Barriers to Risk-Taking in Education

The field of education has and continues to undergo many changes in the effort to implement new initiatives that are designed to improve the outcomes for all students. For example, the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) required scientifically-based interventions, documentation of response, in order to determine eligibility for specific learning disabilities. Therefore, the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) developed structured school-wide programs to support its counties. Boyer & Palenchar (2005), reported some of the barriers that may prevent risk taking in the educational environment. They include teacher attitudes about initiatives and their practice habits. Administrators faced with changes may encounter the barriers of having to consider the use of staff, funding for programs, and provision for professional development.

Sustainability is another barrier according to McKeown (2002). It is considered the greatest obstacle when there is a lack of clarity regarding goals. Often, stakeholders have the idea that the reformed system may not be the best solution, therefore it may not last.

Boyer L. & Palenchar L. (2005). Response to intervention: Implementation of statewide system Rural Special Education Quarterly, 27(4).

McKeown, R. (2002). Reorienting education. The education for sustainable development. Retrieved from http://www.esdtoolkit.org/discussion/reorient.htm

Strategies for Achieving Best Practice in Integrating Special Education within an MTSS

My district presently ensures that best practices are evident in the integration of special education within a multi-tiered system of supports. This is done by providing a constant flow of information on expectations. Opportunities for professional development are also offered to all district employees, including charter school employees. This is done through dissemination of information via the district’s e-conference application and direct e-mail notices to school principals. Special education school site personnel are called upon to ensure that all students are receiving the individualized support needed to minimize the educational deficiencies they may experience. Continuous, mandatory professional development sessions are provided on an ongoing basis. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are included as part of the professional duties of all instructional and administrative school personnel. This ensures that everyone works for common causes to meet student needs.

In order to improve the MTSS practices for all school settings including charter schools, the district could use strategies that ensure all schools develop a systems focus. Schools need to have a comprehensive outline of the tasks and requirements that are to take place during the school year toward the efforts to successfully maintain a strong MTSS. For example, Johnson, Carter & Pool (2013) stated that schools need to include in their MTSS plan, an outline of the team structure and functions. These outlines should include clear procedures and practices for all stages of the Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) plan. Another practice that strengthens the fidelity of efforts toward student support is a systematic documentation process. This strengthens the decision making process for each cycle of support. It ensures that no student falls through the cracks. When data is triangulated from multiple sources and documented to identify students who are most at risk of academic and behavior problems all involved personnel can collaborate to provide needed services for students (Coleman, Steinberg, Pereles, Miller & Jorgensen, 2012).  In order to further improve RTI within the district, teachers can receive additional training in the data collection process for RTI. As stated by Sandomierski, Kincaid & Algozzine (2013), teachers need to be trained in the use of various data collection tools. One tool that can be used to document the efforts of teachers toward positive behavior is the Teacher Rating Scale. It can be found on the Florida PBS website. Teachers should be required to familiarize themselves with websites such as this that carry supporting documents or they should be supplied the documents that can be resources in their daily efforts to support student behavior and academic success.

Sandomierski, T., Kincaid, D., & Algozzine, B. (2013). Response to Intervention and Positive Behavior Support: Brothers from Different Mothers or Sisters from Different Misters? Retrieved from http://www.esc14.net/users/0018/docs/ctl_bm_pbs_schoolwide_articles.pdf

Johnson E., Carter, D., & Pool, J. (2013). School-wide implementation of a combined RtI/PBIS model: Fidelity, student outcomes, social validity. Boise State University. Retrieved from works.bpress.com

Coleman, M., Steinberg, E., Pereles, D., MillerA., & Jorgensen, D., (2012). Creating the conditions for success: A case study of three Thompson schools’ RtI and PBIS frameworks. Colorado Department of Education. Retrieved from www.library.waldenu.edu

The Role of Special Education in a Multi-tiered System of Supports

The multi-tiered system of supports is an organizational system that was developed to ensure all students receive the required individualized academic and behavioral services. It is a proactive process that enables educators to determine the specific deficiencies experienced by students. This early warning system identifies students who do not make adequate progress and matches student needs with the appropriate interventions. If the specific interventions used do not meet student needs, other interventions are attempted. Students are less likely to be prematurely identified as eligible for special education as their needs may be met by specific intervention (Colorado Department of Education, 2012).

In my capacity as Special Education Coordinator, my job is to ensure that the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is in place and all team members, from teachers to parents, are aware of their roles in support of the students. It is the responsibility of each team member to know their part in the process and to ensure that students’ needs are met. This ensures that only students with true special needs are identified for staffing into the appropriate special education eligibility area (Bufum, 2012).

Colorado Department of Education (2012). Creating the conditions for success: A case study of three Thompson schools’ RtI and PBIS frameworks. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Bufum, A., mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying response to intervention: Four essential guiding principles. Bloomington, IA: Solution Tree Press.

Writing Instruction for Students with Disabilities, Part 2

Several years ago I discovered a great way to help students with learning disabilities to practice their written language skills in a way that will keep them motivated to write. Another teacher in the county that I worked for actually initiated the project that my students came to love. The teacher called my principal and requested that she ask her teachers if they were interested in starting a pen pal writing project with her. When I was approached with the idea, I knew right away that it was something I wanted to do. I had been an advocate for exposing students to as much writing experiences as possible since my college days. I believe that with ample practice in elementary and secondary school, students will be more likely to succeed in college. All teachers at all levels need to incorporate lots of writing into every subject.

