Special education reform met with strong opposition

DES MOINES — One size doesn’t fit all is the argument Iowa educators and educational advocates are making to a proposal from the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to change the way special education teachers are certified in the state.

“Everyone present here today can agree that more special educators are necessary, but as you can see from the number of special educators and parents in attendance, there are some concerns to the proposed solution to this problem,” said Michael Couvillon, a Drake University professor who spoke on behalf of the school’s education department.

Couvillion’s comments were made during a public hearing Wednesday held by IBBE that contained a standing room only crowd.

The board of examiners is proposing a singular K-12 special education license in the state. Currently, Iowa teachers can teach special education under a strategist I certification, which covers K-8 students, or a strategist II certification, which covers 5-12 students.

This proposed change would not only affect potential special education teachers, but it also wouldn’t grandfather in practicing special education teachers in the state. Instead, once those teachers current certifications expire, they would be required to take additional courses to fall in line with the new standards.

IBEE’s plan also doesn’t specify if the state, school districts or if the teachers themselves would have to pay for the courses to earn the new certification.

Representatives from Drake weren’t the only ones to blast the proposal — education department heads from Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, Central College, Grand View University, Simpson College and Buena Vista University also spoke out on the measure.

Carl Smith, ISU’s associate director of administration, said his school currently has 50 full-time faculty members and a number of adjuncts under employment, but this proposal would force them to hire more staff. He said this would be financially difficult for an institution as large as ISU, and that it could be crippling to the state’s smaller colleges and universities.

“We understand the proposed change is an intent to address the hiring difficulty by school administrators due to the special ed teacher shortage across Iowa; however, hiring relief for districts through a single special education credential should not overshadow the unique need of students being served,” said Jennifer Ulie-Wells, who serves as Grand View University’s only special education professor.

“The increase in coursework places a heavy burden on colleges and universities, particularly small universities like ours. We have one person, that’s me, for our special ed department. It would require us to add further adjuncts and such a change might force smaller colleges and universities to stop offering a sped endorsement.”

Aside from schools, the Learning Disabilities Association of Iowa and some of its affiliates — International Dyslexia Association, Iowa’s Autism Speaks Chapters — opposed the measure.

In addition, the Iowa State Education Association, which represent more than 36,000 teachers, including those in the Newton Community Education Association, expressed its opposition.

“I can only come to conclude that there is a great possibility that (this) won’t solve the shortage, but that (this) will create a crisis shortage,” said Christy Hickman, ISEA’s legal counsel who spoke on behalf of the organization.

“We are going to create a bigger problem than we have now. Not only as you have heard from the experts in the field in teacher prep are we going to make it potentially more difficult and less desirable to go into special ed, we are going to alienate our veteran teachers.”

Other criticisms that were expressed included that by generalizing special education instruction, students won’t get the same quality of learning as they do from teachers whose primary training is tailored toward their grade level, and that there are no proven statistical measures to back this up.

While many pundits are outspoken in their distaste for the proposal, IBEE’s idea came about to serve multiple purposes. The board felt that by making a K-12 credential, it could entice more potential teachers to chose special education over general education, help lower Iowa’s special education achievement gap — where it falls toward the bottom nationally, and help give school districts more flexibility in teacher placement.

The board originally posted this proposal on the Iowa Administrative Bulletin on Sept. 3 Once a proposed rule change has been posted on the bulletin, it can become official 35 days after publication.

With the public hearing being held Wednesday, Friday will be the last day public comments can be submitted. A vote on implementation could happen by the second week of October.

“I think this is going to have a negative impact on future special education teachers. Who is going to want to become a special ed teacher if you have to have possibly two more years of education versus that of a gen ed teacher,” said Barbara Hackworth, NCEA president and a practicing special education teacher.

The Newton Community School District currently employs 40 special education teachers, and according to Tina Ross, associate director of secondary education and special programs for the district, the district has no opinion on the proposal as of yet.

Ross did comment that if the change did occur, teachers in Newton would fund fund their own renewal credits as they have done in the past as a part of their ongoing education.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 79-3121 Ext. 6532 or trushing@newtondailynews.com