I intend to design a professional development course to give special education teachers (especially those who teach low-incidence disabilities) the knowledge to implement a classroom program that gives students the tools to help themselves.
Although I am not certain the course has never been designed before, the practice of students' with significant disabilities helping themselves is not widely practiced. In the past, lower student populations allowed for teachers to provide more individual support (whether this is for the best of the student I will gladly debate at another time). The increase of student:teacher ratios in special education has created a greater need (and, perhaps, a reason for teachers to listen to an alternative idea) for students to help themselves.
The increased student:teacher ratio in special education is also causing increased student:teacher ratio in general and bilingual education classes. The culprit is decreased funding.
The majority of decreased educational funding can be linked to the recession of 2007-2009. As the economy declined, many districts suffered. Locally, many home foreclosures caused a decrease in home values which resulted in less property taxes being collected by school districts. According to a February, 2014 article from disabilityScoop, this decrease in local funding is not the only problem. The article states that the original 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (often referred to as IDEA), Congress committed to funding 40% of the cost of special education but has never paid more than 18.5 percent.
I think the 5 Whys technique led me down an interesting, but perhaps irrelevant path. I do not feel this is a flaw in the process, but perhaps my answer to the second why. While increased student sizes have resulted in teachers need for an alternate method, I think the answer could also have been teachers of students with significant disabilities should work to teach independence and self-reliance, which will serve these students for the rest of their lives. This may have changed the path to a more relevant outcome.
