EPSE 317

CLASS II

Shape of the Day

• Provincial Special Education Policy. • What is an IEP and why does it matter?• IEP Demonstration• Assignment to Case Study Groups. • Distribution of Case Studies.

Policy

• Set at all levels of education, Ministry, District, School, and to some extent your classroom

• Ministry policy is subject to a range of interpretation from district to district, as is its implementation.

Special Education Policy in BC

• The basic principle of inclusion: “All students should have equitable access to learning, opportunities for achievement, and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of their educational programs.”

• All students should be “fully participating members of the community of learners.”

• Students with special needs should be in a classroom integrated with students who do not have special needs unless:

“…the educational needs of the student with special needs or other students (italics added) indicate that the educational program for the student with special needs should be provided otherwise.”

Inclusion

• Less about “where” students are placed than about how they fit into the context of education in general.

• “Special education” in the inclusive model is situated within the goals and policies of education in general.

Mission Statement:BC Ministry of Education

• The Mission of the Ministry of Education is to set the legal, financial, curricular and accountability frameworks so as to enable all learners to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy, democratic and pluralistic society and a prosperous, sustainable economy.

• for students with special needs, meeting the provincial curriculum requirements is generally the part that involves extra support

• …not always…there are behavioural and social issues as well

• This is the stuff of Individual Education Plans (IEPs)

Planning

• Under Law (Individual Education Plan Order M638/95), a school board must put an IEP for a student into place as soon as is practically possible after he or she has been identified as having special educational needs.

• The IEP must be reviewed at least once per school year.

• Parents (or guardians) must be offered the opportunity to offer input on the IEP.

• “A school board must offer each student who has special needs learning activities in accordance with the IEP designed for that student. When services are so specialized that they cannot be replicated in every school, they should be available at the district level, or else school districts should arrange to obtain them from community or other sources.”

Let’s talk about the implications of that last slide…

Two Key Terms, both part of “Accommodation,” or “Differentiation

of Instruction”:

• Adaptation

• Modification

Adaptation

• Teaching and assessment strategies that enable a student to meet the provincially established learning outcomes of a subject or course.

• Learning outcomes themselves are not changed from those of the student’s classmates or other students throughout the Province.

For Instance…?

Provincial Learning Outcome for English Language Arts--KG

• It is expected that students will: • Engage in speaking and listening activities to share

ideas about pictures, stories, information text, and experiences– Actively participate in classroom language activities by asking

questions, predicting, expressing feelings, sharing ideas, and making personal connections

– ….– Listen and respond orally to language patterns in storied and

poems (e.g. join in when teacher reads, repeat parts of a story, echo words and phrases, make up chants with the teacher, chime in during poems or “read-alouds.”

Evaluation

• Students with adaptations to a course are graded on the same basis as any other student.

• …Mostly…• Adaptations must be documented on a

student’s IEP.• Their effectiveness should be evaluated

regularly.

Modifications

• Individualized learning goals and outcomes that differ from those established provincially for a course or subject.

• The decision to modify should be made after adaptations are been tried, or

• If a student is sufficiently disabled that it is apparent that he/she will not be able to meet grade or age-level expectations.

Modifications, cont’d

• After Grade 10, modifications, particularly to an entire program, will have implications regarding the student’s completion of schooling.

• Dogwood/School Completion Certificate

Modifications can:

• Address simplified versions of learning outcomes: e.g. counting change in Grade 9 rather than algebra

• Be the learning outcomes for a lower grade, or

• Bypass learning outcomes for life skills

Modifications must:

• Be identified in a student’s IEP• Be reflected in a report card, either as a grade

or anecdotally• If a student on a modified program (either for

one subject or all subjects) receives letter grades, his/her report card must state explicitly that the marks reflect achievement of IEP goals rather than standard provincial learning outcomes.

The IEP

• All students with adapted or modified programs must have an IEP

• It is a record of those accommodations• It is a basis for evaluation of program efficacy

Who is involved in the IEP process?

• By Law, parents or legal guardians• In some districts, a district “integration

teacher” or resource room teacher prepares the document, in consultation with classroom teachers, parents and other stakeholders

• Students should, at the very least, be consulted

IEPs must:

• Identify student’s current level of function/ability

• Provide information about previous assessments, both formal and informal

• Identify long-term goals for students as well as more immediate goals and strategies

• Identify who is responsible for meeting the goals (this should not be the student)

• Identify measurable, observable criteria by which to evaluate the student’s realization of goals.

• Set time frames.• Be reviewed annually.

• Parents must be provided with the opportunity to give input to IEP, but schools have final say.

• A student’s program should reflect his/her IEP• A student’s IEP should reflect his/her funding

category.

…Category…

???

Categorical Alphabet Soup• CODES CATEGORY TITLE• A Physically Dependent• B Deafblind• C Moderate to Profound Intellectual Disability• D Physical Disability or Chronic Health Impairment• E Visual Impairment• F Deaf or Hard of Hearing• G Autism Spectrum Disorder• H Intensive Behaviour Intervention/Serious Mental Illness• K Mild Intellectual Disability• P Gifted• Q Learning Disability• R Moderate Behaviour Support/Mental Illness

$$$

• Categories are linked to “supplementary funding” provide to a district

• They are intended to reflect the level of support required by students within the respective categories.

• They are not “targeted” to the support of a specific student, but the identification of a student within a category brings the district a specified sum:

General Operating Grant

• For the 2009-2010 school year, all children enrolled full-time in BC bring their district $5,851.

• That money pays for almost all operations of the district.

• There is supplementary funding for:– ESL--$1,174– Aboriginal --$1,014– Special Needs—next slide, please

Three Levels of Supplementary Funding for Special Needs

• Level 1: Physically Dependent, and Deaf-Blind--$32,000

• Level 2: Moderate-Severe Intellectually Disabled, Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Visually Impaired, Physically Disabled or Chronic Health Impaired, and within the Autism Spectrum Disorder --$16,000

• Level 3: Intensive Behaviour Support or Mental Illness--$8,000

And now, let’s look at how all this works for a specific kid

• We’ll call him Fred…