special education

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North Carolina Teachers Chatboard

special education

by Kimberly

Mar 4, 2016

Hi! I am brand new to this forum! and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on the environment of special education in North Carolina? I know the dismal state of education in general in N.C. but does anyone here have some advice for someone wanting to teach mild/moderate elementary school? Thank you ahead of time for any and all advice!

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A I'm high school, so things may be different in elementary school:

- Special ed is the darling of the budget makers. We have more special ed teachers than any other category (that is, more special ed teachers than math teachers or science teachers). Their classrooms are better funded than mainstream classrooms, though none of that goes int...See More

Mar 4, 2016

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Sardar Kimberly,

Agree 100&37; with A.

Also, special ed teachers might be 5&37; or 10&37; of the teachers in a high school, but reliably make up 25&37; of the admin.

If you have a special ed background, you will almost certainly get hired as an admin as soon as you are qualified.

The good news from my...See MoreKimberly,

Agree 100&37; with A.

Also, special ed teachers might be 5&37; or 10&37; of the teachers in a high school, but reliably make up 25&37; of the admin.

If you have a special ed background, you will almost certainly get hired as an admin as soon as you are qualified.

The good news from my perspective is that you probably are better off as a school if you have at least one admin who is familiar with the way special needs education works. Like A said, an important part of this is the legal issues, the paperwork, etc. An admin who has experience with special needs students probably improves the environment of understanding at a school.

On the other hand, I have recently been observed/evaluated by someone who has never taught a class bigger than 6 children. The observation went well for me, but this admin has only 4 years of teaching experience, and that experience was with special needs students. Can't really spell. Doesn't really seem to ever hang out near the special ed classroom (which is right next to my classroom). So, I am not sure if there was a lot of competition for the job this admin landed. This is a tough problem to unravel: this admin apparently has no idea what I am doing in my class. On the flip side, I would have no idea how to assess the effectiveness of the special needs faculty.

The students who are in service clubs at our school have activities which try to include the special needs students as much as possible. It helps that the lead teacher in our school's special needs dept is good at her job, super-involved in the school, laid-back, and cheery.

Elementary school specifically? It seems analogous to my situation with the older students from what I hear. Much depends on the principal at your school, the school district, etc. Commenter A suggested that there are ample resources for special ed, and I would agree. Most classroom funding seems to be driven my wants & needs, but funding for special needs seems to be driven and guaranteed by legalities and mandates.

I have never had a bad experience with special needs teachers, so either I am lucky or someone has been doing a good job of hiring. Most of the certified (teacher) job openings in our district seem to be for special needs, and these jobs stay open for weeks or even months. Therefore I assume that the pool of applicants for these positions is smaller than that for PE jobs - jobs which seem to get filled immediately. Either that, or like "A" said, people just burn out at every school but mine.

Those thoughts are based on my experiences, so others may have different views.

Mar 5, 2016

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Kimberly On 3/04/16, Kimberly wrote: > Hi! I am brand new to this forum! and I was wondering if > I could get some feedback on the environment of special > education in North Carolina? I know the dismal state of > education in general in N.C. but does anyone here have > some advice for someone wanting to teach mild/moderate > elementary sc...See More

Mar 5, 2016

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