School Law and Reform

New book on the Shut down learner. SDL not SLD!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Life is great, isn't it. Every day brings new ideas!

So here is Dr. Richard Selznick's book, The Shut-Down Learner--Helping your Academically Discouraged Child. (Shut down learner). This psychiatrist is trying to help kids without labeling them as disabled. So, it's SDL, not SLD! I love it!
It reminds me of my own book, Fixing Special Education--we need to focus on what kids can do, not just what they struggle with, etc. etc. etc. Not just dicing and splicing weaknesses that lead to discouraged learners. It also reminds me of one of my favorite books, Mindset--also the psychology of success, not labels.

Let's see how far SDL goes. We surely need all the new voices we can get for positive approaches.

Could we get into the college of our choice now?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:44:00 +0000

It's been said before and I'll say it again--it's tough being a student today. Getting into college used to have some benchmark certainty. For many elite colleges, there used to be 'Early admission' in January and regular admission in the middle of April. But now, we learn that colleges are hedging their bets and adding more high school students to their wait lists... no YES or NO on the first round for many. It's a tough year out there. (Colleges expanding waiting lists)

And it's been said before, at the end of the day, it's more about what students make of the college experience than which college they attend.

Good luck to all in the class of 2014!

Stop teaching reading in a vacuum!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:53:00 +0000

I always sit up and take notice when E.D. Hirsch sends out an alarm. He's the Core Knowledge guru--students need to learn basic knowledge about the world. Let's call that stuff. It turns out that reading cannot be taught in a vacuum as a series of discrete skills that are supposedly transferable.

It turns out that students who know stuff, can comprehend what they read better. Students who don't, can't comprehend the material before them--even if they can decode and have phonemic awareness. Isn't that plain as day? So obvious? Why has that been so hard to explain to a generation of educators? In math, too, students who don't know number facts (even if they have a calculator) are way behind. They are missing the basic building blocks of knowledge. Stuff. Obvious again.

(E.D. Hirsch on standards).

Too often, special education, as well, focuses on skills in isolation. Decoding, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, etc. With all the focus on skills, too often, these students are not exposed to a rich curriculum and learning stuff. So, E.D. Hirsch's warnings apply to students with disabilities as well. We need to teach stuff as well as skills. One without the other is unsatisfying. And it doesn't work well.

Innovation Schools Act of 2008 in Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 01:28:00 +0000

I was just reading about this! How amazing-- a state law that actually encourages schools to develop programs to improve student outcomes--and to obtain waivers from policies that would get in the way of innovation! Wow. It's about time! Schools that are drowning in paperwork have a reprieve when they design effective programs for student learning.

That is exactly what we need in special education.
(Colorado's Innovation Schools Act)

For example, Procedures Lite, a Massachusetts program, should be expanded to schools nationwide! For information about Procedures Lite, please visit (Special Education Day)

Maybe there is hope. Let's hope.

Money's tight. Now what for special education?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:35:00 +0000

Schools need to cut budgets. State funding is down. We all know that.

Special education is an entitlement program--the only one in our schools.

With tight budgets, what do we do about special education?

Maintain programs? Well, what of other students.

Cut programs? Well, what of the entitlement?

Cut the number of students covered? Easier said than done.

Any ideas?

May 27-- Massachusetts presentation on Fixing!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:58:00 +0000

(Discussion on Fixing Special Education at Accept Collaborative).

Would love to have you join the discussion in Natick, MA.

The theme.....Celebrating what's right; fixing what's not.
Let's build Trust-Based Special Education through Back Door (but legal!) Solutions.

See you on May 27!

NAEP: Whither that elusive gold standard?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:51:00 +0000

As my loyal readers know, I was a member of the NAGB (National Assessment Governing Board) panel of experts about the testing of students with disabilities on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). We worked to tighten the exclusion of too many students and the need for accommodations that maintain the NAEP's validity. HOPEFULLY, the new policy, newly adopted by the NAGB, will solve the challenges pointed out below by Richard Innes. If we can't compare apples to apples, then the NAEP truly loses its shine.

(Kentucky vs California and exclusions).

2009 NAEP scores are in!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:04:00 +0000

It's hard to know what the NAEP scores mean for students with disabilities--since we don't have a handle on the exclusion rates and accommodations policies that differ from town to town and state to state. Hopefully, once NAGB's new and improved (!) policy is implemented these test results will be more consistent and easier to interpret. At the end of the day, we would expect the scores of students with disabilities to be lower than those of their general education peers, due to their disabilities, but I'm not a statistician and can't estimate what the different ranges should be.

Classroom discipline issues caused(???) by bad parenting?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Look what came 'across the pond' from England!....