The project started with the teacher sending me a large envelope filled with friendly letters from her students to mine. When we received the letters, we immediately began working on responses. We had previously begun practicing with mini-lessons that prepared my students for the task within our writing process time. The pen pal writing project started in January. By May, all of my students were solid writers, using all of the correct elements that make for effective written communication. I have also led the project as an inter-classroom project by separating the class into two groups and having them write to a pal from the opposite group anonymously. The students had lots of fun in both formats of the project.

Look for the book, The Interesting Pen Pal, to read more about what happened during our pen pal project and to get some of the lessons and materials that were used. The book is available on www.amazon.com and www.teacherspayteachers.com. This book is great reading for both teachers and students.

Common Research Elements

Some common elements of educational research methodology include the focusing on a research problem, making a hypothesis, identifying the variables, locating and reviewing related literature, and the use of educational measures.

Research questions, sampling and levels of measurement can be applied to special education research to identify effective instructional methods and program practices. This can be done by finding a problem or instructional method to address then developing a broad question to guide the research Rumrill, Cook, and Wiley, 2011). Sampling is used to represent the population to which the findings will be generalized. In special education this enables the researcher to work with a manageable amount of subjects. Levels of measurement are used to identify where the dependent variables lie. For example, the levels of achievement in the intervention and the amount of time administered are documented and used to determine the effects and outcomes.

In the classroom setting, teachers  can use this information to determine the benefits of an intervention that is being used. This can be done by documenting the levels of achievement acquired by students who are in the intervention group with those in a group not using it. This is called  the control group. This information can then be used to make changes in the intervention program as needed.

Rumrill, P, Cook, B., & Wiley, A. (2011). Research in special education: designs, methods, and applications. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, LTD.

What is “Evidence-Based Practice”?

            “Evidence-based practice” (EBP) consists of strategies and processes that are proven to be effective with the population for which they are tested. The interpretation of EBP can vary according to the disability category because of the variability of student limitations and abilities. According to Burns and Ysseldyke (2009), most conversations regarding EBP relates to education in general. Not enough is being done to close the research-to-practice gap in special education.

Research to determine the effectiveness of educational practices for Students with Disabilities may be lack reliability because the need for specific methodologies that require large amounts of participants. Since the prevalence of certain disabilities may be low, it would be difficult to conduct the study effectively (Odom, Brantlinger, Gersten, Horner, Thompson, and Marris, 2005).

The questions asked in research studies to determine the effectiveness of special education practices cannot be simple (Odom, et al. 2005). There are specific considerations to include. The individual or group’s disabilities, age group, grade level, limitations, interests, language abilities and other factors such as the context must be considered in order to determine if the educational practice is effective. For example, a Varied Exceptionalities (VE) resource classroom may contain students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), and Emotional and Behavioral Disability EBD). A particular program may have a different degree of effectiveness for one student than for the other. Therefore, the specialized instructional practices may be evidence-based, but should be evaluated differently according to the students it is meant to support.

Burns, M. K., & Ysseldyke, J. E. (2009). Reported Prevalence of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices in Special Education. Journal of Special Education, 43(1), 3–11.

Odom, S., Brantlinger, E., Gersten, R., Horner, R., Thompson, B., and Harris, K. (2005). Research in Special Education: Scientific Methods and Evidence-Based Practices. Council for Exceptional Children, 71(2), 137–148

Receptive Communication Skills

Students with difficulties in the area of receptive language reveal the need for extensive supports. It is important that he is taught strategies that will help him to be successful in following school behavior requirements reach academic expectations, and have positive social relationships.

The student needs assistance with his difficulty understanding the daily schedule. He will benefit from the use of a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) daily schedule formatted for his specific needs. Cihak (2010) describes an important benefit of PECS as he compared it to another form of visual communication support in his experimental study. As a result of a structured environment, the student’s academic progress may also be positively affected. This is an evidence based strategy as there have been numerous studies done to investigate its effectiveness with students who have receptive language deficits. It was developed by Dr. Andy Bondy, a Speech/Language Pathologist in 1985 and is based on B. F. Skinner’s publication on Verbal Behavior.

Another type of communication support for individuals with language impairments is called Social Stories. If tshe student lacks compliance in the area of classroom expectations this reveals his need for this type of support. According to Schneider & Goldstein (2009), Social Stories supports students by teaching them the expected behaviors and supporting them as they work to develop positive habits.

Both of the above mentioned strategies have been used with adolescent individuals with language deficiencies, therefore would be effective in supporting students with receptive communication skill deficits as they gain effective communication skills.

Cihak, D. (2010). Comparing pictorial and video modeling activity schedules during transistions for students with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 433-441. Retrieved from www.library.waldenu.edu

 Schneider, N. & Goldstein, H. (2009). Social stories improve the on-task behavior of children with language impairment. Journal of Early Intervention, 31, 250-264.Retrieved from www.library.waldenu.edu