IDEA's Impact
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has opened up the doors of general education to over 6.5 million students with special needs, giving them access to the general curriculum and more diverse student body.
- California has in excess of 670,000 special education students. Over 60% of special needs students spend all or part of their instructional day in general education.
Funding-The Federal Government's Broken Promise
- This year alone the unpaid federal contribution to IDEA funding will shortchange local schools by $10.5 billion- funds that could have made a real difference for other programs funded by local districts, such as school modernization, technology improvements, professional development and educational employee salaries and benefits.
- The federal government needs to live up to its 27 year old pledge to pay 40 percent of the cost of educating special needs students.
- Federal full funding would mean an increase of 1.2 billion dollars for California special education students.
- As a result of the federal government's under-funding of IDEA, all students suffer, not just those with disabilities.
Student Achievement
- While graduation rates are improving, the graduation rates for students with disabilities is 63.4% for white students and only 43.5% among blacks students.
- 3.1% of African American boys are identified as mentally retarded while 1.3% of white boys are placed in the same category.
- 88% of special education students in the Class of 2004 have failed the CAHSEE.
Teacher Quality
- Special educators leave their classrooms, and many times the teaching profession, at twice the rate of general educators.
- There is a chronic shortage of special education teachers in California and nationally.
- Over 30% of California special educators are teaching on waivers or emergency credentials.
- General educators receive very little pre-service or in-service training about how to work collaboratively as part of an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) team.
- Special Educators work typically 53 hours per week, roughly half of that time in direct instruction of students. They spend 2-1/2 times as much time on paperwork as general educators.
- General educators receive insufficient pre-service and in-service training to prepare them to deal with IDEA's impact in and out of the classroom, yet they are called upon more and more to teach increasing numbers of students with special needs.
- Both special educators and general educators believe that paperwork requirements interfere with their instruction.
- Special and general educators have received insufficient professional development on how to accommodate and modify curriculum in a standards based instructional environment.
Parent Views (from When It's Your Own Child: A Report on Special Education from the Families Who Use It, Public Agenda, June 2002 )
- Most parents (67%) rate their schools as "good" or "excellent" in providing help for their students.
- 72% rated the skill and quality of special education teachers as "good" or "excellent."
- 84% said their teachers really care about their child as a person.
- 69% felt they were offered real choices for their child.
- 69% felt that early intervention could have kept many children out of special education.
- 64% said once their children were identified, it was easy to get services they needed.
- 42% said more funding was the best way to see improvement.
- 35% expressed frustration in getting needed services.
- 29% said the school was "dragging its feet."
- 16% said they were so unhappy that they are considering taking the school to court.
