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Special Message from ISBE
   

May 29, 2008

Special Message from
State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch


All Illinois school districts previously received a notice from the State Superintendent about Sherman v. Township District 214, 07 C 6048. This case challenges the Illinois law which required a moment of silence at the opening of the school day.

On Thursday, May 29, 2008, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman entered a preliminary injunction stopping the application of this law. This injunction prohibits all school districts in the State of Illinois from conducting the mandatory moment of silence. All school districts should immediately cease enforcing this law.

Click here to download
 
     
Response to Intervention Early Childhood Programs
  Click here to download or view an insightful article by Illinois Division of Early Childhood (IDEC) Vice President, Dr. Robin Miller Young, NCSP, Ed.D.  
     
Click Here for News of Part 226 Rules
  Click Above for the Latest Developments regarding Part 226 Rules...  
     
Click for current bills in the Legislature
  Click Above for a Synopsis of Current Legislation, prepared by Bev Johns  
     
 
         
 
June 19, 2007: JCAR Decides that RTI should be unlimited
and that categorization is "damaging"...

                                                                                  ...but what does this mean?
 
         
 

The JCAR vote on June 19 allows Illinois to require "response to intervention" (RTI) with no time limits to be done by general education teachers in general education classes, and in the opinion of the IEA no limit on special education teacher "Case Load" (IEA website: "no such limit ever existed in ISBE rules, despite the belief of many").

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) stated in writing to the Members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) on the June 15, 2007, request from 5 major organizations to include the consideration of categories (autism, learning disabilities, etc.) in non-categorical special education "Class Size" rules that would have allowed class size limits of 5 or 8 or 10 or 12 or 15 (depending on individual IEP judgment of the appropriate placement considering the nature and severity of each individual student's disability):

"We cannot do so. As part of the extended comment period, the Illinois State Advisory Council for the Education of Children with Disabilities (a federally and state-required advisory body at least 50% of which are parents of students with disabilities or persons with disabilities) as well as other state organizations INCLUDING IAASE, IEA AND IFT have come to understand that the continued CATEGORIZATION OF CHILDREN BY DISABILITY CATEGORY IS BOTH UNNECESSARY AND POTENTIALLY DAMAGING TO CHILDREN." [emphasis added]

When the special ed administrators organization (IAASE) and both the IEA and the IFT favor the complete elimination of any mention of categories in the "class size" rules, it proved impossible to maintain any consideration of "autism", "learning disabilities", "behavioral disorders", etc.

ISBE states, "The proposed new class sizes, once thoroughly explored and explained, have been found agreeable by most if not all of the parties." [ISBE provides no evidence of this.]

So Illinois will have special education class sizes of 15, 10, or 5 based ONLY on whether students "receive special education services for 20 percent of the school day or less" OR for 20 to 60 percent, OR for more than 60 percent of the school day (plus either 2 or 5 more students when a paraprofessional is provided).

It will now be up to ISBE to issue guidance on what the new Illinois special education rules mean to schools, parents, and teachers, but ONLY the law and regulations have definitive meaning. Guidance offered by ISBE does NOT have the legal impact of the Part 226 regulations.

More information is a click away :

Read the letter to JCAR, informing them of the motion passed by the Exective Board of ICEC on June 7, urging JCAR to take no action on Part 226.
  Go to the Position Paper
     
Read the ICEC letter to JCAR, stating our position on Part 226, dated June 1, 2007
  Go to the Position Paper
     
Read the entire position paper of the
Illinois Council for Exceptional Children...
 
Go to the Position Paper
     
Report a class size violation that you are enduring, encountering  or know about...
  Go to File a Class Size Complaint
     
Contact information for JCAR
(their mischief is done, so this is just for
informational purposes -- next election: 2008)
 
Go to contact JCAR

 

 
         
 
     
 
       
 
Class Size Hotline
 
         
 

Click on the GO button to read all about
Special Education Class Sizes
and the ICEC Class Size Hotline

 


Read about the hotline...

HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT
If you believe that you are working in a situation where there are violations of case load/class size limits or you have questions about case load/class size, hit the red button...

 
Go to Complaint Form
 
 
         
 
     
     
 
         
 
CEC IDEA Regulations 2004 Side-by-Side Now Available
 
         
  CEC’s Side-by-Side compares major issues of the IDEA 1997 and 2004 regulations and gives a comprehensive analysis of how the changes will impact students and teachers. This popular, timely publication is FREE to CEC members.

  IDEA Side-By-Side Comparison and Commentary  
Click the button at right to open the CEC
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explore the CEC Policy & Advocacy pages by clicking on the image below...

     
 
 
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