Inclusion: Standards Based IEP’s, Tools for Inclusive Educators, and Emerging Roles Presented By: The Lawrence School Special Education Team

SPED To the theme of Y.M.C.A. Lyrics by Katie Seifert Teachers, there’s no need to feel down. I said Teachers, pick yourself off the ground I said Teachers, though your so over whelmed There’s no need to be unhappy Teachers, there’s a place you can go I said Teachers, when you curriculum won’t flow You can go there, and I’m sure you will find Many ways to have a good time! It’s fun to work with SPED They have strategies and materials that can help with all our students It’s fun to work with SPED

Teachers are you listening to me? I said teachers what kinda help do ya need? I said teachers, they are all our students But you got to know this one thing. No teacher does it all by themselves. I said teachers we are all here to help. Just consult with you sped team I’m sure we can help you today. It’s fun to work with SPED They have strategies and materials that can help with all our students It’s fun to work with SPED SPED

Presentation Outline Session 1 –What is Inclusion & why do we have standards based IEP’s? –Standards based IEP’s –Accommodations Vs. Modifications Session 2 (At grade level meetings) –The changing role of support personnel. How does this affect service delivery?

Session 1 What is Inclusion & why do we have standards based IEP’s?

INCLUSIONINCLUSION Ac ess to the learning community t centered learning ifferentiated instruction D uct based performance and gradingProd Stude ocialization with peers P anning learning to meet all learners ration with teamCollab Ow ership of educating all children Multple Intelligences Seifert Fall 07

How this initiative will be implemented within the classrooms? Students are integrated with their classes. They physically sit with the rest of the students. Students are learning same material but are accessible to helpful theme related resources. Students receive extra help and reinforcement through Special Education resource teacher both in regular ed. Classroom and Resource room. Differentiated learning takes place in classroom. Seifert Fall 07

Principle of Participation “…….individuals who have disabilities should not be deprived of opportunities to participate in typical school & community activities SIMPLY BECAUSE they cannot participate FULLY or INDEPENDENTLY in those activities.” Baumgart et al., 1982

PURPOSE: Standards Based IEP’s Because of high stakes assessments, as well as NCLB and the reauthorization of IDEIA, guidelines have been set forth to align state content standards with students’ IEP’s. Therefore; – Middletown is implementing a three to five year plan to align students’ IEP goals and objectives with the CT state curriculum standards and the CMT frameworks.

What does this change mean for General Education? Goals and objectives will align to the state curriculum standards and CMT frameworks. This alignment is providing a common language and goal between general education and special education. This does not impact the collaborative effort that currently exists between special education and regular education, instead this initiative increases the collaborative efforts.

What does this change mean for General Education? This does mean that we must continue to learn more effective and innovative ways to educate all students. The Law states: “to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that he or she can meet the educational standards”

Without standards based IEP’s your classroom may look like this:

Prioritize Goals and Objectives Which weaknesses most adversely affect educational performance? These weaknesses should be the priority. Not every weakness can be addressed! There needs to be a connection between the child’s IEP and what the child learns in the classroom.

Modifications & Accommodations what Modifications- a change in what a student is expected to learn and demonstrate. –Modifications may be minimal or very complex depending on the student performance. –Modifications must be clearly acknowledged in the IEP howAccommodations-a change in how a student accesses and demonstrates learning, but it does not substantially change the instructional content

The easiest way to modify is not to modify work, but to modify instruction and instructional access There needs to be a connection between the child’s IEP and what the child learns in the classroom.

Examples of Accommodations Accommodations refer to the actual teaching supports and services that the student may require to successfully demonstrate learning. Accommodations should not change expectations to the curriculum grade levels. Examples taped books math charts additional time oral test oral reports preferred seating study carrel amplified system Braille writer adapted keyboard specialized software presentation and/or response format and procedures instructional strategies time/scheduling environment equipment architecture

Examples of Modifications Modifications refer to changes made to curriculum expectations in order to meet the needs of the student. Modifications are made when the expectations are beyond the students level of ability. Examples instructional level content second language exemptions performance criteria withdrawal for specific skills include student in same activity but individualize the expectations and materials student is involved in same theme/unit but provide different task and expectations

What does this look like at Lawrence School? Differentiation of instruction Weekly general/special education meetings to monitor progress Co-Teaching Parallel Teaching Support regular education initiative for social skills development Data collection and progress monitoring Speech and Language classroom support Teach to strengths to compensate for weaknesses Modifications and Accommodations

Website dtl/curriculum/

References Lisa Fiano, CREC TABS Presentation of Standards based IEP’s s/inclusive_classroom.htmlhttp:// s/inclusive_classroom.html um/ um/ Sonya Kunkel; Presentation of Standards based IEP’s Katie Seifert; Presentation of Inclusionary Practices: Access for All Bielefield Presentation Standards based IEP’s

Session 2 –The changing role of support personnel. How does this affect service delivery?

Emerging roles of support personnel Prescriptive Remediation Provider Co-teacher Level 1 Level 2 Collaborator Support Facilitator

Co-Teacher Co-Planning Unified ownership of all students in the classroom by both parties May occur daily or occasionally Level 1 Level 2

Collaborator Planning that ties classroom instruction to IEP Pre-exchange/ Exchange of Materials Modeling of strategies Provision/ Securing of alternative materials, modifications Use of tools to tie IEP to standards participation Document collaboration with purpose

Support facilitator Carries a bag of tricks, supplement materials (highlight tape, graphic organizers, sticky notes, alternative rubrics….) Gets overview planning Documents student participation in curriculum Provides communication forums b/t personnel Takes Data/ shares data for planning purposes Accommodates

References Lisa Fiano, CREC TABS Presentation of Standards based IEP’s s/inclusive_classroom.htmlhttp:// s/inclusive_classroom.html um/ um/ Sonya Kunkel; Presentation of Standards based IEP’s Katie Seifert; Presentation of Inclusionary Practices: Access for All Bielefield Presentation Standards based IEP’s