Hello,
I am a resource room teacher (and also a parent of a child in special education) with a question about SDI time. I am struggling a bit to explain my question but here goes...
I have several students who are unable to maintain the pace of the general education classroom for math and reading. They should really be following a hybrid resource/life skills program but logistically that will not work so they are strictly in the resource room/mainstream setting. Their SDI time is less than their content class time in the mainstream setting. For example, a reading block is 60 minutes but their SDI time is for 30 minutes. However, they are truly unable to maintain the pace of the general education classroom instruction because they are so far behind grade level so when they are sent back to the mainstream classroom during that content time, they are completely lost. The mainstream teachers I work with are fantastic and are knowledgeable about differentiating but our students require much more than just differentiating; they need repeated, consistent, targeted instruction. I understand the law and needing the LRE for every student but ethically I am struggling with sending them back to a classroom where they are completely lost and unable to do the work. My administrators have scolded me for suggesting that we extend the SDI time to match the length of the class time , which I understand is illegal, but I don't know how else to support my students while following the law. Any suggestions or recommendations you may have would really help me, my colleagues, and our students.
Thank you!
