Meeting the Needs of All Students: Amending the Idea to Support Special Education Students from Low-income Households

Introduction 794 I. Overview of the Individuals with Disabilities Act 797 A. Connecting Poverty, Disability, and Education 798 B. History and Evolution of Special Education Law 801 C. Overview of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 803 D. The Role of Parents in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 807 E. Barriers that Prevent Parents from Effectively Advocating for Their Children 810 1. Development of the Individualized Education Program and Unequal Bargaining Power of Parents Compared to Schools 811 2. Financial Inability to Retain Council 814 F. Consequences of Unequal Enforcement 818 II. Proposals to Address the Shortcomings of the Individuals with Disabilities Act 819 A. Burden Shifting Prior to Individualized Education Program Implementation 820 B. Putting Parents in Touch with Each Other 822 C. Addition of a Legal Advocate to the IEP Team 824 III. Addition of a Special Education Counselor as a Family Advocate 875 A. Elimination of the Mandatory Regular Education Teacher 826 B. The Benefits of School Counselors 828 C. School Counselors as Family Advocates 829 Conclusion 831 INTRODUCTION In 2011, Jonah entered the tenth grade, reading between a first grade and third grade level. (1) He struggled to read simple words like "chicken," and had never passed a state assessment in reading, math, or science. Although he aspired to join the air force, because of his low reading and math levels, he struggled to obtain qualifying scores on his military aptitude exams. (2) Jonah attended a school that served a low-income population, and nearly seventy percent of his classmates were eligible for a free or reduced lunch. (3) A new special education teacher, who entered her first classroom just one month before meeting Jonah, was in charge of developing and checking on Jonah's academic and emotional well-being. She taught three out of four periods per day, and during her fourth "free period" she observed her students in their regular education classrooms, updated data to track their progress, drafted Individualized Education Programs ("IEPs"), and ran IEP meetings. At his IEP meeting, Jonah's father, exhausted after finishing another night shift, listened to Jonah's special education teacher rattle away about "benchmarks" and "accommodations. " Unsure about what everything meant, he kept quiet, his eyes staring down at the table or occasionally over to Jonah, who was visibly uncomfortable by the number of teachers talking about his career goals and academic shortcomings. A regular education teacher sat in the corner, politely listening but straining to follow along. Apart from seeing him around campus, she did not know Jonah, and because his reading level was so low, there was little to no chance that he would ever step foot in her classroom. Before the meeting concluded, Jonah's teacher asked his father if he approved of the proposed accommodations. Although he was not convinced that "extra time to complete assignments," or "frequent breaks" would help Jonah's reading level, he nodded his head. He knew Jonah's reading level was low, but he did not know how else to help him. The vice principal handed Jonah's father a copy of his procedural rights and asked if he would like it read to him. …