Immigrant students and their mental health

Submitted by Gustavo Martínez on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 15:38 Posted in Social justice in education | Permalink

Last week several Asian students were attacked in South Philadelphia High. They have complained that school and District authorities haven't responded to their concerns sufficiently.

The relevance of caring for these students' needs is highlighted in the work of  Eileen Gale Kugler and Olga Acosta Price in their report "Helping immigrant and refugee students succeed: It’s not just what happens in the classroom," in which they stress the need to provide newly arrived children and their families with the culturally competent assistance they require.  

This is the first part of a series of postings in which we will talk about these issues. Check for a follow-up soon.

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Q & A: How young children with disabilities can access free Early Intervention services

Posted in Fall 2009 | Permalink

Is my child eligible for Early Intervention services?

Children under age three (“infants and toddlers”) are entitled to Early Intervention services if they have a “developmental delay” in one or more of these areas: cognitive (thinking), communication, physical (including vision and hearing), social/emotional, or self-care, or if they have a physical or mental condition that has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay.

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Recruiting special education teachers proves to be a challenge for the District

by Connie Langland Posted in Summer 2009 | Permalink

As the school year ends, parents of special needs children have one question: Who will teach my child next year?

Special education teachers are hard to recruit and retain, and the School District of Philadelphia’s current vacancy list shows dozens of special education teaching positions.

The District does some recruitment of these teachers through Teach for America and The New Teacher Project, locally called the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows. But while using these has met some success, these pathways can be viewed as a stopgap measure.

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Pennsylvania needs new funding system to educate its students with disabilities

by Baruch Kintisch Posted in Summer 2008 | Permalink

A budget proposal now before the state legislature would bring us much closer to providing adequately funded schools across Pennsylvania. But on the issue of funding for special education, disability advocates still have a long row to hoe.

The recent "costing-out" study prepared for the state legislature showed that, just as with regular education, the state is falling far short of the need in its funding of special education.

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