U.S. OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS 2009 PROJECT DIRECTOR’S CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

DONNA M. SOBEL, PH.D.ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER

Meeting the Cultural & Linguistic Needs of All Learners:

Reducing Misidentification & Providing Needed Intervention

Addressing issues of disproportionality and the growing diversity of our student

population

Integrating culturally responsive content and learning experiences into a teacher preparation program meant that every aspect of that urban, merged general and special education program warranted attention.

This work could only be done if faculty first began by increasing their own knowledge about culturally responsive pedagogy.

A professional development journey for university and partner school faculty

“To create a society in which all people are valued,

you must model that society in our schooling.”Villa & Thousand (2005)

It’s a process……..

Supported by funding from the Office of Special Education in 2007 (ASEED: Achieving Special Education Equity through Diversity project), faculty in began to make plans for revising the special education licensure program with a focus on culturally responsive pedagogy, however they quickly acknowledged that this could not be done in isolation.

Institutionalizing curriculum revisions and reforms

NEEDED STEPS IN THE PROCESS:

Revising a unified conceptual framework. Collaborating on curricula and courses including

internships and the logistics of implementation however we knew that professional development on culturally responsive teaching practices needed to happen first.

Professional development on culturally responsive teaching practices needed to happen first.

Professional development planning efforts

In order to better prepare teachers to implement culturally responsive teaching practices with all students and with a focused attention to those with special needs, support first needed to be provided to university and PDS site faculty and that professional development needed to be conceptualized not as an event, but rather as an ongoing process.

“Teachers’ knowledge about and attitudes toward cultural diversity are powerful determinants of learning opportunities and outcomes for ethnically

different students.” (Gay, 2000)

Our Context

University of Colorado Denver (UCD) has utilized a professional development school model for general and special education teacher preparation since 1993.

29 schools in the partnership across six metropolitan school districts, serving students primarily from low-income and diverse backgrounds.

TCs progress through a series of developmentally sequenced internships to ensure exposure to the full range of student ages, types and level of abilities, varied teaching styles and collaborative opportunities.

Internship experiences are aligned with on-campus coursework to ensure a gradual release of responsibility and experience with students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse learning and language abilities.

Focused faculty professional development

Issues surrounding:

Power and privilege Sociocultural competencies Pedagogy and practices

Professional development design plan

OVERLAPPING STRUCTURES ACTIVITIES

I. Ongoing design activities Faculty meetings/retreats

Work group meetings

Advisory council

II. Specialized workshops Conversation cafe

Premier urban teacher prep

Curriculum planning

III. Feedback loops Focus groups

External review of curriculum

External review of partner school sites

Moving forward…….

1) Finalizing a new conceptual framework that reflects a deep commitment to urban education and social justice;

2) Utilizing the new conceptual framework to “backwards map” clear proficiency descriptors in the new teaching roles utilizing our internship rubric, a framework for urban proficiency descriptors, and additional professional accreditation standards and requirements;

3) Collaborating on the redesign of a sequence of core courses that provides for deep, developmental experiences for all teacher candidates throughout their program and aligns to the conceptual framework and mapped proficiency descriptors;

4) Collaborating on the selection of a core set of readings/texts that would be used across the course sequence; and

5) Collaborating on the development of syllabi “shells” that include course objectives/proficiency descriptors and readings that allow “lead instructors” to further develop course materials, activities and content outlines.

This is a process and that process is not linear

The process documented in this presentation has served to merely set us on the right track for continued work.

Strategic teacher education leadership is essential to ensure committed and focused professional development.

Professional development and recruitment efforts must continue on several fronts.

At the core of such deep work is an examination of ones dispositions. Such introspection has the potential for creating a conundrum that must be attended to as faculty strive to understand what this means to each individual.

Contact Information

Donna M. Sobel, Ph.D.Associate ProfessorUniversity of Colorado DenverDonna.sobel@ucdenver.edu303-315-4954