AC&E - March-April 2020

ACCESSIBILITY, COMPLIANCE &

EQUITY

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COVID-19, EQUITY & LEARNING WITHOUT DISRUPTION Preparing for distance learning in the face of the coronavirus pandemic

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE How higher ed can anchor rural schools & communities Rethinking reading with assistive technology and support tools Michigan’s approach to building educational equity and opportunity Columns from CASE, AASA, NSPRA, NAGC, EdMarket, AASL, AESA & CoSN

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LANDMARK COLLEGE: An integrated approach for teaching students who learn differently

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CONTENTS LINGUISTIC MALPRACTICE OR LINGUISTIC EQUITY?

36

RETHINKING READING

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(TRANS)FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: MAKING FEEDBACK EQUITABLE

40

EQUITY IN CANADIAN EDUCATION

18

CIVICS EDUCATION & DEMOCRACY NEED A BOOSTER SHOT

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HOW COLLEGES CAN ANCHOR RURAL SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES

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CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISM

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MICHIGAN SCHOOLS MAKING HEADWAY ON EQUITY INITIATIVES

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TWO ROADS DIVERGING: ECONOMIC INCLUSION AND OPPORTUNITY

Beatriz Maldonado

Veronica Torres

Robert Kim

edWeb.net

Megan Shanley & Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles

MindShare Learning

Dreama Gentry

Cherie Vannatter

Robert McLaughlin & Susan D. Ballard

ASSOCIATION COLUMNS

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Advertising JANE RADENHAUSEN 407-898-2876

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April 2: World Autism Awareness Day ACE-ED.ORG

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LINGUISTIC MALPRACTICE OR LINGUISTIC EQUITY? EDUCATORS DECIDE

By Beatriz Maldonado What happens when school policies and practices unintentionally eradicate students’ language from their linguistic repertoires?

UNITED STATES PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE REQUIRED TO ABIDE BY THE BILINGUAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1968 In simplistic terms, the Bilingual Act asks school districts to address the needs of “limited English-speaking” children. While the Act asks districts to provide linguistic support and 4

academic instruction to children who speak a language other than English, the fact that it refers to them as “limited” carries a deficit mindset.

The deficit mindset allows districts to design and implement programs for children who speak languages other than English. In some instances, children will learn only English in the program. In other settings, they will learn English and academic subjects in their native language until a certain point of their educational careers (usually up to 3rd grade) and then they will transition to only English

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

instruction. There are a plethora of other types of programs all with the end result of learning English (e.g. developmental bilingual, transitional bilingual, English as a Second Language, English pull-out, or content English).

WHAT THE ACT DOESN‘T DESCRIBE: CHILDREN WILL LEARN ENGLISH AT THE EXPENSE OF LOSING THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE English will eventually replace their native language in schools. In some cases, children completely forget their native language and in others, their native language grows stagnant.

Even when children are enrolled in bilingual programs these programs don’t have a goal of helping children become truly bilingual.

On the contrary, they are designed to move children to English as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, this results in the eradication of children’s native language.

Children enrolled in these types of program often feel like their native language isn’t valued and is seen as deficit. Another consequence of these programs is that children are encouraged to assimilate to the mainstream culture as soon as possible with little regard for their own cultural assets.

What happens when we intentionally implement policies and practices that honor student’s linguistic abilities while supporting them to acquire another language?

AN EQUITY MOVEMENT IS TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE COUNTRY It has resulted in school districts rethinking how they educate emergent bilingual students.

Contrary to implementing subtractive programs, previously described, districts have elected to implement additive programs that “add” a language to students’

already existing linguistic repertoires. Such programs are called: one-way or two-way dual language, developmental bilingual, heritage language, or foreign language immersion.

While the linguistic background of each of these students vary, the uniting factor in each type of program is that they are valuing and maintaining the students’ native language while also adding another language to their linguistic repertoire.

Districts across Illinois are debunking the myths that children learning two or more languages early on get confused. On the contrary, children in dual-language classrooms are engaging in complex contrastive analysis of the similarities and differences between the two languages as early as kindergarten.

For example, in a recent classroom visit, I witnessed children in a kindergarten classroom discussing the similarities and differences in the use of articles in Spanish and English nouns. They said, “en Español usamos la pero en ingles, usamos the enfrente de un sustantivo” (in Spanish we use la but in English, we use the in front of a noun). They went on to identify cognates (i.e. words sharing similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation in two languages) in the unit that they were learning about (for example, doctor/doctor, comparar/compare).

As children move up in grades, they begin to engage in more complex contrastive analysis of language. They start looking at syntax, grammar, and pragmatics.

Complex conversations such as these could not take place in monolingual only classrooms because one requires the use of both languages. Additionally, the cognitive

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demand that’s required in these conversations allows children to think critically and to analyze language by drawing on their own linguistic abilities.

Another benefit of implementing additive programming such as dual language, is that children are grouped with other children who come from varying language and cultural backgrounds. In the district that I work in, there are children who’s home language is English, Spanish, French, or Vietnamese. In the program, children are able to maintain their home language (because it’s spoken at home) and learn a second or in some cases a third language while at school.

CHILDREN SEE THEIR LANGUAGE ABILITIES AS ASSETS THAT THEY CAN DRAW UPON Their self-esteem is preserved because they don’t have to be embarrassed when speaking their home language.

Children in the program learn about each other’s backgrounds, cultures, and celebrations.

They learn to appreciate the differences that each one of them brings to the classroom and they begin to ask questions about these in an environment that values who they are as individuals and as a community of learners.

As I think of subtractive programs, programs that have been implemented across the country for many years, I think of educational malpractice. What if we knew that these programs didn’t work? Fortunately, we know that they don’t work. One needs only to look at the research of Thomas and Collier (2009, 2012, 2013) to see the long term effects of each type of program.

Continuing to implement such programs results in professional negligence – a practice that needs to stop if we believe that children from diverse linguistic backgrounds deserve adequate schooling.

DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMS, ON THE OTHER HAND, STRIVE FOR LINGUISTIC EQUITY These programs try to equalize the playing field for children who speak a language other than English by removing barriers that impede their academic progress. By having educators implement these programs, they are removing the negative effects of subtractive schooling and begin to see children’s linguistic abilities as assets. It’s up to teachers, school administrators, and district administrators to develop policies that support additive programming while eradicating policies that engage in educational malpractice.

Beatriz Maldonado is the Director of Language Acquisition in Berwyn South School District. She has worked as a bilingual teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Parent Engagement Director. Recently she served as a Board Member of the Illinois Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (IALAS).

She also currently works as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education at Dominican University.

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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

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Keynote speakers Networking opportunities General and breakout sessions

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TRAINING & RETAINING OUR SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS & INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PERSONNEL

VIEWPOINT FROM C.A.S.E. (Council of Administrators of Special Education)

By Luann Purcell

Dr. Luann Purcell served as Executive Director of C.A.S.E. from 2002 until she retired in February, 2020. Previously, she was an assistant superintendent in a school system with 27,000 students for 18 years. She also worked in a regional education service agency and taught at both the high school and middle school levels. She has been involved in public education for 47 years.

