For much of the nation, the state of New York appears to be the mecca of all things hip; cool neighborhoods, awesome theater and excellent museums. Professional sports abound throughout the state and many, many people flock to New York every year believing that if “they can make it there, they can make it anywhere!” Even the educational standards and teacher pay appear to be greatly desirable for educators and parents alike. However, not all schools are excellent; many in fact, have not been able to meet state and federal standards for success. Long Island Schools have, however, shown marked improvement over the last 4 years in resolving this problem.
Long Island Schools Report Cards
Recent state report cards which reflect how well a school is doing in regards to state academic goals show that Long Island Schools demonstrate marked improvement. Over 30 Long Island Schools have not been able to meet the criteria in the past. For the most part, these Long Island Schools have been able to improve their ratings and have thus met the state requirements as well as the federal ones resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act.
What’s interesting are the reasons given for why these schools have not been up to snuff in the first place. Nearly all the failing Long Island Schools cite poor education for special ed students as the reason for the schools’ failure. Why, in the 21st century, is this school district just now realizing that these students need extra attention? Special education students are those with specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia. These Long Island Schools’ students must receive special training in order to meet academic standards put forth by Long Island Schools themselves.
Special Education in Long Island Schools
It is not to be said that special education students cannot learn or meet the academic goals set for them by Long Island Schools. However, they do need special accommodations in order for them to learn and perform at the top of their game. Oftentimes, these students are exceptionally bright; they just aren’t wired like the mainstream student population. They need and deserve a strong educational program that is sensitive to their needs and helps them reach the expectations set forth by the Long Island Schools.
It is nearly unbelievable to me that Long Island Schools didn’t know this in the first place. Despite the fact that most kids learn in spite of us, there are quite a lot of kids who definitely do need our help. Making sure to have an adequate number of teachers and support staff on the payroll as well as the proper facilities is a given. There is no reason why a majority of these kids can’t be held to the same standards as their mainstream peers; they simply require special accommodations. Why Long Island Schools were lax in this is a question that only they can answer.
By: Patricia Hawke
Posts Tagged ‘Education Students’
Long Island Schools Finally Showing Improvement
December 19th, 2009Long Island Schools Putting Fewer Students in Special Education
November 15th, 2009
Over the last couple of years, Long Island schools have been placing fewer students in Special Education classes. Instead, some students at Long Island schools with special needs have been receiving tutoring to help them keep up with their school work.
Mainstreaming Students in Long Island Schools
On the face of it, mainstreaming special needs students attending Long Island schools into a regular classroom as much as possible makes sense. If the special-needs student can attend classes with his or her peers, there is a cost savings for the board of education. No matter what we want for our children attending Long Island schools, there are only so many dollars available for education.
For too long, children who were “different” were kept away from the mainstream. Students in the regular education stream didn’t have a lot of opportunities to get to know them or interact with them. Special Education students were the object of suspicion and/or ridicule, simply because other students didn’t understand them; all they knew was that these other children were different. Being different was not something to be celebrated at that point.
Any measure that helps students attending Long Island schools learn to be tolerant of others can only be for the good. Humans tend to be suspicious of things (and people) they don’t understand. With time, mainstreaming can help to reinforce the idea that there is no “Us” and “Them” at Long Island schools. All students are in the environment to learn together and to learn from each other.
Long Island Schools Need to Ensure Students Don’t Fall Through the Cracks
It would be most unfortunate if, in the interest of saving a few dollars, students who need to be in a different learning environment to do their best work were denied access to Special Education programs. We shouldn’t be too quick to either segregate students from their peers or to push them into the mainstream learning environment in Long Island schools.
Instead, we need to take the time and allocate the appropriate resources so that a thorough investigation is conducted when a student is having trouble learning at Long Island schools. Only with a proper diagnosis of a difficulty, can a plan be implemented in Long Island schools to address that student’s needs.
Our children are our most valuable resource. When they don’t get the support they need to become effective learners, we are setting them up to fail in life. It would be far better for teachers and administrators at Long Island schools to find out what the students’ needs are and find the resources to meet them, whether in the regular classroom or an alternate one.
By: Patricia Hawke
A Special Education Success Story With ADD and ADHD
October 29th, 2009
The Problem
In our rapidly moving culture, special education students, diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are an ever-increasing challenge for teachers. Having taught in some capacity for nearly 40 years and being a parent of an active little boy, I have studied these conditions with immediate personal interest.
Holding Their Attention?
Early in my work with the attentionally challenged, I observed that if the learning activity were engaging enough, many of these students could hold attention for long periods. Special Education students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD often have the ability to attend for long periods working with computers or video games. I wondered, could the problem lie more in the pace of the learning activity?
Give Them What They Need
Subsequently, I began to provide activities in my classroom that had some of the same qualities of the immediate response achieved in those computerized attention-holders. One of the most successful of these was the excavation of fossils.
The Setup
Fossil excavation was a 6-week class – more of a club, really – in which students excavated a real fossil fish from a soft rock matrix. This time the class was made up of many special education students with various learning challenges, especially ADHD. The outcome of the class was remarkable.
Getting Their Interest and Attention
We started with a sort of guessing game involving fossils hidden in velvet bags and moved quickly into individual excavation of the fossils. Within minutes, my work was done; the students worked independently for the remainder of the two-hour class. My hardest work that day was to enforce clean-up-the students simply didn’t’ t want to stop working.
Tools And Supplies
The only tools needed for this activity were small screw drivers-the sort that are available from any hardware store in a set of increasing sizes beginning with an eye-glass tool . I also provided magnifiers of varying types. The most sought after were the dissecting microscopes, which gave the individual the best view of the fragile fossil. However, much of the work could be easily accomplished using the naked eye or a magnifier in a stand, just to leave the hands free.
And Then There Are the Behavioral Challenges
I was presented with a new challenge about halfway into the second class: a behaviorally disruptive student who had been removed from another class. I did what I could to introduce him to our work and bring him up to speed. His initial work was little more than digging a hole through his rock, paying little attention to the fossil it contained.
Success!
Then a wonderful thing happened. Another boy, a challenging special education student who generally had little academic success, began to teach. You see, this boy was enthralled with digging out the fossil and he was having incredible success. He single-handedly took over and my work was done.
Students Give Rave Reviews, Almost
The final endorsement came at the end of our 6-week class. Throughout the period, I had rarely interrupted their work, but I had shown a couple of videos to give the students some additional detail about fossil preservation and excavation, geologic history and so on. At the last class, I asked the students to verbally evaluate the class. When I asked how I could improve the class, all agreed: Only show the videos if we can continue excavating our fossils during it!
This is a true story of success. In this six-week project middle school children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and receiving special education services enjoyed the same success, if not more than, the other students.
Even the most absorbing tool, the TV, was not high on these students’ list of significant work. As a teacher, I felt I had been given a great gift of learning about how to support these special students. I encourage you to try it!
By: Claudia Mann
