Warehousing Special Education Students

"Breaking the Mold: How Personalization and Mastery Learning Can Improve Special Education Outcomes"

In recent years, there has been growing concern that we are warehousing special education students in our schools. This is often due to a lack of individualization in their educational plans, which can be attributed to several factors.

One of the primary issues is the use of boilerplate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that do not truly reflect the unique needs of each student. Many schools use a one-size-fits-all approach to special education, with every child receiving the same amount of time and services regardless of their specific needs.

Additionally, there is often a lack of ongoing assessments and progress monitoring, which makes it difficult to determine whether a student is making meaningful progress toward their goals. Without regular assessments, it is also challenging to make data-driven decisions about instructional strategies and support services.

Finally, many schools are not following the principles of Bloom's Mastery Learning, which emphasizes the importance of providing students with multiple opportunities to master content before moving on to more advanced material. Instead, students are often pushed through a curriculum at a predetermined pace, regardless of whether they have truly mastered the content and concepts.

Real growth and Mastery learning is only possible with actionable data gained from ongoing, tailored progress monitoring based on each child's individual goals. Collecting and analyzing data on a regular basis allows educators to adjust instruction and support services to meet the changing needs of their students. This data can help identify areas where a student may need additional support or where they are making progress and can be challenged to learn more. Without this ongoing monitoring and data analysis, making informed decisions about how best to support each student's unique needs is difficult.

Overall, it is essential for schools to prioritize individualization, ongoing assessments, and mastery learning in their special education programs to ensure that students are receiving the support and services they need to succeed. Failure to do so can lead to the warehousing of special education students and a lack of progress toward their educational goals.