Developing Leaders Notes Date: April 11, 2018 Session Title: SpEd High Leverage Practices and GELN Literacy Essentials Focus Area: SDI

MAASE Focus Areas:

We will align and organize the strategic priorities and work of MAASE to focus on the following elements:

High Quality Student Evaluations

Specially Designed  Instruction

Skilled Staff

Program Evaluation

Through the platforms of:

Association Partnerships

Legislative Action and Advocacy

Professional Learning

Membership Services

 

EdCamp is an open format where group members share thoughts to help one another in implementation of "real life" practice. These notes reflect the thinking of someone in the group but do not represent an official position on behalf of MAASE. Anyone using this as a resource is encouraged to use their best judgement in interpreting the suggestions.

 

MAASE EdCamp Format:

 

 

 

Notes:

GELN - General Education Leadership Network

What are we doing with high leverage practices or wonderings?

--5D+ practice is current focus, how are we utilizing literacy to “marry” those two together

--Asked to have the literacy essentials as an agenda item at all meetings

--Naomi Norman is on the GELN - created and put together the literacy essentials

--A lot of work has been put into general education teachers but not much focus has been placed on special education teacher

--How is this being put into place for our center based programs as well?

--Feeling like an island; lots of resources but there is not much direction on how to move forward with implementing

--Special Education High Leverage Practices book study

--Is there a crosswalk between 5D? How to we embed the 22 practices within the 5D?

--There was overlap between the 5D and the High Leverage Practices

--How do we not overwhelm staff with another set of things to do on top of the 5D focus?

--Action items out of admin team meetings; create the crosswalk that combines the two together to make it less overwhelming for staff

--How do we pick out the pieces that would be beneficial for staff to know verses administration area of focus?

--TC, ancillary staff - how are we informing them of the High Leverage Practices

--Is special education involved in the Reading Now? Seems to be more of a general education focus

 

How is 5D working for your district?

--How did the roll out go?

--Focus on one indicator at a time

--Huge chunk of time with observations and follow-ups

--Building coordination between the High Level Practices as a place to go to learn more about it s it relates to the indicators

--Building or district focus on indicators?

--Following up to make sure that our special education teachers are a part of the conversation and coaching that is taking place

--Connect the TC’s and the literacy coaches so there is more collaboration

--TC’s are being used as a more behavioral focus

--Literacy coaching within buildings & districts

--Grant money requirements have changed significantly so the focus needs to be looked at differently

 

How can MAASE as an association help support the High Level Practices within districts?

--Book studies are being done but at different levels within each county

--Connections to our four focus areas; highlight which ones would fit

--Focus area project to look at the four focus areas of MAASE, what does the research say? The white paper is finished

--Instruction feels lost in special education right now

--Behavior is such a focus that it is taking away from instruction

--Special education teachers are having a difficult time viewing themselves as educators

--Compliance focus has been the direction

--Compliance focus:

--How IEP goals are written; if we are missing on the instruction portion, we are going to have weak IEP goals (academic)

--How does this represent good instruction (John O’Connor book study)

--Clarity of the special education teacher’s role; just helping them pass the class vs. high quality instruction

--What does specially designed instruction look like for math at a secondary level?

--Progress monitoring?

--Specially designed instruction?

--Is there a clear role of how to provide specially designed instruction and how that needs to be done

--Tammy & Michelle are representatives of MAASE

--Can we have a cohort that can be created to do some work within this area

--Collaboration and work within this area is needed and members are willing to participate

--Shifting the mindset back to being the experts in their field

--It’s not just one more thing for special education teachers to do; it’s their role

--Skill deficit for special education teachers on how to delivery specially designed instruction

--General education teachers are providing specially designed instruction based on academics (push back from the MDE)

--Pilot the ability (IDEA Money) for general education teachers to provide specially designed instruction in the area of reading

--Able to count this towards IEP service time

--Paid for through special education funds

--Innovation Council approved

--Education, business, community workers -group that looks as innovative practices within education.

--They hear your ideas and offer the support

--How can they help direct you to funding and/or finding ways to do your innovated ideas

--Can be used in a way that think “outside of the box”

--Thinking creatively

--Leveraging actual dollars not just incidental ways to make things works

--Through MDE (MDE members who attended finance & Joann, Jeff)

Link to Innovation Council on the MDE : http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-81351_74275---,00.html

 

How are we using our reading specialists?

--Split funding special education teachers (highly qualified)

--Utilizing reading specialists to provide the PD to staff

--Coaching model for teachers

--Making sure that special education teachers are brought into the PD and/or coaching sessions so it is not just a general education focus

--General education teachers and special education teachers attending the same training instead of doing separate ones

--Having a disconnect between trainings and carry over into IEPs; we have great training but how are we using the training to benefit our special education students

--Early interventions (early childhood) high quality, early literacy practices for both general & special education teachers (attend professional development together)

 

Action Steps

--Sharing crosswalk as a reference on how they connect

--Tuesday PD used to dig deeper into this topic

--Creating a work group to have this as a focus area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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