The Changing Face
of Special Education:
New Roles for Special and
General Educators
in Inclusive Models
Amy M. Pleet-Odle, Ed.D.
Inclusion Consultant/ Coordinator
Center for Secondary Teacher Education
apleet@udel.edu
Essential Questions
What are the key components of strong inclusion
programs?
How have special and general educators’ roles changed?
What are the implications for professional development &
coaching?
Purpose of IDEA 2004
FAPE
to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free
appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related
services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further
education, employment, and independent living
Quiz: Students with Disabilities Outcomes
Statistics –NLTS2 (2009) 2004
1. Students with ED who dropped out of high
school.
2. Students with disabilities completed a college
degree.
3. Students with disabilities employed some time
w/i 4 yrs after high school
4. Female students with disabilities who became
mothers w/i 4 years after high school.
5. Students with ED who were arrested within 4
years after high school.
A. 18%, B 60%, C 72%, D 44%, E. 29%, F. 16%
What Makes a Difference?
Engagement
•
•
Meaningful, challenging curriculum
Academic AND career/technical
Affiliation
Family Involvement
Development of basic personal skills
•
•
Functional, social
Self-determination
Eisenman & Pleet, 2007
Least Restrictive Environment
Education with students without disabilities
Presumption of inclusion
Access to general education curriculum
Curricular and extracurricular activities
Delaware Indicator 5 (of 20)
IDEA requires states to report on LRE:
Percent of students with IEPs inside
regular class 80%+ of day
Dec. 1
____
DE Average
Target
2006
52.1%
53%
2007
53.2%
56%
2008
55.9%
59%
2009
58.7%
62%
2010
60.2%
65%
2011
63.5%
66%
2012
68%
Delaware Indicator 3 (of 20)
IDEA requires states to report on Achievement:
Percent of students with IEPs achieving a “passing score” on DCAS
R
E
A
D
I
N
G
Spring
DE Average
Target
2011
(8th) - 17.3%
(10th) – 23.2%
35.6%
2012
(8th) – 29.5%
(10th – 27.3%
41.4%
M
A
T
H
Spring
DE Average
Target
2011
(8th) - 18.3%
(10th) –18.9 %
36.0%
2012
(8th) – 31.9%
(10th) – 29.5%
41.8%
Administrative leadership
• Clear vision
• Extinguish “bell curve thinking”
• ALL teachers responsible for ALL students
• Instructional leadership
• Data based planning
• Teacher accountability
Are leaders fluent with key vocabulary???
• Accommodations
• Modifications
• Positive Behavior Supports
• Differentiation
• Universal design
• Scaffolding
• Specialized services
Accommodations
Accommodations are practices and procedures in the areas of presentation,
response, setting and timing/scheduling that provide equitable access to the
general (core) curriculum during instruction and assessments for students
with disabilities. Accommodations are intended to reduce or even eliminate
the effects of a student’s disability. Accommodations do not reduce learning
expectations.
Accommodations
• Determined by IEP team to allow “access to the
general curriculum”
• Included in 504 plan to prevent discrimination on
the basis of a disability
Modifications
• Modifications
or alterations are substantial changes in what the
student is expected to demonstrate. Modifications may be changes
in instructional level, content, and performance criteria, may include
changes in test form or format or alternative assignments.
Modifications can increase the gap between the achievement of
students with disabilities and expectations for proficiency at a
particular grade level. Using modifications may result in implications
that could adversely affect students throughout their educational
career.
Instructional design
• Access to general curriculum (IDEA)
• ALL teachers responsible for success of ALL students
• Tracking student progress (RTI)
• Structured instruction
• Differentiation
LFS…..
Differentiation: Two methods
Retrofit
Universal Design
•
•
•
•
•
Remodeling after construction
Not originally designed with
users in mind
Reactive
•
Considering users first
Minimizes the need to modify
for individuals
Proactive
Carol Ann Tomlinson’s* model
• Content – How is the content made available to learners?
• Process – What processes do the teachers use to facilitate student learning?
• Product – How do the students demonstrate what they have learned? How
are they graded?
* J. Thousand & R. Villa also
Chunk –Chew - Check



CHUNK content of your lesson
Focus on ONE chunk at a time
Use VAKT



Give students opportunities to
CHEW on the skill/concept
Use multiple intelligences
Get them engaged!



