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DOCUMEr7 RESUHE ED 202 095 EA 013 AUTHOR Lambright, N.Benty; And Othe.s TITLE 1.:lucational InnoY7ation as a F 3cess of :alition-Buildi=7:. A Study Organilt_:=.2. Decision-,Making., Tolume 3e Studies Educational InncTations in '\E:, ester L..z.d York. INSTITUTION S-Frracuse Researcn Corp., Sy=:,z;:se, N.Y. -SPONS AGENC: la:zional Inst. of Education (4ash:.agtora, D.C. REPORT NO :lac-TM-544-B PUB DATE km:: BO GRANT :1=7-G-7B-0043 NOTE 3:24:; Figure. 3 and:occasiol. appen:Aces may remroduce poorly. For a accument,see TA 01Z EDRS PRICE . I201/PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Ldministrative Organization Cam:, _zsisted Instruction;,CompuLer Instructi.:n; :ommuter Oriented Programs; *Decisicr. l_sabilities; Educational Comple;:es Innovation; Elementary Secondar= Exceptional Persois; Free Choice 2-a ::en Progrs: House Plan; Informal OrTanizatio:._: .L.aamrAtocy .7ohools; Magnet Schools; Mainst-zei.,4-z..---c;MatIzgeme=t :nformation Systems; *OrgtmizatioL4.._ -reaopient; kOrzanizational EffectiveLess; 2ara:r.ofessz.nral School Personnel; Power Structui-e: R. IElarc-E; 0School Districts; Special 'Education: i:tudemt Lachatge Programs IDENTIFIERS 1.-fducation for A21 Handicapped Childrea ict: Project luzigue; *Rochester City School .7,;.s.-;==t 'L4 *Syracuse 2.-Lty Schools NY; UrbaniSliburhian Interiztztriz:t 1.-L-ansfer Program ABSTRACT fzis document contains/the full texl_ of te. ca-Li_ studies prepared b,- the Syracuse Research Corpocati-7_ 5o= _J:s 1,11:,:pose. of examining the c7.ganizational processes involved :...at.,-ffetz.ve educational innolion at the school didtrict level- ;no ;e. in two urban distri:Ts were examined. In th Syracuse City 3cLc;3_ District these inaovations involved the oliowing: resco.e.af, t- the need for educatira children with hAndicap ing condition z, .z_-;:.. availability of computers for both instructional and and administrative p=ooses, the. adoption of a house plan -_n az: urbf:_a junior high schoz,l, the creation of magnet schools, the ,..:,of paraprofessionals, an attempt to create large educational oo..splexes in campus settingY at the elementary and secondary levels, -..11i considerations of racial balance. In the. Rochester City Str=ocl Didtrict nine inmcative programs were included under the ice----la of Project Unique. These described in these case studies emphasize the programpermittinciarban children from RoChester to attenc_ sch=ls in neighboring suburben districts, and vice verse. An examinalcion of the residual ef2ects of Project'Unigue-is also presented. info=mat:.'3n about decision-mating and coalition-building in educationa: ,organizations provicL-----f by these studies is analyzed in volume I of the re art.(PGD) The project presented or reported herein was performed r. pursuant to a grant from the National Institute of Education, Department of Education.' However, the opinions-herein do not necessarily reflect the,position or policy of theNational Institute of Edration, and no official endorsement by the National I.L=Lituteof Education should be inferred. --8-0043 :7:Y177-5447B EDUCATIONAL. INNOVATION AS. 2.=, 2.0CESS 7 _1 .-BUILDING: A STUDY OF L'EGLEIZ===,: -ION-MAKING Volume II: Case ; of Ea IL_ nations in F._ .7ew York Report to the NaL...onal f Education rtr77= ,,f Edudation by the RES: CorporatiOn Herrill.Lane Syra____Le, New York Livestigator:. W. Eanry Lambright. Senior Investigator: Patrick J. Hannigan Project Manager: Susan W. Hayes \ Project Team:./ Beardsley. J. Barron Boyd Elora B. Boyko Thomas A. DorseY- PaUl-J. Flynn Andrehg M. McGreevy Carl M..Spencer TABLE OF.CONTENTS Adaptive.Innovatic-: The:SYracuueCity Schc:_listrict.. and Education fc- -:hild::en with Handicapp±r7conditions, by J. Barron Bo A-24 Computer Technolo -2..n the Syracuse Cf.- Sc- District, by Elma B. Boykc 3 The House Plan in l_he Syracuse City iszrict: Managerial Innovztion in a Single by ThOmas A. Dor,--ey C - Magnet Schools in Syracuse City E._ _ 4strict, by Andrew M. McGreevy D- D-18 Metropolitan World of Inquiry School the Urban-, Suburban InterdiatrictTransfer Pr:ram aochester/ Monroe County), by Elm. Boyko .-ro0080O&O O06.0 -L-14 Paraprofessionals the Syracuse Ci Schc1 District, by Paul J. Flynr F-30. Residual Effects of the Campus Plan _ Syre:.:use, NeW York: 1966-1978, by Marguerite A. Beards -G -27 Residual Effects of Project Unique aochester, New York: 1970-1979; by Patrick J. .Hennigan - H-33 Urban-Suburban Canner for Innovation in Education (Part of the Urban- Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program in Rochester/Monroe County), by'Elma B. Boyko .. 