If the Rochester City School District is to have any chance of significantly increasing its graduation rate, it must improve outcomes for special-education students. To that end, the district is expanding its use of consultant teaching, which provides specialized help for students when needed.
Roughly 17.1 percent of city school students have some type of special-education classification — a wide-ranging label that includes students with severe disabilities to those with mild learning difficulties.
And a report released late last year by Metro Justice shows that special-education students in city schools have among the highest suspension rates, greatly encumbering their chances of graduating. The majority of those students, according to the report, are black and Hispanic.
Critics have also accused the district of over-classification: placing students in special ed. who might not need to be there.
Consultant teaching allows the district to individualize interventions, says Christopher Suriano, the district’s executive director of specialized services. You target a student’s specific need, instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.
“You could have a child that’s very strong, doing just fine in seventh-grade math,” says Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. “But that same child could have dyslexia — a writing and reading challenge. That child will do well with a consultant for some intensive services.”
The approach gives students the temporary help they need from a specialist, but allows them to stay with their peers in their regular classes. That appeals to many students and parents who fear the stigma of special-education classifications, which sometimes causes them to refuse services.
Consultant teaching is also more flexible and uses teachers who are specialized in the subject matter in which the student needs help.
The consultant teacher approach has been used in the Syracuse school district and is showing positive results, Suriano says. Graduation rates for special-education students increased from 34.7 percent in August 2012 to 41 percent in August 2014, he says.
During that same period, Rochester’s grad rate for special-education students climbed from 18.7 percent to 27 percent using some consultant teachers.
Over-classification is a completely different problem, Vargas says. It happens when intervention doesn’t start soon enough, he says. Prekindergarten is the time to work on language delays, speech impediments, and hurdles to reading so that the child can be declassified by the time he or she reaches third or fourth grade, he says.
“The goal is always to be moving toward declassification,” Suriano says.
This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2015.
“Consultant teaching is also more flexible and uses teachers who are specialized in the subject matter in which the student needs help.” I call BS to that statement. Special Education teachers are put all over the place, even in subject areas the teacher is not proficient enough to even help students. This district does not take into account teacher strengths (especially Special Education!) and puts us wherever there is “a hole to fill.” The HR dept. at Central Office would have been out of a job a long time ago if this were the private sector!!!!
Glen, it is pure BS. Most special ed teachers don’t even know what the hell a consultant teacher does. Basically you ( non direct CT) runs around and asks students teachers how they are doing in said student classes. The teacher will have to juggle his/her time to meet with the core teacher. Direct(CT) means that the teacher “checks” in with the student. The teacher may have to push into multiple classes during the same period- depending on his/her schedule. It’s a way to cut cost, and I am tired of how the RCSD continues to short change our kids. A teacher with no background in chemistry may be responsible in helping your child in chemistry. Excuse me, what the hell is this. Please read: I could barely skim this informercial set ’em up “article” give them garbage and dress it up in silk. How can I, a teacher who wants to give my kids what they need under this rubbish? Why do they take away what our kids desperately need time and time again? What about the older kids who were cheated out of learning how to read when they were younger? Only experienced reading teacher are able to supply these kids with intensive reading instruction that is, yes expensive, but works. Disgraceful. I wish parents would get radical and DEMAND that these educators wake up. Do a one day keep your kid home to make the point clear. Apparently the district looses money when a kid is absent. Maybe they will pay attention. It’s beyond heartbreaking to see these kids, with so much faux bravado be so fearful of words. Meanwhile the board decides to give themselves a generous paycheck, when most school boards don’t. CO should be a ghost town, if we can’t afford to teach ALL students how to read. Deplorable.
I seriously wonder how the RCSD sleeps at night. The ICOT model being eliminated by the district for the CT model REDUCES services to children. ITS a MONEY grab to cut 100 Special Education
Teachers! ICOT provides direct support for a kid in a REGULAR class 5 periods a day! The new and improved CT model that the district wants to sell will barely provide direct services 2 times a day and thats it! Follow the money and you will get answers my dear reporter!
From the time Mr Suriano started to work there, the minority of people who speak a second language fought against the IEPs not being complied with. We have told Vargas our concerns as well. Albany has come through to us to work in stopping the corruption, that is still ongoing. The suspensions are ongoing every day.
I found this article a total propaganda piece. This is clearly an attempt by the RCSD to get ahead of all of the bad publicity this is going to cause. Prediction: this is going to be a total train wreck for every student affected. Not only do the current ICOT classrooms help support learning for ALL students, but they help control behaviors which lead to students being sent to an in school suspension room or suspended from school (which we don’t do no matter how severe the offense). Both general education and special education students benefit from an ICOT classroom in many, many ways. Many elementary students with special needs require support throughout he whole school day in order to be successful. With the move away from ICOT where (in a good classroom) the teachers work collaboratively to make all student feel successful and make gains in the classroom, student with special needs will now have less support, which can only lead to less success. Parents are also going to be railroaded in this process, as every child’s IEP will now need to be changed to reflect this REDUCTION IN SUPPORT.
Oh, and for the record, at our building we were told by our CASE worker that this was “solely a financial decision by the district” and a “long term money solution for our Special Education Department”. So…. there’s the truth, what we are being told, and what the RCSD is telling the public. Which one of those fits this article?