 Executive
Summary/OverviewIn 1994, the
Board of Regents adopted the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Policy Statement requiring each local school district and public
agency providing education to students with disabilities to ensure
that students with disabilities of ages three through 21 are provided
with a
free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the LRE, consistent with
federal and State laws and regulations. The LRE policy statement is available at
http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/policy/lrepolicy.htm. The State Education
Department (SED) is required to ensure that each public agency
which provides education to students with disabilities establishes and
implements procedures that meet federal and State Requirements.
New York State School Reform, and specifically special education
reform, which was initiated in 1995, focused not only on providing access
to educational services for
students with disabilities, but also on improving results. The goals
of special education reform were to improve educational achievement
by
ensuring success in the general curriculum and to improve the
integration of students with disabilities with their nondisabled peers throughout their educational experience.
High standards were established and students with disabilities are
provided Academic Intervention Services (AIS), as needed, to achieve
these standards. Having set these high standards, SED continues to
measure and report on the progress of students with disabilities
towards achieving the goals.
The impact of the school reform
initiatives is summarized by the trend data. For example, since
1997, there has been a 300 percent increase in the number of
students with disabilities who were tested for the Regents Examination in
English (based on 2004 data). More than twice as many students with
disabilities passed the exam in 2004 than took it in 1997. Of those
students tested in 2004, 65 percent achieved a passing score. The
number taking the Regents Examination in English in the Big Five
Cities has also increased significantly, as evidenced by a 480
percent increase in participation from 1997 to 2004, and a passing
rate of 42.5 percent in 2004. However, the number of students taking the test continues
to be disproportionate in the Big Five Cities. Although the
population of students with disabilities in the Big Five Cities is
42.4 percent of the total population of all students with
disabilities, these students represented only 21 percent of the
students taking the test in 1997, and only 31.0 percent of those
tested in 2004. These
data indicate that full access to Regents level courses continues
to be a concern in the Big Five Cities.
In addition to this rise in
percentage of students with disabilities succeeding on Regents
exams, increasing percentages of such students are earning Regents High School
Diplomas. In 2003-04, 14.8 percent of students with disabilities who
completed high school earned such diplomas, as compared to 4.4
percent in 1995-96. A disparity identified was that students with disabilities in wealthy (low need
relative to resources) earn high school diplomas (Regents, local,
and High School Equivalency diplomas) at a significantly higher rate
than students in districts with higher need relative to resources.
For example, the percentage of students with disabilities in New
York City earning a diploma increased from 49.1 percent in 2002-03
to 52.7 percent in 2003-04. In contrast, 90.7 percent of students
with disabilities earned a high school diploma in the low need
relative to resource districts in 2003-04.
However, there continue to be
challenges regarding the number of students identified as disabled,
as well as the provision of special education services in the least
restrictive environment (including the over-representation of
minorities in special education). Children from racially and
ethnically diverse backgrounds have been disproportionately
identified in specific disability categories (mentally retarded and
emotionally disturbed) and placed in separate education settings
away from their non-disabled peers. Some districts have
disproportionate placements of students in separate classes or
separate site programs, and have a limited continuum of special
education services. The Big Five Cities tend to use the “special
class” and “separate school” models for greater percentages of
students with disabilities. For example, in 2003-04, the Big Five
Cities placed 39.0 percent of students with disabilities in general education classrooms less than
40 percent of the time, as compared to 18.7 percent of students with
disabilities in other school districts statewide. As a result,
more than twice as many students with disabilities in the Big Five
Cities are further isolated from their peers in general education,
and have less access to the general curriculum and to teachers who
are appropriately certified in core content areas. The percentage of
students with disabilities educated in separate settings has
decreased from 9.1 percent in 1997-98 to 7.3 percent in 2003-04. However, NYS places almost twice as many students with disabilities
in separate settings compared with the 2003-04 national average of
3.9 percent. NYS surpasses the national average by 3.5 percentage
points in the placement of students with disabilities in general
education programs for 80% or more of their day. Still, the extent
to which students with disabilities are afforded integrated
opportunities varies statewide.
Significant gains have been made with
respect to providing integrated opportunities for preschool children
with disabilities. In 2003-04, 60 percent of preschool students with
disabilities were served in either natural settings or in settings
that included nondisabled children, as compared to 32.3 percent in
1995-96. NYS surpasses the 2003-04 national average (53.3 percent)
of preschool children with disabilities being placed in integrated settings by
6.7 percentage points.
SED activities that support the implementation of the LRE policies
include:
- Targeting technical assistance
network activities to focus on districts identified with
high rates of placements of students with disabilities in separate
sites. (See Appendix 8.2.)
