IV. Special Education
Special Education at TYC
Generally, special education services include direct instruction from a special education teacher trained to provide appropriate accommodations and modifications to materials, instruction, and the environment based upon the individual needs of the student with a disability. Additionally, special education includes the provision of related services and transition services. Students in juvenile corrections facilities are protected by the same state and federal regulations as students in public schools, although many eligible youth do not receive the services to which they are entitled under the IDEA of 2004. The TYC, like juvenile corrections agencies in all states, must implement educational and special educational policies and programs that are aligned with the IDEA of 2004. Furthermore, the TYC must specifically describe the substantive and procedural rights to which special education eligible youth and their parents are entitled. Finally, the TYC must provide special education practices that are consistent with the IDEA and that entitle the youth with disabilities in the TYC with the outcomes outlined in 20 U.S.C. 1400(d)). A description of the special education policies is included in the Introduction.
Although the law and regulations clearly establish the provisions of IDEA for incarcerated youth, the implementation of IDEA in TYC facilities does not meet the standards set forth by federal and state laws and accompanying regulations. The TYC special education program limits both access and equity to mandated special education and related service. The current TYC special education program is out of compliance with the entitlements guaranteed under the IDEA. As a consequence, many of the students with disabilities incarcerated at TYC facilities do not receive services designed to meet his or her unique needs, nor are they adequately prepared for further education, employment, or independent living in accordance with the purpose of the IDEA.
There was substantial evidence that the TYC did not provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in accordance with the IDEA. A number of factors impact the capacity of the TYC educational programs to comply with the IDEA of 2004. First, as described previously, the TYC facilities are populated with a substantial proportion of youth with disabilities. Many of these students (See Table 1) have an emotional disturbance (ED), and exhibit substantial academic, behavioral, and psychological problems that interfere with classroom instruction and the ability to learn 37. Educational programming for students with ED includes social-emotional, behavioral, psychological, and academic interventions. These approaches are designed to promote emotional well being, appropriate social skills and behaviors, self-control, and academic success. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) established some important considerations for students with ED including positive behavioral interventions, positive behavior supports, psychological and counseling services (provided by a trained psychologist or social worker), and career and transition services.38 Additionally, students with ED have a documented educational need. In other words, in order to be identified with and ED, the student must have an academic need. In other words, students identified with ED have emotional and / or behavioral problems as well as problems academically that are quantified as academic deficits in one or more areas.
Another large percentage of the TYC students (See Table 1) have significant learning disabilities.39 These students typically have difficulty with processing information, reading, memory, and / or retention of newly learned information. A substantial percentage of these students have significant reading deficits that make instruction in all of the content areas extremely difficult. A learning disability is not a disability that can be cured, but with the appropriate supports and intervention, students and youth with learning disabilities can succeed in school and post-school activities. The NICHCY outlines numerous effective instructional practices as well as accommodations and modifications to content, material, and instruction. Another large percentage of the TYC youth have been identified with an Other Health Impairment (OHI), most of who have attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Finally, a much smaller group of students (See Table 1) have other specific disabling conditions that require specialized instruction or services such as functional training, counseling, sign language translation, physical therapy, speech and language training, etc.
Additionally, youth with disabilities at the TYC often come with limited educational experiences, inconsistent school involvement, and high rates of disciplinary suspensions and expulsions from school. Many have been retained one or more times, have dropped out from school, or have moved repeatedly and never received the basic academic skills necessary for full participation in secondary educational programs. Additionally, many students with disabilities arrive at the TYC without adequate educational records. Without documentation of prior special education eligibility, the facility may lack adequate eligibility documentation and the student may not be appropriately identified. Still other students may have significant learning, behavioral, or developmental disabilities but may not have been identified by their prior schools. In order to appropriately identify these individuals in accordance with Child Find, the TYC requires a comprehensive special education screening, pre-referral, and referral system.
