Science and Special Education
"We are commited to fostering a culture of inclusion and respect, where all students are valued for their unique contributions. Our goal is to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed and thrive in school and beyond"
- Kimberly Shearer, Director of Student Services Forest Grove School District Special Education Guiding Priniciples:
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Special Education History
In 1975, passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children (EAHC) Act guaranteed all children a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment. Prior to this deaf, blind, severly disabled, emotionally disabled, and intellectually disabled children were denied access to public schools and those with less obvious disabilities were taught in general education classrooms without any of the supports needed to thrive.
In the 1950s and 1960s parental advocacy groups began protesting the exclusion and lack of resources for students with disabilities. A series of both state and federal lawsuits led to the passage of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 of the act states, "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."
In 1990 EAHC Act was reauthorized and renamed the Individuals wit Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). "The stated purpose of the IDEA is:
During the 2018-2019 school year, more than 71 million students between the ages of 3 and 21 received services under IDEA, Part B. During the 2022-2023 school year 79,998 (14% of total enrollment) students aged 5-21 in Oregon recieved special education services. In that same year, 15% of students enrolled in the Forest Grove School District received special education services.
In 1975, passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children (EAHC) Act guaranteed all children a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment. Prior to this deaf, blind, severly disabled, emotionally disabled, and intellectually disabled children were denied access to public schools and those with less obvious disabilities were taught in general education classrooms without any of the supports needed to thrive.
In the 1950s and 1960s parental advocacy groups began protesting the exclusion and lack of resources for students with disabilities. A series of both state and federal lawsuits led to the passage of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 of the act states, "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."
In 1990 EAHC Act was reauthorized and renamed the Individuals wit Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). "The stated purpose of the IDEA is:
- to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living;
- to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children are protected;
- to assist States, localities, educational service agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for the education of all children with disabilities;
- to assist States in the implementation of a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families;
- to ensure that educators and parents have the necessary tools to improve educational results for children with disabilities by supporting system improvement activities; coordinated research and personnel preparation; coordinated technical assistance, dissemination, and support; and technology development and media services;
- to assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, efforts to educate children with disabilities."
During the 2018-2019 school year, more than 71 million students between the ages of 3 and 21 received services under IDEA, Part B. During the 2022-2023 school year 79,998 (14% of total enrollment) students aged 5-21 in Oregon recieved special education services. In that same year, 15% of students enrolled in the Forest Grove School District received special education services.
How I Got Involved in Special Education and This Project
Hi, my name is April Phuong. I am a 43 year old Biology Major. A couple of years ago while taking Marine Mammology, I told my study partners I was thinking about becoming a teacher, but wasn't sure. They told me they could absolutely see me as a teacher. With their encouragment I though more about it and decided I needed more experiance with students to help me make my decision. I applied to be an Istructional Assistant in my children's school district and was hired to work at Forest Grove High School just before the 2022-2023 school year.
What is an Istructional Assistant? You may know them as "paraeducators" or "paraprofessionals". In Forest Grove, we are called Instructional Assistants (IAs). Our job is to support students in the classroom. The Special Education IAs at the high school are assigned to a variety of classes throughout the day. We may be one-on-one for the higher support students or have a few lower support students we are responsible for. Our job is to make sure our IEP (Individual Education Plan) students are receiving their accomodations and are getting the tools they need to succeed. We are there to meet the students educational, social emotional, and behavioral
How the project started. Most of the IEP students have a tutorial class where they can get extra help with their classes. These tutorials are with a Special Education teachers and, usually, an IA. I was an IA in one of the tutorials with a student needing help in his Earth History class. It was a subject I was familar with, so I knew I could help him. One of the accomodations he has is that he gets a copy of the teacher's notes and can use them on the test. The notes were understandable to me, but I could see that the formatting needed to be simplified and the some of the language simplified. With permission from his teacher I changed her slides to have bullet points instead of paragraphs. I changed the font, increased the font size, and increased the spacing between the bullet points. Some slides were made into two slides to decrease the amount of information on each slide. With these simple changes, that student got an A on his next test.
What didn't really work. Another class I was assigned to was Conceptual Physics (CP). I did all of the same notes and assignments the students did and made those notes available to the tutorial classes. Unfortunately, that work was not as helpful as I had hoped. What seemed simple to me - only because of my science based college education - was more difficult for the SPED teachers and other IAs to understand.
The new plan. This school year, I resolved to do more than just what the students did.
Hi, my name is April Phuong. I am a 43 year old Biology Major. A couple of years ago while taking Marine Mammology, I told my study partners I was thinking about becoming a teacher, but wasn't sure. They told me they could absolutely see me as a teacher. With their encouragment I though more about it and decided I needed more experiance with students to help me make my decision. I applied to be an Istructional Assistant in my children's school district and was hired to work at Forest Grove High School just before the 2022-2023 school year.
What is an Istructional Assistant? You may know them as "paraeducators" or "paraprofessionals". In Forest Grove, we are called Instructional Assistants (IAs). Our job is to support students in the classroom. The Special Education IAs at the high school are assigned to a variety of classes throughout the day. We may be one-on-one for the higher support students or have a few lower support students we are responsible for. Our job is to make sure our IEP (Individual Education Plan) students are receiving their accomodations and are getting the tools they need to succeed. We are there to meet the students educational, social emotional, and behavioral
How the project started. Most of the IEP students have a tutorial class where they can get extra help with their classes. These tutorials are with a Special Education teachers and, usually, an IA. I was an IA in one of the tutorials with a student needing help in his Earth History class. It was a subject I was familar with, so I knew I could help him. One of the accomodations he has is that he gets a copy of the teacher's notes and can use them on the test. The notes were understandable to me, but I could see that the formatting needed to be simplified and the some of the language simplified. With permission from his teacher I changed her slides to have bullet points instead of paragraphs. I changed the font, increased the font size, and increased the spacing between the bullet points. Some slides were made into two slides to decrease the amount of information on each slide. With these simple changes, that student got an A on his next test.
What didn't really work. Another class I was assigned to was Conceptual Physics (CP). I did all of the same notes and assignments the students did and made those notes available to the tutorial classes. Unfortunately, that work was not as helpful as I had hoped. What seemed simple to me - only because of my science based college education - was more difficult for the SPED teachers and other IAs to understand.
The new plan. This school year, I resolved to do more than just what the students did.
- Created a shared drive for all of my work and made it available to the SPED teachers and other IAs.
- Using feedback from the teachers and IAs, I:
- Supplemented class materials with slides of my own breaking down the material
- Wrote out strategies for how to solve the math problems
- Tell EVRYBODY over and over again.
- Material that isn't known about isn't useful
- Joined the after school Homework Club
- I can help with most things, but...
- My strengths are biology, chemistry, astronomy, algebra, and data science
- Chemistry and data science help were especially welcomed
- Many of the science teachers have been reminding their students that Homework Club is one of many resources available to them
- Keep encouraging the SPED teachers to contact parents about Homework Club
- Add more science subjects to my library