No Child With Low-Incidence Disabilities Left Behind

Kay Alicyn Ferrell, Ph.D.

National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities

No Child Left Behind (hopefully)

Some Children Left Behind (maybe)

No Child Left Behind Concerns

• Accountability
• Quantity and quality of personnel
• General education teachers' preparation to work with students with low-incidence disabilities
• Accessibility
• Literacy
• Scientifically based research

Low-incidence disabilities: Less than 2% of all children with disabilities, ages 6-21

• Visual impairments, 0.45%
• Multiple disabilities, 2.12%

24th Annual Report to Congress (2002)

Multiple disabilities, 0.19%

• Multiple disabilities, 0.19%
• Visual impairments, 0.04%

24th Annual Report to Congress (2002)

Pressure for Accountability

• Greater pressure on LEAs to ensure general education curriculum
• Link IEP goals with state content standards
• Placement implications

Adequate Yearly Progress

• 95% of students with disabilities must participate
• < 0.20% of resident school-age population has a low-incidence disability
• < 2.7% of all children with disabilities
• Participation occurs IF test score is counted in statewide accountability systems
• Accommodations
  • Unreliable or invalid?
  • Excluded

What Washington Sees

• Transition Study (Wagner, 1991)
• Greater proportion of students graduating
• Greater proportion attending post-secondary programs
• SEELS Study (www.SEELS.net)
• Students with visual impairment lead on almost all measures
• Students with multiple disabilities don't

Direct Assessment: Passage Comprehension

Mean Percentile Scores

Direct Assessment: Applied Problems

Mean Percentile Scores

Direct Assessment: Calculation

Mean Percentile Scores

SEELS Population

• Sample drawn from LEAs and state-supported special schools
• 81.6% "main problem visual impairment"
• Mean 3.7 hours in general classroom
• Mean 7.5 hours in self-contained classroom
• 69.8% participating in state-mandated tests

Inaccurate Annual Count (BVI)

State Assessment Data

50 states contacted April-September 2003:

• 8 states = no response to multiple inquiries
• 10 states = may yet send data
• 20 states = do not disaggregate by disability
• 12 states = disaggregated data received

CAUTION!!

• Data are extremely heterogeneous
• Sometimes no students tested in that category ("X") or not reported ("NR")
• All states do not report the same data
• Only ranges reported here
• Sometimes the range reflects only 2 states
• Data are not comparable from year-to-year (different states)

Reading/Language Arts (8th grade)

Mathematics (8th grade)

Mathematics (4th grade)

Mathematics (7th grade)

Reading/Language Arts/Literacy (7th grade)

Shortage of Personnel

"For the 1999-2000 school year, special education administrators reported 69,249 job openings for special education teachers. These open positions included ... 2,738 teachers of primarily students with hearing or visual impairments."

(U.S. Department of Education, 2001)

How short?

"Based on the recommended ratio of 8 students to 1 educator, a total of 11,700 FTE teachers (both TVIs and TDBs) and the same number of O&M specialists are recommended. This will require hiring an additional 5,000 FTE teachers of the visually impaired and over 10,000 O&M specialists, at today's level of staffing."

(National Plan for Training Personnel To Serve Children with Blindness and Low Vision (2000), p. 30 )

Highly Qualified IF

• Teach a core academic subject
• English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography
• Obtained full state certification as a teacher
• Certification not waived on emergency, temporary, or provisional basis

Hold minimum bachelor's degree

• Hold minimum bachelor's degree
• Demonstrated subject area competence in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches

(NCLBA, Sec. 9101(23))

Implications?

• Low-incidence teachers must hold dual certification in special education and at least reading
• Teachers at specialized schools:
• Special education
• Core subject area(s)

How long to become certified?

Will anyone want to be?

Recommended Language for S. 1248

HIGHLY QUALIFIED; CONSULTATIVE SERVICES

(i) the teacher has met the definition of that term in section 9101(23)(A) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and

(ii) the teacher has State certification through a State approved special education teacher preparation process (including certification obtained through alternative routes to certification), except that when used with respect to any teacher teaching in a public charter school, the term means that the teacher meets the requirements set forth in the State's public charter school law;

Sec. 602(10)(A), proposed

Consultative Services

(i) a special education teacher who provides consultation to a general education teacher or teachers, who is or are highly qualified in the core subject being taught as defined by section 9101(23) of the Elementary Secondary Education Act of 1965, on such matters as adjusting the learning environment, modifying instructional methods, adapting curricula, using positive behavioral supports and interventions and implementing accommodations to meet a student's individual needs.

Sec. 602(10)(D, proposed

Preparation of General Educators

"Most public school educators do not feel well prepared to work with children with disabilities. In 1998, only 21 percent of public school teachers said they felt well prepared to address the needs of students with disabilities"

(PCESE, 2002, p. 1)

Caseload Sizes

• Limited opportunities for consultation and collaboration
• Limited ability to monitor student progress
• Inability to supervise paraprofessionals

More than placement, accommodations, and materials

• More than placement, accommodations, and materials
• Opportunities for social interaction
• Extra-curricular activities
• Includes expanded core curriculum
• Includes incidental learning

Concerns About Literacy

• NCLBA definition of reading:
• phonics
• decoding
• fluent reading
• reading comprehension
• motivation to read

Blind and Visually Impaired

• Some students will read braille rather than print.
• Contracted or uncontracted braille will impact use of phonics
• Some students will need low vision devices to access print
• Some students may use screen readers and not decode

Scientifically Based Research NCLBA, Sec. 9101(37)

The term "scientifically based research" -

(A) means research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs . . . .

Scientifically Based Research

Scientifically Based Research: Concerns

• Heterogeneous population
• Low-incidence population, geographically dispersed
• Expensive research
• Dearth of federal funding
• Majority are case studies, single-subject design
• No replication

NCLBA: An Opportunity

• More accountability for student performance
• More scientifically-based research
• Higher certification requirements for teachers
• End to emergency certificates

NCLBA: A Quandary

• Will low-incidence teachers be excluded from high quality standards?
• If not, will we be able to increase the supply?
• Will low-incidence teachers become related services providers instead of teachers?
• Will students with low-incidence disabilities be excluded from state exams?

Where is the research to back up our practice?

• Where is the research to back up our practice?
• If teacher training demands increase (new certifications), who will conduct the scientifically-based research?

The National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities
at the University of Northern Colorado

www.nclid.unco.edu

Together we can do more