Special Ed Needs - NCLB

There was an interesting article in yesterday's Muncie Star Press: States not meeting special-ed conditions.

Washington: "Four-fifths of the states are falling short of federal requirements for educating students with disabilities, the Education Department says.
The states got their first-ever federal report cards this week judging them on how well they are implementing the nation's main special education law.
The state-by-state results were posted on the Education Department's Web site Wednesday.
The requirements are outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as the law is called. The largest part of the act is a $10.5 billion program providing students aged 3 to 21 with specialized programs to fit their educational needs.
Only nine states were found to be fully meeting the requirements of that part of the program. Those states are: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming.
The rest of the states were labeled as "needs assistance" or, worse, "needs intervention."
If they don't improve within a few years, they could face sanctions such as the loss of federal aid."

Although the article did not specifically address NCLB, I think that the study results indicate that this is one of the risk areas related to assessments and school status. Special needs students appear to be under-served in meeting their learning needs. Perhaps the NCLB data confirms the results of this special ed needs study.

This is one area where radical change is needed, not just a continuous improvement approach from the current baseline.

Recent newspaper articles have indicated a significant rise in the rate of autism diagnosis in children. How will our school systems integrate the needs of these students? Or will they be "left behind"?