Implementing Reforms In Education In Concordance With Idea1

Providing effective educational experiences to diverse students with disabilities remains a problem even though the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 20041 has provided further incentives, both legal and pecuniary to a gamut of schools including but not restricted to: home schooling, charter schools, private schools, and regular public schools. The gestalt of the problem is seldom that educators do not wish to teach all of their students effectively, but is rather more complex in nature involving a variety of problems. Some of the more predominant problems include: lack of national and specific definitions for disabilities, testing standards, and measurement procedures. Concise standards for separating valid researched methods that do work, from inconsistent or inconclusive ones, are necessary. Precise implementation methods are needed where the majority of teachers don't already use research based teaching methods and student/staff moral is low, as is parent involvement; a combination of circumstances that often occur in schools rated low in overall quality. Ironically, these schools need proactive and innovative standards and techniques the most, yet staff members may be at a loss as to how to implement the drastic changes needed, especially as low community support may also be a factor. Further complicating this issue is the rapidity with which research has been making new strides in teaching, including those students with disabilities; making unlikely that most general educators will be up to date on the latest findings. Since IDEA1 includes a mandate to place students with disabilities in the least restrictive, most natural setting possible (often general classrooms) and provide them each with individualized learning programs correcting the former is paramount.

The nature and scope of educational opportunities available to students with disabilities living in poverty and/or who are members of unresponsive groups is generally inferior to the same resource types available to middle and upper class students. This further compounds problems in learning caused by disabilities, recent research suggest that, " Learning engages the entire physiology. Studies that explore the effects of attitudes and emotions on learning indicate that stress and constant fear, at any age, can circumvent the brain's normal circuits. A person's physical and emotional well-being are closely linked to the ability to think and to learn effectively. Emotionally stressful home or school environments are counterproductive to students' attempts to learn. … Recommended educational approaches, then, consist primarily of trying to maintain a relaxed, focused atmosphere that offers options for learning in individually satisfying ways. " National Research Center on Learning Disabilities NRCLD2

It is also important to realize that many students who have learning disabilities and/or are emotionally disturbed need different teaching and classroom management methods. " A total of 16 studies intervening with 791 youth with behavioral disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and learning disabilities were reviewed. The findings of this review strongly support the efficacy of the use of cognitive-behavioral interventions across educational environments, disability types, age groups, and gender in the reduction of dropout and correlates of dropout."3

Physical, developmentally, and emotionally impaired students all fall under the IDEA1 mandate regarding the most natural environment. This ensures that educators will have to use psychology in their everyday classroom management techniques, in order to minimize adverse social impact from pre-existing bias. Some parents may not agree with the new standards for their children or alternately for other people's children attending the same classroom as their child whose attitudes are reflected in their child/ren.

Because schooling is an experience common to us all, communities tend to underestimate it's complexity; it's individuals do not realize the specialized skill sets associated with the various aspects of education. The knowledge necessary to formulate more effective and varied ways to teach math to students, reorganize the school budget to accommodate new programs, and manage social/extracurricular programs, or teach remedial courses after school, all demand different skills in addition to the ones common to most teachers. Yet, the community is unlikely to agree to tax and or millage increases to support those recourses that are needed for such undertakings because they do not understand the need for extra: skills, time, and money they place on the school systems and their staff.

Despite these problems, many school systems have set excellent standards for implementing the mandates of IDEA in new and innovative ways. Home schooling has long been an alternative to public schooling for many, including those with special needs. At least one public charter school in California, a member of the Camptonville Union Elementary School District in Camptonville, California offers the option of merging traditional home schooling with traditional public schools. They provide curriculum, state standards, support material, school events such as field trips and other activities designed to maximize student interactions, counseling, and collaborative development of Individualized Learning Programs with school staff, parents, and when possible students. As well as standards and checklists to help parents determine if they are ready to assume responsibility for overseeing their child's day to day education. " …foundation of the latest educational research findings as to how students learn most successfully, including a strong emphasis on parental involvement, smaller class sizes, more one-on-one teacher and student interaction, attention to differences in learning styles, student-driven participation in developing the learning process, technology access, varied learning environments, teacher and parent development programs, and choices in curriculum programs." (Community Options for Resources in Education (CORE)) In Worcester County, MD, the school board has developed very detailed and specific procedures on how to best develop an individualized learning program for students with disabilities and measure their progress. This includes interactive guidance and counseling with students and their parents to help maximize the students post schooling success with work and independent living. Included in this standardization are: "current performance, annual goals, special education and related services (IEP must list the special education and related