Everyone seems to want the opinions of various folks in the field on what the top trends will be in 2020. I am sure you have seen several articles about these opinions. Of course, funding is typically in the top five. But in my opinion, one of the biggest issues is the teacher and specialized instructional support personnel shortages. It certainly can be related to the funding issue, not just in the pay scale but also in the areas of resources, technology, and paperwork.

Recruitment, preparation, and retention are areas many groups are looking at carefully to see if they can find solutions.

But the reasons behind the shortages are complex and an easy solution is not likely to manifest itself, even with intentional considerations but varied groups. The Phi Delta Kappa 2019 poll (https://pdkpoll.org/) which this year included a sampling of teachers as well as the general population, reported: Frustrated by poor pay and underfunded schools, half of public school teachers nationally have seriously considered leaving the profession in the past few years — and majorities in the 2019 PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools say that given the opportunity, they’d vote to strike.

The report goes on to show most of the public would support the teachers in their efforts. It also found that for the 18th year in a row, the public selected lack of financial support as the biggest issue facing their local schools.

Through communication with our members, we have found many are frustrated with the efforts, both time and money, put into recruiting staff only to realize the retention of these staff members is a losing battle. We also know without qualified staff, our students will not receive the quality of education they need in order to be successful.

Whose problem is this? It is everyone’s problem and the solution, if it is to be sustainable must be obtained through a

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process of including everyone in developing it! What we have all learned over the years is cross stakeholder involvement in problem solving large issues is successful but a difficult process. A wonderful resource for bringing diverse groups together to tackle common issues such as the shortages of teachers and specialized instructional support personnel, is Leading by Convening . I was fortunate to be a part of the writing team, but really it was the culmination of the efforts of members of over 50 organizations and their work through the IDEA Partnership grant under the leadership of Dr. Joanne Cashman. The principles were embraced by the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) who have developed online modules and taken the resources to the next level.

The three main sections are Coalescing around Issues, Ensuring Relevant Participation, and Doing the Work Together. All three are worthy endeavors but the “how to” can cause the whole process to come to a halt. The original document and the tools as well as the new module developed by cross stakeholder teams led by NCSI, provide the “how to!” All of this work was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education.

To perhaps whet your appetite for Leading by Convening, let me just give you a glimpse of one of the sections: Coalescing Around Issues. In this section there is a narrative and research that leads to the tools to assist you in this first step-bringing people together who share a problem. The four tools are: How People Are, Four Simple Questions, Seeds of Trust, and Meet the Stakeholders.

Teacher and Specialized Instructional Support Personnel shortages impact more than just the school system. These shortages impact the students, the parents, the community at large and specific industries as well as at the school building level, the district and even the state level. If all of us are impacted and see the problem, then it makes sense for us to all come together to find solutions—both short and long term.

By convening a diverse group, their shared experience, circle of influence, and resources can be used to discover more options for ameliorating the problems.

Leading by Convening can make this process run much more smoothly. I hope you will explore the modules and the book so we can all tackle this critical issue and give our students access to a quality education!

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Where Equity is a Priority Whether you’re looking for new ways to empower each and every young child or advocate for policies that advance #EquityinECE, NAEYC is THE organization for you!

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(TRANS)FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

MAKING FEEDBACK EQUITABLE

By Veronica Torres Education is a common and important thread that binds us all. For some, the student experience provides exactly what is needed developmentally and shapes who the individual becomes as a functioning adult in society. For others, the years spent in school stifle and ultimately fail to prepare the student for real world experiences. In fact, many exit high school uninspired, unmotivated, and unchallenged. They have missed the opportunity to fine tune and polish their work, or even worse, accept feedback necessary to make revisions to the work they produce, all of which are foundational skills critical for success at the college level and beyond.

BUT WHY IS THAT AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO CHANGE IT? Many of these challenges that manifest in classrooms today result from the well-intended No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Following implementation of NCLB, the focus en masse could no longer be on project-based learning, research, or application of skills or 10

knowledge. It became the nearly impossible task of getting students to mastery of convoluted curriculum benchmarks or standards as measured by some form of “standardized” assessment.

Standardized assessment became a threatening but national marker for a student’s academic success versus failure. As a result, the classroom has become, for many, a source of tension and anxiety. Nowadays students are subjected to the completion of assessment after replicated assessment with every bit of energy, focus, and commitment they have in them. Teachers rarely have the time or opportunity to stop and fill in gaps as they know they should because the next assessment looms. Those who see this practice in action are likely haunted by an overwhelming feeling that this approach simply isn’t working.

This “drill and kill” methodology, while seemingly student-centric as it provides much needed standardized assessment practice, is absolutely not that and is in fact a disservice in the long run.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

If you were riding on a train that you knew would eventually fall off of a cliff, would you not jump off of it? Would you also not expect the other riders to follow suit? We already know that education is in a state of crisis.

OUR CURRENT APPROACH IS NOT EFFECTIVE, AND EVERY DAY SERVES AS A DETRIMENT TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. It is critical to jump off of our misguided education train and enact changes that not only undo the ramifications from 2002 but push us forward, innovating our educational practices at the same time.

To do so would require policymakers and educators to acknowledge this, collaborate, and commit to making adjustments with teachers and students at the forefront of their decision-making process. The modern-day classroom experience must be reignited to incorporate personalized elements while maintaining a focus on standardized achievement data that is valuable when used appropriately. It is likely not going away any time soon.

The goal would be to go back to the drawing board and initiate a total educational revolution, much like what Henry Ford did for the auto industry when he developed his innovative assembly line.

We must move from what is, to what could potentially be within the realm of teaching and learning, the importance of which cannot be overestimated.

The good news is the strategies and tools to get there are already available whenever we decide we are ready for this meaningful endeavor. Teachers must be equipped with strategies for formative assessment and tools to implement it in a way that is manageable and realistic. Doing so would maximize student accountability, engagement and

knowledge acquisition and once again allow the teacher to feel successful and effective in his or her role.

SIMPLY PUT, FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT RELIES ON SNAPSHOT DATA BEING GENERATED OR PRODUCED FOLLOWING A SHORT SNIPPET FROM WITHIN A LONGER LESSON. The teacher instructs with an understanding that the attention span is limited, assesses, analyzes, and adjusts in the moment. Then the teacher repeats that cycle over and over throughout the lesson. By doing so, the train is constantly being steered back in the right direction as soon as it begins to veer off course. The students are not left behind, but included as the focus of the instruction, and hence are given the opportunity for success.

Perhaps the easiest way to understand this phenomenon is to think about the work done by athletics coaches or teachers of the arts.

When athletes play sports the coach is able to observe how they play and provide immediate feedback. The player will likely try the play again or even complete practice drills to fine tune his or her performance.

The art teacher observes the developing artist in action as they complete or perform a piece.

The art teacher might notice that part of a still life drawing has been sketched incorrectly and asks for it to be erased and redone.

A dance teacher notices a dancer repetitively practicing a step incorrectly and provides the necessary feedback for the dancer to fix it.

