At the end of this presentation, you should be able to:

1. Ensuring Progress in the General Curriculum Chapter 2 Objectives At the end of this presentation, you should be able to: • Understand how students with disabilities interact within systems of accountability. • Reflect on how the use of a universally designed learning experience can support students with exceptionalities and contribute to the overall quality of curriculum and instruction. • Differentiate between various placement opportunities for students with disabilities. • Recall the key characteristics of inclusion. • Understand why progressing through the general curriculum is important for students with disabilities. Chapter Objectives

2. Ensuring Progress in the General Curriculum Understanding Individual Students Who Are Heather and Star Morgan? • Heather and Star are sisters; Heather is in the 3rd grade, Star is in the 1st grade. • Both Heather and Star are adopted; both girls have mental retardation to differing degrees. • Heather loves to read. In class, she reads in groups with her age-appropriate peers. • Star is shy, yet shows a bright personality. She cannot speak verbally, but uses sign language, and the other first grade students can sign along. • The school faculty is currently deciding if Heather will take the statewide assessment, and they will have to do this again when Star reaches third grade.

3. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? Special Education and Standards-Based Reform What Does Progressing In the General Curriculum Mean? • It refers to measurements through standards-based reform. • The beginning of this chapter will answer: • What is the background of standards-based reform? • What are content and performance standards? • What is the general curriculum? • What are the accountability issues? • Why is it important for students to progress in the general curriculum? Understand how students with disabilities interact with systems of accountability.

4. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? What Is the Background of Standards-Based Reform? • For many years, states and local education agencies did not often have a clear curriculum for all students. • Generally, both general education and special education teachers have thought that students with disabilities should not participate nor be expected to master the general curriculum. • However, IDEA requires that not only should they participate, but they should show progress in the general curriculum. • The No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) seeks to overcome low expectations. • It requires states to establish content and performance standards. • These standards apply to all students, including students with disabilities. Understand how students with disabilities interact with systems of accountability.

5. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? What Are Content and Performance Standards? • Content standards define the knowledge, skills, and understanding that all students should attain in academic subjects. • Performance standards define the level of achievement that students should meet in order to demonstrate proficiency in a subject. • Standards-based reform: • Establishes content and performance standards. • Develops and implements a general curriculum based on content standards. • Assesses student progress in meeting the general curriculum’s performance standards. Understand why progressing through the general curriculum is important for students with disabilities.

6. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? What is the General Curriculum? • Emerges from the content and performance standards set by each state. • Differences for children with disabilities may be the methods which are used to teach and assess them. • Additional services (such as therapies) may be added to the general curriculum for students with disabilities. • Some experts support students with disabilities being held accountable for the same reading and math standards because they believe: • Comparable standards will result in higher expectations, therefore higher levels of student achievement. • By being part of the standards process, students with disabilities will also be part of the education reform movement. • Some experts are opposed because they believe: • Holding students to the same standards can conflict with IEP goals. • Students will become frustrated, discouraged, and drop out of school. Understand how students with disabilities interact with systems of accountability.

7. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? What Are the Accountability and High Stakes Testing Issues? • IEP teams must consider any accommodations needed in the assessment process. • Some possible accommodations that do not affect the content of the assessment are: • Changes in presentation • Changes in responding • Changes in timing • Changes in setting • High stakes testing is the use of assessment results to determine whether or not a student can be promoted to the next grade, attend magnet schools, or graduate from high school. • Teachers may also either be rewarded or punished based on student test results. Understand how students with disabilities interact with systems of accountability.

8. What Does Progressing in the General Curriculum Mean? Why Is It Important For Students to Progress Through the General Curriculum? • High expectations are valued as being a component of full citizenship in the United States. • Denying students the opportunity to learn to their fullest potential may limit further education and employment opportunities. • Progress in the general curriculum may safeguard them against discrimination based on their disability. • Throughout the book, a focus will be on how to provide standards-based education for all children. • An important component is the ability to design curriculum, instruction, and evaluation so that students with disabilities may progress in the general curriculum. Understand why progressing through the general curriculum is important for students with disabilities.

9. How Does Universal Design for Learning Enable Students with Exceptionalities to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Universal Design for Learning? How Does Universal Design for Learning Enable Students with Exceptionalities to Progress in the General Curriculum? • Universal design seeks to make learning accessible. • It considers the needs of all students from the beginning of the education planning stage. • It designs curriculum, instruction, and evaluation with enough flexibility that each student benefits. • Universal design occurs at many levels: • State level • District or building level • Classroom level Reflect on how the use of a universally designed learning experience can support students with exceptionalities and contribute to the overall quality of curriculum and instruction.

10. How Does Universal Design for Learning Enable Students with Exceptionalities to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Universal Design for Learning? • Universal design of the curriculum • Begins by differentiating between: • Content presented to the students • Level of performance at which each student is expected to perform • Adding flexibility to the curriculum • Augmentation • Alteration • Universal design of instruction • How to teach the curriculum so that it is consistent with each student’s most effective way of learning • Adding flexibility to instruction • Augmentation • Adaptation Reflect on how the use of a universally designed learning experience can support students with exceptionalities and contribute to the overall quality of curriculum and instruction.

