Leominster’s budgeting for special education must begin with a return on investment examination.
The article “Special concern for Leominster schools” states that Leominster’s high-needs student population is growing. Not so. According to figures reported to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Leominster’s high-needs student population was 52 percent in 2017 and 55 percent in 2013. Also relatively unchanged over the years is the percentage of Leominster students categorized as significantly cognitively impaired: 7.9 percent in 2017 and 9.6 percent in 2013.
Approximately 90 percent of Leominster students with disabilities do not have significant cognitive impairments. They take the same MCAS exams as their nondisabled peers and, like those peers, are denied a regular high school diploma if they do not pass. Why, then, are these equally capable students with special needs performing so poorly on MCAS exams? In 2017, only 8 percent of Leominster students with disabilities passed the English Language Arts MCAS, and only 14 percent passed the Math exam. The figures in 2013 were 21 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Not only are Leominster students with special needs significantly underperforming relative to their abilities, their achievement is deteriorating over time.
Respectfully, before any more money is poured into special education programming that is not working, Leominster should examine where the current funds are going. Clearly, they are not going into effective special education instruction.
Ellen M. Chambers, MBA
founder of SPEDWatch, Inc.
SPEDWatch is a Massachusetts based nonprofit organization with a mission to secure the educational rights of all schoolchildren with special needs.