EBD Blog

The Aspen Institute has a deal with the US government (read $$ contract) to assemble people’s comments about the US “No Child Left Behind” law and its implementation. Go there and tell ‘em what you think! Please. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the law or its implementation, write to ‘em. Give ‘em data that they have to analyze. For serious.

Link for NCLB comments.

Over on Mentor Matters, Mrs. Ris refers to a post on Education Wonk about US Secretary of Education M. Spellings’ call for teachers to “get serious” about education. The original content to which these blogs refer is Sec. Spellings’ editorial in a special issue of Newsweek in which she calls for educational reform, especially at the secondary level.

Although there’s a grain or two of truth in Sec. Spellings’ editorial (e.g., the decline in the US relative US position in graduation rates; the extensive emphasis on the social aspects of college), the argument is open to some riposts, one of which Mrs. Ris makes. Mrs. Ris argues that teachers have been serious about education. They may be mistaken about what they do, but virtually all teachers have their hearts in the right place. They want their kids to have good outcomes. In her analysis, Mrs. Ris replies to Sec. Spellings’ call to get serious thus:

If she thinks I was not serious about teaching/ learning in the past, she just doesn’t get teachers. I’ve met only a handful of teachers in 20 years who were not serious about their teaching. Being SERIOUS is not the problem. It’s about being effective, about knowing (not guessing) what works and what doesn’t, and getting the support to put all of it into place.

Mrs. Ris is right about the importance of effectiveness, and it’s great to have her company on this matter here on this blog and over on Teach Effectively. Teachers have been serious. Mrs. Ris is right that we educators need to be serious about focusing on outcomes for kids as the foremost metric for judging educational policies, methods, and practices. (To be fair, in her editorial Sec. Spellings refers to the need for using data to make decisions about secondary and higher educatioon decisions, a point with which I bet Mrs. Ris agrees.) We all need to be serious about predicating our efforts on evidence that directly examines outcomes using research methods that meet standards for rigor. And we educators need to be serious about implementing faithfully those policies, methods, and practices that have the strongest evidential support.

Link to Mrs. Ris’ post. Link to the US Department of Education press release about Sec. Spellings’ editorial. I didn’t find the actual post Education Wonk about this editorial.

This is a copy of a letter I just sent to my U.S. Representative about full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

February 11, 2006

The Honorable Virgil H. Goode Jr.
House of Representatives
1520 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4605

Re: Please Encourage the House Budget Committee to Provide Full Funding for IDEA

Dear Representative Goode:

As president of the Division for Learning Disabilities, the largest membership organization of educators concerned with Learning Disabilities, and as your constituent, I strongly encourage you to co-sign by 13 February a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Nussle and Ranking Member Spratt supporting provision of full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in fiscal year 2007. IDEA is essential for the millions of children (and their families) who need special education services, and the federal government has not lived up even to half of its responsibility to provide funding of this important law.

On Tuesday, 14 February 2006, Congressman Charles Bass will testify before the House Budget Committee on the need for Congress to honor its promise to fund IDEA fully. At that time, Congressman Bass will present the committee with a letter co-signed by his House colleagues who support fully funding IDEA. I ask that you sign that letter and show your support for the children with disabilities who are served by IDEA, but often do not have the supports and services they need due to lack of funding. The deadline for signing the letter is close of business Monday 13 February.

Ever since the enactment of IDEA’s predecessor, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), the US federal government has pledged to provide 40 percent of each state’s “excess cost” for educating children with disabilities. Although the law itself continues to work in other ways, the intended financial partnership among the federal, state, and local entities has faltered, because Congress has never lived up fully to its responsibilities.

In fact, funding for IDEA has decreased from 18.6 percent to 17.8 percent for fiscal year 2006. The President’s fiscal year 2007 request takes a step further backward, providing IDEA funding at just 17 percent! As a result, local communities and states have been forced to pay a higher proportion of the special education costs. Ultimately, however, children and families are the ones who are paying the price.

Please join Congressman Bass and support efforts to secure full funding for IDEA in fiscal year 2007. Please sign on Monday. Please issue a public statement endorsing the Bass letter.

Thank you for your consideration of my request that you sign the Bass letter on full funding for IDEA. I look forward to your response to my request.

