Delta Learning Assistance Teachers: The Vital Link!

1. Delta Learning Assistance Teachers:The Vital Link! Beth Sparks, Ph.D. President Delta Learning Assistance Teachers’ Local Specialist Association Presentation to the Delta School Board February 20, 2007

2. Objectives: • Draw attention to two aspects of Bill 33 that work against the principle of inclusive education in general; and negatively affect gifted students, students in the grey area and their learning assistance teachers in particular. 2. Make two recommendations for long- term solutions.

3. October 2005BC Teachers on Strike Teachers took a stand to highlight the need for action on two issue: class size and class composition.

4. $20 million for class size and composition(Ready Recommendations) • Agreement to put $20 million into BC schools to hire additional teachers to help alleviate problems linked to class size/composition ended the two-week strike • Delta hired 14 additional teachers. • Delta schools were required to submit proposals detailing how additional teaching hours would be used. • This was ongoing money that would stay in school district budgets the following year. • There was hope at the school level that successful projects would receive continuing funding.

5. The hope that this was the “Start of Something Big” Cougar Canyon Example Staff: * 0.4 FTE January to June 1.5 hours/day M-F * beginning teacher (no specialist coursework) Students: * 10 students (Gr. 3-7) NYM fluency standards Program: *evidence-based technology- supported instruction (talking e-books/audio books) * 3:1 students:teacher Professional Development: two weeks on-site professional development with school LAT prior to project, followed by ongoing mentoring

6. Successful Intervention Results: 8 of 10 students were reading fluently at grade level in June • Students, parents and teachers saw motivation, self-esteem and reading achievement rise in all students in the intervention.

7. Bill 33 • Bill 33 – Education (Learning Enhancement) Statutes Amendment Act, 2006 was passed by the provincial legislature on May 12. This bill amended the School Act to include 1 * class-size limits (Grades 4–12) 2 * class composition limits (3 students on IEPs/class)

8. Bill 33:Class Size Limits Amended limits: • Grades 4–7: 30 • Grades 8–12: 30 Continuing limits: • Kindergarten: 22 • Grades 1–3: 24

9. 3 Concerns With Class Size Limits • Researchon class size and achievement reveals: www.heros-inc.org/classsizeresearch.htm (a). class size reduction has a positive effect on achievement in early primary (b). ratio of 15:1 is needed (c). class size to 15 students without changes in instructional methods cannot guarantee improved academic achievement (d). teachers rarely change their instructional styles to match the size of their classes

10. 3 Concerns With Class Size Limits 2. Class size legislation wasn’t funded. Delta School Board had to find money to hire additional intermediate and secondary teachers. Some of the money was at the expense of programs providing successful intervention for struggling students, such as the Cougar Canyon project.

11. 3 Concerns With Class Size Limits • Although the School Act now has firm class sizes for classroom teachers K-12 ... there is silence about setting firm caseload numbers for learning assistance teachers. The following is an example of one LAT in an elementary school, Cougar Canyon Elementary, where I am a full time learning assistance teacher (1.0 FTE). The school, with 475 students, has a total 1.3 FTE learning assistance teachers.

12. Cougar Canyon Elementary School • Cougar Canyon Elementary is located in the North Zone of the Delta School District. • The population totals 475 students from increasingly varied cultures. • The school offers curriculum in Kindergarten through Grade 7, Learning and Enrichment, English as a Second Language, Language Enhancement, and an Intermediate Life Skills Resource Room. There is 1.3 fte LAT. • The school employs more than 60 teaching and support staff.

13. LAT Caseload: Beth Sparks,100 students • Direct Teaching: 50 students (Kn-Gr 5) Kn.: 4 x wk Gr. 1-3: 5 x wk Gr. 4-5: 3 x wk Role: Create individual education programs with adapted or modified curricula that accommodate diverse student needs across six grade levels. Assess, evaluate and formally report progress three times a year and informally upon request. II. Indirect Service: +50 students (Kn.- Gr.5) Role: Collaborate with teachers to make changes in the classroom so that all students can experience success (Universal Design for Learning, www.cast.org) . Consult, coordinate and liaise with SBT, parents, district personnel and outside agencies.

14. LAT Caseload: Beth Sparks, 100 students I offer the following statements based on my personal experience and my professional knowledge: • Caseload of +100 students isunreasonable for a qualified, experienced LAT. • Caseload of +100 students is unworkable for an experienced classroom teacher without specialist qualifications who is new to learning assistance. • Caseload of +100 students is unthinkable for a teacher with neither the qualifications nor experience. Conclusion: This is a crisis—from the Greek word for “turning point.” Learning assistance teaching has become so burdensome and unattractive relative to other teaching positions, that unless steps are taken now- -it will be impossible to hire learning assistance teachers in this time of teacher shortages.

