Frontline Blog

A well-constructed Present Levels of Performance Statement sets the stage for determining goals, specially designed instruction and services for each student. It also provides next year’s teacher with the great instructionally relevant information they need to hit the ground running and maximize benefit to the student.  

Teacher collaboration can have a direct effect on student outcomes. And meaningful collaboration between general and special education teachers is a pillar of supporting students with disabilities. But a recent survey of pre-service teacher candidates in both areas indicates that collaboration across these two very distinct areas continues to cause some concern.  

What if you could use current special programs data to solve student coverage and caseload management issues, before they become problems — without working 80 hours a week?

Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) must include a statement on “how the disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.” I think of this section as providing the rationale for all subsequent decisions on what special education, related services and supplemental aids and services the student requires. Pretty important!

If asked, special educators can describe their students’ strengths, as well as their needs. But when asked to self-assess IEPs they’ve written, they often find far more information about students’ weaknesses than strengths.  

It's not breaking news that the administrative side of working in special education can be overwhelming. Thanks to recent research, we can now quantify the approximate value of “overwhelming” – it amounts to several hours of each teacher’s time lost to paperwork — every week. That adds up fast.

The question of whether or not our country needs a new standard for supporting special education students has now been answered by a unanimous and affirmative decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 0-8 decision, the Supreme Court sided in favor of expanding the rights for children with disabilities. But immediately following the court's ruling last month, a series of new questions — both from inside and outside of the education community — started to pop up in the news and on social media. 

An online search for “teacher shortage” will quickly return 435,000 results. Each day yields more headlines about school districts who struggle to hire enough teachers — more than half of school districts we surveyed in 2016 said they were experiencing a shortage.  

Questions about the eSped eSTAR becoming a part of Frontline Education? You've come to the right place!