BUT HOW CAN TEACHERS APPLY STRATEGIES LIKE THESE IN THE CLASSROOM SETTING? Arguably a majority of classroom-based activities are difficult to observe, especially when one considers there are on average 20 students all working simultaneously on

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potentially multi-step problems. To circumvent this limitation, teachers often incorporate activities that make the learning visible. Students are provided with large white boards to display the work they are completing and the teacher can see what’s being done from a distance. Or the teacher might truncate chunks of a lesson and assess students using quick and easy to answer questions at its conclusion.

There are a variety of ways this can be done, but the challenge becomes having the ability to reference back to this information over the long term to analyze performance over time.

When it comes time for the teacher’s next data meeting with their school leaders, what do they have to show for these innovative practices they are implementing on a daily basis?

Not much.

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But for many educators out in the field, these typical daily conundrums have already become a thing of the past. These select teachers have been equipped with tools to formalize their practice for formative assessment. The immense pressure teachers and students feel in preparing for the big standardized test at the end of the year has been alleviated.

Students are provided with clickers, not unlike video game controllers, during their lessons which they use to respond to questions posed by the teacher on the fly that the teacher deems important to gauge the students’ learning at that moment. Data appears on the teacher’s computer screen or classroom display. Teachers and students can immediately see what the class average was in response to the posed question. If they did well as a whole, the class moves on. If they struggled, the question is reviewed and

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

corrected. If a few struggled, the majority might move on to another question or activity while the teacher pulls those few to the back of the room to immediately intervene.

Data collected from the use of these clickers is imported into an electronic grade book with a few clicks saving teachers hours upon hours as they are no longer confronted with grading individual assignments and having to go back and then enter those grades into their gradebook. When it comes time for the big data meeting, a running record of data from previous days and weeks of instruction is stored in a cloud-based system and can immediately be pulled for analysis. Teams of teachers can reference this information together and make decisions about how to use it to best assist their students in coming weeks.

While there are a number of options to use technology tools for formative assessment, the products providing the functions outlined above come from a Texas-based company called ALL In Learning.

Following a district-wide adoption of the ALL In products,

Dallas Intermediate School District reported record gains over a five year period, reducing their list of schools on the “Improvement Required” list of D and F schools from 43 in 2013 to 3 in 2018. Dallas became the fastest improving district in the state, with Dallas ISD being the only district to put up double-digit numbers in reference to their academic gains.

Imagine results like these on a grand scalewith ongoing use of formative assessment strategies and the clicker as the vehicle that makes them “go.” The lesson becomes fluid, adapting to the needs of the students as they learn material in the classroom. The teacher, likely more at ease than those who lack these important tools, feels confident that they are investing in the success of their students over time. With this, could the rigors of the teaching profession ultimately be tempered?

Could we not immediately impact the student experience and engage learners at a level we have never experienced before in this country?

We absolutely could. need to.

And we absolutely

Prestige Mentors Owner and CEO Veronica Torres began working in education in 2004. She has worked alongside the best in the world acquiring experience in a variety of areas. She has instructed in a variety of settings from private tutoring to teaching multiple grade levels and subjects in public schools and in the charter sector. She has led grant-funded education programs, conducted research in education for the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan. As a former Content Developer with Marzano Center of West Palm Beach and Curriculum Specialist and Assistant Principal with Charter Schools USA, she has produced and deliv-ered professional development at a number of conferences and in training and webinar formats for a national and worldwide audience. Veronica is a published author providing insight into how best to apply strategy to maximize learning. Contact Veronica for ALL In information: www.prestigementors.com.

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VIEWPOINT FROM AASL (American Association of School Librarians)

EMPOWERING READERS THROUGH DIVERSE COLLECTIONS

By Mary Keeling

Mary Keeling is the district supervisor of school libraries for Newport News (VA) Public Schools, where she has developed and led implementation of a district-wide inquiry process model. She is the 2019-2020 president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and a 2015- 2016 Lilead Fellow. Mary also chaired the 2015- 2018 AASL Standards and Guidelines Implementation Task Force, and has written for many school library related publications.

We make sense of our lives and our world through stories and information. Children need the opportunity to form a sense of self by reading, evaluating, and discussing a wide variety of books.

Yet this opportunity is still a luxury for many children.

School librarians shape the perspectives of young people by curating rich collections that mirror lived experiences, provide windows into other worlds, and invite learners to step through sliding glass doors, as described by professor Rudine Sims Bishop (1990).

Activists have been calling for more diversity in children’s literature since the 1940s. In 1941, Charlemae Rollins, an African-American children’s librarian in Chicago, instructed librarians to evaluate books about African Americans for the quality of their illustrations, language, and theme.

Illustrations and language should be respectful, realistic, and free of caricatures and degrading stereotypes. Themes should embody a wide range of substantive experiences and promote independence and personal agency (Mabbott 2017).

Since 2014, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #OwnVoices movements continue to point out the need for publishers to print the narratives of

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diverse characters and to prioritize the voices of those who are members of underrepresented groups. Chicano author and professor David Bowles points out that “there’s an extra degree of nuance and authority that comes with writing from lived experience” (2019).

School librarians are fully committed to developing a “rich reading environment and culture” for learners (AASL 2019). With appropriate funding, they acquire books to represent multiple perspectives, ethnicities, life situations, and points of view. School librarians elevate the reading experience by immersing learners in opportunities to read and engaging them in evaluating texts for authenticity, perspective, and purpose.

For example, as children examine pairs of books (one that incorporates Rollins’s criteria ando n e that does not), they evaluate whether illustrations and language are respectful and if the lives depicted are authentic. Their critical assessment helps develop their reading identity and elevates their insight and understanding.

WORKS CITED: AASL. 2019. “The School Librarian’s Role in Reading.”

Bishop, Rudine Sims. 1990. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” Perspectives: Choosing and Using books for the Classroom Bowles, David. 2019. “Making Mirrors.”

Mabbott, Cass. 2017. “The We Need Diverse Books Campaign and Critical Race Theory: Charlemae Rollins and the Call for Diverse Children’s Books.”

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

MORE FROM AASL ON THE AC&E WEBSITE: COLUMN School Libraries for ALL Students PODCAST Your School Library: Leaders in Equity, Inclusion and Diversity PRESS RELEASE MERGE Object Viewer Wins Best App for Teaching & Learning 2019

CIVICS EDUCATION, AND OUR AILING DEMOCRACY, NEED A BOOSTER SHOT

By Robert Kim These days, a health crisis is at the forefront of many people’s minds. The coronavirus outbreak has made international news and generated widespread concern. Quarantines are up, and the quest for a vaccine is on.

state capitols, and the halls of Congress teem with constituents. But, if you pan out, there’s increasingly a sense that nothing we do or say will spur our fellow citizens, much less our elected officials, to think or act differently.

Yet, scary as the COVID-19 virus is, I’m more preoccupied with a different kind of ailment: the health of our democracy.

