November 2018 - Special Educator e-Journal
Table of Contents
- Special Education Legal Alert. By Perry A. Zirkel
- Laws and Policies of Independent Living for Individuals with Disabilities in the United States. By Sarah Al-Sharif
- Book Review: Leading in a Culture of Change. By Adianez Alfonso
- Intrinsic Motivation: Motivating Gifted Students in the Classroom. By Qamrah Alsubaie
- Book Review: Leadership is an Art. By Melissa Smiley
- The Impact of Full Inclusion on Students with Disabilities. By Sarah Gomez
- Teacher Preparation for Instruction of Exceptional Student Education Students in the General Education Classroom. By Katherine J. Ramirez
- Immigrant Parents Advocating in Special Education: A Literature Review. By Amairany Paniagua
- Book Review: How Autism is Reshaping Special Education. By Stephanie Zacharias
- Buzz from the Hub
- Latest Job Postings Posted on NASET
- Acknowledgments
- Download a PDF or XPS Version of This Issue
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Special Education Legal Alert
By Perry A. Zirkel
© October 2018
This month’s alert is an update of the legal alert for July 2018, which provided the state-by-state percentages of so-called “504-only” students as of 2015–16, which is the latest available data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The first is a summary of the district-level rates, and the second is a summary of the school level rates. The full analyses are available at perryzirkel.com, where you can also sign up for automatic e-mailing of the future alerts under “Monthly Legal Updates.”
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Laws and Policies of Independent Living for
Individuals with Disabilities in the United States
By Sarah Al-Sharif
Abstract
Independent living has been defined to mean support for daily independence for individuals with various types of disabilities. Gaining absolute autonomy could be challenging but creating necessary aid to make the disabled as independent as possible is considered a significant intervention towards independent living. The concept of independent living has garnered various interpretations from different people and organizations. Though the descriptions present the same ideas and concepts, independent living could be defined as an initiative aimed to typically provide individuals with disabilities with the opportunities to live their lives like everyone else in society.
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Book Review: Leading in a Culture of Change
By Adianez Alfonso
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 134 pp., $13.60
Abstract
“Change is a leaders friend, but it has a split personality”. Michael Fullan is known world wide for managing change by evaluating change projects through trainings and consultations. His purpose for writing “Leading in a Culture of Change” was to develop five key components that leaders can use to improve their leadership by adapting to changes within the work environment. He developed the “Framework for Leadership”, designed to assist leaders to identify moral purpose, understanding change, creating relationships, knowledge building and coherence making. Traits such as enthusiasm, energy, and hope are included in the framework. Fullan argues that there are is constant change, which leads to determining the effectiveness of a leader based on their contributions and commitment towards change, organization, and their team.
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Intrinsic Motivation: Motivating Gifted Students in the Classroom
By Qamrah Alsubaie
Intrinsic motivation in learning is important for academic success (Froiland, Oros, Smith, & Hirchert, 2012). Generally, intrinsic motivation has been described as a desire within oneself that will lead to improvement in academic performance (Clinkenbeard, 2012). To state simply, intrinsic motivation is inside energy that pushes learners to do something that come from their desire without any outside impact that promotes or punishes them. When students have a goal to achieve, they may develop interest within them not only to follow through activities and tasks, but also to perform the activities and tasks successfully (Afzan, Ali, Khan, Hamid, 2010). This is also true with students who are gifted. Gifted students have the ability to “demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains (e.g., mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, and sports)” (National Association for Gifted Children, 2005). However, gifted students are only intrinsically motivated when the tasks given to them matches the challenge level of the task (Clinkenbeard, 2012). Additionally, for gifted students, intrinsic motivation to learn involve engaging in learning opportunities because they are pleasurable, exciting, and relevant to fulfill their learning goals. Such activities will encourage gifted students to be task committed (Renzuli, 1986), which in turn will enhance students’ abilities and success in the classroom. To enhance gifted students’ academic performance, it is important for teachers to know that intrinsic motivation impacts positive learning behavior, critical thinking, and perseverance (Froiland, Oros, Smith, & Hirchert, 2012; Point, 2003; Poonam, 1997).
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Book Review: Leadership is an Art
By Melissa Smiley
Leadership is an Art by Max De Pree was written in 1989 and first printed by Michigan State University Press. It has since been translated into many languages and sold over 800,000 copies. The book is 147 pages long and currently sells for $16.95.
Max De Pree wrote “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.” Becoming a leader takes time. Becoming an inspiring leader takes heart. Connecting with people in a way that is both institutional and emotional and then also connecting with the world is an art, as is leadership.
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The Impact of Full Inclusion on Students with Disabilities
By Sarah Gomez
Abstract
This review describes Inclusion as used in Exceptional student Education today as well as its implications on students with disabilities, their typically developing peers, educators, and other professionals in the field. The proposed research will be used to investigate the effect Inclusion has on student success, specifically in the core subjects of reading/language arts and mathematics, in students with specific learning disabilities. Specific learning disabilities is one of the most prevalent disability categories, encompassing 39.2 percent of students ages 6 through 21 serviced under IDEA, Part B in 2014 (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 2016 p. 37). There is controversy today to see how effective full inclusion truly is for students with disabilities and analyze how much academic content they gather in the general education setting. These professionals collaborate to provide all learners access to the general curriculum and provide accommodations when mandated on an Individual Education Plan.
