Getting to eGLCEs: One Center Program’s Journey Wing Lake Developmental Center

1. Getting to eGLCEs: One Center Program’s Journey Wing Lake Developmental Center Bloomfield Hills, MI Thomai Gersh, Supervisor of Special Education

2. 1982-83 • Members of 6 Oakland County center programs began to work on the development of a common county curriculum. • Developmental sequences from the Washtenaw and Ingham County curricula (as well as the Carolina and Hawaii) were reviewed. What resulted from this county-wide effort became known as the Wing Lake SMI/SXI Outcome-Based Curriculum. • The curriculum was functional, based on the development of communication/socialization, productivity (fine motor), mobility (gross motor), recreation/leisure and personal (self- help). • Many revisions of the Wing Lake Curriculum were done over the years.

3. 1995-96 • Trainings for use of the Wing Lake Curriculum were done across Oakland County. • Over 80 copies of the curriculum were distributed and became widely used by SMI/SXI center programs.

4. 2002-03 • The AUEN framework was introduced as the basis for the development of a state-wide alternate assessment (MI-ACCESS). • The Wing Lake SMI/SXI Outcomes-based Curriculum was revised again, aligning it with the AUEN framework. Again, WL staff traveled throughout the state teaching the use of the Wing Lake SCI?SXI Outcomes-Based Curriculum. • Piloting and then formal use of MI-ACCESS began throughout the state.

5. 2005-06 A state-wide curriculum project was sponsored by SLIP of MAASE. The result of that on-going project was a melding of the Wing Lake Outcomes-based Curriculum, along with the best of many others, into a new format. This new “curriculum” was cross- referenced with AUEN. This became known as the Michigan Model Curriculum—now named the Michigan Model Curriculum Supports-- (Participation and Supported Independence levels).

6. 2006-07 MI-ACCESS testing included Math and English/Language Arts items with no prior notification to center programs who had focused instruction on functional/daily-living skills.

7. 2007-08 Wing Lake staff was challenged to develop instructional activities aligned with eGLCEs. They were given copies of the Michigan Standards—Extended Grade Level Expectations for English/Language Arts, Mathematics and Science. Each month, WL teachers took turns presenting lessons (some old, some new) and any and all eGLCEs that were addressed in each lesson. Lesson plans were shared with all other staff. This process was presented to the Bloomfield Hills School Board and to all WL parents at our Open House.

10. 2008-09 Grade Level (Elementary, Middle School, High School) eGLCEs became the narrowed focus of instruction for WL classroom teachers. Working in three level teams, staff reviewed the eGLCEs for each content area. Teacher/therapist groups at each “grade” level did curricular mapping in order to identify yearly content/standard goals in each grade level. The curricular maps were to cover a 3-4 year cycle. The yearly plans prioritized the core skills to be mastered in each content area. Subjects of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies were plotted into each classroom schedule as a reminder of the shift of instruction to include eGLCEs as well as functional and therapeutic goals. Mid-year, Unique Learning Systems came to our attention as an option for planning instructional units.

35. 2009-10 Continuing with the Unique Learning Systems Thematic Units for the basis of instruction of English/Language Arts, Math and Science, level teams collaborated on development of unit books and activities. Functional skill development was still embedded into the day, along with the pre-academic content areas. Each teacher wrote one IEP goal that corresponds to an eGLCE for each student. (Although I thought that there would be no SCI/SXI students who “need” a reading, math or science goal, each teacher was able to find an appropriate, relevant eGLCE to include in the IEP.)

37. 2010-11 Use of the Standards-Based IEP

46. We’re almost there! Contacts: Wing Lake Developmental Center 6490 Wing Lake Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 248-341-7900 Thomai Gersh: tgersh@bloomfield.org