- Implementing a Preschool
Longitudinal Study (see Table FAPE.VI) to determine the long-term
effects of preschool special education programs.
- Continued implementation of Space
Plan requirements as discussed in
Table FAPE.I.
- Cross agency initiatives to reduce
out-of-district and out-of-state placements.
Students educated in separate
settings, are less likely to have access to a rigorous general
education curriculum. This restriction, in turn, has been shown to
result in lower performance on
State assessments and a decreased likelihood of meeting graduation
requirements. As a result, the ability of these students to access postsecondary
education and employment is affected. Access of these students to postsecondary
education and employment is further impacted when students with
disabilities drop out of school. It is notable that in 2003-04, the dropout rate for
students with disabilities decreased from 6.7 percent to 5.2
percent. This decrease is consistent across each of the need
resources categories of school districts.
Districts must comprehensively implement the Regents LRE policy in
order to
ensure that those students who are identified as needing special
education services receive these services in the least restrictive
environment. However, for those students who legitimately require
more segregated placements, there must be equal access within these
programs to a rigorous general education curriculum and highly
skilled teachers. To assist districts in providing appropriate
programs for students with disabilities in the least restrictive
environment, the Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and
Continuing Education (EMSC) and the Office of Vocational and
Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) have
provided intensive technical assistance to school districts, which
should also assist school districts to address disproportionality.
As presented in cluster one, "General
Supervision," SED’s Special Education Training and Resource Center
network (SETRC) is one of the primary strategies available to assist
LEA’s and schools address LRE issues. All SETRC Professional
Development Specialists are available to provide professional
development and technical assistance on issues and needs associated
with LRE. Such resources include general education supports, pre-referral
strategies, access to the general curriculum, universal design for
learning (UDL), and alternative assessment strategies. All SETRC professional development and technical assistance is based on
local district Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD)
planning activities. As referenced throughout this Annual
Performance Report, VESID requires every
Local Educational Agency (LEA) to develop and implement a local
Comprehensive System of Personal Development (CSPD) plan as a
school improvement strategy for special education. This CSPD, as
used in New York, is broader in context than the federal usage of
the term and is designed as an in-depth problem solving process to
direct district and school local improvement activities. New
York's CSPD process starts with a thorough analysis of
district/school data (key performance indicators) to identify
areas of need, followed by a root-cause analysis to determine
those underlying factors that may be contributing to poor
performance, disproportionality or other issues associated with
the implementation of IDEA. The district then identifies specific
strategies to address the causal factors, develops an
implementation plan, and evaluates the effect of the plan through
on-going analysis of key performance indicators. LEA's are
strongly encouraged to integrate the CSPD process into other
school improvement processes. The CSPD plan is linked to the LEA
application for federal flow through funds and requires SED
approval for certain designated districts in need of improvement.
For additional information on New York State's CSPD process see
the
September 2003 field memorandum from Lawrence Gloeckler entitled
CSPD Plan Submission Procedures and Relevant Dates.
New York’s State Improvement Grant
(SIG) is designed to stimulate the change and improvement of systems
through integrated strategies by using a variety of resources. For
example, the Regional School Support Centers (RSSC) are a joint
initiative between general and special education and are intended to
assist low performing districts and schools to close the performance
gap in achievement by assisting the district/school with data
analysis and planning, identifying appropriate goals and benchmarks,
and coordinating a variety of resources from numerous program areas.
Each RSSC has a special education professional member, who is
responsible for coordinating special education components and
training or supporting leadership in targeted SIG districts.
Regional SIG support teams address disproportionality by utilizing
root cause analysis, problem-solving strategies, and intensive
training and support for each targeted district, based on district
need and identified outcomes. Additionally, the Higher Education
Support Center (HESC) at Syracuse University coordinates the work of
Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) with RSSC and SIG
targeted district teams. This coordination ensures linkages between preservice and
in-service teacher education programs. Furthermore, this
collaboration contributes to the quality of needs assessment/root
cause analysis activities in the targeted school districts.
Increased emphasis on preparing
students for participation in an integrated workforce continues to
be a focus of SED. In 2001, the NYS Board of Regents amended Part 100 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to
include an approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) program
providing greater flexibility in curriculum courses for high school
students who want to pursue career and technical education programs
in order
to meet graduation requirements. With this shift in orientation,
several new initiatives were developed, with the focus increasingly
becoming the integration of academic and career standards.
