The number of special education students in New York City public schools is rising at a staggering rate, increasing by some 18,000 students this year alone.
During the 2009-2010 school year, the district served 177,000 students, up from 159,000 the previous year. And the trend is expected to continue, with school district officials anticipating that 60 percent of new students next year will qualify for special education. Reasons for the growth are unclear.
Advocates, however, say something must be done to change how these students are being served, since graduation rates among special education students are lagging, reports NY1. To read more click here.
It seems clear that attending a NYCDOE school is, in and of itself, a disabling condition. There is no other explanation for this rise. The NYS Ed. Dept. announced last month that the rate of classification of kids as having disabilities rose significantly in NYS last year and that a full 70% of this rise came from the NYCDOE. But the NYCDOE has less than 40% of all NYS public school students. So obviously something very fishy is going on in New York City.
Some thoughts spring to mind, based on personal – personal! observation, any worth pursuing:
Language-often ESL students – expecially those in schools without a substantial ESL population, or with a focus on one language (Spanish, eg) serving a student with another (Vietnamese, eg) can lead to SpecEd placements.
In schools/districts serving higher soci-economic strata, spec ed has lost negative connotation, ASD/HFA is the Dx du jour, allowing access to many supports in and out of the class that otherwise would be unavailable (or paid by the parents – as in special karate or ballet)
In schools serving low socio-eco demographics, Title I allows better identification efforts. Furthermore, Spec Ed coupled w/LRE allows push-in remediation which benefits all the students in the class. Savvy administrators recognize that.
Also, remember the recent research that tied ASD clusters to word of mouth transmission of symptoms? We’re packed pretty tight here in the city… one wonders what the increases were in other urban parts of NY?