EBD Blog

More than half of the New York City (NY, US) students identified as having emotional or behavioral disorders are of African-American descent, according to a story by WNYC’s Beth Fertig. Ms. Fertig discussed this matter with Charlene Hall, the mother of Trae who has been identified as needing special education services, and Beth Harry, a well-known special educator from the University of Miami (FL, US). Here’s a snippet of the report when Ms. Fertig interviewed a principal and a state education agency administrator (SEA) about the issue of disproportionality, special education, and high-stakes testing for graduation:

REPORTER [FERTIG]:Trae is bright and performs at grade level when he’s able to focus. The No Child Left Behind Law requires special education students to take annual tests – just like all other students - to hold schools accountable for their progress. Some kids are given extra time, and low performing kids are measured in other ways. Last year, Trae’s school – which is called P4 - met its goals for math. But it fell short in English, putting it in danger of state intervention. Principal Marci Berger says she is personally frustrated when success is overshadowed by failure.

BERGER: There’s so much that’s good that’s going on and there’s so much that we combat by the mere nature of the children with whom we work. I look at our kids, and to watch them struggle to pass a test to prove what? To me it’s more important that a child learn to function and the child can actually write a paragraph.

REPORTER: [SEA] Deputy Commissioner [Rebecca] Cort says the state is talking with federal officials about allowing more flexibility when assessing kids who function way below their grade level. She’s also taking a second look at graduation targets. New York State originally wanted an average of 80 percent of all special ed students to receive academic diplomas by 2011, but has scaled that goal back to 64 percent. In New York City, the goal is about 45 percent. Cort believes that’s still not too much to ask once schools really address the achievement gap.

CORT: When you actually point out to people and you examine very carefully this disproportionality people are shocked. And they don’t realize that it’s really going on in their school they don’t notice it. So just that first realization is a big part of it. And then you do have to look at what is driving this?

Link to Ms. Fertig’s story in HTML or download an MP3 of it.