LRE, Inclusion, & Co-Teaching Providing the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

Law of LRE The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 540) require that every student, who has a disability and is ages three to twenty-one, must receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

What is LRE? LRE is the place or setting where the student with disabilities receives his/her special education and related services – it is not the services themselves.  The LRE decision is made only after all of the goals*, modifications and accommodations have been developed in the Individual Education Program (IEP). The LRE mandate requires that to the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities, including students in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with students who are not disabled. *NEW* With CCSS and new guidelines, IEP goals developed in 2013-2014, will directly align with grade-level curriculum.

LRE Settings The LRE may be very different for each student, but the determining factor is always the student’s individual needs. Depending on the student’s needs, the LRE could be: General education classroom full time with supplementary aids and services, including special education teacher support through consultation or co-teaching; Removal from the general education classroom up to 20% of the student’s day (student spends the remainder of his/her day in the general education classroom with supplementary aids and services, as appropriate); Removal from the general education classroom between 21% to 60% of the student’s day (student spends the remainder of his/her day in the general education classroom with supplementary aids and services, as appropriate); Removal from the general education classroom from 61% to 100% of the  day (student has integrated activities whenever appropriate, including homeroom, art, gym, music, computers, lunch, field trips, assemblies) and so on.

Inclusion vs. Mainstream Mainstreaming The placement of a student with disabilities with his/her chronological age peers in a general education classroom with supplementary aids and services given to the student in the general education classroom. The placement of a student with disabilities with his/her chronological age peers in a general education classroom without supplementary aids or services.

Inclusion Classroom The following are major components which have been aligned with inclusive practices: An effective general education program already in place Differentiated core instruction and practices Staff collaboration Co-teachers share ideas on content that should be mastered Co-teachers share ideas on skills that should be mastered Co-teachers share ideas for learning activities and assignments All teachers share strategies, accommodations/modifications All teachers share responsibility of students (OUR STUDENTS) Effective co-teaching approaches Refer to “Co-teaching Approaches” chart

Co-Teaching Best-Practices Use a variation between co-teaching approaches Week One- Diverse Learner Teacher or DLT may rotate between diverse learners to provide a variety of assessments (One Teach, One Observe). One Teach, One Assist Station Teaching Parallel Teaching (during Intervention/Enrichment) Alternative Teaching (during Intervention/Enrichment) Week Five- One teacher explains the experiment, while the other demonstrates using the necessary materials (Teaming). Provide specific lesson plans, worksheets, and assessments by Friday afternoon of each week DLT’s can only modify assessments and know which accommodations/modifications to provide when general education, co-teachers follow this rule-of-thumb. DLT’s will send back lesson plan with added accommodations/ modifications by Sunday.

Keep in mind. . . A DLT must primarily provide supports and services to students with IEP’s. If you believe a student may need supports and services from the DLT, you first need to follow the multi-tiered system supports model. If that student does not respond to Tier 2/Tier 3, then they may be referred to receive an Initial Evaluation. If indicated in their IEP, a student must be graded based on their mastery of their IEP goal and not necessarily classroom assessment performance or completion of all assignments, which means grades must be modified. REMEMBER: “fair” does not mean “equal”. Students with IEP’s have an Individualized Educational Program.