SPED teachers -job responsibilities in your school system? (IEP, pay, assessment)

[marid4061]

Three years ago I left a school system I had worked in for 14 years. The school system went through some big changes and we started having a large turnover of teachers and admin and our pay was frozen. I really like how we did things in my former school system versus where I am now. The lure of the system I am in now is that it is more community involved and a much smaller school system. But the workload and micromanaging is unreal. Just wondering what is required of you at your school system? Here are some examples of what I see were big differences from one school system to the other. How does your school system work?

We have to administer a WJIV assessment every year to every student before we do an IEP. We have to score it and write up the educational evaluation. At my previous school system the school psychologists did the testing and the educational reports.

At an eligibility meeting(TCR) we have to write up the eligibility paperwork before the meeting and run the meeting and write a prior written notice during the meeting. At my previous school system the admin and psychologist ran the meeting and typed up the prior written notice and minutes during the meeting.

At this school system an administrator is the LEA at all meetings, department chair is not invited. At my previous school the department chair was the LEA and an admin was only invited if needed.

At this school system we have to turn in IEP's 2 weeks prior to the meeting to our dept. chair and admin so they can critique it, send it back and have you make changes first. Last school district we asked our peers to check over our IEP's a couple of days ahead of time.

At this school we have to do IEP progress reports 8 times a year and write a summary with data for every goal a student has. At previous school we had to only check if they were progressing on a goal, not write a summary with data.

At this school any sped teacher can teach a practical class for students with intellectual disabilities. Then you have to do the VAAP's for them. Every 11th grader who is ID gets a VAAP. At my previous school district we had an ID teacher who only had those students on their case load, no more than 6-8, and they taught all the practical classes and did the VAAP's and not every child had a VAAP.

Our new IEP system erases all data in your IEP when you start a new one. It only keeps accommodations. At my previous system all data stayed in and you just went in and made changes.

The list goes on and on and after 3 years they still add more responsibilities and I am just frustrated with how much they demand of us. I really miss my previous school system so much. We did our job, did it well, and nobody bothered you. If it wasn't for the cut in pay of $4000 I would go back there in a heart beat.

[Spazkat9696]

I’m not sure why you would need to do a woodcock Johnson every year and as a parent I would refuse the testing. Everything else sounds normal.

Students complete a VAAP binder every year there is an SOL for their typically developing peers. I’m not sure what your issue is there.

It sounds like your old district had compliance issues.

[VA Yankee]

A good friend who retired from a career in SPED said "Well we've labeled them all what do we do with them now?".
Its the nature of the career you have chosen if the documenting is getting to be too much then go back to regular education....