For more information, please contact: Paul Marchand (202) 783-2229 Katy Beh Neas (202) 347-3066 Leslie Jackson (301) 652-2682 Jane West (202) 289-3903 Stephen Spector (301) 306-7070

January 27, 2004

Dear Senator:

When you consider S. 1248, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments, the Senate may debate an amendment designed to decrease the amount of paperwork associated with educating students with disabilities in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. (IDEA).  The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is comprised of over 100 national organizations that promote the full participation of people with disabilities in society.   The Education Task Force is made up of over 50 of those organizations that are especially dedicated to ensuring that students with disabilities have full access to education at all levels – early childhood, K-12 and higher education.

The Education Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) recognizes that general and special education teachers, related services providers and other school personnel are feeling burdened with increasing requirements to monitor and document the progress of all students. In fact, an August 2002 study by the Department of Education stated that a majority of special education teachers say that burdensome paperwork interferes with their ability to do their job. We agree that unnecessary paperwork requirements should not take teachers out of the classroom and away from their teaching responsibilities. However, any attempt to reduce paperwork should be approached with great care.  What may appear to some as unnecessary paperwork may actually be essential rights and protections for children and their parents.  For example, many of the requirements are actually required by the U.S. Constitution or other laws.  Eliminating them from IDEA will not remove the district’s responsibility to meet them.  In addition, adequate documentation will be critical to ensuring that students are learning what they need to learn and in holding schools accountable for their progress. Further, we are concerned that much of the documentation required of classroom teachers is not driven by the requirements of IDEA.

In order to improve educational outcomes for children with special education needs, effective communication between teachers and parents is essential. Children with disabilities benefit when:

• Schools have a clear understanding of parents’ expectations.
• Parents have a clear understanding of the school’s capabilities and resources.

• Parents and the school share a clear understanding of a child’s needs and capabilities.
• Parents and all school personnel involved with each child have agreed to the goals for each child, the means for achieving those goals and the mechanism for measuring the progress toward those goals.

Currently, several states and school districts have implemented technology to reduce paperwork and increase information sharing between school personnel and families.  We know that use of technology to prepare Individualized Education Programs on the computer, as well as the use of computerized forms, greatly reduces the time it takes to complete IEP’s and leaves more time for teachers to implement them.  While the U.S. Department of Education may want to provide standards or guidance in the use of technology, several states have moved ahead.   For example, New York is using “IEP Direct” (http://www.iepdirect.com) which can be accessed by parents and teachers.   South Carolina uses “Excent”  (http://www.excent.com) to assist school personnel to case manage and meet federal and state paperwork requirements.   Florida is also using a version of Excent to assist teachers and school personnel to develop service matrixes and manage IEP development and data recording. (http://www.excent.com/Products/FLExcent.html). 

S. 1248 currently contains a number of provisions to reduce paperwork through the use of technology and standardization of accountability documents. We support these proposals for reducing burdensome paperwork because they do not compromise the long-standing good practices in the development of education programs and the tracking of progress and communication with parents. Current technology allows for adequate protections of privacy and effective accountability and at the same time has the additional benefit of accommodating the special language and accessibility needs of individual students. These provisions have not had the opportunity to be tested. Therefore, it is premature to implement a waiver program until we know whether or not these new provisions will help lighten the paperwork load.

The CCD Education Task Force opposes any amendments that would provide state education agencies the ability to reduce or waive existing requirements for documentation and data collection, or inclusion in other legislation at least until the provisions currently proposed have had the opportunity to be tested.

We support efforts to lighten any burdens on special and general education professionals that keep them out of the classrooms or otherwise interfere with their ability to provide the services to children under IDEA. However, such efforts must not be at the expense of the legal rights of those same children. Individual education programs that lead to successful educational outcomes depend on effective communication and sufficient documentation to clearly demonstrate that the provisions of the IEP are understood and followed by all of the members of the IEP team. We all need to ensure that the goal of free and appropriate education of all students is attained and that the rights of students with disabilities provided for under IDEA are protected.

Thank you for considering our views.

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

American Council of the Blind

American Music Therapy Association

Association of University Centers on Disabilities

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders

Council of Learning Disabilities

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund

Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

Easter Seals

Higher Education Consortium for Special Education

Learning Disabilities Association

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

National Association of School Psychologists

National Association of Social Workers

National Down Syndrome Congress

National Down Syndrome Society

Learning Disabilities Association

School Social Work Association of America

TASH

The Arc of the United States

United Cerebral Palsy