Special ed students are making strides

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000 | 11:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- More and more special education students are being mainstreamed into "regular" classrooms and earning standard high school diplomas, although Las Vegas students lag in that area, according to a report released Wednesday.

A record 55.4 percent of special education students nationwide graduated with regular diplomas in the 1997-98 school year, the most recent year available in a U.S. Department of Education study. The number has steadily increased, up from 51.7 percent in the 1993-94 school year.

Education Secretary Richard Riley called that good news, adding, "We have a long way to go. We certainly need to recognize that."

The story is different in the Clark County School District where 45 percent of special education students in 1997-98 earned a regular diploma. That's partly because state law requires all students -- even those with disabilities -- to pass the Nevada Proficiency Exam to earn a diploma.

Clark County special education students who do not pass the exit exam earn an "adjusted" diploma.

That's frustrating for many special education students who overcome obstacles, complete their classwork but can't pass the test, said Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, a special education teacher at Von Tobel Middle School.

That's why a state legislative committee is considering changes, Guinchigliani said, and the 2001 Legislature might consider the issue.

Riley on Wednesday released the Education Department's annual report on special education and stressed that schools have made progress educating children with a wide array of physical, emotional and learning disabilities.

The report release fell on the 25th anniversary of President Gerald Ford's signing of the landmark and sometimes controversial Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known by the more politically correct moniker the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

The law guaranteed a "free appropriate public education" to the nation's disabled students. Riley called that education a "civil right." President Clinton in a separate statement said a commitment to special education was an "economic and moral imperative."

Among the report highlights touted by Riley: a record 46.4 percent of disabled students spent at least 80 percent of their day in regular classrooms.

That's good news, but also troubling, Giunchigliani said.

Teachers, especially new teachers, often are not prepared to deal with more special education students. Disabled students, the teachers and other regular students can suffer, she said.

"You have to look at a balance and make sure the (special education) students are getting the modifications and the time they need," Giunchigliani said, "not just getting put in regular classrooms, left to shrivel up and fail."

The glowing facts and statistics Riley highlighted are set against a backdrop of stark special education challenges facing schools nationwide. The top two problems often are a lack of money to pay for programs and a staggering lack of skilled, licensed teachers.

The federal government in 1975 pledged to pay up to 40 percent of special education costs. But studies show the feds chip in only about 10 to 15 percent.

Nevada paid $16.4 million and the federal government $6.4 million of Clark County's $211 million special education budget in the 1998-99 school year, said Charlene Green, assistant superintendent for special education. The district had to scrape out the difference from its general fund.

"Funding is a large gap," Green said. "We could do a whole lot more with funding."

But the teacher issue is just as critical, Green said.

Clark County has about 80 unfilled positions in special education, many in highly specialized areas such as teaching blind and deaf students, Green said.

The fast-growing district has one of the most aggressive teacher-recruiting programs in the nation, designed to fill roughly 1,500 positions a year. But special education teachers are in short supply every year, in part because the work is demanding and teachers often suffer early burnout.

"We beat the bushes constantly for qualified teachers," Green said. "All the districts are competing for the same pool of teachers."