In the Atascadero California School District, where more than 50% of the students are from financially disadvantaged families and 20% are learning English, a new approach has been implemented to help all students who struggle in math or reading. Rather than send students to special-education classes, two of the district’s schools set up learning centers staffed by teachers, tutors, and language specialists. The program is designed to give extra help to all students who need it, not just those designated as special-needs students.
In the program, called “Walk to Learn,” students leave their regular classes and walk to a room with several learning centers, where they receive small group instruction. One group might be working on multiplication facts, another on sound-symbol relationships, another on vocabulary enrichment, and yet another on a writing assignment. Some students may attend up to three extra-assistance sessions a day.
Since the program was initiated, a Santa Rosa elementary school has students performing at a level equal to the top-performing schools in the state of California. The middle school, since doing away with special education classes and adopting the learning center approach, has seen attendance go up and truancy and suspensions go down. Every school in the district has now established a learning center in place.
I think that it's important to remember that every teaching milieu is somewhat different. While small group learning centers might work with many studnets in many different schools, it won't work for everybody. For that matter, it probably won't work for every student throughout their entire educational career. The best schools never rely on a single strategy; instead they incorporate multiple strategies. Special education is not a bad educational practice as long as it is not used for remediation and it is used for students who are truly learning challenged. Too many inner city school students are sorted into special ed because they lack social and cultural resources. It makes sense why special ed. won't work as well as intensive support in the schools that you describe.
Andrew Pass