Action Research

Special Education Department

of Springfield Middle School

2007-08

The Question?

Will applying content-area support have a greater impact on student achievement than grade level support?

The Rationale:*More and more impetus to move special education students into a general education curriculum

*Need to provide support to students as well as to general education teachers in the form of “team teaching” during class hours with high percentage of special education students.

Strategies: 1st Marking PeriodSurvey students to get an

understanding of their current comfort level.

Assess first marking period grades to determine a baseline prior to schedule changes

Collect MEAP data on students for future planning

Strategies: 2nd Marking PeriodAlter schedules of both students and

teachers in order to: Provide support to general education

teachers in classes with high percentage of special ed teachers

Align student’s schedules to be sure that all students are being served with special education support in high need classes

Schedule teachers so as to have a learning lab available every hour of the school day.

Preliminary data Data was collected

following the end of the second marking period and compared with data from first marking period.

Additional data was collected from 3rd marking period.

The Initial Data

Second Marking Period Grades

6th Grade

67.5% of LD students maintained or raised grade during 2nd MP

80% of the grades among LD students were a “C” or better.

7th Grade

59% of LD students maintained or raised grade during 2nd MP

91% of the grades among LD students were a “C” or better

**Outliers removed from data

Third Marking Period

Questions arise about the increase in number of missing assignments at all grade levels…

Where do we go from here? Collect MEAP data next year for comparison purposes** Conduct a follow-up attitude survey among special

education students at the end of 3rd marking period Continue to collect data and “tweak” schedules as

necessary. Continue to stress need for general education teachers

to recognize that special education students are everyone’s students.

Continue to educate general education teachers on modification strategies and IEP requirements.

**Other strategies are in the works for addressing MEAP struggles by special education students.

Variables that may impact…Student boredom with “success school”

process? Increase in complexity of required work

as year goes on? Increase in number of assignments

required in classes?Other???

Other questions and considerations… Is it “team teaching” or extra

learning lab support that makes the most difference with student learning and success?

What combination of these will achieve the best results for students?

How do we best support the general education teachers in their quest to support special education students?

How do we make time available for special education teachers to assist general education teachers in development of appropriate strategies?

What additional considerations need to be given in order to support the special education student in taking MEAP and other like tests?

Planning for next year…

Work and consideration as to how best support the students with IEP’s has already begun…