N Kathleen Kosobud

Michigan State UniversitySociety for Disability Studies

at Temple University

Philadelphia, PA

June 3, 2010

Building Quality and Equity for Students with Disabilities in Urban Schools through

Parent-Teacher Collaboration

Metro City Schools then and now

In top 25% of Great City Schools by size Burgeoning budget deficit, despite interventions Ongoing school closures, redistricting Among the largest employers in the city Layoffs include experienced, committed teachers

Poverty rate rising from 33% to 50% City has highest unemployment in state Median household income dropping Rapid exodus of households from city due to foreclosure

and job losses

Metro City Public Schools

15th largest school district in US; dropped to 23rd largest in 2007

Largest employer in city in 2002; 4th largest in metro area in 2007

City unemployment rate estimate was 8%-11% in 2006 rose to 16.4% in 2010

Median household income was 2000: $29,526 in 2000; dropped to $28,730 in 2008

33.4% poverty rate in 2007; estimated 30-50% in 2010

Conditions for students then and now (pg. 1)

Students on subsidized lunch program increasing

Rapid decline in student count Higher rate of identification for disabilities

(stable by ratio) High number of students out of general

classroom for more than 60% of day

Conditions for Students (pg. 2)

Daily free/reduced lunches: 2006: 66,500 (44%) 2007: 58,491 (70%) 2009: 47,983 (90%)

Number of students in district are declining: 2006: 150 thousand 2007: 112 thousand 2009: 90 thousand

Conditions for Students (pg. 3)

Students with disabilities, relatively stable by percent 2006: 19,200 (17.1%) 2009: 15,514 (17.2%)

Percent of students in special education more than 60% of the time declining 2006: 49.6% 2009: 42.9%

Finding Participants

Used the services of a parent support organization to aid with special education service planning

Child with “high incidence” disability, 8 to 13 years old

Attending MCPS in a general education building

Included in some general education classes

Research Questions

What are the experiences of families as they seek to collaborate with schools to secure educational services for their children with disabilities?

What kinds of support and collaboration would families like to experience with schools?

Theoretical Lenses

Social Constructivism Critical Theory Radical Ecology

Four Mothers, Four Sons

Sons:1 full inclusion - 3 separate classroom

3 identified with cognitive impairments - 1 identified with health and hearing impairments

3 moved at least once due to school closure

All Age 9 to 11

1 bi-racial - 1 African American - 2 “White”

Four Mothers, Four Sons

Mothers:1 grandmother - 3 mothers1 college degree - 3 high school diploma1 African American - 3 ”white”1 age 31-40 - 1 age 41-50 - 2 age 51-60 1 separated - 3 married 4 own homes1 poverty class - 3 working class

Jeannie and Shawn

“I was already in a fighting mode to make sure that my child got the chances that he deserved.”

“When I taught him sign language the OT told me to stop because he wouldn’t talk…His first sentence at age two was in sign.”

Dorothy and Daniel“ I gots to take him out of here, ‘cause she wasn’t doing nothing. …I

told the aide why don’t you teach the kids something? …The teacher’s supposed to be teaching, not watching tapes that I can do at home with my own child…I have tapes for learning at home…”

“when it start the following year he got transferred …I did that on my own…I got the transfer papers, he had to be assigned first. I wanted to make sure that they could accept the boy, ‘cause if they didn’t I was going to have to leave him…

Christine and Julius

“When he was 3 years old, having learned about inclusion and LRE, I began to research inclusive practices in the Metro City Public Schools…There was a lot of fear and ignorance.”

Julius began to “amass a behavioral history” when the paraprofessional written into his IEP was not provided.

Tania and Frederick

“…for two years (in another district) I fought to get a behavioral intervention plan. I got a letter of denial because he was on medication, see…”

“My son’s not innocent, he has speech problems and I’m working on it but I need to know what else is available to him because of these problems…I’m not sitting back and just letting it pass…”

Dorothy, Daniel and Docile Bodies

Jeannie and Christine’s Capital Advantages

Centralization andDecentralization

Jeannie Christine

Oppression and Liberation

Christine

Production and Reproduction

Long view

Individual and Common Benefits

Jeannie Christine

Recommendations

Interrogation of boundariesTransgression through expansionPushing with the system

Recommendations

Membership/Belonging: Inclusion as parents, first, then as parents of

CWD Examine district practices: placement in schools;

reassignment; impact on families of CWD Examine assumptions in parent involvement

policy: make the invisible visible

Recommendations

Collaboration as a reciprocal benefit Recognition of parent assets as cultural capital to

be shared with teachers and service providers Teachers as important social mediators for

collaboration Pool knowledge; teachers learning from parents;

resources outside of school

Recommendations

School leaders, city leaders, and urban planners working together (“right-sizing”)

School considerationsNeighborhood considerationsSocial and economic considerations

This study was part of a larger project funded through an OSEP

Urban/Diversity Doctoral Fellowship and a Spencer Research Training Grant.