MIDDLE SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDUCATION 10 POINT STRATEGY by Lana Conaway

Strengthen Continuum of Supports and Services

yconaway — 2024-05-09 18:56:55 UTC

Literacy across K12

yconaway — 2024-05-09 18:57:33 UTC

PD/Compliance Training

yconaway — 2024-05-09 18:58:39 UTC

Data Collection and Monitoring

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:00:27 UTC

Evidence-Based Practices

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:01:02 UTC

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:04:41 UTC

Technology Integration/Utilization

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:06:25 UTC

Strategic Resource Alloçatiøn

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:07:22 UTC

Parent Engagement and Trust

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:08:49 UTC

Prioritize direct student support over administrative tasks

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:09:47 UTC

Inclusion

yconaway — 2024-05-09 19:10:57 UTC

Specialist

2024-05-09 22:17:14 UTC

It would be very helpful to hire a dyslexia specialist to work with kids/pull out/push in as needed

Training

kapuzzo3 — 2024-05-09 22:17:20 UTC

Training for both general education and special education on best practices

PD days that involve collaboration and specific strategies relevant to subject, along with IAs

2024-05-09 22:17:27 UTC

Gen Ed Teacher PD to support Students w/ IEPs

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:17:27 UTC

Strategies and resources

District training for parents

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:17:29 UTC

Behavior supports at home & school
Specifically for parents of students in TS program to help build trust & support student attendance
SPED processes

Training for gen ed teachers on legal requirements of SPED, their role in the IEP team, inclusion

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:18:04 UTC

Behavioral services/consultation & their roles in supporting (during IEPs, classrooms, data collection, feedback)

2024-05-09 22:19:18 UTC

Is there an opportunity to reallocate some of the $ put towards aides to hire additional teachers to expand coteaching opportunities and the programs available to students?

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:19:24 UTC

Committee to review SAI Math curriculum; include SPED teachers on new math framework committee

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:20:11 UTC

Clearly articulated vision, expectations, and plan to expand inclusion at middle school level

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:20:58 UTC

Safety Training for SPED and IAs

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:21:14 UTC

Is is possible to have a training prior to the start of school or during district PD to train IAs so they are not pulled from daily schedules?

Consistent and regular coteaching trainings for teachers and staff who are working in the classrooms

2024-05-09 22:21:29 UTC

Consider possibility of having one dedicated case manager for all students at site to release other SPED teachers to focus solely on instruction (other districts have implemented this model)

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:22:00 UTC

Continue to develop scope & sequence for middle school AP and AC classes

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:22:34 UTC

Additional RSP

2024-05-09 22:22:48 UTC

There is a large number of incoming 6th graders and many rising 7th and 8th graders receiving services. We need an additional hire to help take the increased caseload and workload -- these are 2 very different things. We have many service minutes that will be tricky to meet with co-taught (SAI gen. ed push-in) now being a service at middle school sites. The current plan is to have 8+ SpEd students in a gen ed class to cover minutes. This puts a tremendous burden on the team as there is not co-taught minutes in science or social studies. Some students have 30 min, other 210. Lots of thoughts on this one.

Ongoing training for both SPED and gen ed teachers on how to modify general ed curriculum

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:23:12 UTC

Provide opportunities for families to connect outside of school-- CAC family day, Futures dance

2024-05-09 22:24:01 UTC

Training for site admin on inclusive best practices and how to foster an inclusive community at their school site

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:24:05 UTC

Behavioral services

2024-05-09 22:24:24 UTC

With a BIC at every site, we need them to take the reigns of behavioral issues and the implementation of the BIP (meeting with teachers/aides, communicating home with parents, etc). These responsibilities are falling on case managers.

Discipline

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:24:37 UTC

More partnership to improve strategies for students struggling with behavior to avoid detentions and suspensions through restorative practices

Ongoing training for IAs on how to support students with more significant support needs & modifications in general ed setting

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:24:53 UTC

Testing

2024-05-09 22:25:40 UTC

To reduce the burden on case managers, budget one FTE to do all testing/report writing for initials/triennials.

