US report on testing accommodations
In November the US Government Accounting Office (GAO) released a report entitled "Improved Federal Enforcement Needed to Better Protect Students' Rights to Testing Accommodations" of a study it performed at the behest of representatives to the US Congress. Based on interviews with individuals with disabilities, educators, advocates, commercial testing companies, and others, the report provides brief insight into testing accommodations at the secondary and post-secondary level and recommendations for government action based on its findings. Interested readers may download a one-page summary of the report from the GAO office.
Deborah Speece Appointed Commissioner of National Center for Special Education Research
Deborah L. Speece was named as the Commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) on 23 August 2011. NCSER is the leading branch of the US government's effort to study educational innovation in special education and, as its head, Commissioner Speece will oversee a program that funds scores of research efforts including projects, evaluations, and multi-site centers throughout the US. She is the second commissioner of NCSER, and her appointment was greeted with substantial approval by the special education research community.
IES Director John Q. Easton announced the appointment of Deborah Speece as Commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) effective August 23, 2011. Known for her innovative studies of the classification and diagnosis of learning disabilities, Speece is a national leader in special education research and response to intervention strategies.
Full US IDEA funding proposed again
Over on On Special Education Nirvi Shah reported that Senator Tom Harkin and colleagues once again introduced a bill proposing that the US federal government pay its full (i.e., 40%) share of the costs of special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Read her post, "Bill Would Boost Federal Spending on Students with Disabilities."
Prevalence of developmental disorders
Coleen Boyle and colleagues from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau reported in Pediatrics that, although data about the prevalence of developmental disabilities in the US are scarce, results from surveys conducted during the years 1997-2008 reveal that disabilities are both common and their prevalence is changing. Some results would surprise few (e.g., boys were more frequently reported to have problems than girls), but other results might make people wonder (e.g., the prevalence of hearing disorders reportedly decreased).
Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in US Children, 1997–2008
OBJECTIVE: To fill gaps in crucial data needed for health and educational planning, we determined the prevalence of developmental disabilities in US children and in selected populations for a recent 12-year period.
Assistant Executive Director at CEC
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) annouced a search for an individual to serve as an assistant executive director and take responsibility for leading the team at CEC that provides professional development services. CEC's Professional Development Services Team covers a host of important activities at CEC, including the convention, continuing education (e.g., the popular "Webinars"), publications (including the journals such as Exceptional Children), and much more. CEC is seeking someone with an advanced degree and experience in special education.
This is an unusual opportunity to provide leadership in one of the leading organizations focused on special education in the world. It comes at a time when professional development services are changing rapidly and CEC can play an important role in contributing to postive progress for special educators and the children, youth, and families they serve.
Learn more about the position of Assistant Executive Director for Professional Development Services at CEC by downloading a PDF announcing the position vacancy. Learn more about CEC and it's professional development activities by visiting Professionl Development section of CEC's Web site.
Milwaukee parents allege voucher program discriminates against students with disabilities
Should students with disabilities get to use vouchers, too? Should private schools have to accept them? Some parents say some private schools aren't taking vouchers from students with disabilities and they are complaining.
Journalists reported that the parents of children with disabilities in Milwaukee (WI, US) and the American Civil Liberties Union have complained to the US Deaprtment of Justice that a Milwaukee school program permitting parents to choose schools discriminates against students with disabilities. According to the complaint, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program "discriminated against students with disabilities and segregated those students in one portion of the publicly funded educational system." The statistical basis for the argument is that 1.6% of students in the voucher-supported schools have disabilities, but nearly 20% of the students in the public schools have disabilities.
Kauffman’s ‘Science’ book recognized
Toward a Science of Education: The Battle Between Rogue and Real Science by James M. Kauffman was named the winner in the Education/Academics section of 2011 International Book Awards (IBA). JPX Media Group announced the winners and finalists of the IBA on 11 May 2011 in Los Angeles (CA, US).
In his summary of his book, Professor Kauffman wrote
Arizona on-line MA in special ed
The University of Arizona announces a new, fully online MA in special education (General Studies). This 36-unit program includes courses on behavioral support, cultural and linguistic diversity, language development, special services, foundations, and research methods. Specialization areas include learning disabilities, sensory impairments, challenging behaviors, autism spectrum disorder, or gifted students. Courses can be taken from anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world.
Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2011 semester. The program does not lead to teacher certification.
More information can be found at Arizona's Online Master’s Degree in Special Education
William Conley Rhodes, II, 1918-2011
William Conley Rhodes, II, died 18 February 2011 in The Villages (US, FL). Professor Rhodes, who was born in 14 November 1918 in Willets (LA, US), had a long career advocating for alternative perspectives about emotional and behavioral disorders.
Before his academic career, Professor Rhodes served in the US Army, achieving the rank of Captain. He completed bachelors and masters degrees at Emory University and took a doctoral degree in psychology from The Ohio State University. Professor Rhodes began his academic career at Vanderbilt University in the 1950s, working with Nicholas Hobbs. He then joined Eli Bower at the National Institute of Mental Health before going to the University of Michigan. After teaching and conducting research at the University of Michigan until 1980, Professor Rhodes finished his academic career as a senior scholar and visiting professor at the University of South Florida, where he taught until 2005.
An early paper in Exceptional Children by Professor Rhodes established his views about the reciprocal connection between children and their communities. Professsor Rhodes' work on the Conceptual Project in Child Variance while at the University of Michigan in the early 1970s had substantial impact on special education for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The project resulted in a multi-volume publication called A Study of Child Variance that presented perspectives on EBD based on conceptual models popular at that time—biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, sociological, and ecological—and that ultimately set him on a path to adopting a view that taking a critical view was better than taking any particular theoretical view. His early-career interest in ecological approaches progressed into a later-career embrace of liberatory theory and post-modernism.
Professor Rhodes was the son of William and Nell Rhodes. He is survived by his wife, Estelle Smith Rhodes, whom he met and married in 1942; their children William Rhodes, III, Joseph Rhodes, Naomi Rhodes, and Trisha Rhodes; siblings; and eleven grandchildren.
Rhodes, W. C. (1967). The disturbing child: A problem of ecological management. Exceptional Children, 33, 449-455.
Rhodes, W. C. (1975). A study of child variance. Vol. 4: The future. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Rhodes, W. C., & Head, S. (Eds.) (1974). A study of child variance. Vol. 3: Service devlivery systems. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Rhodes, W. C., & Paul, J. L. (1978). Emotionally disturbed and deviant children: New views and approaches. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Rhodes, W. C., & Tracy, M. (Eds.) (1974a). A study of child variance. Vol. 1: Conceptual models. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Rhodes, W. C., & Tracy, M. (Eds.) (1974b). A study of child variance. Vol. 2: Interventions. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
(My thanks to the Rhodes children for sharing recollections of their father's life with me and to Jim Paul for his help with some of these facts.—JohnL)
Melvin D. Levine, 1940-2011
Dr. Melvin D. Levine, a widely known pediatrician who championed learning differences among children, died 17 February 2011 in Rougemont (NC, US) at age 71 years. Dr. Levine developed an extensive following for his views about atypical learning through his writing and lecturing while he practiced at Children's Hospital in Boston (MA, US) and the Center for Development and Learning and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (NC, US).
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