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December 20, 2004

Columbus Public

In December the Inidividuals with Disabilities Act was reauthorized and still no exemption for special ed kids was included; they must perform to their age level. A high school kid who may not be able to sign his own name must be able to take a test with a bunch of other kids his age or bring down the class average and make the school fail. That makes sense.

If that weren't enough, Bill Bush of the Columbus Dispatch wrote yesterday that this reauthorization also prompts a Columbus city-wide reinforcement of a ridiculous level of qualification of special-education teachers (much greater than that of their general education counterparts) and may make 1/2 of the 600 teachers eligible for lay-off:
A letter will go out next month to the parents of Columbus special-education students in the seventh through 12th grades saying that their teachers are not highly qualified, even though some have advanced degrees and decades of experience working with children who have disabilities.

The teachers then have until mid-April to become highly qualified, which could mean months of college course work, professional development or online training. If they don't, their lower ratings will be repeated on the schools' state report card.
Good job person of the year.

Why would anyone go near such a system for employment?

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