I suspect that the problem is not apathy; that is, we aren’t somehow inherently less engaged than before. Rather, we live in an online era in which people can access information and engage with each other in a way that feels public, but is essentially still private, in nature. Activism today consists of millions of closed-loop conversations. We’re connected to some, yet disconnected from our larger society and systems of government. Paradoxically, the Internet’s democratizing of information may have damaged democracy itself (at least in the short term). We need to figure out—and fast—how to cultivate public civic engagement for the 21st century.

CAN YOU SPOT THE SYMPTOMS? It’s 2020. Our nation and its denizens face major problems at home and abroad. With impeachment in our rear-view mirror, we’re now barreling toward what promises to be yet another divisive presidential election. Our confidence in the ability of the federal government (to say nothing of our state and local leaders) to function properly is incredibly low. According to the Pew Research Center, only 17 percent of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right.

Moreover, our ability to hold government accountable appears to be crumbling. As citizens, we lack basic knowledge of our democratic institutions; a 2019 survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center reveals that only two in five American adults can correctly name the three branches of government.

A renewed focus on civics education in K-12 schools would help. Just as with any subject in the curriculum, students need to learn how

Equally troubling as our lack of basic civic knowledge is our lack of appetite for civic engagement. It’s true that some of us are active; on any given day, our town meetings, 18

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

to participate in their democracy in today’s times. In short, the teaching of civics — and our democracy — need a booster shot.

There’s hope that this may yet happen; according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in the 2018 legislative session alone, at least 31 states proposed bills or resolutions related to civics education, and 22 states enacted them.

I’ve been asking myself: how can I contribute to civics education? Some personal history here. I’m a civil rights lawyer and policy wonk by training, not a K-12 teacher or curriculum specialist. I worked for the federal government, in the education department, until the end of 2016. (You can probably guess why I left.) In fact, I didn’t learn civics in grade school or college; it wasn’t until law school that I properly understood how government even works in the U.S. And so my approach to civics education is shaped by the surfeits and deficits of my own background.

That said, here are my personal operating instructions: first, show how legal education is fundamental to civics education, and second, help K-12 educators incorporate law into civics education.

Achieving step one above is easy for social studies or government teachers, who keenly understand how are society is built on laws.

Zeroing in on public education alone, we can see how everything from school governance and funding to testing and accountability to equal opportunity and civil rights protections comes from a matrix of legal decisions — including statutes and regulations, executive orders, and court decisions.

Step two above is a bit trickier. After all, the law, with its jargon and traditions, isn’t the most accessible body of knowledge—even for law students or lawyers. Nor is legal

education a staple of most certification or masters programs.

teacher

For now, I’ve decided to focus on one aspect of law that lends itself well to K-12 education: court cases—specifically, opinions from the Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS) that deal with civil rights and civil liberties issues impacting students in public schools. I’ve compiled an explanation of key cases in a compact book, Elevating Equity and Justice: 10 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Every Teacher Should Know (Heinemann 2020), and included tips on how to teach them to K-12 students. These cases address sexual harassment (Davis v. Monroe County), immigrant students (Plyler v. Doe), racial integration (Parents Involved v. Seattle), students with disabilities (Endrew F. v.

Douglas County), school funding (San Antonio v. Rodriguez), English learners (Lau v.

Nichols), free speech (Tinker v. Des Moines), separation of church and state (Lee v.

Weisman), privacy (Safford v. Redding), and student discipline (Goss v. Lopez).

Why these cases in particular? For one thing, they are a terrific way to teach concepts of equity and social justice. These are among the cases have shaped virtually all of the rights and liberties conferred upon the American K-12 student. What better way for students—and teachers—to examine the principles of (for example) free speech, equal protection, or privacy than to explore the application of those principles to real-life disputes involving youth like themselves?

As pedagogical tools, SCOTUS cases have the benefit of being historical artifacts in their own right. Although we may vehemently disagree with the reasoning or outcome of some of them (I certainly do), they can be important guiding documents, arguably parallel to (if less vaunted than) other core government canons like the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And they often include

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discussion of constitutional principles, instantly lifting their words off a dusty page and into the real world.

Plus, history begets history: even relatively recent Supreme Court cases can be excellent springboards for discussion of important prior historical developments. One can hardly study the SCOTUS’ 2007 Parents Involved case, for example, without puzzling over its relationship to Brown v. Board of Education—and the long, tortured history of school racial desegregation between 1954 and 2007. Nor can one appreciate the SCOTUS’ blockbuster 1969 free speech ruling in the Tinker case without reflecting on a period of remarkable upheaval and civic

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engagement in the U.S. during the Civil Rights and Vietnam War eras.

What’s more, certain court cases tie in easily to present-day issues. Take Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 case in which the SCOTUS held that undocumented students have a right to attend public schools on an equal basis as children who are U.S. citizens. How does Plyler relate to the 2020 SCOTUS case involving undocumented students, Department of Homeland Security v.

University of California? (That decision is expected in June.) And how does the SCOTUS’ 1999 decision in the Davis case provide a roadmap for how victims of sexual assault should be treated in today’s #MeToo era?

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Importantly, teachers of every grade level can use court cases in the classroom. Recently, I watched Liz Kleinrock, an elementary teacher and instructional coach in Los Angeles, expertly introduce the story and concepts in the Tinker case to eight-year-olds. Even the youngest students can relate what happened to the child plaintiffs in school civil rights court cases, while older students can critically examine the legal standards and terminology used to decide the fate of students similar in age or background to themselves.

Certainly, bridging courts and the classroom is only a small piece of the puzzle. Civics education involves a much broader inquiry into how our society functions. And innovation in civics teaching is necessary in order to help students to harness their energies and current modes of communicating into civic action. But we could do far worse than to help students to explore the scope and limitations of their rights through court cases.

Through examination of legal texts, we can help students answer these critical questions: When and how can they speak out, and on what topics? What can the government do to control their behavior or pry into their lives?

What freedoms do they have from government intrusion? Is it okay to disagree with the government (including judges and court opinions)? How can they engage the political and legal systems to change laws or policies with which they disagree? What does the law have to say about treating others fairly and respectfully regardless of their background or beliefs?

Encouraging these inquiries in the classroom is within our power. By doing so, we are providing students with the skills they need to enter the public sphere, and to demand—and even lead—the change they want to see. Our democracy depends on this kind of teaching—which, if you think about it, is one of the most important actions of civic engagement a person can take in these troubled times.

Robert Kim is a leading expert in education law and policy in the United States. He is the author of Elevating Equity and Justice: 10 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Every Teacher Should Know (Heinemann) and co-author of Education and the Law, 5th ed. and Legal Issues in Education: Rights and Responsibilities in U.S. Public Schools Today (West Academic). From 2011 through 2016, he served as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. He was also a civil rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union and a policy analyst at the National Education Association.

