What happens if the majority is special education students in the mainstream school?

Question

Would that be bad? Does that mean that there would be a lot of self-contained classrooms?

Don't give me an answer that says "it will never happen". It could happen and when it does what happens?

Does that mean that the majority don't have to take state exams? Special education students' standards are lower than general education students. Therefore No Child Left Behind Act would be completely useless.

Answer 1

hmmm, first off, state laws are different regarding state exams. i know in california specifically, special ed students do NOT need to pass the CAHSEE to graduate.

hm, personally, i dont support mainstreaming and/or inclusive schools, because i think neither party benefits from this.

in both cases, students are put into normal classrooms. granted, some of them will function better in those enviornments. however, most will not.

special education students require more attention from the teachers, and this disrupts education for the rest of the class. normal students will not be properly taught, since the teacher will have too much of her time dedicated to one or two students.

meanwhile, the special education student also requires someone with knowledge of special education, and most normal teachers do not have this. therefore, the special ed student will still not be getting the attention he requires.

overall, i think that for those special education students who are independent, such as those with learning disabilities, i support mainstreaming and inclusion for them. however, self contained classrooms is a good solution, especially for those who are emotionally/mentally retarded and require additional care. those students would only disrupt the rest of the class, both in mainstream and inclusive schools, and make it a lose situation.

Answer 2

I guess 'anything is possible' as they say, but I highly doubt that ANY public school would EVER have MOSTLY special ed kids.

Schools all over the country fight parents to no end to keep the children OUT of special ed.

Schools take parents to court to keep from helping their child thru special ed, using the parents own tax dollars.  They sometimes go thru every court , up to the highest one.

Schools pay thousands and thousands of dollars to hire lawyers to fight the parents to keep their children out of special ed,

when they could have used just a fraction of that money to just go ahead and help the child.

Sure is funny how the educational field has the 'dumbest' people I've ever seen.

No matter if the school has mostly sped kids or not, they still have to follow the federal special ed law IDEA  and have every special ed child in the reg ed classroom with the other reg kids to determine if the sped child can progress in that setting.

If the sped kid does not progress, THEN  they are placed in the self contained classrooms, other schools, etc. Anywhere that would help them to progress.

Some schools put the sped children in the self contained classrooms from the start and not even give the child a chance to see if they will progress in the regular ed class. This is illegal.

From the common sense side of it (which is the opposite of the 'law' side of it LOL) ,,   the child should be FIRST  placed where they will progress no matter where that is, instead of automatically being in the reg ed classroom, especially when the parents and the school KNOWS the child will NOT progress in the reg ed classroom.

I don't know for certain if sped kids do not have to take the NCLB state testing. I have heard yes and no. But I have never read the exact law stating this.

I have read on front page of yahoo news that in GA the schools are not counting the sped kids scores so their scores will be higher so they can get more money, and the state dept of education is allowing this to happen with no repercussions.

The whole NCLB c**p has shattered education as a whole and I wish they would get rid of it.

Answer 3

Are you a special education student?   I have read a lot of your posts.  You really have a hard time putting together coherent sentences.

You also never really look for information, instead you choose the answer from a person who states the same misinformation you believe. If you aren't really interested in the information, why bother posting at all?

Answer 4

I think it would be helpful for you to read the definitions of "mainstream" and "self-contained."  I think it would then be helpful for you to read the No Child Left Behind Act.  Finally, it would be helpful for you to read the special education testing alternative policies for your state.  The reason it is difficult to answer your question is because the factual premise is mistaken.  I am curious about what you are really trying to ask.  Are you mad about something?