Those who think the growth in disabilities is nothing more than label-pinning should talk to long-time teachers. They will tell you that there are just more children with learning and communication problems than there ever were – the classroom with one challenging child now has five or six children with challenges.
Once that is accepted, it’s time to ask – no, demand – an answer to why there are so many more children with issues?
As far as labeling kids to get their NCLB test scores eliminated from counting against the school – the special ed subset DOES get counted, and since it is smaller than the general population, it each child gets counted for a larger percentage. The argument works in reverse – a school would rather take a 1 point hit in the general ed score than what counts as a 10 or 15 point hit in the special ed subset – which is the subset that schools labeled as “insufficient progress” get zonked on.
Education is a “pay me now or pay me later” scenario, and even more so with children with learning challenges. Want to stop paying? Ask questions.
