1. Accessing General Education Curriculum through Inclusion
Spring Tompkins & Courtney Zaharis

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4. Warm-up Activity
Think of a time when you were excluded from an academic or social activity as a child.
List the emotions you experienced. What happened?
Contrast that experience with one in which you were included. What were the benefits of being included?

5. Yours, Mine and Ours
As teachers in NISD, we are charged with educating each and every student who enters our classroom. All students are welcome and have the right to learn, belong, and be heard.
All STUDENTS are General Education STUDENTS FIRST.
Special Education is a service, not a placement.

6. What does Inclusion look like?

7. What does the law say?
Federal law (IDEA) states that schools MUST serve the educational needs of eligible students with disabilities, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, and to allow them to participate in state and district-wide assessment, and full access to the general curriculum.
The law also states that all individuals (aka eligible students) receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE), with supplementary aids and services(accommodations/modifications) when determined necessary.

8. Services Under IDEA
Not every student with learning and attention issues is eligible for special education services under IDEA. A student must be found to have one of 13 kinds of disabilities that IDEA covers.
Students don’t automatically qualify for special education services. In order to be eligible, a student must:
have a disability and as a result of that disability; and
need special education services in order to make progress in school.

9. What is LRE?
Least restrictive environment (LRE) means that students with disabilities are educated with their non-disabled peers. They are only removed when the severity of the disability is to the extent that access to the general education curriculum cannot be achieved satisfactorily through accommodations and modifications in the general education classroom.
Key concepts to LRE, include:
The ARD committee determines LRE based on students individual needs.
Applies to all children with disabilities.
The general education classroom is always the first choice.
Accommodations and modifications are required to make the General Education classroom a viable option for the eligible student.

10. T- Chart ACTIVITY
YES No

11. Goals of Inclusion Better instruction
Fewer distractions and interruptions
Closer monitoring and assessment
Sense of belonging and acceptance
Improvement on focus and task completion
Team work building between peers and teachers
Fewer labels
Socialization

12. Benefits of Inclusion for student with disabilities
Increased social skills and improved behavior
Reduced stigma and more opportunities to create new friendships
Access to the same academic challenges, resources, and achievements as non-disabled peers
Access to general education staff and academic and social experiences
Participate and experience academic opportunities that they may otherwise not have received in a more restrictive environment
Improved confidence and self-esteem

13. Benefits for non-disabled students
Increased socialization and comfort with all types of students
Appreciation for the differences and similarities between students; they learn how to work with students who have varying abilities and skills.
Experience with and learning beyond their stereotypes of students with disabilities
Students who are taught in an inclusion setting are more likely to be future ready. They are more likely to build a society that is accepting of differences and able to accept people from diverse backgrounds.

14. Is there a benefit to accessing the general education curriculum?
Studies purport that they do:
Providing opportunities to access a challenging academic curriculum render positive educational benefits to students with significant disabilities (Towles-Reeves & Kleinert, 2006; Thurlow & Case, 2004)
Teachers who incorporated learning standards into their instruction cite unanticipated gains in students’ performance and understanding levels (Towles-Reeves & Kleinert, 2006; Thurlow & Case, 2004)

15. Inclusion Services in NISD
Inclusion – Inclusion support is provided by either a special education teacher or a paraprofessional. When curriculum needs to be modified for a student per their IEP, a special education teacher will help the general education teacher provide services.
Co-Teach – Two teachers (General and Special Education) work cooperatively to plan, teach and assess students in the general education setting. There is equal distribution of authority and leadership within the classroom (when walking into the classroom, the students should view both teachers equally and do not see one as an assistant).

16. Special Eduction Instructional Paraprofessional
May monitor ALL student progress, participation, and understanding while general education teacher provides instruction.
Monitors on task behavior, study skills, organization and compliance with classroom rules and guidelines. **
Does not write office referrals, but can document for the teacher of record on the inclusion log.
Does not replace classroom teacher, plan or lead instruction.

17. Special Education Teacher
Special education teacher assists general education teacher with planning and instruction.
Is able to provide assistance and expertise when accommodating activities, assignments, and tests according to IEPs or ARD recommendations per individual students.
Can support and follow the general education classroom management system.
Can help ALL students (does not focus just on special education students and pulls small groups to help with differentiation).
Monitor all students behavior, progress and participation.

18. Working with the Special Education Teacher
Take time to get to know them.
Ask them for strategies on differentiation (They are the differentiation experts, but not the ones solely responsible for differentiated lessons).
Include them in planning and instruction.
Communicate – Ensure they are aware of your needs when they come in to your classroom. Work period may be a more beneficial time for them to come in to the classroom then the opening. Provide class roster identifying sped and 504 students in your classroom.
Be creative – include them in flexible groups or station teaching!
Inclusion is NOT the special education teacher pulling all the special education students into another room, or the hallway, to complete work or read tests.

