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How and why are some children provided with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)? Learn about the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and how it is implemented in Massachusetts. Read a short outline of the special education process from the Massachusetts DESE: Basic Steps in the Special Education Process
Read the document Parent's Guide to Special Education (37-page PDF) created by the Federation for Children with Special Needs (FSCN), a Massachusetts organization which provides a clear, concise explanation of IDEA as it is implemented in Massachusetts public schools. Find more resources at fcsn.org.
Explore the full text of federal IDEA law here: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/
Parents/guardians must always provided with their legal rights under IDEA by the school district , in their home language: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/prb/
Another look at the timeline for the special education process in Massachusetts: http://www.concordspedpac.org/TimeFactors.html#Initial
DOWNLOAD AND SAVE: Massachusetts Eligibility Flowchart
IMPORTANT: Each and every time a child is evaluated to determine if they are eligible for special education in Massachusetts, the team must walk through this flowchart. --->
MA_DESE_IEP_Flowchart.pdfDISABILITY CATEGORIES:
Visit the special education page from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to familiarize yourself with the 10 disability categories in special education law:
MA DESE Special Education Categories
LOOK: See how the Massachusetts categories compare to the federal IDEA categories:
Racial Disproportionality in Special Education
Decades of research have pointed to the over-representation of Black students in special education, particularly with labels such as "emotional impairment" or "emotional disturbance." Researchers believe this is often due to implicit racial biases about students' behavior, leading to an inappropriate referral and label. This can lead to the students being placed in substantially separate classrooms or schools, experiencing stigma, isolation, and lowered expectations for academic progress. In addition to seeing this problem for Black students, the same inappropriate placements into special education are seen for emergent bilingual students who present with limited English proficiency. Rather than providing them with opportunities for intentional bilingual or English language instruction, some schools wrongly funnel the students into special education where they know that extra help can be provided.
LISTEN to the podcast (or read the transcript): Racial Differences in Special Education Identification (2020, from Harvard Graduate School of Education)
At the same time, we can see that some students of color, English learners / emergent bilingual children, or children from low-income families do have disabilities, and should be provided with their legal rights to special education accommodations and services. Yet, they are not correctly identified and made eligible for special education. Families often need to know how to "work the system" in order to advocate for their child to be deemed eligible for special education. Too often, this advocacy requires enough wealth to pay for a private advocate or lawyer, and/or the social capital and knowledge of how the system works, and how to push back against a school's decision of ineligibility.
READ (and watch the embedded video): Two boys with the same disability tried to get help. The rich student got it quickly. The poor student did not.
EXPLORE: Recommendations from WIDA for the identification of ELLs with Specific Learning Disability
EXPLORE: Significant Disproportionality in Special Education from NCLD
RESPONSE PROMPT: How will you work towards an accurate eligibility determination process, as a future educator? What specific actions can you take to avoid mis-identifying children, particularly students who are Black, ELL, or from low-income families?
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