Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/65746
Beaumont Case carriers "SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS do not interact with or have time to work on specific goals with their students because they spend their time working with general education students, gen education teachers and classroom aides," explains Trina Brown, a speech and language pathologist for the Beaumont Unified School District. Middle school special education Trina Brown worries that students' needs are not met. changing specific job titles to educa- tion specialist, the designation of an advanced credential held by special educators, as a way to "reorganize" special education. This allows place- ment of students with disabilities into general education classrooms without the services, support, training and additional personnel it takes to have successful inclusion, says Begin. Changing a job title in no way agreed to by the parent and docu- mented in the IEP. " justifies cutting services, she added. In this case, changing job titles increases workloads. When districts change a mandated job to "specialized academic instructor, students with special needs no longer applies. Plus, special education teach- ers are assigned general education students who are struggling. The California Department of " the limit of 28 ยป Districts alter IEPs Educators say students with disabili- ties are forced into general education classes because other options have been removed from IEP paperwork. In fact, when IEP team members are asked to check the resources they believe would be best for students, the special day class (SDC) and resource specialist program (RSP) classifica- tions have been removed from forms in many districts. Thus, they cannot choose from a "full continuum" of service as required by law, explains Barbara Schulman, a special educa- tion teacher in Saddleback Valley. CTA research indicates districts Education (CDE) Special Education Division has not eliminated resource specialist programs and specialized classes, which are the best options for many students with disabilities. Con- sidered part of the "full continuum" of services to be provided, the CDE told districts: "Any changes to ser- vices provided to students with IEPs must be determined by the IEP team, are "directing" educators and IEP teams to change a student's IEP. "In some districts, IEPs are being unilaterally altered by administra- tors to place students in a less costly setting, unacceptable and, when identified, should be reported and stopped. Any changes to services must be deter- mined by the IEP team, agreed to by the parent and documented in the " says Schulman. "This is teachers teach a class that groups special education students with struggling general education students and sometimes English learners. Besides teaching this class for half the day, teachers have a "caseload" of 28 special education students. They are called a "case carrier" and seldom interact directly with students. "The effect is that kids are not getting the specific interventions that they need," says Brown, a Beaumont Teachers Association member. "The district has implemented this cookie- cutter program because it's a huge money saver." At the high school level, the district abolished a class designed for students with disabilities and "mainstreamed" them, says Greg Abt, a Beaumont High School teacher for students with mild to moderate disabilities. "The special education teacher takes a support role. It isn't working," says Abt. "Before this happened, our test scores were going up. Once this happened, they started dropping." 12 California Educator / May 2012 Courtesy Photo