World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
Entry ID: NA03-1
COUNTRY: New Mexico, USA
Permission
YEAR: 2003
LANGUAGE: English
TITLE: New Mexico Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)
Assessment and Planning Tool
AUTHOR/DEVELOPER: The New Mexico Least Restrictive Environment (NMLRE) Initiative
CONTACTS/AVAILABILITY:
 Documents are available at: http://www.ped.state.nm.us/seo/lre/tool.htm

Introduction

Framework

Self-Assessment

Resources

Research
 NMLRE Project Website (LRE Tool Box): http://lretoolbox.com/
 LRE Coordinator
Susan Martinez
1400 Sudderth Drive
Ruidoso, NM 88345
(505) 257-2368 (work)
(505) 937-0479 (cell)
susankmartinez@yahoo.com
[Framework: The 17 LRE Quality Indicators]
*Each indicator is further elaborated/enhanced with a set of activities in the LRE Tool Box
website (http://lretoolbox.com/)
The 17 LRE Quality Indicators
#1: Understanding what LRE is and what LRE is not
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 1 include:
 LRE is and LRE is not
 Three Historical Interpretations of LRE
 Inclusion: An Issue of Diversity
 Circle of Courage Vocabulary Activity
#2: School climate and structure supportive of meeting the needs of learners in the LRE
Characteristics of inclusive schools (implementing LRE requirements)
 A sense of community
 Visionary leadership
 High standards
 Collaboration and cooperation
 Changing roles and responsibilities
 Array of services
 Partnership with parents
 Flexible learning environment
 Strategies based on research
 New forms of accountability
 Access
 Continuing professional development
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 2 include:
 Rediscovering the Right to Belong
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
 The Culture of Disability…Think People First
 The 3 Rs
 Whose School is this Anyway?
#3: Legal rights and responsibilities of students, families, and school personnel
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 3 include:
 IDEA Pre- and Post-Test Activity
 LRE Bingo
#4: Collaborative planning and/or teaching
Collaborative teaching models
 Consultant model – support personnel (e.g., therapists and special educators)
serves as a consultant to provide assistance to regular educators
 Parallel teaching model – both support personnel and the regular educator teach
and rotate among students in the classroom
 Supportive teaching model – regular educator provides group instruction while
support personnel rotates among the students providing individual support
 Complimentary teaching model – support personnel compliments the instruction
provided by the regular educator (e.g., paraphrases for students what the teacher
had just stated)
 Co-teaching model – both regular educator and support personnel teach alongside
each other
Creating time to plan (Sheet available at: http://lretoolbox.com/bp04/findingtimetoplan.doc)
 Purchased time
 Released time
 Borrowed time
 New time
 Tiered time
 Common time
 Found time
 Rescheduled time
 Freed-up time
#5: Family-school collaboration
Six critical factors in establishing effective collaboration with parents (Bluebanning,
Summers, & Beegle)
 Communication
 Trust
 Respect
 Commitment
 Equality
 Skills
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 5 include:
 Sample IEP Agenda Activity
 Welcome to Holland
#6: Age-appropriate placement of students needing special education services in schools as
close to their home as possible
#7: Strategies for facilitating access to the general education curriculum
Four options for curriculum arrangement (Giangreco, Cloninger, & Lverson, 1993)
 No change
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)

Multi-level curriculum and instruction – students pursue varying objectives at
multiple levels within the same curriculum area while involved in a same
lesson/activity
 Curriculum overlapping – students work on the same lesson but pursuing objectives
from different curricular areas
 Alternative activities
#8: Differentiation of instruction and assessment
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 7 & 8 include:
 Access Activity
o
“Access to the General Education Curriculum for All”
(http://lretoolbox.com/bp0708/Article.doc)
 Process of Universal Design Lesson Planning
 Know the learner (Facts about the learner)
 Think about/Decide Content (What students learn)
 Think about/Decide Process (How students engage in
lesson)
 Think about/Decided Product (How students
demonstrate/convey their learning)
 MI Style Awareness & Scale for Teaching
 Directions for Program At A Glance
#9: Educating students with disabilities in regular education classrooms with supports, aids,
and services to the maximum extent appropriate
A sampling of supplemental supports aids & services
 Environmental Needs (seating, physical room arrangement, reduced and/or
minimized distractions, etc.)
 Level of Staff Support Needed
o Classroom companion
o Consultation
o Stop-in support
o Part-time dailyk support
o Team teaching
o Daily in class staff support
o Total staff support
o One-on—one assistant
 Planning Time for Collaboration
 Specialized Equipment
 Pacing of Instruction
 Presentation of Subject Matter
 Materials (e.g., highlight texts, use large print, Braille material, etc.)
 Assignment modification
 Self management and/or follow-through support
 Testing adaptations
 Social interaction support
 Training needed for personnel
Nine Types of Adaptation (http://lretoolbox.com/bp09/AdaptationGrid.doc)
 Size
 Time
 Level of support
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
 Input
 Difficulty
 Output
 Participation
 Alternate goals
 Substitute curriculum
#10: Student and family-focused strength-based assessment
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 10 include:
 MAPS (http://www.inclusion.com/artcommonsensetools.html)
#11: Student empowerment and natural supports
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 11 include:

