What's New

July 24: Another excellent Vancouver Sun Op Ed supporting inclusion, and highlighting the challenges posed by underfunding, this one from the new BC Teachers' Federation President, Susan Lambert. 

July 21: The Vancouver Sun has run two Op Eds supporting inclusion in response to last week's Op Ed by Winnipeg teacher Michael Zwaagstra and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy denouncing inclusion. Read the responses from the BC Association for Community Living and Vancouver Parents for Successful Inclusion 

July 14, 2010: A disturbing Op Ed in today's Vancouver Sun highlights the importance of educational policy based on reason and what actually works for students, vs. assumptions and ideology. With the erosion of special education services across BC sparking fresh calls for segregation, it's timely to revisit two important 2009 studied on the benefits of successful inclusion and student-centred policy.

1. A study by the Centre for Education Research and Policy at Simon Fraser University using data from the annual Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests found the inclusion of special-needs students in B.C. classroom doesn't affect the achievement of typical students. Read more 
2. The Canadian Council on Learning conducted an extensive reivew of 30 studies from the U.S., Britain and Canada on educational outcomes among students with special needs in inclusive vs. non-inclusive settings. They found outcomes were better among most groups in inclusive settings, although the advantages were small and/or inconclusive in some cases. There was no evidence that segregation per se supported better educational outcomes and the CCL concluded that other factors, such as instructional quality and/or social/emotional wellbeing, could be more important in shaping individual results. Read more   

June 2010: VPSI Brief on revised VSB budget proposals for 2010-11. 

June 2010: VPSI press release on proposed September 2010 VSB cuts to Special Education: Cuts are unacceptable, says VPSI, urging Province to start living up to its responsibilities and heeding parent concerns about erosion of special education. VPSI seeking further parent feedback on proposed cuts - email: info@vpsinclusion.net  

June 2010: Why inclusion? As many BC schools struggled with another round of budget cuts to special education, questions about inclusion inevitably arise. This brief summary, prepared by MOMS, outlines why we all need to continue pressing BC to pursue the promise of inclusive education. Download a copy. 

April 2010: Inclusion key to why Finland's schools get the best results:

"Last year more than 100 foreign delegations and governments visited Helsinki, hoping to learn the secret of their schools' success.

"In 2006, Finland's pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD's exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea.

"This isn't a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top.

"The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind...." Read the BBC News report 

April 21, 2010: Vancouver's Special Ed Advisory Committee (SEAC) brief to the VSB's public budget hearings outlines serious risks of proposed cuts totalling over $3 million to special education in the district in 2010-11. District stats show that the number of identified students with special needs in Vancouver has grown by 35% since 2001, while the total number of special education teachers in the district will have declined by 25%, if the proposed cuts are made for 2010-11

February 23, 2010: VPSI letter to Education Minister requests an urgent meeting to discuss parent concerns about budget cuts and worrying gaps in the provincial accountability framework re provision of appropriate front-line services and supports to students with special needs.

Advocacy Links:

• Visit the BC Education Coalition (Vancouver or Special Ed pages) for info about cuts & what parents can do.
• Information on the VSB's 2010-11 budget process and how you can participate 

January 28, 2010: Boards warn of looming cuts targetting special ed: Vancouver, Victoria join other districts warning that with limited discretionary spending to cut to offset unprecedented budgetary shortfalls due to unfunded provincial costs, special ed may face painful cuts for 2010-11. Special needs parents and advocacy groups urged to join growing grassroots campaigns urging adequate provincial funding for schools in the Province's upcoming budget, to be presented March 3. UPDATE: Vancouver DPAC urges Victoria to fund downloaded costs to avert deep cuts to student services.

January 26, 2010 - URGENT VSB Parent Meeting re Special Education & deep cuts planned for 2010-11: VSB Chair Patti Bacchus has been invited to our monthly meeting for parents of students with special needs to discuss the massive budget deficit facing Vancouver for next year, imminent decisions needed about what to cut where, the district's public consultation process and parents' role in advocacy. This meeting is open to all parents and all are strongly urged to attend to find out more about the very worrying concerns about very deep and harmful cuts to special education! The meeting is at the VSB office (Broadway and Fir) starting at 7 pm in Room 120.

January 2010: New manual on evidence-based autism education: The National Autism Center. which released the landmark National Standards Report last July summarizing the evidence base for options in autism treatment, has just released a comprehensive manual titled, Evidence-Based Practice and Autism in the Schools. The 181-page manual includes important findings from the National Standards Report, touted as the most extensive analysis of treatments for children and adolescents with ASD ever published.

