IDEA 2004 mandates using research based teaching methods and that teachers should be highly qualified. To put it more simply it calls for good teaching in the hands of good teachers. Implicit in this equation is that the law also require good educational leadership. I know well funded mandates are a critical component. Nevertheless, District 60, an economically poor district, in Pueblo Colorado has demonstrated over time that well trained teachers using research based materials (e.g. Lindamood Bell) at the direction of an innovative school administration can overcome shortages of cash.
This district applied several basic strategies:
- It used Title I funds to train 1200 teachers to use Lindamood Bell;
- It used and applied Lindamood Bell materials to correct deficiencies in learning and to move forward;
- The trainers and teachers indoctrinated an attitude of high expectations.
The superintendent for the district summarized the rationale for the success:
"It does not take more money to do what we are doing! We quit doing
things that didn’t work. We used resources that were already in the
district. We used our Title I funds to focus on professional
development for our teachers.”
The lesson here is that instead of waiting for that "magic time" when IDEA will be fully funded which unfortunately has not happened in 30 years, we need to get to work and stop applying old models that do not work. Attitude, training, sound practices and leadership are as important as anything in achieving student success. The reality is that it does not take more money to be proactive, to use visuals with students who need them, to use school-/district- wide means of positive behavioral reinforcement, to vigorously enforce rules against harassment and bullying, and to recognize when students are not learning the desired curriculum and to make appropriate changes based on research not habit.
These solutions do not require an Act of Congress, they are available now if schools chose to avail themselves. When there is finally a fundamental sea change in politics in this country and education gets its proper due, the structures will be in place to make the most of it.