(Classroom discipline crisis caused by 'middle-class parents buying off their children' says British teachers union).

Their approach is to dock child government benefit of parents who fail to discipline their children and force parents to attend parenting classes.

We have these issues across the pond. As my loyal readers know, I too believe that parents should play an active role in their children's education and that our current laws do not encourage that. (Our current laws simply ask parents to 'advocate' for their children and demand information and file complaints. They do not ask parents to 'parent' their children, get them to bed on time, feed them properly, find them a quiet place to do school work, etc., etc. etc.

The Brits have a proposal. Is this the way to go with it? An interesting read.

Willingham on Obama's education proposals

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:54:00 +0000

(New proposals for NCLB will not fix it)

I always enjoy reading Daniel Willingham--the cognitive scientist from University of Virginia. Loyal readers will see earlier blogs about his work (e.g., about the fact that 'learning styles' may not exist at all!)

It's great to see in print what I've always believed--that is, most teachers are good enough. Some great; some should leave the field, but most are capable of doing the job. Firing teachers may not improve education.

The issue is--what is the job we expect of them? Closing gaps? And who is responsible for getting it done? I don't believe student achievement should be placed on the backs of teachers. It is a shared responsibility--starting with the student him or herself, the parents, the teachers, the principals, the superintendents, the community, etc.

Willingham opines that the new NCLB proposals are long on WHAT we want to achieve (close gaps in challenging schools) but short on HOW we should do that. In my view, expand the responsiblity to where it belongs, starting with the student, the parents, etc... Then, we may really get somewhere --higher learning standards, not a race to the bottom.

National standards impinge on Massachusetts?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:41:00 +0000

Massachusetts has high standards. Massachusetts students do well on NAEP and international tests. Now, comes the proposal for 'voluntary' national standards (voluntary because states don't have to follow them if they are willing to forgo national funds. Good luck with that! By history, states all fall in line sooner or later.) People who have read the proposal are telling us that the national standards are lower than Massachusetts (and Virginia? and other states with high standards?) standards.

Now what? Where will it settle down. Where will the compromises lead? My fear is that the voluntary national standards will settle down in some vague, 'lowest common denominator' middle. Not a good place.

(Will Massachusetts maintain its high standards?). An important story to watch.

Education in top story spot in NY Times!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:55:00 +0000

(redoing education again!)

Fire the Parents, not the Teachers, says Maher

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:35:00 +0000

(Fire the parents, not the teachers)

The good news is that education is on the front burner. People are chiming in. This opinion has a lot going for it. A lot.

I remember Al Shanker discussing in his NY Times column, Where we stand, a related issue... "Imagine saying we should shut down a hospital and fire its staff because not all of its patients became healthy." He concluded by saying that students won't learn if they don't work harder. And they are unlikely to work harder if they hear that all of their teachers will be fired if they don't. How does that make sense? It does not--not in the real world of hard work and working at learning.

Bill Maher is onto something. Unfortunately, our laws expect parents to sit back and watch the school educate their children. The laws tell parents to make demands and complain, but not to 'parent,' doing the hard work of helping their children be better students. There is work to be done. We need to have parents do it. Maybe Bill's will be a wakeup call!

In case you missed it....

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:20:00 +0000

My early March interview with comments it received in Education News.org. is now archived. In case you missed it, the URL is:

(Interview about Fixing Special Education)

Another wake up call for US schools

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:22:00 +0000

Yet another wake up call--testimony before Congress, as it considers reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

(Many countries passing U.S. in education)

What amazes me in this and other news stories that bemoan the state of America’s schools, is silence on the positive role of parents. While the article mentions that our students are 'overentertained and distracted,' and that we should do something about that, again we would be tackling the symptom, not the cause, of our situation.

The laws and policies we have expect nothing from parents, beyond making demands for information from schools, complaining if things go wrong, advocating for their children (against their schools), and (in special ed), filing law suits.. The laws do not expect parents TO PARENT their children. How amazing is that! While our President has used the bully pulpit well, reminding parents to turn off TVs, put children to bed on time, feed them well, help them with schoolwork, etc., our laws and public policies remain silent on this parental role. It’s as if we expect schools to do it all! Well, that hasn’t worked.

Rather than just comparing our nation's schools to those of others (South Korea, Finland, Poland, as the article does), how about comparing our nation's school-family climate to theirs. I believe a pot of gold lies in that comparison. It is time to take it on.

The 2010 UPDATED IEP and 504 TEAM book is here!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Dear friends,

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

The updated 2010 book, IEP and Section 504 Team Meetings... and the Law is now available. For information, please visit my website, (SchoolLawPro) or email me at miriam@schoollawpro.com

May your TEAM meetings ROCK!