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ADDRESSING EXCELLENCE GAPS: UNIVERSAL SCREENING

VIEWPOINT FROM NAGC (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED CHILDREN)

By Jonathan A. Plucker

Jonathan A. Plucker is the Julian C. Stanley Professor of Talent Development at the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also a Professor of Education. He currently serves as President of the National Association for Gifted Children board of directors. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Johns Hopkins, CTY, or NAGC. In my previous column, I presented an intervention model to close excellence gaps, achievement gaps between groups of students at high levels of performance. For example, far fewer low-income students perform at high levels of achievement compared to higher-income students. On the 2019 NAEP math test for Grade 4 students, 3% of students receiving lunch assistance scored advanced, compared to 14% not receiving lunch aid.

The intervention model contained seven interventions: Providing better access to opportunities for advanced learning, identifying talented students using universal screening with local norms, including some form of ability grouping, improving K-12 accountability systems, doing a better job with educator preparation and support, and providing psychosocial interventions (but probably only in college). Those six interventions depend on the foundation provided by a seventh intervention, frontloading - preparing students for advanced opportunities by raising the rigor and challenge level of early childhood and elementary experiences.

This column focuses on universal screening, which has recently been identified by researchers as a promising practice to identify a more diverse group of talented students than more traditional approaches. For example, the National Research Center on Gifted Education has found that universal screening alone would substantially increase the odds of a low-income student being identified as gifted.

This makes sense if you consider traditional approaches to talent identification. In most cases, schools accept parent or teacher nominations of students to be screened for academic talent. Athletic, musical, and artistic talent identification work similarly, but with more self-nominations. For example, the soccer coach at your local high school doesn’t have every single student try-out for soccer, nor does the chorus director have every student audition; in both cases, they would almost certainly identify highly talented students who otherwise

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would have flown under the radar, but we’re OK with that because those areas of talent are considered to be special additions to the regular curriculum.

But finding academic talent can no longer be a nomination-first situation.

Parent and teacher nominations favor children with parents who have time to understand the system and students who had high-quality pre-school experiences. Neither are universally available to all students, which is one reason why researchers suspect nomination-first approaches lead to few low-income, Black, or Hispanic students being identified for gifted education programs, therefore leading to excellence gaps.

Universal screening is very straightforward: Rather than wait for nominations, you look at data for every single student. It’s not more complicated than that. As districts around the country have implemented universal screening, we are seeing a wide range of approaches. And researchers certainly recommend several different ways to go about it. These strategies vary widely in complexity and cost, but the end goal is the same: Every single student is screened in some way for academic talent.

Some districts use existing data they have on each student, others administer one or more tests such as the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test or Cognitive Abilities Test. Many appear to administer an additional test then use individually-administered intelligence tests, teacher and parent rating scales, etc., to students identified by the universal screener. But again, I’ve worked with one program that just uses the prior year’s state achievement test data, which allowed them to identify a number of low-income students who otherwise would have been overlooked. How you do it probably doesn’t matter, as long as you ensure every student is being fairly considered.

Universal screening doesn’t close excellence gaps by itself, but it helps identify disadvantaged students who otherwise wouldn’t even be considered though traditional nomination processes. In next issue’s column, I will describe how pairing universal screening with local norms can be the best path forward for identifying academically talented students.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

MEET

THE 2020

FELLOWS! Sophia Alston South Carolina

Carol Ash New Mexico

Pam Carter Pennsylvania

William Castillo Hawaii

Emilie Cherry Maryland

Kimberly Dreaden Iowa

Shakari Fraser Louisiana

Kia Keyton South Carolina

Josh Labrie Virginia

"Al" Long Ohio

Susan Moreland Colorado

Brett Richardson Missouri

Rick Ross North Dakota

Adrian San Miguel Idaho

Jared Scharpen Minnesota

Jason Simon Kentucky

Alberto Urbina Texas

Kelly Washington Florida

Brittney Williams Louisiana

Laura VanWaardhuizen Iowa

The PLSP-ECMC Foundation fellowship is a year long professional development experience focused on the organizational leadership and management skills of postsecondary CTE leaders, with an emphasis on addressing the needs of underserved populations. For more information, please visit: www.acteonline.org/plsp-ecmcf

An edWebinar Report

STRATEGIES FOR CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS OF

STUDENTS WITH AUTISM

By Eileen Belastock, Certified Education Technology Leader

View the recording for this edWebinar at home.edweb.net/webinar/autism20181129 “Every individual should be able to access things that they like,” said Monica Fisher, M.Ed., BCBA/COBA, Director of the Behavior Department at Monarch Center for Autism during an edWebinar. “It is our right to engage in preferred activities, spend time with family, and connect with the community. If there are behaviors that you are seeing in your students with disabilities and challenging behaviors that are limiting these rights, then it is something we need to fix as it can have a long-term impact on their quality of life.” Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a technological and professional systematic approach, is designed to analyze and change behavior by identifying a behavioral problem, gathering relevant data, and formulating/testing a hypothesis. Fisher said that while ABA is a useful tool for looking at and changing the challenging behaviors of students with autism, it can apply to different parts of everyone’s lives. “ABA is how we have all learned and how our lives are shaped by behavior.”

Three-Term Contingency or ABC (Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence) goes hand in hand with Applied Behavioral Analysis. ABC is an essential, evidence-based method of examining and changing what people say and do. Fisher explained, “If you want to change behavior, you have to look at the antecedent (action, event or circumstance that occurs immediately before the behavior) and the consequences (action or response that immediately follows the behavior) applied.”

CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR Challenging behaviors in the form of hitting, kicking, biting, and head-banging are not unique to students with autism. However, students with autism can also display challenging behaviors through physical and verbal aggression, self-injury, elopement, property destruction, tantrums, and non-compliance. According to ABA literature, there are four main functions of challenging behavior: attention, escape, access to tangibles and automatic/sensory.

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WHY DO THESE BEHAVIORS PERSIST? Fisher expounded that it is essential to understand that all behaviors serve a function and they will persist if they are meeting a need for a student.

When a student receives attention after a problem behavior, it may increase the likelihood that the problem behavior will occur in the future under similar circumstances.

When an individual engages in challenging behavior, it could be to escape or postpone an aversive event such as classwork or to be given access to tangibles and other reinforcing objects such as more computer time. The challenging behavior of automatic/sensory such as rocking or hand slapping may reinforce on their own and does not depend on the actions or presence of others.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER There are essential skills relating to the functions of behavior that should be taught to children at a young age that could decrease the chances that challenging behaviors will develop. Challenging behaviors can have a long history of reinforcement, making them resistant to change, so Fisher advises that changes will take time and effort and data will play a significant role in analyzing the behavioral changes. A teacher or parent may feel that the reinforcers for changing the challenging behavior are not sufficient, but once the data is analyzed, it may show that there is a slight change in the action.

It is also critical that, when initially teaching a replacement behavior, the new skill needs to be low-effort and reinforced every time with a potent reinforcer.

Finally, problem behavior has worked in the past to get the individual what they want or need so it is essential for teachers and parents to remember not to personalize a student’s challenging behavior.

The original edWeb broadcast was sponsored by Monarch Center for Autism, STAR Autism Support and VizZle.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

UNDERSTANDING THE “E” WORDS: EDUCATIONAL EQUITY VS. EQUALITY

VIEWPOINT FROM NSPRA (National School Public Relations Association)

By Heidi Otero

Heidi Otero is Vice President of Diversity Engagement at the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA). She also serves as Director of Communications for the Arizona School Boards Association.

