Educating children with disabilities is among the most challenging parts of any school system’s mission. Special educators are responsible for delivering a “free and appropriate public education” to 6 million students nationwide with a wide range of complex needs—and do it while navigating the mandates of federal law and often-fraught interactions with parents.
This Education Week special report takes a schoolhouse-level view at the nation’s special education system, with a focus on the experience of educators and students alike. It explores issues such as the crucial shortage of special education teachers, how co-teaching strategies enhance the effectiveness of special education and grade-level teachers alike, the growing role of technology in serving students with disabilities, how parents are using new tools and strategies to advocate for their children, and more.
It also showcases students who offer first-hand insights into how the special education system has helped—or fallen short—in preparing them on the path toward college and careers.
Fifth grade teacher Kara Houppert, left, and special education teacher Lauren Eisinger co-teach a class at Naples Elementary School in Naples, N.Y.
Benjamin Morin, 8, second from left, has a meal with his mother and father, Amanda and Jon Morin, and his brother Jacob Lewis at their home in Scarborough, Maine. Both boys are what is known as “twice exceptional” students, with disabilities and high academic skills.
Eighth grader Ella Griffith-Tager, of Northampton, Mass., was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was in 1st grade. She says the level of support she’s received for her needs has varied year to year, and even school to school, in the course of her educational career so far.
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