COLLABORATIVESTRATEGIES

INITIATIVEPRESENTED BY: Dr. Leisa Justus

Dr. Robin Morthel Dawn Bradley Vicky Hulsey

CREATED BY: Melinda Hirschmann, WWMS Stacey Faircloth, MJHS

WHAT IS INCLUSION?

”Inclusion is the word used to describe the right of all students to shared access to the general curriculum.”

A belief that all children . . .are included for all or part of the day in the general education setting with their needs being met.

will be treated equally. are in classrooms or environments designed for success.

will improve academic, behavior, and social skills with appropriate supports.

2Inclusion: How to Make It Work: Strategies for Success ati - Appelbaum Training Institute, 2000

WHY INCLUSION?Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act• Protect from

discrimination based on disability

• Applied to all public settings, but most educators did not know it was required for schools

Education for All Handicapped Children Act• Free and

Appropriate Public Education

• Students allowed to attend their local schools but often in separate classrooms

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act• Least

Restrictive Environment

• Response to Intervention

Inclusion• First

consideration for placement should be the general ed setting

• Not a legally mandated term but used by educational stakeholders in response to legal mandates

WILSON COUNTY’S COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIES INITIATIVE (CSI)

What is inclusion in WCS? Inclusive classrooms benefit from collaborative

instruction: general ed and special ed teachers or special ed assistants

working together for student growth.

What is our goal for WCS? The mission of CSI is to ensure that opportunities

for every student’s growth are available in the general education setting.

Through a cooperative effort of teachers, students, administrators and

parents, 80% of the students will be educated in the general education

setting a minimum of 80% of the school day per RTI2 guidelines.

CLASS SETTINGS

General Education

Inclusion

Intervention/Learning Labs

CDC

WCS is moving toward more Co-Teaching…Co-Teaching is a collaboration between general and special education teachers.

All teaching and learning responsibilities are shared:

• Instructional delivery

• Evaluation and reflection

• Lesson planning

• Test scores

• IEP and parent meetings

• Classroom Management

• Grading

• Parent Contact

Villa, Thousand, and Nevin (2004) identified six benefits of co-teaching:

1. Students develop better attitudes about themselves, academic improvement, and social skills.

2. Teacher-student ratio is decreased, leading to better teaching and learning conditions.

 3. Teachers are able to use research-proven teaching strategies effectively.

4. A greater sense of community is fostered in the classroom.

5. Co-teachers report professional growth, personal support, and enhanced motivation.

6. Increased job satisfaction can be experienced because needs for survival, power, freedom or choice, a sense of belonging, and fun are met (p.xv).

rienced because needs for survival, power, freedom or choice, a sense of belonging, and fun are met (p. xv).

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Students with disabilities show

increased scores with criterion-

referenced and norm-referenced tests

in reading and math when they

received instruction in inclusive, co-

taught classrooms (Emery, 2009).

Salend and Duhaney (1999) found that

students without disabilities have a

positive view of inclusion and believe it

benefits with an increased acceptance,

understanding and tolerance of

individual differences, greater

awareness and sensitivity to the needs

of others, greater opportunities to have

friendships with students with

disabilities, and an improved ability to

deal with disability in their own lives.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Co-teaching is a viable option for students

with disabilities to be successful in

general education classrooms (Murawski,

2008).

Inclusion increases teacher collaboration and expertise (Dieker, 2003).

INCLUSION MODELS AND TARGET SKILLS

S E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y M O D E L S

Co-teaching : one general ed and one special ed teacher for WCS tested classes/courses

Collaboration: one general ed teacher and an educational assistant who collaborate with a special ed teacher

Consultation: service providers consult with general ed teacher to ensure needs are met

E X A M P L E S O F T A R G E T E D S K I L L S

Note-Taking

Guided Writing

Reading

Communication

Social Skills

Academic Behavior

Organization

Guided Notes

Mini Lessons

STATION TEACHING

Students rotate in small groups through station activities. Grouping is done

purposefully and flexibly.

discussion

demonstration

assessment

writing

skill review

computer

PARALLEL TEACHING

Each teacher has her own group – flexible grouping according to teacher

and student needs. They are typically teaching the same content but in two

different formats: for example, response to text and paragraph construction.

• Inquiry-based option

• Hands-on activity

• Project-based option

• Literature connection

• Direct instruction

• Skill-based instruction

LEAD/SUPPORT

One teacher teaches the lesson and the other teacher monitors student

understanding as a support. This model is used less frequently and both

teachers alternate both roles.