Equity and equality are often used interchangeably, but they’re actually distinct ideas. Equality means every student and school gets the same access and opportunity to reach set goals. Equity recognizes that some students and schools need additional supports to help them reach the same benchmarks of success.

Many times, we assume equal is equitable. Most mission statements tell us so when we say “all students” will succeed.

But when it comes to equity, equal means the same, but equity means fair. So therefore, equal is not always equitable.

When we talk about equity in education, we are talking about more than race and ethnicity, though that is part of it. We are talking about all the characteristics, circumstances and life experiences that may lead to discrepancies in students’ access or outcomes. What measures are we looking for?

What needs to happen to increase the likelihood of success?

How will we know we succeeded? What are the outcomes?

Inclusive practices ensure that the decision-making process and communication are responsive to the needs of all members of a community.

Diversity should be acknowledged, respected, valued and implemented.

Inclusive practices mean that communication and the decision-making process will not discriminate against individuals or treat them unfairly on the basis of these differences.

Understanding the different groups your district serves and in what proportion is foundational knowledge for equity-focused discussion and decision-making. Think about the goals you have set for your district’s students and how you’ll be measuring their success.

• Familiarize yourself with the diversity of the population and participants. Define what equity looks like in your own community.

For instance, characteristics, circumstances and experiences may refer to uniqueness in (National School Public Relations, 2018, Inclusive Practices: • Social and economic circumstances • Family structure • Culture and/or language • Gender • Abilities, e.g. physical, social, creative, intellectual • Values and beliefs • Appearance • Lifestyle

• Be sensitive to the needs of all community members. If the answer to, “Would this be offensive to someone?” is yes, consider going in a different direction or consult with members of that diverse community for input.

Think about the access and outcomes certain students may experience. For example, do certain students have access to getting to school? Do they have the same quality of buildings or teachers? Do they feel safe in their home or school environment? Also, think about what are the outcomes you want to see improved? Is it increasing academics, attendance, behavior, recognition, etc.?

• Avoid the use of phrases and greetings that exclude or can be perceived as a stereotype for certain individuals/groups, e.g. “You run like a girl” or “You run fast for a girl” are perceived as a negative impact of stereotypes first-hand.

In order to build more equitable education systems, districts and schools need to ensure they have these components in place in order to be successful.

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• Be aware of unconscious bias and avoid perpetuating stereotypes.

• Foster community – celebrate together when you can. Avoid holding exclusive events unless there is a reason to do so from a professional development perspective.

• Promote an equitable and inclusive program or activities that offer a balance of perspectives and that enable participants to see themselves reflected.

Equity is like a race, and it’s not always fair. We want students to have equal opportunity for success. We must recognize not all students are same. Sometimes more or different is needed to ensure each child will succeed. This is educational equity.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

EQUITY & ACCESS LEADERS,

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TWO ROADS DIVERGING: ECONOMIC INCLUSION

&

By Robert McLaughlin and Susan D. Ballard

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

As long ago as 1990, when Mark Tucker and the National Center on Education and the Economy published their landmark report, America’s C h o i c e : High Skills or Low Wages!, we were warned.

American policy makers needed to undertake a sustained initiative to foster a high-skill, high-wage economy. Without concerted, proactive efforts at the national, state and local levels, the authors made clear that ours would become a second- or third-rate economy, where most job opportunities would be of the low-skill, low-wage variety.

We should know by now that America has made a decision, by default, to accept prolonged movement toward a low-skill, low-wage economy in which income inequality has grown, wealth has become increasingly concentrated, the middle class is being steadily eviscerated, and the political polarization that comes from intensifying income inequality has become the new normal.

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If we are not chastened by our failure as a society to make better choices, we should be.

This is how empires die.

IN HIS POEM, HARLEM, LANGSTON HUGHES WROTE: What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore— And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over— Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Fortunately, we have a second chance to make much better choices, fueled now by a deeper, more visceral understanding of just what a low-skill, low-wage economy actually looks like. Buried deep in the bowels of federal policy is a statute – the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) – that since 1977 has required federally insured banks to make investments for economic opportunity and inclusion in the nation’s low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities they serve. If you are not a bank compliance executive or affordable housing advocate, you might never have heard of this policy, but if you care about economic vitality and the crucial role that educational and economic opportunity play in healthy communities, you would do well to become familiar with what CRA has done but, more importantly, what it can much more effectively do.

Precise figures are not available on how much banks spend each year on economic opportunity and inclusion in LMI communities. Estimates range from $100 billion to $200 billion each year. Banks currently receive credit toward meeting their CRA requirement by making loans, equity investments, and grants and by providing volunteer services in LMI areas, relating to affordable housing, financial literacy, financial inclusion (access to banking services such as loans, credit and checking accounts), and economic inclusion.

Because of our policy advocacy and pilot efforts at the National Collaborative for Digital Equity, the Federal Reserve (one of three federal agencies that monitor banks’ CRA compliance) issued a report in 2016 adding digital equity as a fifth broad purpose eligible for CRA credit. Our premise has been simple: in an increasingly digital economy and society, it has become nearly impossible to learn about, apply, prepare and qualify for living wage jobs without digital access and skill. Therefore, we contended, it made no

sense for federal CRA policy to support $100 billion in economic inclusion investments each year without allowing banks to earn any CRA credit for removing increasingly crucial digital divide obstacles to economic opportunity.

We’re now busy mobilizing banking leaders and their partners in educational systems, workforce development and philanthropy, to make digital equity investments that are systemic. By “systemic digital equity” we mean that CRA and other investments in tackling the digital divide, if they’re to merit sustaining and scaling, should address affordable access for LMI learners of all ages not only to broadband and computers but also to tech support, quality digital learning resources for economic and educational opportunity, apps/software for learning and productivity and, not least, librarian support for digital literacy and cybersafety skill development and to anticipate and minimize the risks of device addiction.

But, simply adding digital equity-related purposes into the array of CRA creditworthy purposes will likely achieve very little to move us toward the high-skill, high-wage economy we need for economic opportunity and vitality and healthy communities. We know from over $3 trillion invested in economic opportunity in LMI communities under CRA over the past four decades that these well-meaning investments have not appreciably lessened income inequality, the numbers and percentages of children growing up in poverty, and related indices of economic well-being. We know that it is increasingly difficult to fill living wage jobs, because our educational systems appear not to be equipping youths and adults with the skills they need to fill these jobs.

While banks have been investing vast sums under CRA for economic opportunity in LMI communities, taxpayers, state and federal

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policy makers and foundations have similarly made enormous investments for educational opportunity in LMI school systems.

We believe that it is the siloing of such investments in, respectively, economic and educational opportunity that dooms them both to continued failure to move the needle.

