CEC Policies on Diversity
CEC believes that all policy statements adopted by CEC related to
children with and without exceptionalities are relevant and apply to
both minority and nonminority individuals. To highlight concerns of
special interest to members of ethnic and multicultural groups, CEC has
developed the following policy statements:
Ethnicity and Exceptionality
The Council recognizes the special and unique needs of members of ethnic
and multicultural groups and pledges its full support toward promoting
all efforts that will help bring them into full and equitable
participation and membership in the total society.
Identification, Testing, and Placement
The Council supports the following statements related to the
identification, testing, and placement of children from ethnic and
multicultural groups who are also exceptional:
a. Child-find procedures should
identify children by ethnicity as well as type and severity of
exceptionality or degree of giftedness.
b. Program service reporting procedures should identify
children by ethnicity as well as exceptionality or degree of
giftedness.
c. All testing and evaluation materials and methods used for
the classification and placement of children from ethnic and
multicultural groups should be selected and administered so as not to be
racially or culturally discriminatory.
d. Children with exceptionalities who are members of ethnic
and multicultural groups should be tested in their dominant language by
examiners who are fluent in that language and familiar with the cultural
heritage of the children being tested.
e. Communication of test results with parents of children from
ethnic and multicultural groups should be done in the dominant language
of those parents and conducted by persons involved in the testing or
familiar with the particular exceptionality, fluent in that language,
and familiar with the cultural heritage of those parents.
All levels of government should establish procedures to ensure that
testing and evaluation materials and methods used for the purpose of
classification and placement of children are selected and administered
so as not to be linguistically, racially, or culturally discriminatory.
Programming and Curriculum Adaptation
The Council supports the following statements related to programming and
curriculum adaptation for children from ethnic and multicultural
groups:
a. Long-term placement should be
avoided unless students are reevaluated at prescribed intervals by
individuals qualified in assessing such students with the most
appropriate culture-free assessment instruments available.
b. All school districts should take necessary steps to ensure
that both students and their parents fully comprehend the implications
of, and the reasons for, proposed programming decisions, including the
nature and length of placement. Parents should be fully involved in the
decision making process.
c. Culturally appropriate individualized education programs
should be designed that include the child's present level of educational
performance, annual goals, short-term objectives, and specific
educational services to be provided.
d. It is of utmost importance to identify children's relative
language proficiency so that language appropriate special education
programs may be provided (e.g., bilingual special education and special
education programs incorporating English-as-a-Second-Language
instruction).
e. Children with exceptionalities who are members of ethnic
and multicultural groups should have access to special cultural and
language programs provided to nonexceptional group members, with the
necessary program adaptations to make the program beneficial to the
exceptional child or youth.
f. Culturally appropriate educational materials should be
readily available in ample quantity so that all students, including
those from ethnic and multicultural groups, may benefit from their
content.
g. Curriculum should be adapted or developed to meet the
unique needs of children from all cultural groups. Curriculum should
include a multicultural perspective that recognize the value of diverse
cultural traditions to society as well as the contributions of all
cultural groups of American and Canadian society.
h. It is critical for teachers to recognize individual
language and cultural differences as assets rather than deficits.
Furthermore, those assets should be utilized to enhance education for
all children, including those from ethnic and multicultural groups.
Technical Assistance and Training
Special and unique concerns of Council members from ethnic and
multicultural groups that are related to technical assistance, training,
and services will receive the attention and support of the Deputy
Executive Director.
Special Projects
a. The Council will continue its
interests in projects that meet the needs and concerns of all its
membership. Furthermore, the Council will actively search for projects
that include special concerns of members from ethnic and multicultural
groups.
b. Projects that include special and unique concerns of
members from ethnic and multicultural groups to be considered for
development and implementation will receive the combined attention and
support of various Council staff and the Special Assistant to the Deputy
Executive Director.
c. All projects of the Council will include opportunities for
perspective and participation by ethnic and multicultural groups in
formulation, implementation, and evaluation phases.
Cooperation with Organizations, Disciplines, and
Individuals
a. The Council will support efforts
to explore with other organizations mutual concerns and issues related
to ethnic and multicultural children and their families. In the process,
the Council will take care not to intervene in the internal affairs of
any of the other organizations.
b. The Council will support efforts to work cooperatively with
other organizations in activities and services related to children with
exceptionalities from ethnic and multicultural groups and their
families.
Migrant Exceptional Students
Exceptional students who are mobile due to their parents' migrant
employment, experience reduced opportunities for an appropriate
education and a reduced likelihood of completing their education.
Child-find and identification policies and practices, designed for a
stationary population, are inadequate for children who move frequently.
Incomplete, delayed, or inadequate transfer of records seriously impedes
educational continuity. Interstate/provincial differences in special
education eligibility requirements, programs and resources, minimum
competency testing, and graduation requirements result in repetition of
processing formalities, gaps in instruction, delays in the resumption of
services, an inability to accumulate credits for graduation, and other
serious inequities. In addition to the disruption of learning, mobility
disrupts health care, training, teacher-student rapport, and personal
relationships.
The Council believes that educational policies and practices should
be developed at federal, state/provincial, and local levels to improve
access to education for migrant children and youth with
exceptionalities. These policies should include:
a. A national system for the
maintenance and transfer of special education records for migrant
students with exceptionalities.
b. Intrastate/provincial and interstate/provincial cooperation
in the transfer of records and of credits.
c. Flexibility in high school credit accumulation for migrant
students with exceptionalities.
d. Joint planning, coordination, and shared responsibility
among special education, migrant education, bilingual education, and
related programs.
e. Funding patterns that adjust for variations in
enrollment.
f. Flexible scheduling and other programming options that
adjust for student mobility.
g. Routine monitoring of activities undertaken to identify the
migrant exceptional student and to ensure educational continuity.
h. Ongoing research efforts to promote, improve, support, and
evaluate the education of migrant students with exceptionalities.
i. Personnel training.
j. Parent and family information programs to facilitate record
transfer.
To read more: http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/poleth.html
| Ethnicity, Identification, Testing, Curriculum Adaptation, Interpreters, Migrant Exceptional Students |
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