By Matthew Ward
As a high school special education teacher, I specifically work with students who have a learning disability. I know that the effort, time, and finances invested by teachers and districts into these special programs is significant. Yet the statistics continue to indicate that efforts are not paying off: lower test scores, reading levels, graduation and college-bound rates. More alarming is the data that indicates these same students face higher rates of poverty and incarceration.
The Hechinger Report stated in an October 2014 article that a staggering one in three minors detained in juvenile hall have a learning disability. A 2015 study by the U.S. Department of Justice found jail inmates were six times more likely than the general population to report having a cognitive disability. This means that many of my students may be on the path to incarceration too. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves, what can we do differently?
Matthew Ward is a special education teacher at Delhi High School in California, an assistant adjunct professor at Temple University, and a father of three children. He is an advocate of personal motivation, gratitude, and that doing the small things in life make a difference.