Sincerely,
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., President Division for Learning Disabilities

Write your own letter! The Council for Exceptional Children has a site you can use and suggested language.

Although there are a couple of typos in it, the following announcement could be of interest to one or two of EBD Blog’s three readers.

Wanna Fight?!

The Department of Education would rather you not. So in the 2004 re-authorization of IDEA they strengthened the role of mediation. Were not born, however, knowing how to participate in effective mediation. We have to learn. The Family Center on Technology and Disability would like to make it easy for you. Throughout the month of February, when thoughts turn to our partnerships in life, were having a month-long discussion of mediation. What is it, exactly? Who does it and how do they do it? How can we be effective participants? How do we know if its worked? Our discussion of these and other questions about mediation is led by three knowledgeable experts Jan Serak, Nissan Bar-Lev and Jeanne Bowman. The discussion is free and you participate from the comfort of your keyboard. Please join us at: http://www.fctd.info/webboard/index.php .

And while youre at our website, check out the AT success story of Shelby Nurse, an effective advocate for her own use of AT and for that of others. At 14 years old, Shelby travels her state of Florida and the country, addressing legislatures, conferences and other audiences on the need for universal access to assistive technology. Read about Shelby at: http://www.fctd.info/feature.php?id=30 .

* * *
Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD)
1825 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 700S
Washington, DC 20009

email | fctd@aed.org
web | www.fctd.info

Today the US Food and Drug Administration conducts hearings about research on pharmacologic treatments for Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, according to Joanne Silburner, reporting for National Public Radio. The hearings are more specifically about safety and follow on Canadian decisions showing risk with such drugs, especially Adderall.

A year ago today, Health Canada suspended sales of Adderall. After further review, Health Canada allowed sales of it again in August of 2005. The FDA’s Durg Saftey and Risk Management Advisory Committee will convene in Gaithersburg, MD (US), to gather evidence about how to design studies to assess risks of medical management of ADHD. Here’s a snip from the agenda:

Cases of sudden death and serious adverse events including hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke have been reported to the agency in association with therapeutic doses of drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in both pediatric and adult populations. The few controlled clinical studies of longer term drug treatment of ADHD provided little information on cardiovascular risks.

On February 9, 2006, the committee will be asked to discuss approaches that could be used to study whether these products increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Link to Ms. Silburner’s story (available after 10 AM EST 9 February). Link to Health Canada’s news release about the resumption of sales of Adderall. Link to the FDA statement about Adderall after Canada Health suspended sale of it. Link to the FDA committee’s page describing the agenda and providing links to additional information about the issue.

Sometimes special schools are very helpful for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, according to a story by Molly Walsh iin the Burlington (VT; US) Free Press. Ms. Walsh leads with a story about Julie Benay, an associate principal in a public school, enrolling a boy in Project Soar, a private school for children whose behavior makes it impossible to teach them in public school settings.

It was a sad moment for Benay, who believes that Vermont public schools should serve all children.

“I felt defeated,” she recalled. “I felt like I hadn’t done enough for him.”

The tears Benay shed over that child have dried. His behavior improved dramatically after a publicly funded stint at Project Soar, and he was able to return to Swanton Elementary School, where Benay is associate principal. Although she remains deeply concerned about what she views as an increase in students with serious emotional and behavioral problems, the chapter in the kindergartner’s life ended well partly because of Soar, she said.

Ms. Walsh draws heavily on people’s opinions about and explanations of various schooling alternatives and the causes of EBD. She goes on to explain how expensive Project Soar placements are—the kind of costs that allow school board members to grab headlines by decrying the cost of educating students with disabilities— but also how they provide needed services. The story also includes statistics for Vermont as well other topics of local interest.

Link to Ms. Walsh’s article.

In an unusually thorough and balanced treatment, Lidia Wasowicz (Senior Science Writer, United Press International) provides an analysis of the use of pharmacotherapy with children who have Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. It’s worth reading.

Improved understanding and methods of care have spelled untold relief for youngsters who previously would have been dismissed as incorrigible or inept and left behind to failure. Yet, the degree of attention focused on deficits in attention has even some experts squirming in their professional seats.

Link to Ms. Wosowicz’s article.