Children who need extra help at school begin each day with the same curiosity, excitement and hope as their peers. But once classroom time begins, their burden grows.
While some students breeze through math problems, others struggle with basic calculations. While some lace words together like pearls, others strain to express their insights. While some navigate playground politics like pint-sized ambassadors, others wonder why, for them, socializing feels so foreign.
The reasons for “special needs” among students are complex, but the duty of public schools is simple: to provide the best possible education, not just for the so-called typical learner but for every child.
It is that spirit of embrace that animates Superintendent John Provost’s plan to shift the Northampton district from a system in which “high needs” students are routinely pulled out of the classroom to one in which help is woven into the daily routines of every class.
The plan would not be without its pain. In order to shift the approach and add 5.5 special education teaching positions, Provost would eliminate 21 positions for teacher aides (known as “educational support professionals”) and two librarians. The net job loss would be significantly less, though; Provost plans to convert 14 of the aide positions into full-time substitute jobs.
Following other districts such as West Springfield, Agawam and North Adams, Northampton would shift to a model in which regular and special education teachers share classrooms, and in which groups of students are assigned to teams of teachers. The goal is to have students learn alongside their classmates as much as possible, while still having teachers and aides available to provide specialized help.
Provost’s goal follows a national trend among progressive educators. “I think it’s a fantastic idea to put special education teachers in the classroom — that is something I would love to have seen when my kids were in school,” said Valle Dwight, a former chairwoman of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, who has two children with disabilities.
Some teachers and their union representatives, however, have asked school leaders to delay the plan’s implementation, saying more time is needed to address potential pitfalls. While their concerns may be rooted partly in the loss of jobs, they also make a fair point that an educational shift this large requires careful consideration.
Consideration, yes. Undue delay, no.
While the overall number of special education students (currently about 650) in has dropped 8 percent in the last three years, the number of students labeled “high need” has grown by 49 percent during that time to about 150. The reasons are complex, including a surge in the number of students identified as autistic and medical advances that now allow children with severe physical handicaps to join their peers in school. Provost says the students who are being routinely pulled out of classrooms are overwhelmingly male and low-income, and that students of color are disproportionately represented.
That pattern of isolation must end. Regardless of gender, race, income or disability — which, remember, can sometimes mean a brilliant child with a different learning style — no student deserves to feel singled out. While pulling students from classrooms to provide specialized instruction can seem like the right thing to do in theory, in practice it too often demoralizes students and keeps them from accepting needed help. It can also keep teachers from developing the skills they need to reach the full range of learners.
Harvard education professor Howard Gardner, author of “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,” has shown that we all approach the world with different kinds of minds. While American schools traditionally reward students who easily manipulate numbers, cram for tests and express themselves in conventional English, what about the child who reads the clouds, discerns the feelings of others, finds sweetness in a swirl of dissonant notes?
If such students need a little extra help with the three Rs or other skills, they should get it — in the classroom where they, as much as any of their peers, belong.
While there are important details in Provost’s plan to work out, its spirit is true. We encourage teachers, parents and School Committee members to join forces to make it a blueprint for reform.