Look globally at how many of our resources go into IEP meetings when so many have part 3 and 4 and how to 1) reduce the length of our meetings while still facilitating parent involvement and 2) find other times to hold meetings that don't require related service providers to miss sessions (comp services)

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:26:39 UTC

Not sure if this goes under this category

Accommodations

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:26:43 UTC

In order to help AP classes focus on instruction and goal work, how can we create best practices around separate setting and extra time? High schools have testing centers, for example.

PD day

2024-05-09 22:26:57 UTC

-Build AP curriculum

-Co-taught classes

AC

2024-05-09 22:27:22 UTC

Curriculum for AC class

Neurodiversity training for all students; opportunities to bring in outside speakers to talk about neurodiversity

cwalko — 2024-05-09 22:27:50 UTC

Transition process-- connecting elementary and middle schools earlier in the school year, to help facilitate middle school expectations and structure

2024-05-09 22:28:34 UTC

Training

2024-05-09 22:28:44 UTC

Aide training before school and during PM meetings

Co-Teaching Focus

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:29:06 UTC

more investment of time and resources on co-teaching

PR Around Required Services

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:37:49 UTC

How do we help families understand the importance of required services

Reading Instruction Curriculum

klohse — 2024-05-09 22:58:14 UTC

LEA training for site admin (including how to take notes!)

cwalko — 2024-05-09 23:29:42 UTC

fidelity checklists for observations of BIP implementation

cwalko — 2024-05-09 23:41:42 UTC

yconaway — 2024-05-09 23:53:15 UTC

Academic Communications classes

2024-05-10 14:39:07 UTC

PLEASE put energy and time into supporting this program. Unlike other, more established and more respected programs such as the TS or the Future's program (both of which are amazing!) the AC program gets no support. There is no set curriculum which I believe is appropriate but as such, we need to be provided time and space to get together to create and fine tune a scope and sequence, to ensure continuity across schools, and to develop an intake process that mirrors the TS intake process as this class is designed for (and is only effective with) students with a very specific profile. I am the only person left in the District who was part of the cohort that created the program many years ago and I have NEVER been asked for feedback, ideas, etc. The expectations, format, grading, curriculum, etc. is highly inconsistent from school to school. The one time we met as a group we begged for a full day and got barely 1/2 a day on a SDD. It's becoming harder and harder to fight for this program's survival. Help! (Jenny Zine - SLP)

Workload vs. Caseload - Please hire more SLPs

2024-05-10 14:50:35 UTC

Determining FTE's for Specialists such as SLPs based primarily on caseload does not provide an accurate picture. One student seen 4 times a week is still considered 1 student on my caseload, but the time spent is far greater than the student I see once a week. Special education is becoming more and more challenging, IEPs doing into 2 & 3 parts, student needs becoming more intense, case management for even "speech only" kids often requires hours and hours of extra work (emailing, calling, and emailing again parents, progress reports, IEPs/Triennial assessments, writing and sending 5 & 10 day letters, setting up and sending calendar invites, teacher input forms that require you resend and resent 3-4 times to get responses, etc. etc.). I know compliance has been challenging for some, but I can assure you that if I had a smaller workload and just a little bit more room to breathe, I would guarantee highly throughout and compliant paperwork, legally defensible IEPs, top notch speech therapy services, an increased morale, and improved physical health (many of us special educators are experiencing physical harm due to heightened and sustained stress)

Transportation Communication

dyoshinaga — 2024-05-12 16:38:21 UTC

Our bus drivers need more information regarding accommodations and behavior support for transportation. It would be good to have IEP (and 504) teams complete an at-a-glance communication for bus drivers as well as after school care and activities (e.g. Right at School, PACCC, sports). We are required to provide those programs which we pay for (ELOP), so it would be good to start sharing this info as a part of our routine, like we do for classroom teachers, with more targeted info about behavior and social-emotional needs.