• Content delivery

• Bellringer

• Learning strategies

• Note taking skills

• Observation data

• Graphic support

TEAM TEACHING

Both teachers are teaching, taking turns

or sharing tasks during each lesson. One

teacher may be lecturing while the other

models real-time note taking on the

board. Or, for another example, teachers

model accountable talk. With planning

and open collaboration, this has high

potential for engagement and student

learning.

ALL INCLUSION MODELS PROMOTE:

Collaborative planning for learning style differences:

• Auditory Learners – lectures, recordings

• Visual Learners – charts, tables, graphics, pictures, color, demonstrations, examples

• Tactile/Kinesthetic – hands-on activities, movement, manipulatives

Collaborative planning for instructional options:

• Multiple means of presentation – louder, bigger, graphics, videos, audio, visuals, repeat, repeat, repeat

• Multiple means of action and expression-choices, feedback, individual or group activity

• multiple means of engagement-checklists, rubrics, rewards, discussions

BUT W

HAT A

BOUT MY

STUDENTS

WIT

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DISABILI

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WO

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N O

F

STUD

ENTS W

ITH

DI S

AB I LI T

I ES

S LOW

DO

WN

TH

E PACE O

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STUD

ENTS?

BENEFIT TO STUDENTS WITHOUT DISABILITIES

Greater appreciation of individual strengths and diversity

Deeper commitments to the importance of inclusion and social justice

Improved understanding of and attitudes toward disability

Enhanced self-esteem

Stronger advocacy and support skills

Emerging friendships(Carter et al., 2011; Copeland et al., 2004)

AND EVEN BETTER NEWS…..

Non-disabled, but non-stellar students who had the opportunity to function in a peer support role for a classmate with disabilities showed grade improvements of 1 to 2 grade levels.

A-B Students continued to be A-B students

C-D-F students became B-C students

MOVING UPSTREAM:

A STORY OF PREVENTION

AND INTERVENTION

In a small town, a group of

fishermen gathered down at the

river. Not long after they got

there, a child came floating down

the rapids calling for help. One of

the group on the shore quickly

dived in and pulled

the child out.

Minutes later another child came,

then another, and then many

more children were coming down

the river. Soon everyone was

diving in and dragging children to

the shore, then jumping back in

to save as many as they could.

In the midst of all this frenzy, one of the group was seen

walking away. Her colleagues were irate. How could she

leave when there were so many children to save? After

long hours, to everyone’s relief, the flow of children

stopped, and the group could finally catch their breath.

At that moment, their colleague came back.

They turned on her and angrily shouted:

“HOW COULD YOU WALK OFF WHEN

WE NEEDED EVERYONE HERE

TO SAVE THE CHILDREN?”

She replied, “It occurred to me that someone ought to go upstream and find

out why so many kids were falling into the river. What I found is that the old

wooden bridge had several

planks missing, and when some

children tried to jump over the

gap, they couldn't make it and

fell through into the

river. So I got someone

to fix the bridge.”

Inclusion and co-teaching are here to help close the gap and fix the bridge.

WHO OWNS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INCLUSION?

24

EVERYONE

BIBLIOGRAPHYCarter, E.W., Asmus, J., & Moss, C.K. (2008). Fostering Friendships: Supporting relationships among youth with and without developmental disabilities. The Prevention Researcher, 20(2), 14-27.

Carter, E.W., Cushing, L.S., & Kennedy, C.H. (2008). Promoting rigor, relevance, and relationships through peer support interventions. TASH Connections, March/April 2008, 20-23.

Copeland, S. R., Hughes, C., Carter, E. W., Guth, C., Presley, J., Williams, C.R., & Fowler, S.E., (2004). Increasing access to general education: Perspectives of participants in a high school peer support program. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 342-352.

Dieker, L., & Murawski, W. (2003). Co-teaching at the secondary level: Unique issues, current trends, and suggestions for success. High School Journal, 86(4), 1-13.

Emery, L. (2009). Academic achievement of middle school students with specific learning disabilities in inclusive cotaught classes (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ERIC database. ( ED515182)

Murawski, W. (2008). Five keys to co-teaching in inclusive classrooms.  School Administrator 65(8), 29.

Salend, S. J., & Duhaney, L. M. (1999), The Impact of Inclusion on Students With and Without Disabilities and Their Educators, Remedial and Special Education, Volume 20, pages 114-126.

Villa, R., Thousand, J., & Nevin, A. (2004).  A guide to co-teaching: Practical tips for facilitating student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.