Schools need the promise of imminent economic opportunity to persuade children living in unrelieved poverty that it is worth their while to persist, stay in school, and master the skills and dispositions needed to take advantage of pathways into living wage employment and self-employment. Equally, those who invest in and offer living wage jobs need school systems to reliably prepare their students to fill the living wage jobs that are necessary to move toward a high-skill, high-wage economy. CRA policy does not require that banks collaborate in sustained ways in LMI areas with educational system leaders and community leaders who provide voice and agency for those living in poverty.

Federal regulators examine how banks spend their CRA resources and assess whether they have complied, but compliance is no longer enough. We must move beyond compliance to designing sustained local collaborations for impact on economic inclusion and educational opportunity.

Equally, education foundations, school system leaders, and postsecondary leaders need to move beyond providing educational services “despite” poverty to designing educational efforts that dovetail with economic inclusion investments intended to build pathways out of poverty. This is the work the National Collaborative for Digital Equity has undertaken. In collaboration with a growing array of partners, NCDE has launched state summits that mobilize diverse state and LMI community leaders in education, banking, workforce development and philanthropy to work together, using collective impact approaches that address 32

both economic and educational opportunity in the same LMI community.

CRA funding can provide crucial catalytic fuel for locally appropriate efforts to move toward a high-skills, high-wage economy, through highly intentional partnerships that build educational pathways for children, youths and adults out of poverty and into living wage employment. We invite you to join us. There is much to be done.

Bob McLaughlin conceived the effort to persuade federal policy makers to give banks credit toward meeting CRA requirements in LMI communities, by providing grant and in-kind support for digital equity. He co-founded and is the Executive Director of NCDE. He has experience in teacher preparation – including chairing the Association of Teacher Educators' National Commission for Technology and the Future of Teacher Education (and) as administrator of NH’s educator preparation program approval. He has also been active in STEM education reform, policy analysis and innovation, and designing and leading large-scale technical assistance initiatives at the federal level.

Susan Ballard is Vice-President of NCDE. A Past-President of the American Association of School Librarians and a Director of Library, Media and Technology in NH, she guided her district to National Program of the Year Award recognition. She has served as an adjunct professor and lecturer in a variety of school librarian preparation programs and has recently been involved in development of AASL’s National School Library Standards for Learners, Librarians and School Libraries (2018) as well as Standards for the Preparation of School Librarians (2019).

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

VIEWPOINT FROM AESA

THE COLLECTIVE IMPACT OF AN EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCY

(Association of Educational Service Agencies)

By Joan Wade

Joan Wade, Ed.D. Executive Director for the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA), is a life-long educator with more than 30 years of service in public education. In addition to teaching, she has worked as a library media specialist, Technology Coordinator, and Distance Learning Director.

Educational Service Agencies (ESAs) go by many different names, but what they do is relatively simple. They provide outstanding educational services for the communities and school districts in their region. ESAs are regionally based throughout the United States, providing a diverse portfolio of services.

ESAs have different names in different states. For example, in some states such as New York and Colorado, there are Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES); Iowa has Area Education Agencies (AEAs); Pennsylvania, you will find Intermediate Units (IUs); and Wisconsin has Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs).

All in all, there are about twenty different names for these regional organizations. When we talk about the work of these organizations at a national level, we refer to them as Educational Service Agencies (ESAs). You can find a list of states on the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) website to see if your state is one of the 45 states that have ESAs. The services that ESAs provide are customized to meet the various needs of school districts in their region. ESAs dedicate themselves to providing school districts with professional development for teachers, support staff, principals, superintendents and boards of education; they offer technology support and planning; administrative services to improve student learning, enhance the quality of instruction, expand equitable access to resources and maximize operating and financial efficiencies. You will often find them providing special education leadership and support, grant writing services, communication, and public relations support, Career and Technology Education (CTE) support, and program evaluation services to the school districts they serve.

In most states, the ESAs receive little to no state

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funding. They are entrepreneurial in offering cost-effective instructional and operational services that have an impact on the school districts and communities they serve. Often the support they offer goes well beyond the walls of the local school district.

ESAs sometimes find themselves in the role of being the conveners of local stakeholders to bring a collective impact on a common agenda. An example of the type of impact an ESA has is at Region 12 in Waco, Texas. Over the past five years, Region 12 worked diligently with a variety of local stakeholders to develop an organization that is now known as Prosper Waco.

They helped develop more than 30 cross-sector collaborations. Each project focuses on measurably improving education, health, and financial security. This work culminated in a first-of-its-kind in-district charter partnership, providing additional resources for students while maintaining local control over the community’s public schools. Prosper Waco’s big concept is that the entire community shares responsibility for educating every citizen.

In the state of Michigan, Genesee Intermediate School District (Michigan’s name for an ESA), located in Flint, managed a countywide emergency during the Flint Water Crisis. Over 20,000 children, birth to grade 12, have been potentially impacted by the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis. Through schools of choice, nearly 16,500 of these children are spread across Genesee County, attending a school outside of Flint Community Schools. As a result, the Genesee ISD played an integral role in coordinating the response efforts, from meeting immediate needs such as water distribution, to leading the large-scale implementation of expanded early childhood services. Their experience highlights the importance of an ESAs capacity, and the strong collaborative partnerships among all agencies from the county to the national level. The ESAs understand the value of developing strong county and regional partnerships before an emergency occurs, as well as how to coordinate and leverage federal, state, county, and local resource agencies when a crisis occurs.

ESAs provide high-quality services directly to the school districts in their regions, but these examples demonstrate that they often have a collective impact in their region and their state. ESAs are nimble organizations that exist to serve the communities and the school districts to make education the very best it can be!

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

How to Conduct an Effective EdTech Audit

Odds are your district is spending a good deal of its critical funding on EdTech.

In fact, it’s estimated that U.S. school districts now spend over 13 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR on educational technology.

Conducting an internal EdTech audit enables administrative leaders to attain a bird’s-eye view of their district’s technology usage and identify successes, challenges, vulnerabilities, and cost savings opportunities.

Download the EdTech Audit Checklist now and ensure your EdTech’s ROI is meeting your expectations.

Download the EdTech Audit Checklist

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RETHINKING READING Assistive technology, accessible ebooks, and reading support tools help students with reading challenges interact with text in a meaningful way.

By Megan Shanley and Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles There is more than one way to read. Printed text does not work for all readers. Many people have physical, learning, and visual challenges that impact their ability to access printed text. Providing content in multiple formats honors the unique needs of students with reading challenges and disabilities and allows them to have meaningful access to learning materials.

Innovative new technology tools can make reading easier for all learners.

Audio content can be human narrated or it can use text-to-speech capability, which provides computer-generated voices that read along while words are highlighted. Both formats provide benefits that assist students with decoding and boost comprehension, and they provide customization options such as changing the voices and narration speed and adjusting text size and contrast.

Some tools embed study aids such as highlighting, annotation, dictionary, and grammatical assistance which further support readers who struggle with comprehension and organization of ideas. No matter which barriers impede “traditional” reading, a variety of tools and supports allow individuals to interact with text in a meaningful way.

