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Thursday, April 5, 2007
Georgia’s Special Education System Is Broken
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite an individualized education plan and supposed accountability, public schools in Georgia did not, could not and would not teach my daughter to read. Only when I put her in private programs did she begin reading.
I have worked for 12 years to hold the public schools accountable to help all children learn, but the system is broken.
In a recent case I’ve been working on, a Fulton County public school praised the progress of a 10-year-old with high normal intelligence who could only read 100 words in isolation. Yet, this 10-year-old passed the state-mandated tests last year because teachers read the questions to him. The sad truth is this child could be taught to read.
I have helped parents in so many counties, and I see similar situations every day. I’ve worked with parents who moved to Georgia and were appalled at the ineffectiveness of special education here. Our state is known as a hub of high school dropouts because the schools do not adequately educate children and continue to give worthless special education diplomas to students with normal IQs.
Georgia is disabling these children. How can we continue allowing it?
Today’s guest blogger is a Dunwoody special education advocate who supports giving students with disabilities taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers to attend private schools. If you’re interested in being a guest blogger here, submit an entry on any education topic to bgutierrez@ajc.com.
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