Louisiana looking to close achievement gaps for students with disabilities
All students benefit from access to high-quality teaching and learning aimed at creating a lifetime of opportunity—including students with disabilities. The state of Louisiana is leading the nation with its commitment and state-wide approach to raising expectations and outcomes for students with disabilities.
New Solutions K12 had the honor of partnering with the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to develop its recently released Special Education Playbook for School System Leaders, which aims to ensure that all students with disabilities are challenged, held accountable, and provided with the necessary tools and support to reach their maximum potential. The Playbook offers a set of best practices and a call to action to close achievement gaps for students with disabilities and is a valuable resource for leaders and educators throughout the state, condensing years of research into three best instructional practices to support students with disabilities.
The article below shares more information about LDOE’s approach and the playbook’s release. Congratulations to the LDOE team and all Louisiana educators for leading the way in this important work!
The following article, written by William Taylor Potter, was originally published in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser on August 21, 2023. It can be accessed here: https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2023/08/21/louisiana-seeks-to-close-achievement-gaps-for-students-with-disabilities/70612433007/
The Louisiana Department of Education is aiming to provide more resources and have more oversight of special education programs across the state, which could include taking over a school district's special education program if it has “systemic and/or continued areas of noncompliance."
Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley sent a letter to school systems in early August outlining some of the initiatives the state is putting into place, including a Special Education Playbook containing best practices, new support systems for districts and a state investigator who will work to ensure schools are providing required services for students.
“Students and families deserve high-quality programming and continuous improvement, and really this is just an opportunity for us to try to get better for those kids and families,” Brumley said during an interview Thursday.
As part of the revamped approach to special education, LDOE’s Division of Diverse Learners is holding collaborative meetings, monthly calls and monthly office hours with special education leaders. The state’s Special Education Fellow Academy also is helping two dozen new special education leaders, and the state is taking applications through Sept. 15 for its Aspiring Special Education Leader Academy for those who may want to lead special education programs in their school systems.
LDOE also is implementing a statewide supervision system to ensure technical assistance, monitoring and enforcement of local special education programs and compliance.
The state is expanding its support framework by offering statewide access to special education law and compliance training.
The letter also outlined steps LDOE will take if school systems have “systemic and/or continued areas of noncompliance” related to special education services. Under certain circumstances, the state may implement a Corrective Action Plan, where it would place a Special Master in the school system with “direct oversight authority over special educational programming” within the school system.
Appointing a Special Master would be reserved for situations where a district has “extensive, repeated, and/or high-level areas of concern.” The Special Master would be paid using the school system’s IDEA formula funding.
“I don’t think that has happened before,” Brumley said. “But if we see a system that has a significant challenge or repeated challenges, I am going to appoint a Special Master to have direct oversight over that particular special ed programming in that system.”
rumley said the state also is creating an ombudsman for special education and a complaint investigator who will examine complaints that schools or districts might not be providing required services.
“We have heard from some parents feeling like they would like us to step in a little more in terms of looking at tech compliance issues in systems,” Brumley said. “If a parent had a specific concern within a school system, and they wanted us to look into that — we have processes for that now, but this really just takes that to a higher level and gives parents additional access to resources at our agency.”
The Special Education Playbook — which is essentially a collection of best practices and plans to close achievement gaps for students with special needs — has drawn a lot of praise from education leaders from across the nation.
Robert Pasternack, former assistant secretary of education for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education, said the playbook offered “timely and cogent recommendations solidly grounded in evidence” in a statement. He also said it “cuts through the maze of information to focus on the heart of the matter for students with disabilities and their families, better instruction and support for improved results.”
“This resource brings forward both historic and new research-based practices and offers real solutions to many complex issues special education leaders and teachers face,” said Phyllis Wolfram, the executive director of Council of Administrators of Special Education Inc., in a statement. “The ‘playbook’ is concise and outlines instructional practices that all educational leaders should embrace.”