15. Class size/ Caseload Recommendation Set caseload limits for learning assistance teachers. (a) Hire additional learning assistance teachers to lower LAT caseloads. (b) Set firm caseload numbers--a reasonable caseload would match the class size of a classroom teacher with students in the same grade (Chart 1). Classroom Teacher Learning AssistanceTeacher • Kindergarten: 22 * Early Intervention: (k-Gr1) 22 • Grades 1–3: 24 * Primary: 24 • Grades 4–7: 30 * Intermediate: 30 • Grades 8–12: 30 * Secondary: 30 Chart 1. Learning assistance teacher’s caseload numbers matched with classroom teacher’s class size numbers

16. CAUTION To lower caseloads without hiring additional learning assistance teachers to provide the necessary support for struggling students in Delta would be tantamount to abandonment of thousands of vulnerable students. The Delta Trustees must ensure that funding for students receiving learning assistance services reflects the number of children who need help and then set up a system to make sure that students are receiving the services.

17. Bill 33: Class Composition Class composition: no more than three students for whom IEPs must be designed, in any class, K–12 Exceptions: gifted students and students in the grey area The exclusion of these students from class composition legislation means they don’t count. These excluded students account for most of the students on IEPs -- more than double the combined total of the other students on IEPs.

18. 2 Concerns With Class Composition 1. Should gifted students count in class composition decisions? It is ironic that in BC, a province claiming that the principle of inclusion guides the school system and stressing inclusion for all children, including those with designated special needs (one of which is “gifted”), that gifted children are being excluded in this way. There is the assumption : “You’re gifted. You should be able to do that without my help!" That is a myth that arises from not understanding the needs of these children. The concept of “differentiating curriculum” came from gifted education. If the curriculum is not adapted or modified for a gifted child, that child may present serious, behaviour and academic problems in the class.

19. 2 Concerns With Class Composition 2. Should grey-area students count in class composition decisions? CKNW, Bill Good Show, 10:00-11:00 AM, Thursday, November 17, 2005 Front page news in the Teachers’ Strike: Falling through the cracks in Bill 33

20. 2 Concerns With Class CompositionStudents in the Grey Area • 20% of Delta students are not meeting expectations but they do not fit within a designated special needs category. These are the students in the grey area. • Students in the grey area have average intelligence and include students who are slower learners as well as those with diverse social, emotional, or other learning issues negatively affecting performance. The grey area also includes ESL students requiring support after reaching the cap on services, and students not-yet identified with special needs designations. • Students in the grey area require both classroom accommodations and intense small-group instruction led by a learning assistance teacher. Learning assistance teachers were introduced into the BC Education System 35 years ago to provide direct support to students in the grey area.

21. Stress in Teachers’ Worklife (BCTF Worklife of Teachers Survey Series, 1: Workload and Stress, April 2001). STRESS Table 1: CLASS SIZE AND COMPOSITION ISSUES n

22. 2 Concerns With Class Composition • Teachers identified the most stressful factor in their worklife as the inclusion of “grey-area” students in their classrooms. • “Grey-area” students account for just under 90% of teachers’ total stress, more stress than class size or the inclusion of students in special needs categories.

23. Recommendations for Class Composition Include gifted students and students in the grey area in class composition decisions.

24. Five Principles Successful inclusive education requires multiple, interconnected supports of which learning assistance teachers are a vital link. The Five Principles approved by the BCTF Council of Professional Specialist Association Presidents is a useful model that outlines a continuum of strategies (prevention and intervention) which include: • ongoing professional development to extend teacher knowledge of effective classroom practices • manageable class sizes to ensure attention from the classroom teacher • prompt assessment procedures to identify and respond early to student difficulties • appropriate interventions for all students not meeting learning outcomes • access to services from qualified specialist teachers. • (Sparks, Myrtle and Fewster: Grey Area Students: What’s missing in the discussion of class composition?)

25. Right to Education B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the B.C. Ministry of Education and School Districts discriminate against children with learning disabilities by making cutbacks that disproportionately impact children with learning disabilities andby failing to provide them with necessary programs and services. December 21, 2005 “Failure to provide appropriate support and accommodations to a vulnerable group could not be justified on the basis of cost. Public schools are required by law to provide an education for all students to the point of undue hardship.” Tribunal chairwoman Heather MacNaughton

26. Right to Education • The BC Human Rights Tribunal gave the BC Ministry of Education a year to ensure that funding for students with severe learning disabilities reflects the number of children who need help and to set up a system to make sure that school districts are delivering the services

27. Implications for all students • “We urge the BC government and school divisions across the province to put into place what has been ordered by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. • All students whether they have mild, moderate, or severe learning disabilities deserve appropriate services and accommodations that will enable them to optimize their learning. It is the right, fair and equitable thing to do.” Cathie Camley Learning Disabilities Association of BC The BC government is appealing the ruling.

28. To Make a DifferenceYou Need to Make it Different Key Idea: A key to helping all students achieve, is identifying and removing barriers from our teaching methods and curriculum materials. Teachers believe in inclusion and want to teach so all children will learn. The framework of Universal Design for Learning makes it possible. Rose & Meyer. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. www.ascd.org/publications/books/2002rose/ Rose, Meyer, Hitchcock (2005). The Universally Designed Classroom: Accessible Curriculum and Digital Technologies. Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, MA.

29. Respectfully submitted by Beth Sparks, Ph.D. President, Delta Learning Assistance Teachers’ Local Specialist Association