dianne davis department head of special education brockton high school session 63: focused...
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Dianne DavisDepartment Head of Special
EducationBrockton High School
Session 63: Focused Programming for Students with Disabilities
Who am I? • Happiest person alive!
Who are you?• Teachers?• Administrators?• Paraprofessionals?• Other?
BHS By-the-Numbers
Comprehensive 9-12• 4,367 current enrollment•79% poverty level•11% students with disabilities•14% transitional bilingual program•60% speak another language in their homes; (30 different languages)
A Tale of Four Students
Rudy
Maria
Cody
Sabrina
The way we were…
• Substantially separate classes for ALL.
• Silos: special education, bilingual education, general education •“yours” and “mine”
• Inequitable supports based on limited understanding of disabilities
• Low standards and expectation for SWD
The Catalyst for Change
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)
•The test is a graduation requirement
•Massachusetts has only one diploma
•All students earning a diploma take the SAME test! *
*EXCEPT 2% (Don’t let me get started on this!)
MCAS data was abysmal for the whole school, but for SWD it was worse: MCAS 1998
Failure
ELA – 44%
(SWD – 78%)
MATH – 75%
(SWD – 98%)
Model Schools
•Rigor•Relevance •Relationships
Reflective Practice
• Is this the best we can do?
• Are our students getting equal opportunities for rigor?
• Do we believe that ALL students should reach their full potential?
• What has to change?
Turn and Talk
What one major issue are you struggling with in relation to
students with disabilities in your school or district? What brought
you here today?
3 minutes
•Dismantled substantially separate classes taught by special education teachers
•Reallocated teachers to the co-taught model
•Culture shift: ALL means ALL
•Shared responsibility: not “yours” and “mine”
RIGOR
• I Can’t!• I Won’t! • I Shouldn’t
Have To!
But wait!
We didn’t do a lot of planning for the changes!
• General educators weren’t asked and weren’t prepared.
• Special educators needed to shift mindsets too!
• Student needed help.
• Parents were complaining.
• Administrators didn’t collaborate and often disagreed rather passionately.
EVERYONE is frustrated!
The Individualized Education Program
• How many of you read them on a regular basis?
• Do you find that the document is: • easy to understand? • useful? • actionable?
• Goals were cut-and-paste and not necessarily disability-related.
• Anxiety disorder with a math goal
• “If they are in a co-taught English class, they have to have an English goal!”
Focus #1: Create Meaningful IEPs
Make the IEP a manageable document
that is easily understood and
implemented with fidelity.
How we changed:• Communicated the need to stakeholders
• Met with the two Team Chairs• Weekly meetings• Department Head reads every IEP and
provides feedback to Team Chair. • Caution: maintain spreadsheet to watch
timelines!!!
• Maintained the focus at every department meeting and communicated via email when an issue arose.
Putting the “I” back in the IEP • Do not lose sight of the disability-related need! Keep
asking “How does this support ‘s goals?”
• 3-5 accommodations Ask: • Is this accommodation just a best practice?
• Positive reinforcement vs. Behavior Intervention Plan
• Does this accommodation make sense? • Preferential seating vs. seat to the right of the
speaker as has hearing loss in right ear.
Have you ever tried
to implement an IEP like
this???
Hubs and Individual Schedules
Study Lab• Executive
Functioning
OR
Ind. Reading• Electronic
Text Readers• Fluency
OR
Life Skills
OR
Social Skills
OR
Academic Supports
Comprehension
While accessing content in general education without support, co-taught classes or substantially separate programs, students require additional supports. Assistive technologies are directly taught in some hubs.
Assistive Technology Challenge: Students are now accessing grade level difficult reading. They are in biology, social science, English, auto tech, etc. How can a student with a severe reading disability access at the same pace? Answer: electronic text readersCaution: Matching
Challenge: Written language deficits hinder students from keeping up with peers. Answer: word prediction, spell- and grammar-check ONCaution: Matching AND keyboarding skills
Focus #2: Be Proactive not Reactive
August PD Reading IEPS and co-teaching prep.
September PDImplementation supports
October PD Reflection and needs assessment
November PDDifferentiated Instruction
March PD Anatomy of an IEP
May and June PDSchedules and Transitions
Relevance and Relationships •Cited by the DESE for lack of student participation
•High failure rates
•Many disciplinary hearings
Focus #3: Engage the Disengaged
• Data teams that look at three areas:• Attendance = 3+• Suspensions = 10+ • Grades = 2+Fs
• Student Support Teams• Guidance Counselor• Teacher• Student • Parent
Suspension Data
2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-20150
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80 76
63
16
Manifestation Meetings
Focus on Student-driven IEPs
•Give the students their own data• “You are smart!”• Strengths-based
•All students must participate in their team meetings• IEP worksheet
•Educator evaluation goal (monitor)• 90% of students must have in folder
Sample
Student IEP Worksheet Sample
Student IEP Worksheet Sample
Student IEP Worksheet Sample
MCAS data was abysmal for the whole school, but for SWD it was worse: MCAS 1998
Failure
ELA – 44%
(SWD – 78%)
MATH – 75%
(SWD – 98%)
MCAS 2014Failure
ELA –
(SWD – %)
MATH –
(SWD – %)
And now…..
Focus on what matters most!
Action Steps
3-2-13 big ideas2 actionable steps1 question you still have (please ask!)
Pick One:• http://goo.gl/HKx
zQC• Paper• MSC App• QR Code
Session Evaluation
#ModelSchools
Thank you!
Dianne Davisdiannedavis@bpsma.org
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