I.

Causes: A lack of funding and para-professional support is one of the main reasons why
students cant achieve in General Education classrooms.
A. Cause 1: Students in the Special Education Classrooms cannot achieve at school due to
understaffing of paras.
1. Evidence: Congdon Park School is not a Title I. School, which means that they
dont have extra funding to be able to pay for more support, such as paraprofessionals in the classrooms (2015-2016 Revenues).
2. Evidence: There are currently 13 para-professional positions open within the
Duluth Public School District, and these positions are going to other schools that
have more funding. (Frontline).

a. Since Congdon Park does not have as much funding as the other
schools in the district, they cannot afford to have as many paraprofessional positions open at the school as other schools in the
district do (Kmiech).
3. Evidence: When hiring para-professionals for the schools, the total school
population is often looked at, rather than the actual amount of students with
Individualized Education Plans (NPS).

B. Cause 2: Students without the correct help in the General Education classrooms have
trouble remaining there, causing them to be pulled from the classroom.
1. Evidence: Schools are forced to use pull-out rather than push in model because
there isnt enough help for the students to be able to stay in the General
Education classroom, forcing them miss core instruction in their general
education classes (Kmiech).
2. Evidence: Students should not be pulled from the general education classrooms
unless it is deemed absolutely necessary, meaning that supplementary guidance
or aids cannot help them achieve (Between).

a. Special Education is not a place for students to be sent when

they are misbehaving, but it should be a resource for the
students (Between).
3. Evidence: Without proper help, students cannot focus in the General Education
classrooms, causing them to be sent to their Special Education classroom more
frequently than they should (NPS).
4. Evidence: According to a study done in the early 2000s, General Education
teachers often feel stressed when having to deal with both their typicallydeveloping students and their disabled students (Lee-Tarver).
a. This stress rubs off on the children, and this is what causes them to
act out in class, which then in turn causes them to miss core
instruction (Hoban).

C. Cause 3: With the lack of para-professionals and other support, the Special Education
students IEPs are not being followed, which means the students cannot learn in the way
that is best for them.
1. Evidence: The large student to teacher ratios in Special Education classrooms
mean that the students do not get the help that is needed for their IEPs (Kmiech).

2. Evidence: After the No Child Left behind Act was passed in 2001, full inclusion
of Special Education Children is now required in all General Education
classrooms (Lee-Tarver).
a. This means that IEPs had to be altered to fit this new setting,
which means that certain things like para-professionals and
other accommodations had to be made for students to be able to
be included in these classrooms (Lee-Tarver).
3. When these IEPs arent followed, students cannot learn in the best way that is
suited to their learning style (Kmiech).
a. If a child does not have a para-professional in the classroom
when they need one, they often get stressed out and feel that the
class is too hard which causes them to make a ruckus so that
they dont have to participate (Kmiech).