Special Education Study
Work Team Minutes

April 13, 2005

Our Goal:

A strategic approach to developing a Special Education Instructional Model for resource and BI services

Enduring Understandings

A system approach helps to show alignment of program curriculum, assessments, and effective instructional practices
Quality instruction is essential for the success of all students in the system

Essential Questions:

How do Special Education services specifically support Goal one of the strategic plan?
What can we learn by understanding IDEA, exploring effective models, and examining current research?

Outcomes:

• Updates and Information:
  • Share LOOP OUT information
  • Update TRACKING of our LOOPING OUT
  • External VISITATIONS update
• Brief sharing of VISITATION process
• KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: reading assignments, transitions and change
• Continuing our INVESTIGATIONS and drafting EMERGING UNDERSTANDINGS
• Decide upon a DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
• ASSIGNMENTS : Reading and Research

 ~ ~ ~     ~ ~ ~     ~ ~ ~

Agenda Items:

1) Welcome, Review of Outcomes for today's meeting, Introduction of special guests

Desiree Ryan – A district interpreter who is getting her teaching certificate and is doing her student teaching at Linwood in a third grade classroom

2) Inclusion Activity - Since we last met . . .

Team members were invited them to share a book, movie, song or TV show that best represents their lives since our last meeting.

3)  LOOPING updates

• Members were polled to determine if additional loop outs had been done since our last meeting.  Feedback from those attending loop-outs included:
  • The implementation of our revised model should be done carefully, perhaps in a staged or phased-in process to prevent overwhelming our system.
  • There should be room in the model to accommodate differences between individual sites
  • There must be consistency between schools and their identification methods and with services between schools
• A concern was expressed that the busy-ness of this season may be interfering with getting this information out to those who need to hear it.
• Update TRACKING of our LOOPING OUT

  4)  Brief sharing of VISITATION PROCESS:

• Members shared positive aspects and some concerns regarding the visitation process, and clarifications regarding the written summaries of visits
• Schools teams see to have been pleased for the opportunity to share their successes and concerns regarding Special Education Services and we need to allow extra time for the interviews so they have an opportunity to share all they want to share.
• There has been no representation from general education at many of our visits
• We need to write our summaries from an objective and purely observational perspective being careful to avoid any evaluation.  These are NOT evaluative observations.  summaries should be succinct and written in similar bulleted format.
• The process for EXTERNAL VISITATIONS to occur was clarified and team members were asked to  to notice potential visitation sites in their research and to pass this information on to  Tim, Carol or Lisa

5)  KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: Reading assignments, transitions and change

• Members reviewed articles they have read then discussed their understandings with a partner

6)  Continuing our INVESTIGATIONS and drafting EMERGING UNDERSTANDINGS:

• Members met as research teams (Prevention/Early Intervention, Curriculum and Assessment, Instructional Strategies, Professional Learning and Implementation) to review their readings and to begin drafting emerging understandings from the research.
• Each team presented a draft of their work to the group and received feedback.

7)  ASSIGNMENTS: Reading and Research

• Members were asked to send their visitation summaries by April 19.
• Members were asked to schedule a time to meet with their research teams before we meet again to revise their "Emerging Understandings" and to submit the revised copies by April 27.
• Members were asked to read  Watering Up the Curriculum for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities and Expecting Success:  A Study of Five High Performing, High Poverty Schools.