State of Illinois review prompting changes to Lyons Twp. HS students with disabilities program

By Wes Venteicher, Chicago Tribune reporter | May 28, 2014

Lyons Township High School District 204 officials are planning tweaks to the school's special education program after a state agency targeted the program for review.

The Illinois State Board of Education began a review of how the high school educates students with disabilities in January, after noticing that a relatively low percentage of students with disabilities at Lyons spent 80 percent or more of their time in class with nondisabled students for the 2012-2013 school year, Lyons Township High School Curriculum and Instruction Director Scott Eggerding said.

Students with disabilities often spend some of their time in general education classes and some of their time in classes with people who have similar disabilities. State guidelines direct schools to place students with disabilities in general education classrooms "to the maximum extent appropriate," according to an Illinois State Board of Education instruction document.

The agency sets targets for how much time students with disabilities should spend in general education classrooms and monitors how close schools come to the target. For the 2012-2013 school year, the state set a target that 52 percent of students with disabilities should spend 80 percent or more of their time in general education classrooms.

For the same year, about 28.2 percent of students with disabilities at Lyons spent 80 percent or more of their time in general education classrooms, according to district figures. On average in Illinois in the same year, 39.4 percent of students with disabilities spent that much time in general education classrooms, the figures show.

When the school identifies disabilities in a student — which can range from Down syndrome or autism to computational delays — a team of education professionals develops a specific education plan for the student, Eggerding said in an interview.

Lyons has developed the learning plans for 464 students. The Illinois State Board of Education reviewed 40 of the plans, selecting the students in a semi-random fashion that included students with several types of disabilities, Eggerding said. While state reviewers and Lyons officials disagreed about some students' classroom placements, the agency found technical oversights in only three of the plans, which the district has corrected, Eggerding said.

Following the state's review, the school developed a plan that is meant to increase the number of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The plan, approved by the Lyons Township High School District 204 Board May 19, calls for solutions such as adding more specialized instructors to general education classrooms and better educating teachers about how to help students with disabilities. The district will be required to report its progress to the state board, according to a letter from a state representative to the district.

Some board members questioned whether trying to meet the state targets might impede the school's efforts to give each student what they need to learn.

Eggerding shared their concerns. "We're always a little uncomfortable with these hard-date numbers because … we're dealing with students," he told the board.

The percentage of students with disabilities at Lyons who spend 80 percent or more of their time in general education classrooms has decreased in recent years, down from 35.5 percent for the 2010-2011 school year, the figures show — a decline for which Eggerding said the district has not determined a cause. He noted that every student has different needs, regardless of what class they are in.

In the future, the district may err on the side of placing students in general education classrooms, he said.

"Perhaps if it's on the borderline we'll start with a student in the general ed classroom instead of the special ed classroom instead of the other way around," he said.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-28/news/ct-special-education-la-grange-tl-0529-20140528_1_lyons-twp-disabilities-students