CHECK their understanding
Pre/formative/summative
Use data for interventions
--Kathleen Kryza
Betty Hollas’s Framework
• Student engagement
• Questioning
• Flexible grouping
• Ongoing assessment
Differentiated vs traditional
classroom
Traditional
• Student differences
addressed when there is
a problem
• Assessments are
summative for grading
• Student interest/
learning style not
relevant
Differentiated
• Student differences are the
basis of planning
• Ongoing multiple
assessments used to plan
instruction
• Student interest/ learning
style are central to planning
Differentiated vs traditional
classroom
Traditional
• Mostly whole class
instruction
• Students usually have the
same assignment
• Single text is used to meet
standards
Differentiated
• Variety of student
groupings
• Multi-option assignments
give students choices
• Multiple materials are used
to meet standards
Scaffolding
• Some students don’t have the background
knowledge or skills to participate with their
peers.
• Scaffolding provides temporary supports to
allow them to participate in general
education learning tasks.
• Scaffolding should be faded so that students
can participate independent
of the support.
Scaffolding strategies
• Teaching organization (using organizers to THINK)
• Task analysis (chunking)
• Analogies & metaphors
• Mnemonics
• Modeling
• Frequent practice & feedback (peer or teacher)
• Talking through steps of process
Infrastructure
• Physical arrangement
• Teacher scheduling
• Data management system
• Grading policies
• Ongoing professional
development
Special educator role
•
•
•
Co-teacher or Coach or Resource?
Valued & respected
Contributing expertise
• Disability knowledge
• Instructional adaptation
• Behavior management
“Specialized support”
What is Co-teaching?
Professionals in a Partnership
“PURE” RESEARCHED MODEL
•
•
•
Instructing in a shared physical space
Planning
Problem-solving
…for all teaching responsibilities
…for all students
Co-Planning






Review IEPs
Review curriculum content
Determine student expectations (assessment measures,
rubrics, alternatives)
Discuss individual student learning needs
(academic, social, self-advocacy)
Discuss presentation style & instructional format
Discuss routines and schedules
Co-Problem-solving
**CONSIDER:
Grading policies
Behavior management
Assessment alternatives
Needed interventions
Reflecting on interpersonal issues
**Keeping in mind mandated IEP accommodations and modifications
Co-Instructing in a
Shared Physical Space
• One teaches/one observes
• One teaches/one supports
• Station teaching
• Parallel teaching
• Alternative teaching
• Shared Facilitation
• Team teaching
Learning Support Coach
• Coaches students for general ed classroom
• Coaches teachers - appropriate strategies
• Provides push-in and pull-out instruction
• Monitors/ tracks student progress on IEP goals and academic learning
• Constructs scaffolded safety net
Coaching models
One content area?
One grade level?
One interdisciplinary
team?
Coaching to students:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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•
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Mentoring daily (homeroom? Intervention pd?)
Drop into classes
Small group instruction in LS room
Testing accommodations in LS room
Supervising AT use
Extra support after school
Contact with parents
Reinforcement of PBSP (FBA)
Mentoring in self-determination
Coaching to teachers
• Consulting about specific students
•
•
•
•
about disability
about specified accommodations
about FBA/PBSP
about meta-cognition & self-advocacy
•
•
Scaffolding/ structure
Learning strategies
• Encouraging interdisciplinary sharing
• Coaching on design of lessons
• Occasional co-teaching as needed
Stages of Collaboration
• Beginning Stage: guarded, careful
communication
• Compromising Stage: give and take
communication, with a sense of having to
“give up” to “get”
• Collaborating Stage: open
communication and interaction, mutual
admiration
(Gately and Gately, 2001)
BIG QUESTION:
When there are two teachers in the room,
have they provided students
something that would not be possible
with only ONE teacher?
§300.39 Special education.
•
•
•
(b)(3) Specially designed instruction means
adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible
child under this part,
the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction—
•
•
(i) To address the unique needs of the child that result from
the child’s disability; and
(ii) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so
that the child can meet the educational standards within the
jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.
Specialized Services
• What does this mean?
•
•
•
•
Individualized?
Focused on a student’s strengths?
Aimed at positive long term outcomes?
Building independent skills?
• … for differentiation???
• … for the role of the special educator???
Failure Analysis?
• Reading comprehension
• Written expression
• Math computation
• Math reasoning
• Task completion
Locks on learning
• Affective locks
• Input locks
• Processing locks
• Output locks
Special Educator Competencies
•
•
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Legal awareness
Knowledge of specific disability types
Instructional strategies for individualizing
Skill at identifying key issues for IEP goals
Communication/ collaboration skills
(w. students, professionals, families)
Rapport with students/ coaching & empowerment skills
Data collection, analysis, decision making
Time & task management
Self reflection
Meaningful IEP process
• “Real” goals
• Student leadership
• Useful quarterly reporting
• Data based mentoring
• Parent engagement
Student development
Banish passivity!
Promote:
•
•
•
•
•
•
disability awareness
growth mindset
strategic learning
responsibility/ownership
self-advocacy
appropriate disclosure
Student empowerment framework
Content
Knowledge
Work effort
Behaviors
student
Attitude
Mindset
Which support learning?
Enabling behaviors
•
•
•
•
Keep students “happy”
Protect students from
struggles/ failures
Help students finish
assignments/cram for
tests
Accept/ compensate for
“tuning out” in class
Empowering behaviors
•
•
•
•
Encourage persistence
Help students learn from
struggles/failures
Teach students strategies
to be independent
Hold students accountable
for work & behavior
Fortune Cookie!
Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap
but by the seeds you plant.