Originally, data with respect to students taking and passing advanced
occupational education exams was reported. While gaps between
general and special education students continued to exist, the
difference between the passing rate of special education and general
education students on advanced occupational education examinations
from 1997-98 to 1999-2000 decreased by 5.1 percentage points. New
data collection processes were established to reflect this policy, and are indicated in the tables below.
Additionally, VESID coordinates the
NYS Longitudinal Post School Indicator Study (NYSLPSI), part of which
provides data about preparation for employment for both general and
special education students. Students in the Classes of 2000 and 2001
are interviewed upon school exit, and again one, three, and five
years beyond school exit. The research indicates significantly more
general and special education students are participating in
community work experiences with post school employment rates
increasing for those students participating in career planning
activities. Additional information about this study can be found in
the Secondary Transition portion of this document (See Table ST.I -
Baseline/Trend Data.)
SED activities during 2003-04 that
support the implementation of the least restrictive environment
policies include:
- Reallocating discretionary special
education dollars and technical assistance efforts to support
districts with the greatest need;
- Strengthening teacher preparation
programs through formal collaborations with IHEs that offer teacher
preparation programs;
- Reforming teacher education
programs and certification requirements in keeping with the No
Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation;
- Further redesigning the special
education Quality Assurance Focused Review Process to focus on implementation of LRE requirements;
- Targeting technical assistance
and professional development network activities to focus on districts identified with high
rates of placement of students with disabilities in separate
sites. (See Appendix 8.2);
- Providing technical assistance to
individual districts based on data driven needs as identified in
CSPD;
- Implementing New York’s SIG and
SIG Supplementary Grant to focus on disproportionality, and
improving outcomes in low-performing schools; on teacher retention
strategies; and universally designed learning and assessments;
- Providing intensive professional
development to regional and State level staff, as well as to
identified districts with respect to Chapter 405 issues
(classification, declassification, placement and disproportionality);
- Providing intensive technical
assistance to the Big Five Cities and other districts found to be in need of
improvement, based on key performance measures and disproportionality data as per SIG;
- Establishing a data management
system, Comprehensive Special Education Information System (CSEIS),
in order to track the frequency and type of LRE issues identified, thus
informing technical assistance needs on a regional and/or
statewide basis;
- Establishing Partnership
Agreements with the Big 5 Cities which will involve collaboration
between school personnel, SED, and technical assistance networks with a
focus on developing strategic plans for addressing critical
issues like LRE;
- Developing and piloting a State
model CTE Skills Achievement Profile for students with
disabilities pursuing individualized education program (IEP)
diplomas as a means of documenting student attainment/achievement
of career and technical knowledge and skills, as well as
to record work-related skills and/or certification or licenses;
- Establishing an approved CTE
program providing greater flexibility in curriculum courses for
high school students who want to pursue career and technical
education programs to meet graduation requirements and obtain a
technical endorsement;
- Promoting the use of a Career Plan
which serves as a document for learners on which to record their
development in the areas of self knowledge, career exploration,
career and life goals, classroom learning application and
foundation skill awareness;
- Conducting post school research,
part of which focuses on student preparation for employment, to inform the development of policies and practices;
- Promoting several formal
interagency collaborations focused on creating and maintaining
safe and effective learning environments in schools;
- Continuing program development
grants focused on staff development activities, which will primarily
educate staff about
positive behavioral interventions targeting students with autism
and severe emotional disturbance on home instruction or in
inappropriate placements;
- Developing, revising and
distributing information on FAPE/LRE issues to families, school
district personnel, parent networks and training networks;
- Implementing Reading and Math
Improvement Initiatives focused on closing the gap for students
with disabilities;
- Researching the impact of
graduation requirements on students with disabilities to assist in
further policy development;
- Providing deaf, deaf-blind or
blind students who are matriculated in degree granting post secondary
programs with state-funded grants in order to assist them in obtaining access to
supports necessary for academic success;
- Conducting two statewide preschool
special education training programs for preschool special
education providers one such program focused on aligning learning activities for preschool
students with disabilities to the NYS learning standards.
The second program addressed the use of
the preschool program quality indicators in order to support
continuous quality improvement activities. Twenty-three preschool
special education programs received grant awards in order to integrate the key
concepts from the training programs into their preschool special
education programs. Reported grant activities included
professional development programs geared to developing and implementing early
literacy and early math activities that are linked to the standards.
Topics identified by a "Program Self-assessment Guide" aided in
educating staff on:
- sharing effective practices
on standards based instruction; and
- self-improvement activities
on various program components such as:
- record keeping and reporting
- family involvement
- student assessment
- integration of related services
- Implementing a Preschool
Longitudinal Study in order to determine the long-term effects of
preschool special education programs; and
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