Student Collaboration Quiz
(http://lretoolbox.com/bp11/StudentCollaborationQuiz.doc)
o Student collaboration quiz
o Empowering practices
 Students as advocates
 Students as decision makers
 Students as instructors
o Personal Perspective Exercise (for students)
 Reflect/Describe your own learning style
 Be a self-advocate for yourself
o Critical Components of Cooperative Learning Methods
 Positive interdependence
 Individual accountability
 Group processing
 Small group & social skills
 Face-to-face interaction
o Action Plan for Partner Learning
#12: Integrated delivery of related services
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 12 include:
 Maddie's Story Activity Directions
#13: Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) and social responsibility
Components for implementing a school-wide PBS system
 Expectation that school will work with all students
 Environment where visionary leadership and teams are the host for effective
practices
 Construction of culture of competence: define, teach, monitor, and reward
appropriate behavior
 Demonstrations of success
 Gathering and disseminating of information about PBS for decision making and/or
problem solving of discipline and behavior issues.
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 13 include:
 SODAS (Situation-Options-Disadvantages-Advantages-Solution(s)) problem-solving
process
o
SODAS-IF Form (http://lretoolbox.com/bp13/SODASActivity.doc)
o
SODAS-IF Grid (http://lretoolbox.com/bp13/SODASIFGrid.doc)
 How Did I/We Do wit SODAS-IF?
 Ways I/we can improve?
 Ways I/we will remember?
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
#14: Transition planning
#15: Administrative practices supportive of LRE implementation
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 15 include:
 Leadership Game – When the balloon goes up
o
Instruction to the “balloon leader”
(http://lretoolbox.com/bp15/InstructionsToLeaders.doc)
You have been selected, via democratic processes by your team members
to evaluate their work. Your production team is to submit inflated balloons to
you for acceptance or rejection. You may not reveal to your team your
reasoning or rationale for accepting or rejecting balloons.
You may accept balloons only if all of the following are true:
o
o
1) The balloons are handed to you one at a time by members of the
production team.
2) Production team members may use only their left hands to hand the
balloons to you.
3) No production team member may submit two balloons in a row; that is,
you may accept a balloon only from a team member who did not hand you
the last balloon, regardless of whether you accepted it.
4) You may not accept a balloon the same color as the balloon last
presented to you.
5) The balloon must be fled with a knot and have a piece of string attached.
Instruction to “balloon production team”
(http://lretoolbox.com/bp15/ProductionTeamInstructions.doc)
Your team is to produce acceptable inflated balloons. Your team is to turn in
inflated balloons to your leader for Inspection and approval at her office.
Your goal is to have as many balloons as possible approved and accepted
by your leader in the time allowed.
Your production time is 20 minutes. Your team is competing against other
teams for a lucrative, government contract. The winning team members will
be appropriately rewarded with a highly desirable bonus.
Discussion Questions
(http://lretoolbox.com/bp15/DiscussionQuestions.doc)
o What was the Impact on your team of having few, if any, of your
balloons approved and accepted?
o What was the group’s response to your chosen leader? Did the leader
remain a part of the team?
o What changes did you notice in your group during the exercise?
o Describe communication between your chosen team leader and the
other team members.
o Is this exercise similar to any communication processes in your
workplace?
#16: LRE site-based continuous planning for implementation of the LRE mandate
Key elements in effective planning for LRE
o Vision
o Skills
o Incentives
o Resources
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
o Action plan
Five elements in a site-based continuous planning for implementation
o Build a consensus for a vision of education all students in the LRE
o Develop administrator, educator, and parent konwledgte, skills, and confidence for
implementing LRE mandates and best practices
o Create meaningful incentives for people implementing change
o Expand fiscal, human, technological, and organizational resources to support LRE
implementation
o Active planning for the process of change
Recommended Activities related to Best Practice 16 include:
o Local action plan
o School action plan
o Personal action plan
#17: Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) practices supportive of the LRE implementation
Relevant Literature/Resources:

Parents Reaching Out (2003). Practical inclusive education in New Mexico: Improving
outcomes for all students by creating school where all students belong. Available at:
http://www.parentsreachingout.org/pdf/english/practicalinclusion.pdf
 Parents Reaching Out (2003). Positive Directions for Student Behavior: What Families and
Educators Need to Know To Support Student Success. Available at:
http://www.parentsreachingout.org/pdf/english/positive.pdf
 Parent Reaching Out (2004). Book of Ideas: Tips for Student Success. Available at:
http://www.parentsreachingout.org/pdf/english/idea.pdf
TARGET:  policy makers  school administrators  preschool teachers  primary ed
teachers  secondary ed teachers  higher ed teachers  sped teachers  pre-service
teachers  related service providers  families  students  community members
TOPIC:  introduction/philosophical understanding of inclusive education/getting started 
effective teaching/assessment strategies  challenging behaviors  team work, collaboration
 family/community involvement  networking  developing policy  dealing with change 
HIV/AIDS  advocacy/leadership skills  others
PHASE:  awareness raising/introduction/advocacy phase  on-going support/development
 follow-up/monitoring  others
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