From the Muskegon [MI] Chronicle

A change in state law is forcing Michigan school districts to halt their practice of awarding diplomas to students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

A handful of districts statewide, including Muskegon and Muskegon Heights, had been awarding diplomas to students who had completed an “adaptive curriculum” in the special education program. Those students will now receive a “certificate of completion.”

“It’s telling school boards they can’t do what they’ve been doing,” said Linda Riepma, executive director of secondary education for Muskegon Public Schools.

Some educators have raised concerns about the new state requirements, calling them too rigid and overly focused on academics. Detractors fear the new standards may drive up dropout rates among students who know they can’t make the grade.

From the Montreal Gazette, CBC News:

A French family is making a public appeal to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds after their application for permanent residency was rejected because their seven-year-old daughter has cerebral palsy.

Rachel Barlagne was deemed “medically inadmissable” because her disability would pose an “excessive burden” on the state. According to court documents, the “excessive burden” amounts to $5,200 per year for special education.

“We hope the immigration minister understands our situation and takes steps to allow us to stay,” David Barlagne said outside Federal Court in Montreal, where his lawyers are fighting to keep his family in the country. “We are determined to do whatever we have to to stay in Canada.”

Earlier post here.

(Photo from CBC News)

By Larry Abramson on National Public Radio:

A proposal by the American Psychiatric Association to include the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome within the broader autism spectrum could have far-reaching effects, experts say, potentially changing the way families get special education services for their children.

Some educators say the change could make it easier for students with the disorder to qualify for special education services, while others worry that it could limit student access to services and make it harder for teachers to tailor services to students’ individual needs.

The proposal is available for public comment until April 20.

See also:

Asperger’s advocates debate proposed diagnosis change — CNN.  An excerpt:

“Autism tends to be defined as a deficit, and people with Asperger’s see themselves as having an advantage in life,” said Eileen Parker, 46, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who has Asperger’s. That is why the community is split over the … issue, she said.

Asperger’s officially placed inside autism spectrum — NPR

Audit finds wide enrollment disparities, particularly in charter schools

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Many public schools in New Orleans, particularly charter schools, show significant underrepresentation of students with disabilities, according to a report by state officials. At some charter schools in the Recovery School District, fewer than 4 percent of students are reported to have disabilities, as compared with a district-wide average of about ten percent.

The report has prompted criticism from advocates who charge that some schools are practicing discrimination by advising students with disabilities to go elsewhere. Educators defend the schools, saying the district’s open enrollment policy makes some degree of variation inevitable. An excerpt:

… in some cases it’s easy to sympathize with both the parents and the schools: Families have every right to full services, but schools cannot  always get the money and staff they need to provide them.

See related post: Opinion: Open charter doors to students with disabilities

Harvard University professor Thomas Hehir, writing in Education Week, calls for action to make sure that students with disabilities have access to charter schools. Presently, he says, students with special needs are conspicuously underrepresented in such schools.

Hehir, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of special education programs in the Clinton administration, says officials should develop policies to assure that charters are not discriminating against students with disabilities.

He recommends increased monitoring of charters, enforcement of civil rights protections, financial sanctions against charters which fail to enroll equitable shares of students with disabilities, and support to assist schools in serving students with diverse needs. An excerpt:

The charter school movement shows much promise, and is providing important choice options within the American education system. It’s time to assure that all children benefit from it.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

For many Ohio school districts, the recent influx of federal stimulus money has doubled the federal dollars they receive for special education. New state regulations are making it easier for them to use the extra cash to shore up their shaky budgets, and disability rights advocates are crying foul.

Advocates say Ohio is cheating vulnerable students, and claim the state has taken the most extreme approach of any state in allowing local districts to divert the money for other purposes.

“It just seems completely mind-blowing to me,” said Jennifer Cohen, a policy analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation. “I think it’s sneaky, and I know there are a lot of special-education advocates out there who are upset about the implications.”

Earlier post here.

Alexa Posny, the recently confirmed assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, tells  Education Week that she became a special educator after seeing a childhood playmate barred from school because he had Down syndrome. Posny is 57, according to the Washington Post. An excerpt:

Q. What inspired you to work in special education?

A. During my childhood, I learned that children with disabilities often were not educated the way other children were. One of my playmates was a child with intellectual disabilities (Down syndrome). Although he would play with me and other children in my neighborhood, I soon discovered that he did not go to school.

At that time, I could never understand why he was never with us. He was more like us than unlike us, but he never entered the school door. Thirty some years later, the lives of students with disabilities have greatly improved and I have been engaged in this field during this entire time.

(Photo from allgov.com)