Cait O’Connor

Q: What is IDEA (1990)? A: IDEA is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It was passed in 1990 alongside the Americans with Disabilities Act, intended to replace similar past laws as a more comprehensive path to equity and equality for disabled Americans. It offers groundbreaking guidance and guidelines for educating children and adults with disabilities, and makes state guidelines more streamlined, equitable and consistent across states. The IDEA’s original goal was to outline what constitutes for schools, students and families as a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) It also provides funding to programs such as ESY (extended school year), for students who need to “catch up” or remediate skills in reading and math; ungraded life skills programs for students with higher support needs, and provisions for staff to implement students IEPs with fidelity nationwide. The law mandates that schools develop IEPs and a referral process for students with disabilities, and states like New York also have regulations for testing, notifying families, and engaging in informed consent processes with parents about how the IEP will be drafted, finalized and implemented in the child’s educational process. The IDEA law has three main parts: Part B (ages 3-21) outlines the legal requirements and funding to ensure that all students with disabilities, including those with learning disabilities, get the support they need in school Part C; services and funding for infants and toddlers with disabilities from birth to age 2 Part D; provides funding for competitive grants to support state personnel development (certification and training standards for aides, caretakers, teaching assistants and support staff), technical assistance, information dissemination, technology, and information and support services for parents Before IDEA, districts could refuse to serve communities and children with disabilities entirely. This legislation ensures that discrimination on the basis of d…

-formula grants for ages 3-5 (programs like early intervention, occupational therapy (life skills), speech therapy, and cognitive testing for preschool aged children) -prevents multilingual learners from being classified as disabled just for being multilingual (as in, schools are required to differentiate if ELLs are disabled in addition to, but not because of, their first language/home language not being English). -vocational and job training -discretionary grants for educational technology (hearing devices, communication technology) -least restrictive environment (LRE) implementation; the right of every child, regardless of disability, to be educated in an environment that is not restrictive or segregated -determinations for students who receive disciplinary intervention in school–they cannot just be suspended, but their behavior must be considered a “manifestation of their disability” before any punitive measures (suspension, expulsion, detention) are taken. At a federal level, this applies to public AND private schools. Q: What changes if the federal DOE is unable to implement IDEA, now that many of the staff have received layoffs, or Reductions in Force (RIF) notices? A: These changes mean that kids in some states will receive less services, funding or implementation than others, and that there are limited staff at a federal level to ensure that these regulations are being adhered to across the country. Though many states have regulations and laws that bolster these protections, not all states have strong enough or ironclad protections that parallel IDEA. IDEA is still law, but there is now nobody in the OSER to investigate complaints. So if districts are underfunded, unable to meet student needs, or violating students’ IEPs, there is no one investigating or overseeing those gaps. Districts that are out of compliance will not be held federally accountable. And if states don’t have laws that close the gap in federal oversight? Too bad. Schools who violate studen…

But they said the plan is to let the funding go through the treasury. Who cares who it goes through, as long as states receive it? A: The federal government pays about 13-40% of IDEA related disability education costs via formula grants, on a state by state basis. Now, there is no one in the office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services to disburse these funds, which were set to disappear anyway. Now, they’re disappearing without being re-directed to any other agency (a goal of Project 2025). Educational funding that goes through the treasury is not subject to the same education laws or appropriations, and can be used in generalized rather than specialized ways. Additionally, because it is not passing through a body that adheres to and abides by education law, it is more subject to the whims of the federal government and can be withheld as the president sees fit. Educational funding is overseen by many committees, educational advocates and specialists, and the transfer to the treasury enables the needs determined by educational experts to be ignored, worked around or neglected. Q: What’s next? A: The lawsuits that will ensue will set precedents, and that’s the point. Because these lawsuits will either be used to uphold the law that has been long established by disability advocates, or overturned entirely when revisited–just like we saw with Roe in 2022. And in an administration with a pattern for calling anything that benefits marginalized and vulnerable communities as “waste, fraud, and abuse, ” this could mean that those services are seen as superfluous indulgences, rather than the lifelines that they are for tens of thousands of disabled people. Sources and Links: Sara Novic (@Photonovic). What is IDEA? (National Center for Learning Disabilities) Part 300 of the IDEA (United States Department of Education). Part 300B of the IDEA (United States Department of Education). New York State Law, Regulations and Policy Not Required by the Federal Government (me…

A breakdown of the OSERS shutdown.

