Term Paper on "New York State Education Department's Special"

Term Paper 12 pages (3703 words) Sources: 9 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT'S SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES

The New York City Department of Education is responsible for providing high-quality educational services to well over a million students in the New York City school system, and a significant percentage of these students have profound learning disabilities that require individualized and specialized services. Because an enormous amount of scarce resources are being allocated for these educational services, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions over time. To this end, this paper reviews the relevant literature to determine the extent to which federal and state mandates are being satisfied and an evaluation concerning the effectiveness of the New York City Education Department's special education services in meeting the needs of its students and parents through its Special District 75 programs. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

REVIEW AND DISCUSSION

1.

Describe how and why this program meets the needs of the students. District 75 meets the needs of its students through a broad-based approach that draws on educational and community resources in various public-private partnerships. District 75 does these things because its stated mission of District 75 is "to provide appropriate standards-based educational programs, with related service supports, to approximately 23,000 students with severe challenges, commensurate with their abilities" (District Information, 2011). To accomplish this mission, District 75 partners with a number of different educational resources to identify and administered best educational practices as well as professional development opportunities for its educators (District Information, 2011). The schools and programs offered by Special District 75 are located at more than 310 sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and Syosset, New York (Special Education District 75, 2011; Boettcher, 2008).

The district reports that it provides instructional services through the offices of Autism, Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Technology, Inclusion, Transition, and Positive Behavior Supports (District Information, 2011, para. 3). In addition, District 75 provides extended day programs that provide their students with academic intervention strategies and extracurricular activities that are specifically designed to improve students' social skills and self-esteem through the use of the humanities (District Information, 2011). Finally, based on the need to comply with least restrictive environmental mandates, District 75 delivers educational and extracurricular services to students in a variety of supported environments including special education schools, community-based vocational training sites, institutional facilities, inclusive settings, community school, high schools, hospitals, agencies, and even students' homes (District Information, 2011). In this regard, District 75 has established the following six district goals pursuant to current mandates:

1. To develop and expand options, within the least restrictive environments, for the participation of students with severe disabilities in school and community settings.

2. To support the development and implementation of an integrated approach to instruction, merging all components of a comprehensive program (high expectations, performance and content standards, program practices to accommodate diverse learning styles, ability levels, and assessment alternatives) to meet students' Individualized Education Programs.

3. To create learning environments that provide positive behavior supports, including instruction in self-management of challenging behaviors and in social skills development.

4. To develop and implement a set of procedures that ensures the smooth transition from school to post-school/adult opportunities.

5. To examine current regulatory, funding and administrative structures that support the achievement of the district goals and coordinate activities to facilitate systems change.

To partner with regional general education schools under a grant for Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) in 40 general education schools, to develop and train teams on proactive behavioral interventions, so that students can remain in the least restrictive environment in their home zoned schools (District Information, 2011, para. 5).

While the statistics to date indicate that the New York City school districts are underperforming compared to state averages, these across-the-board comparisons fail to take into account a number of important socioeconomic variables that have been shown to be particularly relevant with respect to academic performance by students with disabilities in urban settings. Despite these constraints, it is possible to determine the effectiveness of the programs that have been implemented by the state on satisfying federal and state mandates at the local level, including those used in the New York City school districts.

2.

Does the program follow all mandates? (Assessment Process, IFSP/IEP, EIP)

The District 75 programs comply with all mandates. For example, among the federal mandates for special needs students in the New York City Education Department's Special District 75 is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. According to Greenwood, Walker, Hornbeck, Hebbeler and Spiker (2007), following the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), there have been increasing calls for accountability for student learning outcomes in K-12 education across the country. Likewise, Rous, McCormick, Gooden and Townley (2007) report that the need for improved accountability in the education has been the result of a number of reform initiatives in recent years, including the reauthorization of Title 1, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, as well as President Bush's Good Start Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative of 2002.

Much of the impetus for these initiatives was based on the findings an internal government review finding that the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) that showed a lack of evidence concerning the effectiveness of early childhood programs. Consequently, beginning in 2005, the OSEP mandated that all states that were receiving IDEA Part C and Part B (Section 619) funds would be required to submit annual data concerning the progress of children receiving a minimum of 6 months of educational services (Rous et al., 2007). In response to this new mandate, states:

1. Have filed their State Performance Plan (SPP) with OSEP (December 2005);

2. Reported data on children's status at entry in their Annual Performance Report (APR) in February 2007; and,

3. Are required to report data on children's progress between program entry and exit in February 2008 and annually thereafter (Greenwood et al., 2007).

This framework for the operation and oversight of student with disability-related programs is provided by the New York City Education Department within the larger State Education Department framework. According to New York City's education department's official Web site, "The New York City Department of Education is the largest system of public schools in the United States, serving about 1.1 million students in nearly 1,700 schools" (About us, 2011, para. 1). Not surprisingly, the New York City's education department is also the recipient of an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars. In this regard, the department's Web site also notes that, "For the school year 2011 -- 12, the Department of Education's total budget is $23.9 billion, including $4.7 billion to pay pensions and interest on Capital Plan debt" (About us, 2011, para. 2).

The percentage of the budget allocated to student instructional needs in the New York City School districts (about $4.8 billion for academic year 2011-2012) are funded differently from schools in District 75 and programs in District 79 because of their highly differentiated instructional models (Overview, 2011). As a result, principals in District 75 entered into a performance agreement with the New York City Education Department in 2007 that awarded them enhanced autonomy in the operation of their schools; in return, the principals agreed to increased responsibility for the academic outcomes of District 75 students (Performance & Accountability, 2011). According to the New York City Education Department's information literature concerning this landmark agreement, "The educators who know best what each student needs to succeed got the authority and the resources to make the best decisions for the students in their schools. In return, they agreed to be judged on the results they deliver: the academic progress of their students" (Performance & Accountability, 2011, para. 2).

At present, therefore, educators in Special District 75 are responsible for performance, but the New York City Education Department remains responsible for developing and administering the tools that are used to evaluate school performance as well as for providing the resources that are needed by educators and families alike to help improve District 75 schools, family and parent interaction, and student academic outcomes (Performance & Accountability, 2011).

Based on their performance data to date (see Appendix A), the schools in the NYC Special District 75 are currently following all mandates with respect to the provision of educational, vocational, and behavior support programs for students in all of New York City's boroughs who:

1. Are on the autism spectrum;

2. Have significant cognitive delays; and/or,

3. Are severely emotionally challenged, sensory impaired and/or multiply disabled (District Information, 2011).

These performance levels vary quite a lot, though, from school to school, suggesting that some educators are succeeding at satisfying their mandates better than others.

Assessment Process.

The assessment process in District 75 is a step-by-step approach that begins with children being referred for evaluation for special education that is used to determine whether special educational services and/or programs are appropriate. During this process, parents are encouraged to share as much information about their… READ MORE

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