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Tuesday Churn: Demographic update
Written by EdNews staff on Feb 20th, 2012. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
Take a look at the recent numbers. re: statistics. Nobody seems to care that Colorado appears to be systematically underserving special needs kids. The national average is 13%. Colorado is now at 9.7% per the new numbers you report. Why? I believe it is because Colorado works very hard to deny special ed services to students who need them so that they can keep their costs down. Colorado is 51st in spending on special ed. Shameful for sure. Where is the reporting on this fact?
The declining number of students being labeled with an IEP is not due to a spending deficit. What high quality schools are making clear in our great state is that strong instruction delivered by empowered teachers yields excellent results for all students. The highest performing schools in our state are able to meet students at just-right moments due to a culture of accountability, testing, data, and adjustment. Thus, schools of quality in our state are not just delivering Individualized Education Plans to students who are protected under IDEA, but they are making students college-ready by ensuring that the individual needs of all children are being met. This is happening across the state starting in the earliest years. As educators, innovators, activists, and those concerned with student success in our state understand, students are often disproportionately labeled with a disability because they fall behind. Our challenge must not be to remediate or provided plans to students once they have failed, but we must continue to strive to lower the number of students who are labeled with a disability by being pro-active and flexible to meet the needs of all students before they are left behind.