I wonder if Arne Duncan is trying to end the category of special education?

[madfloridian]

I wonder if he and the other "reformers" think that if they demand that special education students perform on the same level as those who are not....I wonder if he thinks the issue of individual capabilities will go away like magic?

Mark Naison wrote about a meeting of a group of BATs (BadAss Teachers)...don't laugh there are tens of thousands of them already...with some of the people in the Education Department. Very angry BATs.

Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!

He says that the group of reps from the Ed Dept were surprised at their outspokenness. I said they had not been listening. They haven't a clue. Arne Duncan was not expected at the meeting.

Right in the middle of both of these conversations, Arne Duncan walked in and introduced himself! Needless to say, we were surprised because we were told he would NOT be at the meeting. Especially since he entered, along with one of his top aides, just as things were starting to get heated and real disagreements were emerging.

In response to his first comment, Marla Kilfoyle started speaking about her concerns about Department from her standpoint of the parent of a special needs student as well as a teacher. She said it appeared that Department policies were forcing school districts to disregard individual student IEP’s and exposing special needs students to inappropriate and abusive levels of testing.

Secretary Duncan deflected her remarks by saying that the Department was concerned that too many children of color were being inappropriately diagnosed as being Special Needs children and that once they were put in that category they were permanently marginalized. He then said “We want to make sure that all student are exposed to a rigorous curriculum.”

.....Secretary Duncan was someone taken aback by my comments. He said “ we might disagree about the language, but what I want is for all students to be able to take advanced placement courses or be exposed to an IB (International Baccalaureat) curriculum.

Interesting, since IB is another of the "non-profit" companies making a profit off public education.

At this point, Larry Proffitt interrupted the Secretary and said that in Tennessee, Special Needs students were being abused and humiliated by abusive and inappropriate testing and that their teachers knew this, and were afraid to speak out.

Arne Duncan then left the room.

Here's the sad part. At least it's the sad part for those of us teachers who have dealt with this issue many times over. Children are different. They learn differently, they have different capabilities. Many simply can NOT handle advanced courses. Some I have taught have enough heartache learning to read and handle life skills.

Arne has decided that money going to special education should now be tied to the scores of the special education students.

Federal special ed funding should not be based on student test scores

National Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants to tie test scores for special-education students to the amount of money a state receives from the federal government for reimbursement of special-education services. States that send back high test scores for special-education students will get more money; those with lower scores will get less or even no money.

Surely this will improve student learning, right?

Clearly, No Child Left Behind’s emphasis on tying student test scores to federal money was a major success! Cloning NCLB tools for special-education students sounds like a real winner.

Secretary Duncan argued, “We know that when students with disabilities are held to high expectations and have access to a robust curriculum, they excel.”

If only teachers knew this was the magical brew to student success! Obviously teachers have never held special-education students to a robust curriculum and high expectations, right?

Arne has magical thinking about students. Wouldn't it be nice if it were all so simple? He thinks he can declare that such students with special needs will take IB courses, pass a tough test....and they will all be fixed.

Some very true comments from the Tucson Weekly.

Schools, Society And Snake Oil Salesmen

Remember George Bush's line about "the soft bigotry of low expectations"? It's a beautiful phrase with at least a kernel of truth to it, but its main purpose was to bludgeon teachers and administrators who work with low income students, saying to them, "You're all a bunch of bigots who think your students are too stupid to do well in school because they're black or brown or poor! Their low test scores are your fault, because you're lousy educators who refuse to have high expectations for your students."

The leaders of the education reform/privatization movement are accomplished snake oil salesmen. Like the con men of old who used to stand on the back of wagons pitching their wares, these purveyors of educational snake oil begin by rolling out their gruesome descriptions of the aches, pains and mortal illnesses their audience is afflicted with. The only difference is, their pitch is about educational, not physical ailments.They tell horror stories about the mortal danger our country is facing due to our "failing schools" which are sapping our children of their educational potential and turning us into a second rate economic power, soon to be overwhelmed by international competition. When their audience has been sufficiently beaten down, when they've lost all hope that our system of public schooling can ever succeed, when they're ready to grasp at any solution offered up with sufficient evangelical zeal, the con men pull a bottle of magic potion off the back of the wagon and wave it in the air, guaranteeing it will cure all our educational ills.