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943

This is so sad to hear and to think about. Thank you for sharing your experience ❤️

I hope this book heals that memory and provides a way forward so no kid has to hear those things again.

My book is HERE! Preorders begin in February! Release date in March! Screaming crying throwing UP 😭

My students are loving graphic memoirs in our memoir unit: Tiny Dancer, Four Eyes, and They Called Us Enemy were some they chose from! #TLSkyChat

@jenniferlagarde.bsky.social Also, hi, I’m Cait O’Connor, middle school teacher whose own nonfiction book is coming out in March! #TLSkyChat

A1: Nonfiction that contains narrative. I loved John Green’s THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED, and I consider myself a nonfiction girlie. I’m currently reading MUTUAL AID: Surviving this crisis and the next by Dean spade. I love nonfiction I can use to help me help others. #TLSkyChat

A2: we read the book ALL THIRTEEN and use it as an opportunity to really pay attention to text features and their significance in a text. The book is beautiful! #TLSkyChat

My book is HERE! Preorders begin in February! Release date in March! Screaming crying throwing UP 😭

What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones Children who were raised on screens need more freedom out in the real world.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Pay attention. Your family’s safety is on the line.

Miss 11 minute plane ride could never.

The most athletic woman in the world is doing weight loss drug ads.

Now this app is censoring any trans authors who criticize JK Rowling. Is nothing safe?

What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones Children who were raised on screens need more freedom out in the real world.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"One habit I had to break as a teacher was affirmation without information. Phrases like 'Great!' 'Awesome!' Or even 'Right!' aren’t specific enough to tell students WHAT they got right or did well. Affirmation alone isn’t data. Reflect, mirror and specify." —Teacher Cait O’Connor

💭 Reflect
🪞 Mirror
📍 Specify

Inspiration by T @justteachingela.bsky.social

#EduSky

My manuscript is in the editor’s inbox. I REPEAT: my MANUSCRIPT. Is in. The editors’ INBOX.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Raise your hand if recommending books is a love language 🙋🏻‍♀️

“Credit recovery” is an opportunity to unearth what parts of school just aren’t resonating with students. When we treat kids who are repeating a class as if they are learners (because they are) instead of harping on the fact that we think they’re there because they “messed up,” 1/5 🧵

One habit I had to break as a teacher was affirmation without information.

Phrases like “Great!” “Awesome!” Or even “Right!” aren’t specific enough to tell Ss WHAT they got right or did well. Affirmation alone isn’t data. Reflect, mirror, and specify.

Alternative programs are lifelines for so many students, and it often starts with this; trust that they’re there not just to get credit, but because they can and need to be challenged academically. 5/5

We have the power to make it about more than assignments and crossing a state-mandated “finish line.”

4/5

If you are interested in teaching evening/alternative/summer school, first ask yourself: what do I believe about kids who attend these programs to get credit back? What do I believe is my role as a teacher in these spaces? 3/5

We can change the trajectory of how they see school. Believing in kids is contagious.

What I mean is, if they know you think they can do it, they’ll start to, too. 2/5

“Credit recovery” is an opportunity to unearth what parts of school just aren’t resonating with students. When we treat kids who are repeating a class as if they are learners (because they are) instead of harping on the fact that we think they’re there because they “messed up,” 1/5 🧵

One habit I had to break as a teacher was affirmation without information.

Phrases like “Great!” “Awesome!” Or even “Right!” aren’t specific enough to tell Ss WHAT they got right or did well. Affirmation alone isn’t data. Reflect, mirror, and specify.

Knowledge that doesn’t help you materially transform your life and the lives of those around you for the better is just information.

Are you helping learners access knowledge, or giving them information?

Finally met @asv.bsky.social in real lifeeeeeee

Michelle Obama Is Not Coming To Save Us Plezi isn’t great. And the backlash is maybe even worse?

virginiasolesmith.substack.com/p/michelle-o...