Project lead: a training program for minority educators in special education and educational leadership

College Student Journal, June, 2004 by Renitta L. Goldman, Jerry Aldridge, Lou Anne Worthington

Personnel and student needs within the Birmingham Public School System indicated a need for personnel preparation in a variety of critical areas. Given that students in this system are (a) among the poorest in our nation, (b) have extraordinarily high dropout rates, (c) experience substantial crime, and (d) represent the highest concentration of African American students in our nation, the need for a focused personnel preparation program is apparent. To adequate address the multiple and complex needs of students within this system required the concerted and sustained efforts of educators, families, and community agencies. A multi-faceted, comprehensive approach to personnel preparation was warranted.

The emphasis on improving reading has been fueled by recent achievement test results that indicated that in reading achievement average American students are well behind those of other industrialized nations. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (The Condition of Education, 1997) reported that over the past six years, 11 countries have overtaken the US in high school graduation rates. The US, therefore, seems to have lost its supremacy as the world's premier educator. The US has a work force literacy rate of 76%. Our toughest training competitors have labor literacy percentages about 95% (Wood, 1996). For more than 20 years, over half of the young African American and Hispanic men have left school unable to read (Wood, 1996).

The disparity between Caucasian and minority children's literacy rates is on the increase (The Literacy Gap, January, 1997). For example among fourth graders, approximately four of every ten white students are proficient in reading but only one in eleven African American students is a proficient reader.

Children with special needs particularly need help with literacy. As children move into the middle elementary school grades, an increased demand for reading skills is placed on them. Reading for the adolescence population is a significant challenge because identifying reading problems becomes more difficult for students as they grow older (Special Education News, 2000).

Numerous efforts to increase the academic achievement of school-aged students and to prepare them for the 21st century have been undertaken in the last 25 years (US DOE, 1997). Consequently, increased expectations for all students to achieve their highest potential have been the guiding force behind policies and programs set forth at the national, state, and district levels.

President Bush secured strong federal support for early childhood literacy when he signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act--also known as the 2001 Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This act provides parents and early childcare providers with a gauge to early reading skills and identifies potential reading problems (The Achiever, 2002).

Being able to read and write is fundamental. It makes learning possible. The ability of students to read stands among the most current concerns pertaining to academic achievement in public education (Zipperer, Worley, Sisson, & Said, 2002).