Washington Post: Differentiated Learning Classroom

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SPECIAL EDUCATION

School to Serve as Differentiated Learning

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021802126.htmlBy V. Dion Haynes

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, February 19, 2008;

Page B02

D.C. Schools Chancellor A. Rhee

plans to establish an experimental program that would offer customized

lessons for disabled, regular and gifted students in the same

classroom, a key component of her strategy to reduce exorbitant special

education costs.

Rhee's proposal would launch a "differentiated learning" laboratory

at West Elementary School in Northwest Washington, then replicate it

citywide. Under the proposal, which is being met with skepticism from

some West teachers and parents, the system would hire a private

special-education school to run the program.

The proposal is among several actions Rhee is taking to overhaul

special education, which for years has lacked high-quality programs for

learning-disabled and physically disabled students. The system spends

about $137 million on private school tuition annually for about 2,400

children (out of more than 9,400 disabled students) whom it cannot

serve in the public schools.

Since 2006, the D.C. public schools have been under a federal court

order to eliminate a backlog of more than 1,000 decisions from hearing

officers regarding placement of students in special education programs.

The order stemmed from a consent decree that settled a class-action

suit filed by parents protesting the system's long delay in providing

services for the students.

Federal law requires schools to practice "inclusion" -- putting

special education students in regular classrooms whenever possible -- a

mandate the system has ignored in countless cases, advocates say. Under

differentiated learning or differentiated instruction, an approach that

has been used in schools in Prince 's and Montgomery

counties and across the nation over the past decade, students are

grouped in the same classroom according to their ability levels and

learning styles. They get the same lesson but are given different

assignments and tasks based on their abilities.

For instance, a third-grade class in St. Louis recently was assigned to report on Luther King Jr.,

with some students writing a timeline, others illustrating pages and

others comparing the era of the slain civil rights leader to today.

Rhee is proposing to go a step further than most other districts

using the concept. She wants to treat all students in the

differentiated instruction classrooms much like special education

students, with each getting an education plan outlining how teachers

would address the child's specific strengths, weaknesses and learning

style.

Special education "is about individualization of instruction -- that

is going to be the overarching theme of these schools. Every kid --

gifted kids -- need really good individualization," Rhee said in an

interview. "All kids will benefit when we're operating in that manner."

Education experts across the country who have worked with the

learning strategy say that it generally can work for all groups of

students but that they have not seen it practiced the way Rhee wants to

use it.

"Our reading scores, language arts scores and math scores were

higher with differentiation than before differentiation," said Lane

Narvaez, principal of Conway Elementary School in St. Louis, which has

been using the strategy for eight years. "The scores are higher because

we're taking kids from where they are and moving them forward. . . .

Students are challenged at their level."

Kim Y. , executive director of D.C.-based Advocates for Justice

and Education, which negotiates on behalf of parents to help them get

better school services for their disabled children, said she supports

the concept of integrating special and regular education students.

But she expressed strong concern that Rhee's proposal could limit

the parents' right to retain their child in a special education

classroom if they deemed that a better option.

And with Rhee seeking to hire private schools to run the programs,

said the proposal could increase expenses instead of reducing

them.

"Contracting with a [private] school to run it -- that's going to

cost money," said. "I don't know whether they're going to get the

savings they're looking for."

Rhee is seeking a private school for the West program because the

D.C. public school system does not have the capacity to run it,

according to the chancellor's spokeswoman, Mafara Hobson.

Rhee said she has not determined how much the system would pay the

private school or how much the approach would save in special education

costs.

In addition to her West proposal, Rhee is expanding a program that

provides early intervention for students having academic troubles so

that they won't have to go into special education. And she is

introducing $6 million in new spending for more mental health programs

and more nationally recognized models for addressing disabilities, part

of an agreement stemming from the federal court order.

Hobson said Rhee is considering Kingsbury Day School to run the

program at West. Kingsbury, on 14th Street NW, has served children and

adults with learning disabilities and differences since 1938. Some

parents and teachers who recently met with Rhee said she told them that

Kingsbury withdrew because it has no expertise with regular and gifted

students. M. Isselhardt, the school's chief executive, did not

return phone calls seeking comment.

Rhee said her aim, in addition to improving special education

programs, is to draw more students to West, boosting its enrollment

from 190 to its capacity of 280 and adding grades seven and eight.

Parents and teachers at West said Rhee told them at the recent meeting

that the school would close if a partner is not found.

The contractor or contractors selected for West and other schools,

she said, would determine whether the program would be used in a few

classrooms or the entire building. She said she would use much of the

current teaching staff at West, as well as others with expertise in

educating disabled students in regular classrooms.

"Teachers and principals from across the city would be able to come

in, get professional development and be able to go out to their schools

and utilize the best practices in their own classrooms," Rhee said.

Sherilyn Pruitt, who has two children at West, said she thinks the

proposal is an innovative way to keep the school open, although she

said other parents are concerned that the school could become too

focused on special education and that students with behavior problems

would be "dumped" there.

"The fact that classes are going to . . . have extra resources for

[learning disabled] and gifted students -- I'm hopeful it will be

good," she said.

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