I’ve never been especially quick at figuring out the punch line of a joke. I’ve got that lag factor going. I have to put all the pieces together before I understand its subtlety. The same can be said for school reform. I’ve been reading about initiatives to change school performance. NCLB, Vouchers, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); I’ve tried to understand each of these individually. Now I see that they can’t be looked upon separately. Each fit together into a much larger picture.

They are all interrelated because in the list of factors contributing to the failure of educational initiatives, teachers are often seen as viable scapegoats. Ever since I became a teacher in the public schools it’s been pointed out by administration that I must take responsibility for not doing enough when a child fails to achieve. I’ve never been able to take this laying down. I must go on record by stating I’m up against a myriad of factors that contribute to unsuccessful students.

When I point out the obstacles, I’m told not to make excuses; that I’m not trying hard enough to meet the individual needs of all students. It’s been suggested my curriculum is too hard; my class isn’t interesting enough; I need to take into account each home environment; I should be more aware of the students’ learning styles, and most recently; I expect the kids to read too much, me teaching a literacy class (how silly of me, their inability to focus and lack of discipline wouldn’t allow sustained reading). I’m to figure out different ways to assess student progress so that they all succeed. D’s and F’s mean I’ve failed my students. No wonder there’s grade inflation and ineffectual student graduates.

One of the problems that I face is having a variety of "special needs” students in my classroom without a special education teacher helping me accommodate neither my lessons to exceptional needs nor an aid to help deal with misappropriate behavior, or the need for individualized attention. This was not how PL 94-142 was intended. In GOP Pushes School Choice & Special Ed by Ben Feller, he says, "The [amendment to 2003 IDEA}bill renews a plan to direct the federal government to fulfill a promise it set in 1975 - paying 40 percent of the average cost of educating children with disabilities. The federal government now pays less than 20 percent of special education costs, putting pressure on local districts to pick up the difference.”

It would surprise no one if I said that my classroom is not benefiting from any federal or local dollars earmarked for special education. It is arguable that the money available for special education is sufficient but it is being squandered by a behemoth administration and the teachers union before it ever reaches the classroom teachers or our students.

As part of their extra help for children with disabilities, Senate Republican leaders are proposing legislation that would expand school vouchers. I keep wondering what a teacher at a school with a voucher would do differently than me. It is my understanding that the money each school has available is tied to each student located in the district. A voucher would give this money to the parents to spend at another school that they believed would offer a better educational opportunity for their child. Introducing some competition for students might improve productivity because some schools misuse their money the same way that some abusive welfare recipients misuse entitlements.

This doesn’t take the onus of blame off of the teachers in the public schools that are not given the tools to reach the child in the first place. Schools may not renew the contracts of non tenured, yet potentially good teachers because parents choose to remove their children and subsequent funding or the school receives a bad report card. In *IDEA VOUCHERS, Beverley H. Johns, a Learning and Behavior Consultant shares, "The more we diminish the Individual Educational Plan, or IEP, the more attractive special education vouchers will be to parents…”

In *A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families, are enlightening findings, some of which I’ve included here.

• The current system often places process above results, and bureaucratic compliance above student achievement, excellence, and outcomes.
• A culture of compliance has often developed from the pressures of litigation, diverting much energy from the public schools' first mission: educating every child.
• Many of the current methods of identifying children with disabilities lack validity. Thousands of children are misidentified, while many others are not identified early enough or at all.
• Children with disabilities require highly qualified teachers.
• The focus on compliance and bureaucratic imperatives in the current system, instead of academic achievement and social outcomes, fails too many children with disabilities. Too few students with disabilities successfully graduate from high school or transition to full employment and postsecondary opportunities.

By choosing the school their child attends, a parent is taking the ultimate responsibility for his/her child’s education. However, I’m still left with these questions. Will the administrators of voucher schools finally address the problems that hinder our public schools? Or will they continue to blame the teachers? If a parent doesn’t reinforce the importance of education in the home, can the student be ineligible for a voucher funded school? Or will they continue to blame the teachers? Does the ultimate failure to learn ever lay with the family or the administration of our schools? Or will they continue to blame the teachers? NCLB has left the door open to blame the teachers. I guess we’ll find out. But if I was a betting woman, I’d wager they’ll continue to blame the teachers.

http://www.cec.sped.org/pipermail/cec-ra/2003-February/000053.html
http://www.ctpta.org/legislative/idea.htm

Nancy Salvato is a middle school teacher in Illinois and an independent contractor for Prism Educational Consulting. She is the Educational Liaison to IL Sen. Ray Soden and she works with national and local organizations furthering the cause of Civic Education. She is a columnist for American Daily, The Common Voice, GOP-USA, OpinionEditorials and The New Media Journal.us. Her writing has been recognized by the US Secretary of Education. She has been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Dispatch, Iconoclast, Free Republic Network & Townhall.com., as well as other nationally and internationally published media outlets.