Nashville schools work to end segregation of kids with disabilities
March 6th, 2009
From the [Nashville] Tennessean:
The metropolitan Nashville public school district is working to include more students with disabilities in typical classrooms. The move follows a state mandate, prompted by lagging special education scores and a scathing report by a local special education task force last fall that said students with disabilities were unnecessarily segregated.
Of its 8,200 students in special education, the district reported that 48 percent this year will spend the bulk of their day in regular classrooms, up from 36 percent last year. The state average is 54 percent. Federal law requires that students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment.
Dan Reschly, professor of education and psychology of special education at Vanderbilt University, called Metro’s improvements dramatic and said there is little research that supports segregation as an effective model for educating special-needs students.
(Photo from Tennessean. Leisa Hammett, left, has had difficulties getting daughter Grace Goad into general education classes. Grace has autism.)
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March 6th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Thank you, Patricia, for including our story and for all you are doing with your blog. It’s come across my radar several times in writing my own blog, which includes an emphasis on autism/disAbility issues. Namaste.