Austin Special Education Programs Get a Makeover (TX)

December 6, 2010

The Austin school district is revamping parts of its special educationprogram after a report, commissioned by Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, foundthat some students appear to be overidentified as having certain special needs,the special education program is undervalued, and students are sometimesineffectively served.

The report, conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools , addressesan issue that has kept the district from meeting federal school improvementstandards for the past two years.

Despite a decrease in the overall percentage of students enrolled in specialeducation, too many students in the district are still taking modified and lessrigorous standardized tests meant for special education students.

District officials said the reforms recommended in the council report are onpar with some of the district’s other big initiatives, including renovatingfacilities and changing instruction for English language learners.

"We know labeling a child is a very serious thing to do," saidJanna Lilly, the district’s special education director. "While it’simportant they’re getting the services they need, we want to ensure it does notresult in lower expectations."

Of the Austin district’s more than 84,000 students at the time of thereport, 8,062 were served by special education, which includes services forstudents with physical impairments, learning disabilities, and emotional andpsychological disorders. On average, about 10.1 percent of public schoolstudents in Texas are enrolled in special education, as are 13.6 percentnationwide, the report said.

The report said that although the district’s overall special educationenrollment followed state and national averages, in some areas, the distri ct’sfigures raised eyebrows. Learning disabilities are the most commonly servedspecial education category, and 44.4 percent of Austin special educationstudents receive those services, compared with 39.9 percent nationwide and 47.6percent in Texas, the report said.

Besides having too many students take modified tests meant for specialeducation students, other concerns in the report include:

• African American students are identified as needing special educationservices more than students of other ethnicities.

• White students are identified as having autism at higher rates, leading toconclusions that they are possibly being overidentified as having autism orstudents of other races are underidentified as having the developmentaldisability.

• The district has distributed its staff in an inefficient and ineffectivemanner that sometimes focuses more on students who are taking tests than onearly interventions.

• There is an apparent lack of widespread appreciation for the value ofinclusive education in the district or recognition of its importance to studentperformance. There’s also an aversion by some principals to accepting studentswith disabilities who might negatively affect state and federal ratings.

In all, the report — which was based on data, documents, interviews andschool visits — cited 18 areas for improvement.

Investing in individuals

Among those highlighted were the disparities in special education enrollmentby race. In Austin, African American students were 3.9 times as likely to beidentified as having emotional or behavior disabilities and 2.24 times aslikely to be identified as having an intellectual disability, according to thestudy.

The district has almost double the percentage of students identified as having autism compared with the nation, which, according to Lilly, can beattributed in part to the district’s reputation for having an exceptionalprogram for those students.

And although Austin’s services for students with autism are to be lauded,researchers said, the ethnic distribution of students identified as autisticdon’t mimic the demographics of the district overall. About 27 percent ofAustin students overall are white, while 58 percent of those identified asautistic are white. Hispanics make up 57 percent of students overall but only20 percent of the autistic population. About 12 percent of students overall areblack; 21 percent of students identified as autistic are black.

"What we’re doing is really beefing up our (identification) efforts,going out doing training culturally and linguistically to make sure that werenot missing anyone," Lilly said. "At the same time, that trainingalso involves not identifying some as in need of services simply because wedon’t understand their backgrounds."

She said the department is also conducting training on racial differencesand having "tough conversations" about any personal bias.

"It really boils down to: Are we identifying the right child for theright reasons? Or is it because … in the case of our overidentification ofAfrican American students, that perhaps we don’t have a complete understandingof the cultural differences?" Lilly said.

As part of the planned reorganization, Lilly said, the special educationdepartment will standardize procedures for identifying students, ensurespeedier interventions for younger students, provide more training for staffersand streamline its administrative structure.

Starting next year, staffing will be set according to individual studentneeds at each campus as opposed to formulas that took into account class sizerather than the intensity of help needed.

The district also required a review of every student receiving services tosee whether he or she could take a more rigorous state test. The district willspend $400,000 more on extra interventions for those students to help thempass. The special education budget currently is about $100 million in federaland local money, Lilly said.

"It’s all about focusing on the needs of individual students," shesaid.

Going forth amid cuts

Though the report did find several areas of concern, it pointed out thatspecial education scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progressexam were higher than all but one of the other large urban school districtsthat took the test.

The study’s author said there was a lot of positive feedback from thecommunity for the district’s program for students with autism as well as forthe Clifton Career Technical School, which helps special education studentswith job skills.

"Austin has had a tremendous amount of success," said Julie WrightHalbert, who worked on the report. "We do studies like this all around thecountry, and I can say we were very impressed overall with their work."

Just as these changes are being made, special education, like other departments,is facing budget cuts.

District administrators — grappling with a projected $30 million to $60million budget gap for the 2011-12 school year — have asked the specialeducation department to cut or reallocate $1 million, about 1 percent of itsoverall budget.

"The big question mark is how the budget is going to impact therecommendations" in the report, Lilly said.

<p& gt;Wright Halbert said the administration has been very responsive and said theCouncil of the Great City Schools — a Washington-based nonprofit coalition of67 of the nation's largest urban public school systems, including Austin's —has been impressed that administrators have already put together numerousresponses to the report.

"They seem to have taken the report very seriously and have a desire tomake changes," she said. The 53-year-old council has worked to helpdistricts with a variety of challenges, including bilingual education, safetyand security, and stimulus planning.

Lilly said she would fight to continue in the direction the reportrecommended, particularly the move toward a staffing model that answersindividual student needs.

"I think it would be immoral, illegal and unethical not to," shesaid. "I know the district is looking for cuts everywhere, but specialeducation is very different. … Our students need whatever is needed tosupport them in accessing their education and accommodating theirdisability."