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