Published: Monday, April 2, 2007
District adopts policy of inclusion Austintown to end separate classes for...
Gifted pupils and those with special educational needs feel better in separate classes, some parents say.
AUSTINTOWN — It isn't broken, so why fix it?
Some Austintown parents of gifted pupils and of pupils who need extra help are questioning the school district's plan to change the way their children are taught.
Instead of being grouped together in special pullout classes, the district will include those pupils in regular-education classes beginning next fall.
Parents say their children will miss being with others who are like them and who need the same type of encouragement and instruction.
But inclusion will be the best for the district academically, say the district's superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction.
Because research shows inclusion will benefit all pupils, the district has included it in a plan to help pupils who are lagging behind in some subgroups.
Will achievement fall?
For Amanda Lacusky, a Title One seventh-grader who needs extra help in math, that means giving up her smaller class with pupils like her and a teacher whose extra patience and help have raised her self-esteem along with her grade.
"It took her up from D's, F's, C's, and I believe she's getting a B this [marking period]," said her mother, Holly.
In regular math classes, her daughter struggled, Lacusky said.
"She'd come home and say, 'But Mom, the kids are making fun of me, and so I didn't ask again,' " Lacusky said. If there wasn't enough time to help Amanda, she said, the teacher would move on. She said she's worried that if everyone is in the same classes, her daughter might get left behind.
"When I was in the original math classes, I got laughed at," Amanda said. "And they'd [other pupils] yell at me: 'Why are you holding up the whole class?' Now, I'm getting all the help I need."
Gifted pupils' loss
For Jensen Hykes, it means she's losing a group that's become like a family to her, said her mother, Jennifer. A fifth-grader, Jensen just began a pullout reading/language arts class at Austintown Middle School that includes gifted pupils from fifth- through eighth-grade.
"They are not in the room with kids who need remediation," she said. "They can go off on a tangent. They discuss things. The kids are devastated they won't be together. They love this class."
Hykes said that in regular classes, other pupils make fun of gifted ones because they're smart. "The parents love the effects of this class on our kids' self-esteem," she said.
The pullout classes are working, parents say.
"This has worked so well," Lacusky said. "Our school system is doing very well. If it's working, why are they taking it away?"
Administrators respond
Superintendent Doug Heuer and Vince Colaluca, director of curriculum and instruction, say they don't view the change as an elimination of services. They see it as a different way to deliver the services that will benefit regular-education services as well.
Under the plan, regular-ed teachers will receive help from gifted, Title One and special education teachers to ensure those pupils get the instruction or extra help they need.
Regular-ed pupils will benefit from instruction given to gifted ones, they say. Regular-ed instruction can also benefit Title One pupils.
If a pupil needs extra help, Colaluca said, a Title One teacher may be on hand in the classroom to help. If not, the problem can be identified and taken care of one-on-one later. He said regular-ed teachers will also be trained to differentiate in their teaching to reach a slower-paced pupil or to keep a gifted one from becoming bored. Pupil-to-teacher ratios will go down in the regular-ed classes.
The district is already teaching in the inclusion method at Frank Ohl Middle School, he said. Two classes there include gifted pupils, and two leave gifted pupils in pullout classes.
He said that because the district's two middle schools are combining at the new middle school on Raccoon Road next school year, the district had to choose which method to follow. He said that because research backs the academic benefits of inclusion, the district chose that path.
Heuer said that the state does not fund programs for gifted pupils, so the district has to be cost-efficient when it comes to gifted education. He said the change won't save money but will allow more "bang for our buck."
Colaluca said that because the district is lagging behind in federally funded education for special-ed, black and economically disadvantaged subgroups of pupils, it has been labeled as needing improvement under federal adequate-yearly-progress standards. Inclusion, he said, is part of the plan to help the district move up from that status. He also said that he has heard from parents who favor the inclusion method.
A group of concerned parents addressed the school board at its March meeting. Amanda Lacusky also spoke there. Board President Mike Creatore said, however, that the decision is an administrative one.
Lacusky and Hykes said a meeting Thursday with Heuer and Colaluca cleared up some of their questions.
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