New NAEP accommodation and exclusion policy!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:41:00 +0000

At last! Here is is. NAEP's new policy.

(NAEP's NEW accommodation and exclusion policy for students with disabilities and English language learners)

Let's hope it is implemented consistently and leads to valid results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the 'nation's report card.'

As a member of the expert panel for students with disabilities, I am gratified that the work is nearing completion. This new policy will lead to consistent results and is consistent with students' Individualized Education Programs.

Too many students in special education in Pittsburgh

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:35:00 +0000

(Too many students labeled). This article summarizes a recent analysis of the Pittsburgh Public Schools special education programs.

Even as progress and promise in its special education programming are highlighted and acknowledged, the report leaves us with troubling questions about labeling students. The Council of the Great City Schools report can be found at (Great City Schools report on Pittsburgh special education)

The numbers are troubling...
18.2% of all students are labeled for special education.
16.9% of special ed students are labeled as 'emotionally disturbed.'
Of these,black students are three times as likely to be labeled than white students. Recall that old story (2005) in the New York Times, "Special Education Seen as a Trap for Many Minority Students."

According to the report, too many teachers and staff members are still using special education as an escape hatch when students have learning or behavior issues.

Whither true reform and transformation in our special education system?

Rethinking education reform...

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:23:00 +0000

(Joanne Jacobs summarizes reviews of Diane Ravitch's new book).

I just got the book! It's turning out to be a must-read for those of us interested in improving public education for all students.

As a history major and former 'social studies' teacher, I do look forward to reading the historical perspective--and to understanding how one education leader came to change her views on education reform.

Let's celebrate what's right and fix what's wrong!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:53:00 +0000

As you may remember, I was interviewed by EducationNews.org before New Year about my new book, Fixing Special Education--12 Steps to Transform a Broken System.

It's time to celebrate what's right and fix what's wrong.

Well, that interview/commentary became the 'most commented' and 'most popular' for several months! That positive response was awesome! I do believe this discussion gives voice to many folks who have been silent, even as they know the system is broken.

So, today the follow-up interview was published! I hope that in shedding light on our broken system, we will be moved to work together to fix it. Let's celebrate what's right and fix what's wrong! (Second interview)

I'd love to get your comments!

Miriam

Check out today's EducationNews.org!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Fixing Special Education-- check it out in today's Educationnews.org "Commentary." This is the follow-up interview. It focuses on how the book is doing and how it's being used in upcoming programs around the country. As well, some clarifications and next steps. Fun! (Miriam's 2nd interview about Fixing Special Education)

Your thoughts?

Reminds me of song, "Promises, Promises..."

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:59:00 +0000

...stop making promises."

Common sense has always known that promises made far into the future will be painful in the future. So, here is the Boston Globe's report of runaway health care costs in Massachusetts. And we all know it's not just Massachusetts. And in education, we now have stories that once the stimulus funds leave special ed and other programs, many schools will be stuck with promises they made based on those funds which may not be there next year, etc. etc. etc.

(future health care promises)

Where are ocmmonsense answers to stuff we all know?

Diane Ravitch's new book--I can't wait to read it!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:56:00 +0000

Have you seen it yet? Have you read it yet? The Death and Life of the Great American School System-- How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. That subtitle really got me. Here's the link to the Washington Post piece about it. And, the Amazon link to the book. It's on my to-do list for today!

(Diane Ravitch's new book)

(Amazon link for Death and Life of the Great American School System)

The new and improved SpedEx is up and running!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:38:00 +0000

SpedEx-- Massachusetts' new and innovative dispute resolution model is up and running! Congratulations to all who worked tirelessly to reach this day.

SpedEx is designed to resolve disputes between schools and parents after an IEP (Individualized Education Program) has been rejected or a hearing has been requested. It is a voluntary program, whereby the child will be assured a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the Least restrictive environment (LRE) in an expeditious and trust building way. The parents and school district jointly select a consultant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education list to help them determine an appropriate program for the child.

SpedEx is here! How great is that! Let's hope that parents take advantage of this pilot program and that they rebuild trust and work together for the child's education.

For more information, please visit:

(SpedEx--the innovative dispute resolution model)

"The interests of teachers and children are not the same."

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:00:00 +0000

The move is on--as teachers are laid off, it's last hired, first fired. There is movement to change that. The other side? Seniority rules and teachers unions, claiming it's the only objective standard. I'm amazed that this story has gotten so far--in the Wall Street Journal. I was struck by the last line, stating that when it comes to key union contract provisions, like seniority, "the interests of teachers and children are not the same." How sad is that. That says it all, really. Check out this story. It'll be interesting to see if it has legs.
(Seniority rules under pressure)