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IDEA: Workshop 1Theory, Decision Making and Legislation and Its Impact

Learning Team E: Yeida Chavez, Shemiah Owens and

Melissa VandenBussche

SPE/513

May 2nd , 2016

Claustina Mahon-Reynolds

+Introduction

The theory of special education impacts the decision making

on the state and national level because a theory provides

information and facts that can be found to be true.

The legislation has impacted special education for many years

by implementing laws such as No Child Left Behind, Section

504, and IDEA.

Legislation has developed laws, theories, and ideas that have

impacted on families of students with exceptional learning

needs both positively and negatively.

+Theory of Special Education

The theory of special education impacts the decision making on

the state and national level because a theory provides

information and facts that can be found to be true.

Individuals that are responsible for making life-changing

decisions generally research or identify principles or ideas that

support their thoughts and decision-making process.

The theory of special education has been developed through

years of research, principles, and ideas.

+Inclusive Education and

Special Education

+Inclusive Education and

Special Education

Inclusive education and special education are based on different philosophies and provide alternative views of education for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Hornsby, 2015)

The theory of special education has different views of the philosophy, principles, and values of inclusive education while supporting interventions, policies and methods of special education.

There has been a connection between law and pedagogy in special education classrooms for years. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Acts (IDEA) has fueled this debate and decision making process concerning this area state and nationwide.

For the past thirty years there’s a wide world emergence of a policy of including children with special needs in regular classes. Elementary school teachers’ beliefs and perceptions about the inclusion of children with special needs in their classroom.

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+Decision Making

Decision making on the state and local in reference to the theory of special education can be formed by taking a look at the most effective inclusive schools. Research demonstrates that school can educate students with mild and severe disabilities in general education classrooms by providing special education services that link to and support general education instruction.

In order to make logical decisions on the state and national level all aspects of special education must be taken into consideration and identified statistics can definitely assist in decisions being made because they support rebuke research.

In any decisions making process dealing with special education there will be pros and cons identified. Individuals have to weigh their options and go with the facts that support the decision-making process.

In closing the final decision should be one that benefits special education students while developing on inclusive environment that raises the achievement level for all students.

+Current legislation and its Impact

Current legislation does not consider the impact on special educators in creating IEPs.

Current legislation does not consider the impact on special educators in creating IEPs.

Designing individualized Instructional Programs (IEPs) impacts instructional preparation time for the special educator

IEPs are written by a team and vary in the degree of specificity

Current regulations do not identify or define how specific goals should be written.

IEPs do not define instructional tasks

Annual goals are linked directly to Common Core standards or state standards.

Linking goals directly to Common Core standards create unattainable goals for grade level specific achievement.

+Current legislation and its Impact

continued… The District of Columbia currently requires that goals must be connected within 3 grade levels.

If a student’s current level of performance is 3rd grade, but the student is in 9th grade the goals must be connected to at least 6th grade standards.

Current legislation does not consider the practice of special educators.

Special educators and IEP teams are required to define LRE, but are often pushed into placing students into full inclusion classes when self-contained courses would be more beneficial to the goals and needs of the exceptional student.

The challenge requires for greater inclusion into regular education classrooms.

As more exceptional students are mainstreamed into regular education classrooms the student to teacher ratio is increased and teachers can no long meet the individual needs of students.

As more students are mainstreamed to full inclusion classrooms special education teachers are serve all students instead of considering ability.

According to Hallahan, Kauffman, and Pullen, “students should be served on the basis of their chronological age rather than academic ability or mental age” (p. 69).

+The Negative impact of Legislation

+The Negative impact of Legislation

The legislation negatively impacts families of students with exceptional needs vary from needing to be labeled to keeping the teachers accountable to keeping up with their peers testing goals.

Although having a specific label help narrow down specifying the needs of children, at times most will only see the negatives of this. People will generally focus on the challenges and needs instead of as the child as a whole. When you label a student many will tend to try to group the students together with other students that have the same challenges, which defeats the whole purpose of Special Ed.

General Education teachers are to expose Special Education students to general education curriculum however this is challenging when students with IEPs. According to Hallahan, Kauffman, and Pullen, “These standards apply to all students, including pupils receiving a special education. The work of aligning IEP goals to the Common Core State Standards will certainly challenge many special educators.” (p. 49).

IEP are designed for the student’s specific needs, however this becomes a challenge for the family in terms of testing. Because the child’s plan is designed for their uniqueness, it is hard to align both the child’s needs and the goals of the legislation for testing.

+Conclusion

The theory of special education impacts the decision making on the state and national level.

The legislation has impacted special education for many years by implementing laws such as No Child Left Behind, Section 504, and IDEA.

Current legislations does not consider the impact on special educators as more exceptional students are mainstreamed into the general education population.

Legislation has developed laws, theories, and ideas that impact families of students with exceptional learning needs negatively.

+References

Hallahan, D. P., Kauffman, J. M., & Pullen, P. C.

(2015). EXCEPTIONAL LEARNERS: An Introduction to

Special Education (13th ed.). Retrieved from The

University of Phoenix ebook collection database.

Hornby, Gary. (2015). British Journal of Special Education.

42(3), 234-256.

Gavish, Bella,Shimoni, Sarah. (2011). Elementary school

teachers' beliefs and perceptions about the inclusion of

children with special needs in their classrooms. Journal