Grouping Special Education Students for Scheduling Purposesby Lyn Newton | More from this Blogger 14 Aug 2007 01:55 PM Scheduling is always a big task for schools. Many schedules have to be created at the beginning of each school year. The task is even more complicated when new positions are added or old positions are taken away. Cafeteria schedules must be created. A schedule for the teachers' plan periods is also a must. In addition, special people such as instructional assistants and special education teachers require a schedule to follow. With a limited number of hours in the day and many people to accommodate, some schools find themselves in a jam when it comes to creating a schedule for everyone. Principals begin looking for ways to save time and compact the schedule. One area in which many schools are now addressing when it comes to the schedule is special education. By law, special education children must be serviced by special education teachers or assistants. Because many of these children are now spending the day in the regular classroom instead of being pulled out, special education teachers are required to cover a lot of ground. My school has nine grade levels. It is very likely that in any given year at least eight of the grades will have one or more special education children. It can be very difficult for one or two special education teachers to service all of the children separately. My school, along with many others, has been forced to attempt to group children with special needs together. For example, all children in third grade that are serviced by special education are placed in one classroom. This way the special education teacher or assistant can visit one third grade class instead of three or four. I can see both pros and cons to this method of grouping students. It would be virtually impossible for the special education program personnel at my school to visit every classroom. However, grouping all special needs children in one classroom can be overwhelming for the teacher. In most cases, the teacher-student ratio in these classes is smaller than the others. This, in addition to having an additional special education person visit the room, can aid the teacher greatly. Labeling Special Education Students Learn more about Lyn Newton  Lyn is a kindergarten teacher and mommy to a girl and a boy. In her spare time, she enjoys informative and creative writing. Relevanteducation tags User Comments Penny50 (6) 13 Jun 2008 01:58 PMI agree that scheduling is a big task for schools. However, when a child has been identified as a student with special needs, they should be provided the best possible learning experience. I believe this is known as ‘least restrictive.’ School districts have a responsibility to provide services. School districts are hard-up for cash. I realize students are placed in small classrooms for pull out. Occasionally, classroom teachers request that the special education teacher provide services in the classroom. I am a first grade teacher who would prefer my students receive special education services in the classroom. An inclusive classroom. I understand that sometimes pull-out is necessarily based on the individual needs of the student. Last year I had four special education students. The special education teacher, upon my request, provided these students with support in the classroom. Then along came another identified student with special needs that required pull-out. My four students were yanked from our room because the district was unable to provide the funding for the new student. Yes, one student deserves the same rights as my four. It is so frustrating though! This coming school year, my one special education student will receive math pull-out along with four forth grade students. Why? Two reason…. The part time special education teacher is unavailable for servicing their special education students in the afternoon. They also wear the hat of part time principle. This means then that the full time special education teacher with the task of balancing five, totally different students with services. Four fourth graders and a first grader? How is that going to work? Please, someone explain least restrictive environment. rajesh (25) 12 Sep 2008 10:34 AMIt is true that the teaching nowadays requires more preparation, patience and time. At the elementary level, we can try something different. Why not visit www.K5Stars.com and see? Community Tags 1e07a6c3 Discuss this article
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