Donna Millet: Realistic goals for SWD students

Regarding the June 21 Point of View “North Carolina’s inadequate, unfair special ed spending”: While I do not doubt Jason Langberg’s statement about the disparity in educational measurements for students with disabilities and non-SWD students, it is important to realize that special education, even with unlimited funding, has its limitations.

Special education and IEP accommodations and interventions can help some SWD students better access and meet the curriculum and thereby meet “all measures of school success.” However, there are many SWD students who have more significant disabilities who make meeting “all measures of school success,” even with an unlimited special education budget,too difficult to achieve.

A more realistic goal for many students who have more significant needs is to provide them with an educational environment and educational opportunities that support and help them reach their educational, emotional and social potential.

Langberg’s inferences about what unlimited funding and support for special education can accomplish with regard to the remediation of the disparity of “all measures of school success” between SWD and non-SWD students needs to be tempered and more realistically stated.

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Donna Millet: Realistic goals for SWD students."