16 special education students in a regular education class

Well, when I taught art, two-thirds of the kids in my classes were being warehoused. The guidance counsellors typically take the non-readers and shove them into any classes with little reading demand — art, choir, home ec, phys ed, etc.
When I was trying to give the kids the chance to work freely with art materials and be creative, and they were vandalizing the room and disturbing the minority who did want to make things, I asked “Why are you in this class anyway, if you don’t want to paint or draw or sculpt?” The answer was always “The guidance counsellor put me here.”
Welcome to the educationists’ great system of preserving the status quo and academically shooting themselves in the foot . If you can’t read or do math, well, we won’t put you in any classes where you might actually learn how. And any class that teaches anything other than standard book work is a dumping ground, not a subject of value in its own right.
SOME of the special ed kids in my classes were great kids, often with good talents. I am speaking here of those who did not want to be in the class and whose time was being wasted, as was mine.
This is a long-standing problem, and it’s going to take a lot to change it.

Victoria is correct.
Since the choir is a “regular” class, the grand assumption is that placemetn there is because the student can do what is required, and therefore, it’s not “special ed” so there are no size limits. (HOWEVER, this changes from state to state — so it would be worth checking your state regs!!! They’re probably somewhere online if you dig deeply enough.)
She may be able to be a squeaky enough wheel to get some help in at least managing behaviors and planning things that will keep the kiddos who really would be jsut as happy being successful from being frustrated simply because the teacher doesn’t know how to set things up for success. I would also push for support in the discipline department. If the students could perceive this as a “REGULAR CLASS” — and hey, they must be doing well if they got in it, but they need to raise their expectations or they’ll have to find something special, it could be a motivator. (Appealing to egos is really powerful.) You can also do a lot in a 1:1 conversation with a key student or two whose behaviors bring everybody up or down. If they get the impression that this is practice taking regular classes and who knows, they may be allowed to take more regular classes if they do well here…

Check your contract either through your ISD or school district. When I questioned this type of situation in Michigan, that is where I was told the information should be obtained. I would then contact your special education supervisor for your area to obtain any additional information. They should know the current state regulations.

Thank you very much!! That’s just the information that I was looking for.

Caron

Another thing you can do is looik at some of the kids’ IEPs, if you can get access to them. You may find that some of them say that the school will provide things that aren’t being provided (like a co-teacher from sped in regular classes). You also might not, of course!