Finally, the TYC facilities generally lack the required staff necessary to identify, evaluate, place, and serve special education students. This is not due to the quality of the special education staff, but rather to the insufficient numbers of diagnosticians, special education teachers, special education support staff, and / or related service providers.
Special Education: Programs
The availability of special education services varies by facility. Some facilities have a greater number of special education teachers. Some facilities provide a greater array of special education instructional arrangements and services. The variability across facilities is not appropriate, and may negatively impact a special education student’s entitlements to special education services.
Special Education: Admission
Special education is a unique and complex process for the assessment and orientation schools. Approximately 40% of the students were identified by the TYC as special education eligible. The school diagnosticians collect all available educational information about special education students and prepare a student special education eligibility folder. According to state and federal regulations, the TYC must have an IEP in effect for each student with a disability. When a student arrives at McLennan I O & A, the school diagnosticians review the educational records to determine special education eligibility. If the student has an ARD, the diagnostician will enroll the student as a special education student. If a student does not have an ARD, the student will not be enrolled as a special education student. There are instances where a student reports that he or she was in special education during the biographical interview. If a student reports that he or she was in special education, but the diagnosticians do not have an ARD, they will begin calling a student’s prior placements to determine the special education status.
Upon initial commitment of special education student to the TYC, TYC must comply with the transfer requirements under the IDEA 50. When a student arrives, the TYC (in consultation with the parents) must provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) including services comparable to those described in the student Individualized Education Program (IEP) from the previous school district until TYC either:
- Adopts the IEP from the previous school district or,
- Develops, adopts, and implements a new IEP that meets the requirements of an IEP as defined by the IDEA.
If the TYC (in consultation with the parents) decide to adopt the previous IEP, they implement the IEP as written. We found no evidence of this taking place at the TYC. If the TYC (in consultation with the parents) determine that the student requires a new IEP, the TYC must convene an ARD meeting to develop a new IEP. There are several reasons why the TYC must convene an ARD and develop a new IEP: when they have not received an ARD from a prior placement; when the only available IEP is out of date (3 years or older); or when they identify a student as being special education eligible for the first time in accordance with Child Find. The other reason the TYC might convene an ARD meeting to develop a new IEP is that they determined (in consultation with the parents) that the IEP is inappropriate.
In order to determine that the IEP is inappropriate, the TYC would need to have sufficient assessment and evaluation data to support a contention that the available data from a student’s educational records are not consistent with present level of performance. Present level of performance can be obtained from classroom observation, school work, and informal and formal assessments obtained through the standard TYC procedures.
It is unclear that the McLennan I O & A facility has sufficient procedures in place, nor sufficient time to adequately determine a student’s present level of performance. The only educational assessment is the TABE, which is not commensurate with other typical special education assessments such as the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement III. Nonetheless, it appears that every special education student admitted into the McLennan I O & A was given a new IEP that resulted in his or her placement into mainstream educational settings with no provision of special education services. This was verified from our analysis of the special education data in our database. We found that 46 of the 46 students at the McLennan I O & A had instructional arrangements of “Mainstream” and no direct hours of service. These procedures are not consistent with the requirements of the IDEA.
Special Education: Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD)
According to TYC, the school diagnosticians should always convene another ARD and develop another IEP when the student is transferred from McLennan I O & A to a TYC institutional facility. An ARD is the term in Texas used to describe the Individualized Education Program meeting. This ARD report is a written plan that must include statements of (a) the student’s present levels of performance; (b) the student’s annual goals, including short-term objectives; (c) the required special education and related services; (d) program modifications or supports; and, for youth ages 16 and older, a transition plan outlining the how the student will move from secondary school to postsecondary roles. The ARD is developed by an IEP team which includes teachers, parents, an administrator, and the youth.