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Teacher Preparation for Instruction of Exceptional Student Education Students in the General Education Classroom
By Katherine J. Ramirez
Abstract
It was found that general education teachers do not feel prepared to meet the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) needs of special education students in an inclusive classroom (Pit-ten, Markova, Krischler, & Krolak-Schwerdt, 2018). Four peer reviewed research articles were found through the ERIC search engine to explore the cause of teachers feeling unprepared for an inclusive classroom. Through research, it was found that teachers’ feelings were a result of a lack of preparation, communication, and collaboration. Research found that it is imperative that general education teachers feel confident in regards to educating special education students because they are with the students a majority of the school day and are responsible for their core education (Pit-ten, Markova, Krischler, & Krolak-Schwerdt, 2018). The attitudes of the teachers are linked to how prepared they feel and the students’ success in the classroom. Future work may be researched to further understand ways to make general education teachers feel more confident to teach inclusive classrooms (LeDoux, Graves, & Burt, 2012).
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Immigrant Parents Advocating in Special Education: A Literature Review
By Amairany Paniagua
Abstract
The literature review will discuss the findings of four peer-reviewed articles on the primary reasons why immigrant parents are less likely to advocate for their children with special needs. Moreover, they also provide suggestions on ways to increase the advocacy of immigrant parents in their child's education. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) students who have a disability that interferes with their education have the right to free and appropriate education (FAPE). At the same time, IDEA also allows parents to have a voice in their child's education. However, immigrant students with disabilities are less likely to receive the appropriate services needed due to the muted voices that their parents have. These muted voices come from the marginalization that parents feel at schools; fear of the school system; lack of communication with school personnel; and lack of information in their native language or at their educational.
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Book Review: How Autism is Reshaping Special Education
By Stephanie Zacharias
“The goal is about how to have students most effectively learn what they need to learn. We can unbundle, unshackle, but more importantly, provide the best experience for each student” (Michael Moe, 6). These are the beliefs of the authors Mark K. Claypool and John M. McLaughlin who are both experts in the field of special education. Claypool founded ChanceLight, which is a school that provides services for education, behavioral health, and therapy. McLaughlin attended the Peabody school of Education at Vanderbilt and is a professor at ChanceLight. He is the author of Alternative Education’s Impact on Office Disciplinary Referrals. A comprehensive, well-documented analysis of the current status of disability treatments is laid out.
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Buzz from the Hub
All articles below can be accessed through logging in to NASET:
- 1…2…3… CPIR Resources to Take Forward
- 4…Co-Creation with Parent Center Staff
- 5…Collaborations with TA&D Colleagues and Others
- Ending Reflections
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Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET
*Special Education Instructor (K-12) - Compass Charter Schools is one of California’s leading WASC-accredited virtual charter schools of choice. Families from across the state choose us for the 21st century online and home study learning options provided through our cutting-edge curriculum. Success in balancing the development of the whole child is central to our mission and to leading and serving the parents and scholars of California. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher - Chicago, IL - The Invo-Progressus Team has incredible opportunities for Special Education Teachers…or, as we like to call them, Superheroes. We are currently seeking full-time Special Education Teachers in Chicago, IL to provide services in a K-12 school program. For more information - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - Philadelphia, PA - The Invo-Progressus Team has incredible opportunities for Special Education Teachers…or, as we like to call them, Superheroes. If you use your super powers to help ensure that children have access to the best education possible in the least restrictive environment, we would love for you to join the Invo-Progressus team! To learn more - Click here
*SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER - Mountainside, NJ - The Arc Kohler School, Mountainside NJ is a leading collaborative private special education school serving student’s preschool age through high school. The Arc Kohler School is seeking a Special Education Teacher to work full-time with their unique population. Full-time, 8:30 A to 3:00 P. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - Pathways in Education (PIE) is a year round Public Non-Profit Charter School who works alongside their students to design individualized learning plans. We work to effectively meet their unique academic, social-emotional, and scheduling needs through a blended teaching model. The primary responsibility for this position is to provide specialized academic instruction to individual and small groups of students, reinforcing language and reading concepts. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - The primary responsibility of the SPED teacher is to provide instruction and other related services to Special Education students. The SPED Teacher will also facilitate diagnostic assessment including administration, scoring and interpretation. SPED teachers will review and revise IEP’s as needed. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher- Chicago - Jewish Child & Family Services (JCFS) provides vital, individualized, results-driven, therapeutic and supportive services for thousands of children, adults and families of all backgrounds each year. JCFS is currently seeking a Special Education Teacher to work with individuals and small groups of children (K - 12) with emotional and behavior disorders in a therapeutic special education classroom. The Therapeutic Day School is located in West Rogers Park, Chicago, IL. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher- West Chester, PA - The Devereux Pennsylvania Children’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Services (CIDDS) center serves children, adolescents and young adults – from birth to age 21 – with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and behavioral and emotional disorders.To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - Rivermont Schools are now hiring special education teachers at multiple locations throughout Virginia. Sign on bonus of $2,000 and relocation assistance of $5,000 are available for those who qualify. To learn more - Click here
Acknowledgements
Portions of this or previous month’s NASET’s Special Educator e-Journal were excerpted from:
- Center for Parent Information and Resources
- Committee on Education and the Workforce
- FirstGov.gov-The Official U.S. Government Web Portal
- Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals (JAASEP)
- National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
- National Institute of Health
- National Organization on Disability
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Education-The Achiever
- U.S. Department of Education-The Education Innovator
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- U.S. Department of Labor
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- U.S. Office of Special Education
The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) thanks all of the above for the information provided for this or prior editions of the Special Educator e-Journal