RESOURCES

VCASE’s “Visit to the Hill”:  
Influencing the Future for the Students

Sheila B. Bailey

 

Despite temperatures that hovered several degrees beyond the century mark in mid-July, Marylou Wall, VCASE Executive Director, Jim Gallagher, VCASE President-Elect, and I journeyed to Washington, DC for the privilege of representing VCASE at the annual CASE Special Education Leadership Conference.  We spent Sunday afternoon and all day the following Monday preparing for the “visit to the hill” to meet with as many legislators as possible in one day to advocate on issues that are important to our VCASE membership.

 

The time invested in preparing for the visit was especially critical given the fact that our arrival date placed us in the midst of intense budget deficit negotiations in Congress.  We were challenged to tailor our message for an audience who was, undoubtly, focused on the fiscal issues gripping the nation.  The appointments were strategically planned to facilitate movement from office-to-office, engage in dialogue that highlighted our concerns, and provide packets that contained research and data that supported our position(s).  Additionally, we all left business cards with contact information to encourage further discussion.

 

A major component of our focused meetings centered around the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  While there is agreement that benefit has been derived from NCLB, significant areas of concern remain.  The inclusion of students with disabilities in state’s accountability systems is an example of unquestionable benefits with the need to address details that do not yield positive results for children.  

 

CASE has stated in their “Elementary and Secondary Education Act Talking Points, July 2011” that CASE believes it is extremely important that the goals and provisions of the ESEA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are carefully aligned to promote success for ALL students.  Case continues to believe it is important for these two very significant laws to send consistent messages in terms of expectations as it relates to assessment and accountability measures of student growth and administrator and teacher effectiveness.  

 

CASE’s enduring concerns are clearly noted under the following six main areas of focus for ESEA Reauthorization with recommendations that include, but are not limited to:

 

1. Improving Student Achievement ~ CASE recommends:

• Language that promotes collaboration among general and special educators.
• Continuous support and funding for embedded quality professional development and coaching for all educators connecting effective research-based educational practices to assessment, instruction and collaboration

2. System of Data Collection and Management to Ensure Accountability and Effective Measurement of Student Performance and Achievement ~ CASE recommends:

• Any assessment required by ESEA should be administered to students with disabilities within the parameters specified in the students’ IEPs.  Accommodations stated in the IEP and used throughout the year should be allowed during testing.
• Use of effective measures of achievement for all students in determining adequate yearly progress (AYP).
• Use of an accountability calculation (AYP) that is sensitive to, and accounts for, students who do not fit in the category defined a “significant cognitive disability”.
• Maintaining the use of alternate assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities (1% group).  Include proficiency on alternate core content standards and student’s progress on functional life skills.  

3. Improving Administrator and Teacher Effectiveness  ~ CASE recommends:

• Continued support for the High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) for all special educators.
• Local control in designing flexible performance-evaluation instruments to address the wide range of specialized roles and responsibilities of educators, administrators and specialized instructional support personnel.  

4. College and Career Ready Students ~ CASE recommends:

• Changing AYP calculations to include those students earning a diploma or completing other approved educational programs in more than four years.
• Recognition of other state-approved and awarded diplomas in addition to the standard or advanced diplomas.
• Increased funding to support transition activities and a wide array of academic and vocational opportunities for students with disabilities.

5. Charter Schools ~ CASE recommends:

• Charter schools that are part of a local education agency (LEA) must guarantee that students with disabilities are served in the same manner as those served in other schools of the LEA, including the provision of supplementary and related services.
• The SEA providing funds to charter schools should be responsible for ensuring that state and federal requirements (including IDEA requirements) are met unless state law assigns that responsibility to another agency.  Charter schools should be held to the same accountability standards as public schools.  

6. Funding and Resources for Effective Implementation of ESEA Reauthorization ~ CASE recommends:

• Full ESEA funding at the authorized levels.  Federal commitment to financial resources and technical assistance to fully achieve the goals of ESEA will ensure states and districts can continue the important areas of effective implementation.  It is evident that state and local districts cannot continue to assume the increasing burden of funding federal mandates given current severe budget reductions at the state and district levels.

CASE is supporting a comprehensive, integrated approach to reauthorizing ESEA that includes evidence-based instruction and interventions, meaningful measures of student growth, accountability of educators and administrators geared toward effective instruction with a long term focus on student experiences and achievement that supports post-secondary goals and increased student growth and success.

 

Virginia CASE appealed to Virginia’s representatives in both the Senate and House to carefully consider these recommendations, so that students with disabilities in the Commonwealth will continue to receive an individualized education based upon their unique needs.  VCASE believes that our students benefit from rigorous, evidence-based instruction that’s monitored and measured fairly and effectively through the state’s accountability systems.  

 

Dr. Sheila Bailey is the Director of Special Education for Hopewell City Public Schools and President of VCASE.