Although special education students who arrive at TYC are initially assigned to the McLennan I O & A program, they may not have all required information necessary for their permanent TYC placement. The diagnosticians at the McLennan I facility reported that they do not receive complete educational records for approximately 10% to 15% of the students. This is not due to diagnostician abilities, but to inadequate staff as well as problems receiving school records from a student’s prior placement. Although the previous schools are required to provide all educational records to the TYC, many diagnosticians report that some schools do not provide records in a timely way, and some never provide the records at all41.
It is unclear what the standards are for convening an ARD when a student moves from one facility to another. We believe that ARD meetings are often convened because a receiving TYC school does not offer the same level of special education services or instructional arrangements as the sending TYC school. We believe that the TYC convenes ARDs when a student transfers to a new facility and develops a new Individualized Education Program that is not based upon the student’s unique educational needs, but is based on the services available at the new facility. This is an inappropriate practice that is not consistent with the mandates of the IDEA.
Special Education: Instruction
Special education instruction involves responding to the individual needs of students with disabilities, and providing sufficient accommodations and modifications to instruction, materials, and practice to support the acquisition and retention of new knowledge. According to Kauffman, J. M., & Landrum, T. J. (2007), special education involves providing students with disabilities:
more trials, more opportunities, more attention, and more instructional time. A teacher may eventually decide that trying to teach a given student a particular skill is useless and decide to teach something else. However, the tenacity, persistence, and relentlessness of the special education teacher go beyond what can be offered in general education. The teacher may try a variety of instructional approaches that the general education teacher does not know or cannot implement in the context of teaching a larger, general class of students. Moreover, the special education teacher does not abandon teaching a concept or skill to the student for the sake of the larger group that must move on. 42
Special education is more than providing more time to complete work, or providing students with materials that are aligned with the student’s reading level. Direct instruction involves the teaching of new concepts, knowledge, skills, and strategies for acquiring and retaining new information. Furthermore, it involves teaching students how to apply learned knowledge to new and unique circumstances.
Special Education Reading Instruction
Effective reading instruction for adolescent special education students who struggle with reading includes: word study; fluency building; vocabulary instruction; comprehension instruction; and motivation.43 Reading instruction for these students requires systematic and direct instruction using empirically-validated approaches to reading instruction as well as applying the critical components of effective instruction for students with disabilities.
Special Education Instruction for Students with ED
One of the primary misconceptions about instruction for students with emotional disturbance is that all of the problems for these youth are behavioral in nature. Although behavioral, emotional, and social problems are a priority for these youth, the academic needs should not be ignored nor relegated to a lower priority. With regards to student with ED, Kauffman and Landrum state:
We must refocus our efforts on instruction for two reasons. First, academic achievement is so fundamental to emotional and social adjustment that it is foolish not to make it a capstone of educational intervention. Enhancing their academic achievement is the single most reliable way of improving students’ self-appraisal and social competence. Second, managing or modifying students’ behavior is best approached, at least by teachers, as an instructional problem.44
Instruction for students with ED should generally include behavioral interventions (including cognitive behavioral therapy), emotional and psychological interventions, and academic instruction consistent with the instruction provided to other students with disabilities.
37 See 34 C.F.R. § 300.7(c)(4)(i) for complete IDEA definition
38 From the NICHCY website: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs5txt.htm
39 See 34 C.F.R. §300.7(c)(10) for complete definition
40 34 C.F.R. § 300.323
41 As part of the common application from the county committing a student to the TYC, the most current educational records must be provided. This includes the most recent ARD report. Youth committed to the TYC often arrive without these records as part of the common application.
42 In J. W. Jacobson, J. A. Mulick, & J. Rojahn (Eds.), Handbook of intellectual and developmental disabilities (pp. 173-188). New York: Springer. Page 176
43 EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION FOR ADOLESCENT STRUGGLING READERS: A Practice Brief. Retrieved from http://www.centeroninstruction.org/resources.cfm?category=reading&subcat 6
44 Kauffman, J. M., & Landrum, T. J. (2009). Characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice-Hall. Page 425