19. Co Teach vs Inclusion Co teaching and Inclusion are not synonymous.
Co teaching is a “service delivery option, a way to provide students with disabilities or their special needs the special instruction to which they are entitled while ensuring that they can access the general curriculum in the least restrictive environment…It is one way that students in inclusive school may receive services.” Inclusion is a belief system that values diversity and fosters a shared responsibility to help all students to reach their potential. (Friend, 2008, pp.12-13).
Co teaching is a way to implement inclusion

20. Additional Services
Accommodation is a curricular, environmental, or testing adaptation that does not fundamentally alter the general curriculum, lower the standards, or change the construct being measured on a test. The purpose of an accommodation is to level the playing field.
General education teachers are legally required to provide these if specified by a student's IEP. They must be used routinely and monitored for effectiveness.
Modification is a substantial adaptation that results in a fundamental alteration. The TEKS are modified (prerequisite skills being taught).

21. Decisions made….
Decisions as to which supplementary aids and services, accommodations, modifications, or supports are appropriate for a particular student are made on an individual basis by the ARD committee. The special education and general education teacher will collect data on what supports are necessary for everyday student success.
It is important that these decisions do not significantly lower curriculum standards which will then deny students access to the general education curriculum.

22. What does “progress” in the general curriculum mean?
It is not enough for students with disabilities to participate in the general curriculum. The law also requires that the IEP address progress in the general curriculum. This involves three parts:
(1) measuring the student’s progress in reaching IEP goals
(2) including students with disabilities in State and district-wide assessments, with appropriate accommodations, where necessary
(3) developing goals and objectives and providing reports on progress toward meeting these goals and objectives

23. How to access the curriculum….
Identify the most basic concept that the content standard defines (the essence or the intent of the standard)
Define the outcome of instruction
Identify prioritized outcome for your student.
Focus on what student needs to learn academically and functionally to be successful
Reduce the complexity level-student may be working on accessing the pre-requisite or entry-level skills related to the standard
Identify the supports needed
(Adapted from Clayton, Burdge, M., Denham, A., Kleinert, H., & Kearns, J. 2006)

24. Progress Monitoring Monitoring Progress
Maintain regular documentation (data collected 2-3 times a week) showing evidence of progress with the lesson and the IEP progress data. You may be required to provide evidence of accommodations/modifications for a student.
Conducting a data probe will help to check for student’s understanding and learning of the targeted objective and if teaching has been effective
Data collection measures could be: Checklists or frequent data probes on individual skills, photos, video clips, and/or anecdotal records, etc…
Correct and incorrect responses along with the level of prompts should be noted accurately and immediately

25. Grades
Each students individual IEP will state who is responsible for grades (special ed, general ed, or joint)- grading is based on the current accommodations and modifications that are stated in the students IEP.

26. Grading Best Practices
Make Grades Accurate
Accurate grades separate students and teacher behaviors and attitudes from achievement sores. In doing so, grades are purely authentic measurements of achievement and focus solely on student proficiency in well defined content and/or standards.
Make Grades Meaningful
Grades must communicate useful, concrete information to the student and parents about achievement and performance of specified standards.
Make Grades Consistent
The interpretation and description of clearly described performance standards and process for grading should remain the same from teacher to teacher and be evident from classroom to classroom
Make Grades Support Learning
Focus grading practices on quality of work and ensure that grades are a true reflection of student learning, rather than just an accumulation of points.

27. Grading Responsibilities in the General Education Setting for Students with Disabilities (handout for session)
General Educator
Special Educator
Paraprofessional
Maintains knowledge of the accommodations/modification to be implemented in the IEP
Partners with special educators to determine appropriate implementation of accommodations and modifications for specific content standards
Implements any accommodations/modifications through the development of appropriate assignments and assessments per the student IEP.
Maintains documentation (according to LEA policy) of the provision of special education services as specified in each student’s respective IEP.
Responsible for final grade determination for assignments and overall course/class (unless otherwise specified by the ARD committee).
Responsible for ensuring accurate reporting of grades.
Provides fair assessments that allow students an equal opportunity to demonstrate what they know (Bauer and Brown 2001).
Responsible for asking for a review or ARD meeting if concerns/questions exist regarding student’s IEP and/or lack of expected progress toward annual goals and in the general education curriculum.
Ensured general educator is aware of any individual student IEP-directed accommodations and/or modifications, including goals/objectives related to the content/course.
Assists in incorporating IEO required accommodations and/or modifications into the lesson plans.
May assist in final grade determination for both assignments and overall course/class as determined by the student’s IEP.
Designs process/forms for collection of data on student progression IEP goals/objectives.
May assist in grading assignments/tests
May assist with recording and/or reporting of grades.
Responsible for asking for a review of IEP if concerns/questions exist regarding student’s IEP and or lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general education curriculum, where appropriate.
Provides any information requested by teachers for consideration of grading.
Assists in preparation of materials as needed to implement accommodations/modifications.
Assists in documenting provided accommodations/modifications
Implements supports under the direction of teachers.
May assist in grading objective assignments/tests (m/c, fill in the blank, etc).
May assist in clerical recording of grades. Note that some LEAs allow only the classroom teacher to ender grades in the gradebook/online grading system
May assist in collection of data on student mastery of material using a checklist/criteria developed by the general or special educator.

28. Kahoot
Test your knowledge!
PIN: 91088

29. References (Towles-Reeves & Kleinert, 2006; Thurlow & Case, 2004)
(Adapted from Clayton, Burdge, M., Denham, A., Kleinert, H., & Kearns, J. 2006)
(Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

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