If it works, leave it alone

I have been a school psychologist in Iowa for over 40 years, serving in three Eastern Iowa AEAs, as well as a professor of special education for 25 years. I have considerable experience with the birth to 21 range of children with disabilities, and the educational and social-emotional needs of all children and adolescents in our schools.

I feel members of the Legislature need a long and intense evaluation of the lauded-across-the-U. S. AEA structure and functioning. Few if any of them have worked in an AEA, so they may not be aware of the following:

1. All students benefit from the services offered by AEAs: curriculum and media experts; counseling and social work that is not confined to just the 13-14% of Iowa students receiving special education services; the team approach of social workers, speech and language clinicians, and school psychologists who coordinate on assessments of children referred for learning and/or behavior issues, along with communication with the parents and teachers of these children in order to produce the best intervention plans for each student. These professionals also provide continual assessments and work to change them if needed.

2. This team approach would be difficult to achieve if different professionals came from different private organizations as has been put forward by the governor.

3. Also, in regard to statements by the governor, she and perhaps others do not understand the type of assessment that captures the academic growth of special education students. Norm-referenced assessment tools given to general education students are not appropriate for the special education population. These children have learning and behavior problems which is why they are receiving special services. The appropriate assessments are curriculum-based in reading, writing, and math, which reveal the growth in skills during a certain period of instruction, not a yearly comparison score to non-special education students. Such assessments do not lead to the covernor’s term “unconscionable” comparisons.

4. AEAs across time have saved money for local districts due to their collective purchasing of needed operational and educational materials, and they have provided at a more manageable cost the professional in-services required for certifications, as well as multiple learning opportunities for parents and the community on emerging topics/issues.

Linda L. Meloy, Ph.D. is professor emerita, a nationally certified school psychologist, and International lecturer on Attention Deficit Disorder, reading instruction, Involving parents in Interventions and poverty’s impact on academic achievement. Meloy lives in Iowa City.