December 9, 2009: SFU report finds inclusion of special-needs students in B.C. classroom doesn't affect achievement of others. The study was done by the Centre for Education Research and Policy at Simon Fraser University, which compared achievement of successive cohorts of students, using data from the annual Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), and measured the effect of having more or fewer classmates with disabilities. "This research provides credible evidence that, whatever B.C.'s teachers are doing to support students with disabilities and their classmates, it is successful in ensuring that there are no detrimental side-effects of the inclusion policy," study co-author Brian Krauth stated.

October 1, 2009: October is Community Living Month in BC - this year's theme is inclusive education. Find out more at BCACL's Community Living Month web page

September 28, 2009: VPSI presents Brief re provincial funding of Special Education to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. Thanks for all the great input and advice received & again - apologies for the short notice!

September 24, 2009: A very interesting report just out from the U.S., representing a major collaborative effort among autism researchers to review the evidence on various autism treatments (school-based, pre-school and other programs serving children & youth to age 22) and to rank their demonstrated effectiveness in terms of enhancing key skills and diminishing problem behaviours, based on published scientific research. It also rates effectiveness of each treatment across different age groups and diagnostic labels. Although it is a very lengthy report, the "meat" of it is concisely summarized in the middle section, which sums up the research findings for 11 "established" forms of treatment, including ABA-type programs and behavioural-based programs. It further rates a number of less-established "emerging" treatments, and includes a very useful Q&A at the end offering advice to parents and professionals on how to utilize these findings appropriately. We look forward to constructive commentary from professionals in BC as to what implications we might draw from this to inform practice in the Canadian/BC context: National Standards Report

September 22, 2009: URGENT NOTICE: VPSI will present advice re the 2010 provincial budget to the provincial Committee on Finance & Government Services, which is holding hearings in Vancouver on Monday, September 28.  We are urgently seeking parent input on ongoing issues, priorities and recommendations to shape our advice to this government committee. (Apologies for the short notice - we were just informed of the opportunity today.) Please e-mail us at:  info@vpsinclusion.net

February 25, 2009: Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) presents budget brief to Vancouver Board of Education. Highlights: a call for caps on Special Ed resource teacher caseloads, which have grown by 74% since 2001.

February 16 - 22: National Inclusive Education Week: What's happening in your school or district? This is an opportunity to celebrate inclusion and to reflect on the value and importance of an inclusive approach to education and special education. It's also an opportune moment to consider ways in which we can work together to overcome the significant barriers to inclusive education in British Columbia. If we all set just one manageable goal to advance inclusive education for the coming year, think how much we could all accomplish together!

Here are some useful links on inclusive education. Also check out our parent advocacy page, resources and links:

BCACL - Inclusive Education Week

Inclusive Education Canada

Inclusion.com - Inclusion Links

BCTF - Inclusive Education 

February 2009: The BCCPAC Advocacy Project is seeking parent input to help design a self-help guide for parents on IEPs. The guide will complement their Problem-Solving and Meeting Survival self-help guides  You can help by participating in an anonymous on-line survey until Friday, Feb.27, 2009. 

January 7, 2009: VPSI presentation to special meeting of the Vancouver Board of Education on how to address concerns about the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests.

January 2009: ADVOCACY ALERT: Please join the January 2009 Campaign to end waitlists for over two thousand adults with developmental disabilities and thousands more children and youth with special needs. Sign up here to participate and visit End Waitlists Now! to find out more about the province-wide "Virtual Rally" at the end of January. 

November 2008: BC's independent Representative for Children and Youth releases update report following up her earlier report on services to children and youth with special needs. Read the Rep's original Feb 2008 Monitoring brief

November 2008: Richmond School Board releases the results of its Inclusion Review. Key extracts:

"Many people who live or work in Richmond understand and value the concept or idea of inclusion as applying to all students. In many different ways they say they 'believe in it.' However in practical terms 'inclusion is frequently associated only with classroom integration of students with special needs. Many feel that for lots of students, what is happening in schools is not really inclusion.

"Concerns for the future of inclusion: Although the intent of the Inclusion Review was to seek input about how to manage limited resources, many people feel strongly that the lack of resources is now critical, that full inclusion is unworkable, and that the commitment to inclusion is threatened. They want to see pressure put on government to restore adequate funding to education."

November 2008: Congratulations to VPSI parents Patti Bacchus & Jane Bouey on being elected to serve as trustees on the Vancouver Board on Education. We know you will provide a strong voice for all Vancouver students!!

September 2008: Schedule of 2008-09 information meetings for Vancouver parents of students with special need

September 2008: VPSI presentation to Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services

July 2008: Sign the petition to reverse Cabinet decision to deny community living services based on IQ