Elevating Special Education
“Children with disabilities will only meet their potential if they have effective teachers,” says John O’Connor, executive director for special services at DeKalb (Ga.) County School System, a metropolitan Atlanta school district in the second-largest county in the state.
Through an intense collaborative effort, O’Connor has helped reinvent instruction for special education students who, combined with ELLs, amount to about 17 percent of the total student population.
O’Connor came to DeKalb in 2006 after teaching special education for students with orthopedic impairments and serving as an administrator. Forty-one percent of students with disabilities spent 80 percent or more of their school day in general education classes. “We needed to increase inclusion and to improve instruction in our general and special education classes for students with disabilities.”
Read more here: Elevating Special Education.
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About The Author
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts is founder of Support for Special Needs and has been a regular contributor since its inception in May 2010. A mom to two kids with special needs, she didn't want other parents to feel what is the often isolating world of raising a child (or two!) with disabilities. Her kids had kidney transplants at the age of eight and will need liver transplants in the future as a result of ARPKD/CHF. They both have vision disorders and learning disabilities.
Thanks for sharing this Dawn. It’s inspiring to say the least. I am not in GA. I’m in NY but what John O’Connor said is precisely what all school systems that service special needs children, need to embrace.
Michelle