Special Education Study
Work Team Minutes

May 4, 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
• Review/synthesizef VISITATION summaries
• KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: reading assignments, transitions and change
• Prepare EMERGING UNDERSTANDINGS for our next Loop Out
• Decide upon a DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
• ASSIGNMENTS : Reading and Research

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Agenda Items:

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

Peggy Davey– A Speech Pathologist from Finch Elementary and Lewis and Clark High School

2) Inclusion Activity - Finding Common Ground. . .

Team members were invited to share three items that all team members have in common.

3)  LOOPING updates

• Members were polled to determine if additional loop outs had been done since our last meeting. 
• Update TRACKING of our LOOPING OUT
• External VISITS update
  • Members who had placed phone calls to external visitation sites summariezed key findings from each site and shared the recommendation for the subcommittee that we attempt to schedule visits to Clark County, Kentucky and Vancouver, Washington

  4)  Review/synthesize VISITATION summaries:

• Team members divided into 'theme' groups as follows:
  • What's Working/What's Not
  • Behavior Intervention
  • Promising Practices in Self-selected Schools
  • Prevention/Identification
  • Curriculum and Assessment
  • Instructional Practices
  • Professional Development
• Team members then searched the visitations summaries for themes or generalizations emerging in each category

5)  KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: The team read and discussed "Chapter 1: What is an Inclusive School?" (M. Falvey and C. Givner)

6)  Prepare EMERGING UNDERSTANDINGS for our next Loop Out:

• Small groups reviewed drafts of the Emerging Understandings from each Research Group
• Feedback was noted and given to each team
• Research teams revised and edited their Emerging Understandings
• Members were asked to share the Emerging Understandings in a Loop Out before our next meeting on May 16th

7) Decide upon a DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

• A Five Finger straw vote was used to accept the revised Emerging Understandings and share them with our learning commuity in a loop out 

8) ASSIGNMENTS: Reading and Research

• Research Teams were asked to meet before our next meeting on May 16th to begin preparing recommendations or further defining processes for the delivery of Special Education services
• Research teams will present their next thoughts to the Study Team on May 16th
• Research teams were asked to continue their reading and research