With special education, keep believing in students
Experts believe that the vast majority of students with disabilities — more than 80 percent — can meet the same academic standards as other students when they have the right support. But right now, only 8 percent of the 6.6 million students with disabilities in U.S. public schools are prepared to read and do math on grade level by eighth grade.
So how do we change that? This is what I’ve learned is most important: Believe in students. Don’t stop believing and don’t give up.
It may be simple, but it’s also incredibly hard to put in practice each and every day.
At the elementary school I led in South San Jose, 39 percent of students with disabilities were on grade level in math last school year. I recently learned that these results put us in the top 10 percent of all schools in California, particularly notable since most of our students are from low-income families.
Here’s what getting there looks like. In 2013, I was the assistant principal of a new school. The first week, people were at my door about a kindergartner (whom I’ll call Daniel for his privacy) who was acting up. He wouldn’t stay on task with the other students or stay in his seat, would throw tantrums and cry, threaten to run out of class and throw things.
When your teachers come to you frustrated, it can seem easiest or even best to pull a student out of class or put him in a separate setting entirely.
But, together that day, we chose differently because we believed that Daniel could achieve grade-level standards. We got straight to work and collaborated — the school and family. If they found out something worked well at home, we’d bring
that into school and vice versa.
It’s important that everyone is on the same page, including the student. We found that Daniel was very literal. If you used sayings or metaphors, you’d lose him. We started using more clear “if-then” statements with goals and consequences. We let Daniel know where he was in relation to his goals and we were clear when his behavior — screaming and yelling — was inhibiting him from meeting them.
The school system is set up to make all students adapt to one way of doing things, but you also need to accommodate students. Daniel needed to move around during the lesson. So that he wouldn’t disrupt the other students, we gave him six squares of the floor as a place to pace and jump if he needed to.
It took two years for Daniel to be able to clearly express what he needed to be successful and heard. By fourth grade, he tested out of occupational therapy, speech therapy and specialized academic instruction. He was still struggling in math, but reading at grade level. Equally important, he had the support of his classmates, who knew him well, included him and were there for him because they had seen the adults on our campus model this unconditional love for years.
There is no single and perfect way to work with every student. But the good news is that there are proven practices based on research and the experience of educators. Recently, the nonprofit where I now work, Innovate Public Schools, published “An Advocate’s Guide to Special Education,” which highlights these practices.
I know they work because I’ve seen it firsthand. Students thrive when you: believe in them, include them, catch them when they fall, meet them where they are and challenge them, and involve them and their families in their education. But you have to stick with them. Don’t stop believing.