1-14 Urban-Suburban :nterdistrict Transfer Program: Project US 4n Rochester/Monroe County, by Elma B. Boyko J - J-36 A ADAPTIVE INNOVATION:- THE SYRACUSE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT' AND EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPPING CONDITIONS by JBarron Boyd (Footnotes on p. A-23) 7 ADAPTIVE INNOVATION: THE SYRACUSE CITY SC :STRICT AND EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPP= :OITIONS When the federal "Education for All Handic=rpeChildren-Act" (P.L. 94-142) was enacted in 1975, it mandated that the states must proVide a '!free and appropriate" public educatiLm ft= all children with handicapping conditions by 1978. Ibis legtslat:ion and subsequent State lawS began a flurry of innovations throw rut the country as the state and local educational establishments A:tempted to come into 'compliance. The SyracUse City School District w not immune and. almost immediately began to alter its programs. The district's effort to come into compliance with the law through a wide-ranging Setof. innovatiOns'fOrms a particularly interesting case of adaptive innovation. to mandated change. Some change in the educational policies peirtaining.to hAndicapped children had been in the works for a'number of years before P.L. 94-142. In 1971, the U. S. District Court had ordered the State of Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania Association for the Retarded 7. Commonwealth, to pro-, vide public education for all children regardless of handicap. In Mills V. Board of Education (1972); this principle ims.extended to the District of ColUmbia with the additional proviso that a lack of fund for. handicapped educational. programs Was no excusefor inaction.- . Between 1971, and 1976, similar suits were brought in twenty-five states. Even ,before Chapter 853 of the New York State Education Law was enacted in 1976 to implement the regulations of P.L. 94-142, New York had begun to move on the handicapped education front. In 1973, Commissioner of Education Ewalt Nyquist, acting in response to a class action suit on behalf of a group of brain-damaged students :` decreed:that an "adequate and appropriate" education must beproVided for all New York students with-handicapping conditions. In spite of such signals and in spite of the rather limited changes that were implemented.in response toNyquiSt's 1973 order, the mandates'of P.L. 94-142 and Ch. 853 caused the city school distriCt to innovate on a grand scale between 1976 and1978 when most of the law's provisions took full effect. An assessment of the effort / needed to meet the demandi ofthe law is,provided in thefollow_rig statement by H.. Thomas Cliff, Director of Educationfor Children' with_ Handicapping Conditions of the Syracuse City School Distridt-, taken from a 1979 report: / It is. important to note here that the era of legal compliance in the education, of the handicapped seemed to come upon us suddenly. The speed and'supportthat was required.to dome to, compliance taxed every depart- ment in !-.heSyracuse City School District;diverting necesaary f.l.nances, calling upon staff to understand and assiat,'*Oequiring':thatS.11 people quidklymake cp,fora Ilistory of not serving all handicapped children. Thus, between 1976 and 1979, the school district expended a massive effort to innovate in its treatment of handicapped students in an effort to meet the mandates of both state and federal law. The specific provisions Of the resulting program, hence the innovations adopted, are detailed in the following segment of this report. The approach of the Syracuse City School District to the educa- tion of dhildrenwith handicapping conditions is based upon the pro- visions of P.L. 94-142 and Chapter 853 of the New York State Educa- tion Law. The two basic points of these laws, hence the two guiding principles of the district's special education effort, are that a free and appropriate education be provided for each handicapped child in the district between the ages of 3 and 21,and, that this, education be offered in the "least restrictive environment."Under the law, the educational services which are provided the child must match the specific needs dictated by the child's handicap. Moreover, the law requires that the child not be removed from participation in regular classroom activities any more than is necessary as a result of the 7 child's disability. To attain both of these goals, tbe district must not only prOvide special educational programs, butii5falso must implement a series of procedures to locate and diagnose each child so that he or she nay be placed in the appropriate programin the least restrictive environment. In addition, all of this must be done in a manner that protects both.the rights of the children and the parents. Consequently, the following substantive components comprisethe Syracuse City. School District's special education effort: (1) Location of.children with handicapping conditions; (2) Evaluation of children with handicapping conditions; (3) Placement of'childrenin the proper programs; (4) The educational programs themselves; end '(5) Guarantees of due process for children and parents. Location of Children with Handicapping Conditions Under state law, each schOol districtmust locate and identify all handicaPPediChildren from birth to age 21 who reside in the district. The specific method Of locating such children is left up'tothe school - distriCtlhowever,the Syracuse City SchoOl District chose to Parti- cipete in the Child.