, perhaps there was a middle step that could fix specific problems that some students may have.

Another opportunity was to provide more in-district programs for emotionally disturbed (ED) students. If the district could bring back five ED students, the district could save upwards to $200,000 a year.

Barker said that the report suggested that the effectiveness of co-teaching be looked at, as well as ways to create a wider range of inclusion options. She said that the report showed that principals especially were in favor of that. 

Barker reported that an administrative Professional Learning Committee (PLC) has been formed to look at other ways inclusion is provided. The main objective of the PLC is to find ways to include more struggling students in the process.

“We know we have students who are struggling or aren’t classified and aren’t necessarily being reached and targeted in the best way,” said Barker. 

Barker was referring to students with a specific learning disability (SLD) who have mild to moderate disabilities. SLD students make up roughly 30-40% of the special education program according to Barker. She suggested finding better ways to target these students as ones who need help most and could benefit greatly by taking the suggestions presented in the report.