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Problems & Paradoxes

How Do We Frame & Remedy Obstacles to FAPE, LRE, and Inclusive Education?

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  • Minow, M. (1990)

    • Difference as a comparative term- It implies reference: A short person is only different in relation to a tall person. We compare the unstated norms by comparing opposites such as gender, language, disability, lifestyle, and religion. When traits stand out and we identify those who do not “fit in,” we then reconsider how to construct and manage the environment.

    • Laws and Programs- Bilingual education is to provide instruction as a basic civil right. Bilingual Education Act- Equal Opportunity Act are laws that enforce this action. ESL programs in schools-> Short term segregation in schools that were created o provide long-term integration in the classroom and mainstream society.  Special Education and those with Disabilities- All Handicapped Children 504 Rehabilitation Act- forbids discrimination on the basis of a handicap by programs receiving federal assistance.

    • Other Contexts- Gender discrimination- divorce and maternity leave with females who have children. Religious Discrimination- Observance of religious holidays and the workweek. Same-sex couple discrimination- child custody and the exclusion in the social aspect.

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  • Artiles, A. J., & Kozleski, E. B. (2007)

    • Three principles of inclusive education accomplishment- Access and Meaningful Participation-   Access creates the opportunity for learning to occur, and it also makes boundaries within the context permeable through shared discourse, activity, and apprenticeship. Access provides scaffolds between and among students and the content. Praxis- the coupling of critical reflection and action (Artiles&Kozleski, 2007).  Inclusive praxis requires naming and discussing current practices and engaging in ongoing inquiry to ensure that the process of inclusivity continues to guide and shape the work of the school community. Authenticity- inclusive educational contexts provide authentic processes to assess and make meaning of student learning when we are responsive to the lives and needs of students and reflect on appropriate action.

    • Transformative agenda- inclusive education must infuse a critical transformative agenda into its project that interrogates and aims to change historical inequities.  A transformative agenda should be intellectual, morally, and politically motivated and aim within the classroom cultures. inclusive education requires a transformation in curriculum and inclusive education requires a transformation in curriculum and pedagogy, since the very point of view that anchors the curriculum shifts from a generalized, dominant culture perspective to a pluralistic and cosmopolitan one (Banks & Banks, 2005)

    • Ethnicity further complicates the special education story. The disproportionate representation of ethnic minority students has been an enduring problem.  The parameters of race and disability intersect with problems within education and how our society treats differences. It is necessary to recognize; therefore, the role power has played in constructing these forms of difference throughout history.

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  • Beatty, M. L. (2013)

    • Certiorari is the process for seeking judicial review issued by a superior higher court directing an inferior court that agrees to review. It is important for due process in making sure student rights and “appropriateness” of education is valid. By granting certiorari it gives the court the authority to correct the higher court’s misunderstanding of procedural due process and FAPE.

    • Todd County- A student suspended for 38 days prior to a change in placement from the IEP team. The student had a disciplinary decision of suspension which was not supposed to be long term. Within the suspension, the IEP changed the student’s placement to two hours per day of instruction in an afterschool program. The suspension was lifted as the student’s placement was changed. The Eighth Circuit reversed this decision, insisting that by changing his placement from the school that suspended him to an alternative setting, he was limited to the IEP teams and not the school board's decision on placement back to his regular setting.

    • The Rowley decision ultimately set forth a two-prong test to determine whether FAPE has been met. The holding specified that states must first comply with all procedural requirements of the IDEA, such as creating an IEP in conformity with the Act's provisions. Once this has been met, the court's role is to then evaluate whether the child's IEP is "reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits."  FAPE to myself means that each student within a given district is provided with an education that is modified and accommodates their needs. This means using the resources available to districts provided by the money in which districts are paid for special education students.

 

The meaning of difference is a relative term that compares one aspect of one thing to an aspect in which another thing does not have or display.  This word like many others has turned within the social aspect as one that denies others the rights and freedoms that others have due to differences. These differences are present within relationships in society, therefore, they are present in the school setting. With bilingual and special education, schools struggle to deal with children defined as different without stigmatizing them. Schools have set out to try to include all students and there are many ideas in which some feel as though classrooms and instruction should be set up to teach these children. To accomplish inclusion in the classroom instruction should be meaningful, reflect praxis, and be authentic to the environment. The inclusive education literature, particularly the work that focuses on whole-school approaches, is based on the notion of a community of learning that stresses a social practice paradigm of learning (Artiles et al., in press).  When students are not included in the mainstream setting, then these students have certain individual rights. These right for special education students is clearly defined and left to the spirit and the letter of the law to guide in decision making. For other students, their rights are defined but not as openly or clearly as special education. While the Supreme Court has not addressed the issue of "appropriateness" since the Rowley decision, some courts have interpreted a more substantial, heightened-benefit standard that substantiates the growing emphasis on education and the rights of the disabled.   

 

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