Greetings to my readers and fellow reformers,

Sorry I have been out of touch–and did not have a guest blogger. My reason? I finally made it to Morocco, the land very high on my bucket list. I was born in the middle east and wanted to feel that part of the world again. Morocco is an amazing combination of France/Spain, the middle east, and Africa. The trip was wonderful trip–about 12 days! I loved the colors, spices, fabrics, rugs, camels, donkeys, dry satiny air, makeup colored sand, tagines, friendly people, souks, medinas, cacti, oleander, bougainvelia, new friendships and lots of time for reflection. We visited one school and we saw children leaving several schools during the day for lunch and at the end of the day, many in Moslem garb.

We were a small group of 8–all with our journaling books that we wrote in pretty much every day and drew little pictures of our trip. Looking back through that journal book brings back memories. I have not even unpacked the photos.

Soon–we’ll get back to our discussion of education issues–especially special ed.

I read Philip Howard’s thoughtful piece in The Atlantic. Right on! And what a perfect title.

I was not surprised (and glad) to see his opening salvo was about special education–quoting facts and figures also found in my book, Fixing Special Education and my other writings. Special education is indeed an amazing example of a well-intended system that has spun out of control.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/03/12/Why-Land-of-the-Free-Is-a-Legal-Swampland.aspx#page1

Mr. Howard (Philip, if I may) writes that, rather than ‘deregulation,’ we need a spring cleaning. Throw out what’s not working. We can’t just keep piling on new laws and new great ideas. Deregulation won’t get at it–as we need to start with purpose and reboot for the 21st century.

As you’ll see in my upcoming law review piece about fixing special education, I suggest that we should even consider the idea of ending the entitlement program. It succeeded in its mission–providing access for schooling to all students with disabilities. But thereafter, as it’s an open ended law, it morphed into all sorts of unintended consequences.

As Philip writes–we need to keep the purpose (education for all), but substitute a targeted sensible program for the 21st century (not retrofit this old 20th century law). Appointing a commission to do so is a good idea–also discussed in my upcoming piece.

It looks like many stars are getting aligned… Many of us know that the law is broken and needs to be fixed.

And please stay tuned for that article. I’ll provide the link when it’s out.

Thank you, Philip, for pushing all of us and keeping the ball going on these important issues. So glad you’ll have a running series at The Atlantic.com!

Thank you for giving voice to what many educators and parents sense. Something is not quite right here… We want it to work, but as with many education reforms, good intentions often create unintended consequences and mediocre outcomes.

As a lawyer, I read with great interest news of an upcoming book, Failing Law Schools by Brian Tamanaha. As well, here’s a New York Times blog about it.

The argument is that there are too many new lawyers of the wrong type and, yet, not enough lawyers to serve all people. A quandary. Law schools should differentiate for different types of students and future clients: some research based schools for academics and high end clients and some practice oriented schools for the general public (now, reportedly, underserved). One size does not fit all.

This book will raise discussion about an important issue. Check it out!

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/the-bad-news-law-schools/#

I just read the biography of Steve Jobs…. and recommend it highly. (By Walter Isaacson).

At the end, in his own words, Jobs tells us what he wants his legacy to be….In terms of giving customers what they want, that was not his approach. His approach was to figure out what they were going to want before they do! In that vein, he quoted Henry Ford, who once said, “If you’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!'”

And what does this have to do with reforming special education? We need to show a better way–that people don’t know yet and that they will want to want!

I love it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/education/despite-focus-on-data-standards-for-diploma-may-still-lack-rigor.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion

An amazing article in the NY Times of a few days ago. How sad! After years of NCLB ‘reform’ and effort, we have come to this–lower standards on state tests. Perhaps more students pass, but with what skills really?

Where will this all end for the U.S.? Let’s hope New York’s current reformers–the state’s commissioner of education and the chancellor of the state board of education–will turn this thing around, as they hope to do.

There’s not that much time however. Since we don’t live in a bubble, what is the rest of the world doing–when it sees our goings on?

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/shop-four-letter-word-jim-berman

I love this title–Shop is not a four letter word. How did we go so wrong in ending this valuable option for so many students and for our nation? One article I found fascinating was Alison Fraser’s study of the success of vocational and technical schools for all sorts of learners in Massachusetts. http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/wp42.pdf. Check it out!

As an avid reformer, I read the Education Commission of the States (ECS) report, “12 for 2012” with great interest. It deals with pre-K education, funding, Common Core, individualizing instruction, teacher quality, among other key issues. Interesting and quite comprehensive. Important and definitely worth reading. I’m sure it will be useful for educators and policy makers.
http://www.ecs.org/html/Document.asp?chouseid=10029

But if I may, I am a former teacher and currently, an attorney who represents school districts in special education. I read this report, searching for a 1/12 on fixing special education. As you can imagine, I was disappointed not to find it! How can that be? Special education needs fixing–it educates 14 % of students nationwide. To educate students with disabilities costs somewhere between 20 and 40% of school budgets. Special education, burdened by complex regulations and ever-present threats of litigation, seems often more focused on compliance than outcomes. We can no longer be silent on this mandated program. We need to tackle it. Surely it deserves 1/12 of the focus on critical areas of need in our schools.

Your thoughts?