children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

In Cambridee, Massachusetts, an attempted overall
school census on children out of school was conducted
by citizen volunteers at the request of the
central school administration. However, the results
of the census are viewed by school officials as useless.
Though Massachusetts law requires submission
of reports of numbers of children with special needs,
it is readily apparent from our interviews with the
Cambridge Special Education director and other
special education personnel in the state that the data
are not systematically compiled and little affirmative
effort is undertaken to locate children with handicaps.IS
A Springfield research official said that six
censuses are conducted in the school district: three
by the School Department to ascertain pupil enrollment;
one by the police to determine if any children
are not in school; a bilingual census and a handicapped
census. 16 There is a great deal of overlap
and very little cooperation among those conducting
the censuses, so that none of them are done very
well. The Special Class Supervisor reinforced this
picture of confusion by remarking that the census of
the handicapped taken for the state on October I,
1973 is inaccurate. 17
In Davenport, Iowa, where a census of handicapped
children is submitted to the state, we were
informed that there was rio outreach to identify
handicapped children. The school system deals
only with those who come to school. 18
Portland, Maine tried to get federal funding to
conduct a census to determine exact numbers of children
with special needs, but the application was
turned down because the Office of Education said
this was not one of the greater needs of the city.
While the COlorado state code mandates a districtby-district
survey of handicapped children, it is
apparently commonly known that Denver has never
complied with this requirement. The new Handicapped
Children's Educational Act also mandates
such a census, but its requirement is not effective
IS Interview with Dr. Grace Kaczyunski, Director, Office of
Pupil Services, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 10/12/73.
16 Interview with Dr. John Howell, Research Director,
Springfield School Department, Springfield, Massachusetts,
12/6/73.
17 Interview with Dr. Mary C. McLean, Special Class Supervisor,
Springfield, Massachusetts, 12/12/73.
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until the 1974-75 school year.
And in Alabama, where there are two censuses
that could provide useful information, neither one
has done so. Every four years, each school district
must conduct a census of school-age children. Although
there is a space on the census card used for
information about handicapped children, it is not
transmitted from individual districts to the State
Department of Education nor is it compiled by individual
districts. The Montgomery Superintendent
says it was a "very imperfect census" which is of
"no value at all to the district. "19 It is conducted
only because it is required by law and is the basis
for appropriating certain funds to individual districts.
A survey of exceptional children required by the
Alabama Exceptional Child Education Act was conducted
in 1971. According to an official in the
State Department of Education, the poor results of
their survey are attributed to the hurried manner in
which it was conducted. 20 The results of the survey
were based on teacher referrals--children teachers
felt should be referred-not children who had actually
been tested and found in need of special education
services. Since it was done so quickly, no
checking could be done to determine whether those
referred would in fact qualify as exceptional. Thus
the figures on the number of children in need of
services are very likely distorted.
Parental Ignorance of Exclusion
If school officials are not providing the leadership
in identifying and helping children with special
needs, neither are enough parents supplying the
demand for services. Many do not push for special
placement for their children. Some, in fact, resist
it because they shun the embarrassment they feel
such an admission of handicap entails. Other parents,
minority parents particularly, fear racial discrimination
in the classification and placement process.
But the larger number of parents are silent because
they are ignorant of the possible disabilities their
children may have, ways of assessing them, educational
services that would be beneficial, or what
exactly they are entitled to.
Most parents we interviewed had little idea of the
kinds of special education programs their school