Albany -- State report says more getting Regents degrees, going to college

By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Students in special education programs are earning Regents degrees in growing numbers, and more are enrolling in college.

Additionally, the rate at which special education students were placed in separate settings declined last year for the first time, according to the state Education Department, which released its findings on Monday.

"For the very first time ever, referral rates have gone down," Commissioner Richard Mills said Monday during the release of a Report Card on how New York's 405,000 K-12 special education students are doing. "Fewer students are being placed in special education and more are being educated in classes with everyone else," said Mills.

Overall, Mills said, there has been progress in getting these students to meet the same higher academic standards that apply to everyone else.

Last year also marked the first time that more than half -- 51.1 percent -- of all special education students spent more than 80 percent of their day in general, or mainstream classrooms.

Additionally, special education students are continuing beyond 12th grade in growing numbers. In 2001, there were 36,249 such students in New York colleges and universities, up from 24,953 in 1996.

For associate degrees granted mostly at community colleges, the graduation rate within three years is almost the same for general education students. Just under 24 percent of general education students earn associate degrees within three years compared to 23 percent in special education.

There are still problems and challenges, however. Minority students continue to be placed in special education programs in disproportionate numbers.

Fifty-eight percent of special education students who are white spend most of the day in regular classes, compared to 43 percent of black students.

And most of the progress has been in the pre-K level, while special education students tend to be separated in higher numbers as they grow older.

There are several reasons for the improvement, Mills and other experts said.

When the Board of Regents in the mid-1990s decided to make high school Regents exams mandatory, they said the requirement would eventually apply to students in special education programs as well.

Additionally, the federal government since 1997 has been pushing to bring special education students into regular classrooms. New York in 1999 was even threatened with the loss of federal funds unless schools lowered the proportion of minority students placed in separate settings.

Despite the changes, there continue to be discrepancies in the rates at which various school districts classify their students as having special education needs.

In Albany County, for example, Menands classified about 6 percent of its students last year while Watervliet had 17 percent. Nationally, the average is about 12 percent, according to the Council for Exceptional Children, in Arlington, Va.

Officials from Watervliet and Menands could not be reached Monday afternoon, but observers say there are a lot of reasons why some districts have higher rates.

"There are some districts where maybe they are overly labeling some children," said Frederica Blausten, executive director of the Association for Metroarea Autistic Children, a nonprofit group in the New York City area that advocates on behalf of special education issues. Blausten was not familiar with the numbers at Watervliet or Menands, however.

Also, some districts may be known for offering extensive special education services and parents move to those districts if their kids need the help, said Linda Van Kuren, spokeswoman for the Council for Exceptional Children. "A district may have a reputation for a good special education department," she said.

Most experts agreed that techniques for teaching special education students, who can have disabilities ranging from autism to attention deficit disorder to orthopedic problems and developmental delays, have improved over the years.

"There's a lot more being done," said Annette DeLavallade, a Capital Region businesswoman who has advocated for a granddaughter and others who were in special education courses. Her granddaughter now attends Hudson Valley Community College.

Stephen Carter, who is in his third semester at HVCC, represents what may be the changing face of students with special needs. Carter, 40, who said he plans to attend Siena College next year, overcame a major depression and psychosis a decade ago. After going through a program to help him get on track academically, Carter enrolled at HVCC, where he has special accommodations. He is allowed to tape record his lectures and gets extra time on some exams.

Carter, who wants to study finance, said he's maintained a 4.0 grade point average, which he couldn't do without the assistance he has received at the school. "They've helped me in a lot of ways," he said.