Educating Students with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings

1
Educating Students with Disabilities in Inclusive
Settings

• Dr. Alice Murphy
• Program Specialist
• Compliance, School Improvement and Director, LRE
  Project
• Georgia Department of Education
• Division for Exceptional Students

2
Inclusive Environments Federal Mandates

• No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
• With few exceptions, students with disabilities
  held to the same standards all students must
  reach
• High stakes testing required
• SWD must have access to same curriculum/
  standards as non-disabled students
• Must be taught by highly qualified teachers

3
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act (IDEA-04)

• To the maximum extent appropriate, children with
  disabilities are educated with children who are
  not disabled, and special classes, separate
  schooling, or other removal of children with
  disabilities from the regular educational
  environment occurs only when the nature and
  severity of the disability of a child is such
  that education in the regular classes with the
  use of supplementary aids and services cannot be
  achieved satisfactorily 300.114 (a) (2)

4
The Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act (IDEA-04)

• Full Continuum of Services which includes
  inclusive practices and co-teaching
• (handout on full continuum of services)
• USDOE ranks states based on 90 of students with
  disabilities being educated in a general
  education classroom at least 80 of the school
  day
• In 2006, in Georgia, 54 of students with
  disabilities were receiving their instruction in
  the general education classroom at least 80 of
  school day

5
Co-Teaching Partnership

• Service delivery model to meet rigorous
  curriculum exposure while providing
  individualized differentiated instruction
• Combines the general educators knowledge of the
  curriculum and pacing with the special service
  providers skill in individualizing to create
  powerful instructional options for students
• Provides services and supports to benefit the
  maximum number of students, including those not
  in special education
• Wider range of instructional alternatives with
  two teachers

6
Co-TeachingA Partnership

• Shared responsibility for planning, instruction
  and evaluation of all students (Villa et al.,
  2004)
• Provides continuous flow of content sequenced and
  paced which often is not possible in fragmented
  pull out model
• Provides strong support to the learner and
  teacher through partnership
• Enhances conditions for students with
  disabilities to make AYP

7
Co-TeachingA Partnership

• Increases social skills
• Enhances self esteem
• Reduces behavior problems
• Higher quality of instruction
• Increases expectations for students with
  disabilities and at-risk learners
• Benefits bubble kids and diverse populations

8
Models of Co-TeachingMarilyn Friend, Power of
Two, 2006

• One Teach/One Observe
• One teacher leads while other systematically
  observes one student, small groups, or whole
  class to gain important information on students
• Most commonly used when starting out with
  co-teaching. Teachers must have an instructional
  or behavioral focus rather than just drifting

9
Co-Teaching Models

• One Teach/One Assist
• One teacher manages overall class/discipline/inst
  ruction and one teacher circulates, redirects
  students attention, helps individually with
  students
• Often gives the impression that one teacher is a
  para or helper. Now considered a pre-teaching
  approach

10
Co-Teaching Models

• Station Teaching
• Presented as centers or stations with each
  station representing a different aspect of the
  lesson. Both teachers work with all students with
  each having clear responsibilities
• Allows breaking down material into smaller
  chunks, more interaction with teacher for
  feedback. Works well with middle and high school
  classes

11
Co-Teaching Models

• Parallel Teaching
• General ed and special ed teacher divide class
  into two heterogeneous groups and each teach the
  same content at the same time. Most appropriate
  for drill and practice, reviews and project
  work.

12
Co-Teaching Models

• Alternative Teaching
• One teacher manages a larger instructional group
  and one manages a small group pulled to the side.
  Students are heterogeneously grouped, same
  students are not in group every time. Flexible
  grouping is used. Can be used for preview,
  review, enrichment and remediation

13
Team Teaching

• General educator and special education teacher
  have joint responsibilities for teaching and
  assessing all content of all students.
  Capitalizes on everyones strengths, complex
  curriculum can be covered, takes advantage of
  individual teaching styles, students with
  disabilities are undistinguishable.

14
Other Inclusive Practices in Georgia

• Supportive Instruction
• General education teacher has primary
  responsibility of planning and delivering
  instruction. Paraprofessional supports
  instruction with accommodations / modifications

15
Other Inclusive Practices in Georgia

• Collaborative Instruction
• General education teacher and special education
  teacher share classroom teaching responsibility
  50 of the time per segment.

16
Success in Georgia

• Focused Monitoring Teams monitor systems in the
  lowest quartile of math and reading achievement
  for the students with disabilities subgroup in
  each size group. Results have been compared to
  systems monitored in 04 06. Increased
  achievement has been noted in each system
  monitored and attributed to increased numbers of
  students with disabilities receiving instruction
  in the general education environment. (handout on
  systems comparison)

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Keys to Success

• Administrative pedagogical support
• Administrative support, knowledge of LRE decision
  making model, scheduling, FTE and utilization of
  personnel
• Training of all staff for laying the groundwork
• Content knowledge involving both special
  education and general education teachers and
  paraprofessionals
• Compatibility between co-teachers, effective
  communication
• Planning time
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• On-going support and training
• Coaching / forum for discussions and feedback

18
Handouts

• LRE Frequently Asked Questions Georgia Department
  of Education, Exceptional Students Division
• Chart on Comparative Results of FM Systems
• 04-06, Georgia Department of Education,
  Exceptional Students Division
• CEC Is Co-Teaching Effective?
• Accommodations and Modifications GADOE Testing
  Division
• Chart on Full Continuum of Services

19
References

• Georgia Department of Education, Student
  Achievement in the Least Restrictive Environment
  (SA/LRE SIG Project) in collaboration with
  Georgia State University
• Marilyn Friend, The Power of Two, 2006
• Villa et al., 2004