11. How Does Universal Design for Learning Enable Students with Exceptionalities to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Universal Design for Learning? • Universal design of evaluation • Flexibility in determining how well the student has been taught and how well the student learned. • Adaptation • The three components of universal design – curriculum, instruction, and evaluation – are linked together. • Effective teaching and learning involves making decisions about how content (curriculum) will be delivered (instruction) and how students, teachers, and schools will be held accountable to the content and performance standards (evaluation). Reflect on how the use of a universally designed learning experience can support students with exceptionalities and contribute to the overall quality of curriculum and instruction.

12. How Does Universal Design for Learning Enable Students with Exceptionalities to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Universal Design for Learning? Figure 2-5 Reflect on how the use of a universally designed learning experience can support students with exceptionalities and contribute to the overall quality of curriculum and instruction.

13. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? Inclusion and the General Curriculum How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? • Inclusion is a second way to enable students to progress in the general curriculum. • What are placement trends for students with exceptionalities? • What is inclusion? • What are educator, parent, and student perspectives on inclusion? • What are student outcomes associated with inclusion? • How does inclusion enable students to progress in the general curriculum? Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

14. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Are Placement Trends for Students with Exceptionalities? • U.S. Department of Education reports on placements of students with disabilities every year. • There has been an increasing trend of including students with disabilities in the general education classroom since the 1984-85 school year. • Students with milder disabilities are more likely to be included; elementary students are more likely to be included than high school students. • Possible placements, from least restrictive to most: • General education classroom with supports • Resource classroom • Special classroom • Special public school • Special private school • Public residential school • Private residential school Differentiate between various placement options for students with disabilities.

15. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Are Placement Trends for Students with Exceptionalities? Figure 2-8 Differentiate between various placement options for students with disabilities.

16. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Issues Are Related to Different Placements? • Residential/Home/Hospital settings • Schools that provide both education and 24-hour services where students live • Students with sensory impairments are most likely to be educated in residential settings; students with physical disabilities, emotional disorders, and traumatic brain injury are most likely to be educated in hospital or home settings. • Special schools • Typically congregate students with a certain type of disability and offer services related to the characteristics of that disability • Students with emotional disorders, deaf-blindness, and autism are most likely to be educated in special schools. • Specialized settings within typical schools • Resource rooms or special classes staffed with special education teachers • Students with learning disabilities and other health impairments are most likely to be in resource rooms; students with mental retardation, autism, multiple disabilities, and emotional disorders are most likely to be in special classes. Differentiate between various placement options for students with disabilities.

17. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Inclusion and Its Key Characteristics? • Home-school placement • Students attend the same school they would attend if they did not have a disability, sometimes called a neighborhood school • Principle of natural proportions • Students with exceptionalities are placed in schools and in classes in natural proportions to the occurrence of exceptionalities • Restructuring teaching and learning • Collaboration among general and special education educators, related service providers, families, and students to ensure that curriculum, instruction, and evaluation are universally designed Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

18. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Is Inclusion and Its Key Characteristics? • Age- and grade-appropriate placements • Students are placed with the same age and grade students with which they would be placed if they did not have a disability. • The principles of inclusion are controversial. Two major issues: • Eliminating the continuum of services • Increasing the amount of time students spend in general education classrooms Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

19. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Are Perspectives on Inclusion? • Educators’ perspectives • Some educators want to abandon the continuum of placements, some are opposed to dismantling it, while still others adopt a middle-ground position. • Class size can be an obstacle to inclusion. • Special education resources are not sufficiently infused into general education. • General educators believe they do not have the skills to teach students with disabilities and there are not enough opportunities to collaborate with special educators. • Parents’ perspectives • Tend to be more positive than educators. • Feel general education classrooms are better settings in which students develop self-confidence and social skills. • Believe they must remain vigilant advocates for their children to be educated in the general classroom. Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

20. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Are Perspectives on Inclusion? • Students’ perspectives • Students with learning disabilities tend to vary in their perspectives. • They believe special settings can be a useful place to gain additional help and work quietly, yet inclusive settings are better for providing opportunities to develop friendships and social skills. • They like when special educators provide services to all students in general education classrooms, rather than only students with disabilities; secondary students can feel stigmatized going to resource rooms, despite having a positive perspective on the help they receive there. • They are unsure as to why they are receiving special education services. Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

21. How Does Inclusion Enable Students to Progress in the General Curriculum? What Student Outcomes Are Associated with Inclusion? • Placement in a special education classroom can result in lower achievement for students with lower cognitive ability. • Students with disabilities tend to demonstrate high levels of interaction with typical peers when in inclusive settings. • Including students with disabilities in the general education classroom does not diminish the performance of typically developing students. • The costs of inclusive services may be lower over time than the costs of segregated forms of service provision. Recall the key characteristics of inclusion.

22. A Vision for the Future • Heather can live on her own as an adult and be economically self-sufficient. • She will have friends, the same opportunities as those friends to participate in community life, and have equal opportunities. • Star will also live and work in the community, but with more supports. • She may live in a group home with other adults. • She will also have friends in the community. • Continued access to the general curriculum will allow them to live out these goals.