Student placements

Hi everyone,

I work in an urban district that houses six elementary schools and one high school in South Jersey. Our district is small compared to others in our area. We may service approximately thirty-five hundred students. I have worked in this district for the last twenty-two years. I was a special education teacher for cognitive impaired students for over thirteen years. The grade levels were from second to fifth graders. I am still in the field of special educaiton. I am currently a learning disabilites teacher consultant at the elementary level. I am responsible for assessing students to determine their achievement levels in reading, mathematics, oral language and written language. My job is to report to Child Study Teammembers on the functioning and instructional levels of students I assess. The team can consist of a special or regular educaiton teacher, psychologist, social worker, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist.

The district currently has approximately eleven percent of its student population classified. The state is currently challenging our district to declassify students as needed and those we classify should go into inclusive classroom settings if at all possible. At this time I am having an issues with how we place students into inclusive classroom settings. In our district we have two teachers in the inclusive classroom settings. The number of special education students within a inclusive classroom is usually eight or less students. However, there is no limit to how many regular education students can be in the classroom. In our district the inclusive classroom may have twenty students; some may be even smaller. Here is the major problem. We are putting special education students in inclusive setting who are reading two or more years below grade level. For example, if you are teaching third grade you may get a student who is reading at the Kindergarten level. This student may not know letter sound associations. In a fifth grade classroom you may get a student who can read but comprehends nothing he or she has read. This student may be functioning at a third grade instructional level in reading. At times teachers know students will get frustrated and refuse to do work if it is to difficult for them. I would like to know from educators if you feel this is the least restrictive environment for the students? Can special and regular education teachers make the accommodations and modifications each student needs in order to experience success in reading? Which teacher should be responsible for teaching these students? How can the parent be more involved? Should these students be transferred to self-contained classrooms where they may be able to get more one-to-one attention? Do teachers feel they can really service these students effectively? Lastly, how does this relate to the No Child Left Behind Act? Please feel free to express your opinion about student placements in inclusive classroom settings.............