Maybe Being Dual Endorsed in Special Ed Isn't a Good Idea After All

When I was going through college they told us all, "Get a special ed degree if you're at all interested--you are GUARANTEED to have a job." It's true--you can pretty much choose where you want to work, and you're going to survive layoffs better than most--but what's also true is that if you are certified to teach special ed, then you can teach special ed:

The trouble with this recession is that kids may wind up with larger classes and ineffective teachers.

Mass layoffs are reshuffling teachers into grades or subjects they may never have taught, or taught long ago. Administrators are being pushed back into the classroom after years away from teaching.

At Coweeman Middle School in rural Kelso, Wash., one teacher who has taught math for 30 years has been reassigned to special education, principal Randy Heath said. In fact, every teacher who is endorsed to teach special education is being switched to those classes, regardless of whether he or she actually has taught it, he said.

"We're being forced to make decisions that we know are not good for kids," Heath said.

I suspect that a part of the reason this is happening is that the stimulus money provided well for special ed, so jobs are being saved there. I've seen it in my own district, where a PE teacher has been moved into an RTI Coaching position, because that's what the stimulus money makes possible.

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Well, That’s Useful

From the December 12th Education Week:

Secondary school teachers of special education in Michigan likely have lost their status as being “highly qualified” under federal standards because the state allowed them to take certification tests for elementary teachers.

Those teachers have until June 30, 2009, to become highly qualified, a status they need to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The Michigan Department of Education said it was unclear how many of the state’s 7,000 secondary special education teachers used the elementary exam to become highly qualified.

“At the time, this was believed to be an appropriate means to meet the requirements—until guidance from the federal government directed us to amend the requirements,” state education department spokeswoman Jan Ellis said last week.

7,000 teachers of our most in-need students who now have to jump through more hoops in order to stay in the profession. Who benefits from this?

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Education Week on the Special Ed Lawsuit

A short, concise update, from the November 8th edition:

Spec. Ed. Financing System On Trial in Washington State

Washington school districts gave their openings statements last week in a trial in which they are asking a state court to throw out the state’s system of financing special education, arguing that more than 120,000 special education students are being shortchanged.

A loss in the case could cost the state at least $100 million a year in more generous budgets.

Twelve districts from around the state – joined by Seattle, Tacoma, and 70 other supporting districts – urged Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee to rule that the system falls short of the constitutional mandate to fully finance basic special education.

But Washington state Assistant Attorney General Bill Clark defended the current setup in his statements in court last week, saying the state and local districts together fully meet the needs of all students.

The two-year state budget provides $1.38 billion in state and federal support for special education, roughly 10 percent of the K-12 budget of $13.8 billion. The state has 1 million pupils.

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