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Innovations in Rural Sites of Learning. Community partnerships, technology, and functional curriculum: A look at the combined impact on rural secondary students with special needs. What’s so unique?. Secondary special needs students with moderate to profound disabilities
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Innovations in Rural Sites of Learning Community partnerships, technology, and functional curriculum: A look at the combined impact on rural secondary students with special needs
What’s so unique? • Secondary special needs students with moderate to profound disabilities • The combination of differentiated curricula and a blended learning instructional approach • The development of community partnerships that provide customized opportunities for students to strengthen skills and abilities necessary for life outside of school
Blended Learning Approach • Face to face small group instruction • Interactive instruction using technology • Guided in-school simulations • Real-life experiences in the community
Context and Participants • Rural high school of 150 students with 14% identified as special needs • Five moderate to profound intellectually disabled students from 10th and 11th grades • Two community partners
Differentiated Functional Curricula • Social skills and manners • Personal care and attire • Numeracy (calendar, date formats and codes) • Literacy (following lists, maps, and instructions) • Lifeskills (food preparation, pouring and serving, table setting, dishwashing, coffee maker and kettle use, microwave use, recycling, elevator use)
Evaluating success • Performance rubrics • Community partner, parent, and teacher survey • Student video interviews • Student questionnaire
Future plans • Sustain current partnerships • Add new community partnerships • Expand functional differentiated lifeskills curricula with embedded technology
Thank you! For more information on SD51’s grant project and downloadable resources, please visit: http://www.ruralteachers.com Growing innovations link, scroll to School District 51, Community Partnership project