Best states?

my thought is that the lack of articles is indicative of the lack of “outstanding” special ed. programs.

Janis

Let me be quick to add that I think there are some excellent teachers here and there who have taken the initiative to learn effective methods on their own. But I’d have to say quality will almost differ from school to school.

Janis

I wish I knew the answer myself. We did move from a small Western Massachusetts town when my children were in Elementary because of the lack of support, knowledge and proper facilities ( ie. The chapter one reading group had to meet underneath the staircase of the main entrance of the school because of lack of space - how distracting is that? and it was cold!)
Before moving, I researched various Towns & Cities. Started with Chamber of Commerces. Looked to make sure the Town had enough funding to support the Special Ed. Dept., class sizes etc. Then I asked around..Is the turn-over rate of teachers high? ususually a bad sign. etc. I visited the schools, without my children and observed. Do the kids in this school look happy? Meet with the Special Ed. Director before you committ to a school.
I found the Elementary School approach different than the Middle Schools approach but both were effective. The High School is much more disorganized and BIG and we’re struggling right now in NH. ** Totally depends on the teachers, year to year, school to school. Am no longer afraid to change my sons classes or set up a certain teacher for the year - decided I don’t have the time to educate the few teachers about LD that choose not to learn. I have been lucky, only one change out of approx. 40 teachers.

sites like those can give some info on schools but you have to put in city and state and explore-it doesnt rank them for you. And I dont recall much info on special ed

The MOTHERSFROMHELL2 site had mentionned in one of their articles that IL is ranked 50 in special ed services. I have no idea where they came up with this info and, being from IL myself, I do find it hard to believe and would question what they are using to determine ranking. But im a tad prejudiced!

Our experience is that even in a town that has the reputation in SPED circles as being better than most in meeting the individual needs of children whether they are on ed plans or not, it is S-O-O-O teacher specific. No matter how good the SPED department is, teaching is no different than any other profession. There are a lot of mediocre teachers, a few that are utterly hopeless, and even fewer that are exceptional. Unfortunately, exceptional kids don’t always get the exceptional teachers they need, no matter how good the system is.

Karen

You could investigate regulations in sped. WHen I was teaching in Virginia, when my sped class got past 8 kiddos, I got an aide in there; I never had more than 11 kids in a class.
Of course, when I left, there was a new principal that just didn’t care so much for heeding the regs, so they were rather ignored. Classes were combined, and then inclusion was deemed simpler. The regs didn’t change… but I wouldn’t have recommended that school. Now principals have switched again, things are better…
You almost have to visit the school, talk to the principal and observe the classes to really know anything. And then toss in the fact that the same person who might be a great teacher for Jimmy just doesn’t jive with Jenny; or, it just so happens that that class has two serious behavior kiddos in there who take great joy in …

you could check on www.wrightslaw.com and access the NCD report on compliance with IDEA.( back to school ) It will tell you how every state did in their attempt at following the regulations. I will tell you there was NO state who was totally complaint.

Sue,

That is an excellent point! I formerly taught in VA, also. Let me tell you the difference in LD caseloads between VA and NC, where I live now.

In VA, the caseload limit was around 25-30 (it’s been a few years). If a child was seen for reading, he counted as one on the caseload. If a child was seen for reading, written language, and math, he counted as 3 on the caseload. This was the most perfect way of regulating caseloads that I have ever seen!

In NC, the caseload for a resouce teacher is 30. But that could potentially mean 30 kids being seen for ALL three subjects…that would equal a VA caseload of 90!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just thinking of 30 IEP’s is overwhelming, but how to remediate anyone with those numbers is virtually impossible. Oh, and I should add, that is without an aide.

So I will say that some states may definitely have caseload limits that would benefit children…but that would only be of real benefit if the teachers have been trained in effective methods….and that’s where we get into trouble!

Janis

I would have to agree with you. I too am from Illinois just in from North Dakota and the services here are 10 times better if not more. My children have progressed for the first time in many years. If Illinois is truly 50 you mean I can go somewhere else and get even better services? I find that very hard to believe I could move to that many states and do so much better. My plans are to retire right here where I am at getting services I know work.

I found Hampton City schools in VA to be very good, but met folks who were in York county, fighting for services, the district did something to the OHI category where a kid had to meet all the requirements (‘and’ instead of ‘or’). The area was so close together, Newport News, Hampton and York county seemed like one big city to someone unfamiliar to the area. We got lucky I think. It just takes a lot of research and depends on lots of factors on what is a good school for our special kids.

I would go further and say it depends a lot on the teacher. We are in the same school as last year and it is a world of difference with a teacher who is adequately trained. Very hard to predict.

On the other hand, case loads give you some indication. My son gets speech therapy three times a week. There are twice as many kids as in the district where we used to live. There also is one resource teacher for a school of 1500 while previously there were two in a school of 600.

The principal makes a big difference too, even with very scarce resources like we have. She hired the person I am referring to and has made other very good changes. She wasn’t the principal when we moved here three years ago. I like her a lot better than the previous one. But a lot of this is hard to predict, I think.

The Jan 10, 2002 issue of Education Week has pages of charts rating states on various issues. I don’t know if they have done such a measurement specific to special ed. Perhaps we could encourage them to do so. I found some of the info on their web site edweek.org, but the paper (@10” x 18”) is pretty impressive. You might find an issue on a table at your school district office or your local school.

There are school districts with just incredible reputations… but sometimes (tho’ not always) that is at the *expense* of the poor students who aren’t going to make the school look good. And if sped testing stats aren’t included in calculating the stuff they base the ratings on, and the school cares a whole lot about those stats, they tend not to care a whole lot about how sped kids would do.