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Work group frames least-restrictive-environment challenges around staffing, training and disproportionality
Summary
MSDE’s special-education work group reviewed LRE principles and data showing placement variability across districts; participants cited staffing shortages, inconsistent training, lack of collaboration time, and racial disproportionality as key drivers that push students into more restrictive placements.
Dr. Antoine Hickman, MSDE’s assistant state superintendent for early intervention and special education services, led a session reviewing least restrictive environment (LRE) principles and Maryland placement data, then opened a facilitated discussion and breakout groups that emphasized staffing, training and racial disproportionality as the main drivers of placement variability.
"The LRE principle... emphasizes that students with disabilities should be educated alongside their non‑disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate," Hickman said, summarizing the legal framework under IDEA and the state’s responsibilities to monitor and support LEAs. He reported that placement rates vary widely across districts and student groups, and that Maryland has comparatively high rates of separate‑school placements.
In breakout discussions and reports back to the full group, participants consistently identified staffing shortages and turnover, insufficient and uneven professional development, and limited collaboration time between general and special education teachers as barriers to serving more students in less restrictive settings. One classroom teacher described the operational pressure: "Getting those people hired and keeping them is... impossible," and warned that frequent staff changes cause behavior and continuity problems for students.
Several participants also cited racial disproportionality in identification and placement. "Our Black boys are still overwhelmingly being over‑identified and put in more restrictive placements," a breakout reporter said, calling for targeted training and systems changes. Other attendees urged MSDE to encourage partnerships with specialized nonpublic schools and university programs to share expertise, coaching and mental‑health supports, while noting past public–private efforts were sometimes hampered by staffing and oversight requirements.
Panelists emphasized that some students will appropriately need more restrictive settings and that those schools should be supported; the broader concern is the variability and patterns that suggest systemic causes. MSDE said it is drafting an inclusive practice guide, pursuing training in universal design for learning and co‑teaching models, and will circulate small‑group notes and prioritized recommendations for review.
What’s next: MSDE will finalize and distribute meeting takeaways and the interim report to the work group, continue small‑group work on prioritization (timetable due July 15), and reconvene the work group July 31 to discuss significant disproportionality.
