CASE STUDY
You are the assistant principal overseeing the counseling and special education departments of a large, K-8 elementary school. The counseling department documents students on 504 plans, and the special education staff monitors students with IEPs. There are 4.5 counselors, four special education resource teachers, and 79 regular education teachers assigned to the school. There are two additional educators assigned to the special education department in addition to the resource teachers. In a school of 2,400 students, 100 students have 504 plans and 180 students have IEPs. The accommodations for both range from copies of notes to preferential seating to test taking. Fortest taking, the accommodations can include verbal tests, scribes, chunked questions, alternate testing site (testing center), and use of notes. Currently, both types of students are served in the classroom or the testing center. The classroom accommodations are the responsibility of the student and teacher and the testing center accommodations are the responsibility of the student and the testing center coordinator. At the end of the last school year, staffing was cut. Special education support staff was reduced by one employee. The employee surplussed was the testing center coordinator. Special education teachers will continue to accommodate their students through their programs and with their current staff. Special education class sizes are 17 or lower. The issue for regular classroom teachers is how to provide the testing accommodation for the 504 students. Regular classroom teachers can have 40 students in a class and total contacts that do not exceed 185. They are also responsible for English as a second language learners and their ILLPs. They can have multiple students with 504s, IEPs for inclusion, ILLPs, and gifted students. They are responsible for all levels of learning in their classroom. Many do this through differentiated learning, cooperative groups, project-based learning, and peer work. These do not address the alternate testing site for 504 students. Teachers are upset because they feel they cannot meet everyone’s needs. They are uncomfortable with students sitting in the halls to take a test. Parents are not happy with the change in the testing center and want an employee assigned to monitor the testing center. They do not understand why the district would cut this very important position. Special education teachers feel bad they cannot continue to help. Students are frustrated because the routines they have had established for so long are changing. They feel deserted and are now worried about their success
REWRITE
I am serving as an assistant principal at an elementary and middle school grades K-8. My duties include overseeing the special education and counseling departments. My staff in each department consists of 4 full time and 1 part time counselor, four special education teachers and 79 regular education teachers and 2 educators assigned to the special education department. The school has a total of 2,400 students, 180 of which are 504 students with accommodations and 180 have IEP’s with various testing accommodations. At the end of last year, one of our Special Education support staff was cut due to funding. My regular education staff is having difficulty with managing accommodations for 504 students. Our regular education staff is also charged with our ELL students, IEPs’ for inclusion and our gifted and talented population, which do not include testing for our 504 students. My teachers are feeling overwhelmed. (
revealed that in times of increasing need and accountability teacher shortages and high teacher turnover, overcrowded schools, higher academic standards and decreasing budgets, administrators struggle with balancing the needs of special education and regular education programs. They also feel that it is impossible to meet the diverse needs of all of the students with so many different levels in their classroom. They are questioning me as to why our special education position was cut. Students are feel that their routines have been disrupted.
Additional information that I need to inform the scenario is why our staff was cut by 1, person and how I can work within our budget to rehire the person. I would also see what additional support staff can be pulled in to assist with testing and small group instruction.
Additional aspects that may influence my decision are what laws are put into place that stated that all special education population’s student’ needs must be met according to their IEP’s, 504’s and ELL documentation. What evidence will the detectives gather? I would also need to know the exact testing modifications and classroom accommodations for each student. These must be me the law. I would also need to know the mandated teacher student ratio for these students
“The amount of time to be committed to each of the various services to be provided must be appropriate to the specific service, and clearly stated in the IEP in a manner that can be understood by all involved in the development and implementation of the IEP.
District policies that might affect my decision. All students must be serviced in accordance to their 504 plans, IEPs and ELL documentation. If a student has missed services and the school is at fault, compensatory services must ne provided.
Possible stakeholders involved in the decision making are: the assistant principal, EC director, the principal, special and general educators,
Possible solutions for this case would be to break students into groups and have them test on different days. Teachers who are not utilized for testing can take the students who are not testing into their classrooms for additional instruction. In order for the teachers to feel like they are meeting the needs of every student, I would build in planning time for the teachers to meet with EC, ELL and Gifted teachers to plan.
Priority of possible actions would be to be sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our students and collaborate with my principal to see how we can best meet the needs of the students, until we can rehire the staff member whose position was cut.
The timeline that I would to implement possible solutions is gather information on each student’s services and accommodations, find a resource within the school to hire another support person, make concerns known to the board and superintendent.
The mission of our school is to educate all students and prepare them to be productive members of society and to prepare them to be able to succeed in the 21st century. By abiding by service delivery and classroom accommodations for students with 504 plans, IEPs and ELL students, we are proving them with the foundation to be successful. We as educators need to do all we can to meet the needs of these students by providing their services.