Audrey Stepp carves out time to work with student Dane Herrman in his general education class — ensuring he gets the support he needs.
education classrooms into a more collaborative approach that finds specialists, general education teachers and classified assistants working together in the same classroom. For example, Audrey Stepp, a seventh-grade instructional specialist at Agnes Stewart, works in one classroom with the general education teacher and two classified assistants. She and the teacher develop plans and curriculum for core subject areas that meet the needs of students, including those with IEPs. “It allows the general education teacher to use their area of expertise in curriculum,” Stepp said, “and lets the specialist, like me, work with the teacher on how to break down the concepts into a more taskoriented process so it’s more achievable for the students.” There are two such classrooms per grade level, which together cover language arts, social studies, math and science. The approach also lets the classroom split up into smaller groups for more individualized instruction and attention. Stepp said the model is used at Agnes Stewart to primarily help students with learning disabilities
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TODAY’S OEA | JUNE 2013
in reading, math and writing, though the school also serves students with more challenging disabilities. Additionally, each teacher also has three classes to provide extra reading instruction to students who need it most. Because the program is integrated into a general education classroom, some students who are low skilled but have not been identified with IEPs benefit from the additional attention, too. One of the driving factors behind the switch to the current model, Stepp said, was that students who were taken out of the general education setting and put into resource rooms weren’t making academic progress. The reason: they were being taught a special ed curriculum, not the general curriculum. “They were never taught the general education curriculum, but they had to take the same state tests and weren’t performing well,” Stepp said. Switching to the current program means the special education students (about 18 percent of the entire school population has an IEP of some sort) are being taught the general curriculum. Because
they have more focused instruction and because it’s delivered in a more digestible fashion, they are showing improvement. “The first year, we really saw amazing growth with the kids,” Stepp said, adding that about 90 percent of students have met their language arts growth goal since the switch. “They are learning things now that, five years ago, we would not have even been teaching them.” The improvement also stems in part from the fact that, where special ed teachers like Stepp used to be separated off into their own rooms, now they’re working directly with the general education teachers. “We were always so isolated before as special ed teachers. People didn’t know what I did,” Stepp said. “Now, working with the general education staff, we all know what’s happening in the classrooms.” They’re also all communicating better than ever. “My partner teachers know what they’re talking about and what the students need, so they can help me get the kids where they need to be,” Stepp said. “The communication level and understanding of everyone’s