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SOURCES OF E-BOOKS:

• Bookshare • Epic! Books for Kids • Tar Heel Reader • Learning Ally • OverDrive (for libraries)

TEXT-TO-SPEECH READING TOOLS:

• Microsoft Immersive Reader • Speechify • Snap&Read • Read&Write for Google Chrome • Bookshare Web Reader • Dolphin Easy Reader • Capti Voice

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

ADVANTAGES OF TEXT-TO-SPEECH

STUDENTS SHARE STORIES OF EMPOWERMENT

Text-to-speech, or computer-generated audio with synchronized word highlighting, has significant advantages that help a student engage with text on a personal level. Often, when listening to a human-read audiobook, the professional reader leads the listener with their interpretation of the text through the use of expression, sound effects, and emotion. In contrast, when the text-to-speech reader is following along with the text, all of the expression and interpretation can be generated by the learner, not the narrator. Those reading with the help of text-to-speech can build their own story in their imaginations. In addition, with many tools they can annotate and highlight the text and follow the highlighted text with a new level of engagement.

We have seen students become confident readers who advocate for their use of text-to-speech or auditory support to “show I am smart” and say “my biggest strength is reading with technology.” One student who will soon graduate from high school, when reflecting on the use of reading accommodations, remarked, “I would not have made it through high school without Bookshare and my text-to-speech support. Without these resources I wouldn’t have been able to access higher-level classes and be successful.”

SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUCCESS Providing both educators and students with objective evidence to demonstrate the benefit of reading accommodations is so important. One way to do this is to use PAR and uPAR

by Don Johnston. PAR and uPAR are assessments that compare student’s independent reading skills to their comprehension when using human audio and text readers. When students see how much more they can comprehend with a reading tool, they become more confident in their skills. An added bonus is that teachers and parents can see that reading accommodations show a more accurate picture of a student’s potential, intelligence, and success in accessing and understanding grade-level content.

Educators must always presume competence with students. Intentional use of assessment and trial of various reading tools are important parts of empowering readers who read differently. Using tools such as PAR and uPAR to show what reading accommodation(s) could best serve students, coupled with establishing a relationship with each student that allows for joint decision making regarding the best reading accommodations, set the stage for success for all readers.

Another student, who is in third grade, remarked that when she uses technology tools, she can read better and has discovered a love of reading that she didn’t realize she could have. When we intentionally leverage these tools and resources with our students, we not only honor the individual student, but we are helping to build agency, advocacy, and identity.

Megan Shanley is an Occupational Therapist and a RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Practitioner who works for Albuquerque Public Schools’ Universal Design Team as well as Southwest Neuropsychology and Behavioral Health in the field of Assistive Technology. As a professional who is dyslexic, Megan has a unique understanding of the power and challenges of integrating Assistive Technology into everyday life.

She has devoted most of her career to Assistive Technology because she has repeatedly seen it empower so many students and young adults to express their strengths and talents.

Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles, PhD., ATP, is an accessibility accomplice providing assessment, training, support, and consultation to individuals and organizations around AT, AEM, and UDL. She is an Assistive Technology Specialist for RSU 21 in Kennebunk, Maine where she is grateful to “be paid to think differently” and supports inclusive learning practices. She is also an adjunct faculty member for the University Of New England’s graduate certification programs in inclusion, as well as the University of Maine at Farmington’s graduate programs in Inclusion.

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VIEWPOINT FROM CoSN

(Consortium for School Networking)

UPPING YOUR DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY KNOWLEDGE

By Jean Tower

Jean Tower is the Director of Media and Digital Learning for Needham Public Schools. Ms. Tower serves (and has served) in a number of volunteer leadership positions CoSN board member and past chair, METAA vice-president and past president, and MassCUE past board member.

Digital accessibility is the ability of electronic media - websites, electronic documents, software, mobile apps - to be accessed by all users in ways they can easily understand and navigate. “All users” includes our students, staff, and parents, and anyone who might access our web sites. Any user could have motor, visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities that makes accessible design a requirement for a positive experience.

Digital accessibility is important as schools increasingly use the Internet to provide district information, online purchasing, newsletters, course materials, textbooks, and learning resources. It is our responsibility to ensure that all people are able to access the information we provide, whether they have disabilities or not.

Luckily, there are organizations to help us up our accessibility knowledge, providing resources we can use to increase our skills, provide professional development, and improve the learning experience for all.

A good starting point would be CoSN’s (cosn.org) Digital Accessibility Toolkit. This was developed in

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partnership with the Center on Technology and Disability at American Institutes for Research. This guide is freely downloadable and provides a solid foundation for understanding what accessible technologies are, what the regulations require, and what you can do to immediately begin improving accessibility in your district. Improving your digital learning tools can be thought of as applying UDL (Universal Design for Learning) to your electronic resources, to provide opportunities for customization for all students. Use this guide to learn about best practice and to find good starting points.

From my experience, I suggest that there are a few “low hanging fruit” actions that can be taken right away, and could constitute your first steps toward increased accessibility. One is to download this guide and start increasing awareness and knowledge about accessibility for you, your team, and your administrative colleagues. Second, make sure to post, in a prominent place on your web site, the fact that users may request documents in an alternate format as needed. Third, make sure that all PDFs added to your site, or used as learning resources internally, are created from word processing documents and not from scanned pages that are simply images. And last, require an accessibility review as part of your purchasing and procurement of all new technologies.

Leveraging the knowledge and strategies from the toolkit, will position you as an EdTech Leader to help students access electronic material and increase educational equity for all.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

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EQUITY AND ACCESS IN CANADIAN EDUCATION From MindShare Learning

C21 CANADA CEO ACADEMY WINTER SUMMIT Superintendents and CEOs Explore Innovation and Indigenized Education in the Yukon

by Robert Martellacci, Co-founder & CEO C21 Canada and Founder & CEO, MindShare Learning Technology TRANSFORMATION AND INNOVATION HAPPEN AT THE SPEED OF TRUST C21 Canada CEO Academy leaders and advisory board members recently ventured up to Whitehorse, Yukon for its semi-annual Summit in partnership with the Yukon Department of Education.

The Yukon is most famous for the Klondike and the Gold Rush of the 1800’s, a stereotypical image often painted of this spectacular rugged territory that is steeped in history. Did you know that at the conclusion of the gold

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rush in 1898, the government of the day built what was known as the Worldwide Network for communications in Whitehorse?

It’s been said that transformation and innovation happen at the speed of trust; so fitting for the setting the stage for the our visit.

We were warmly welcomed by Whitehorse community leaders.

This summit’s theme of Cultural Responsiveness, Relationships and Common Messages

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

provided an opportunity for education leaders to learn about Yukon’s approach to student learning in Kindergarten through Grade 12 public education. Discussions included culturally responsive assessment and learning, Yukon First Nations Education Agreements, as well as how Yukon schools work in partnership with Yukon First Nations governments to support learning that is grounded in the community context and focused on reconciliation.

As I reflect on our recent C21 CEO Academy Winter Summit co-hosted with the Yukon Department of Education, I'm struck by the beauty, richness in history and the kindness of the Yukon people. Equally impressive is the innovative spirit of the Yukon education system leaders and the respect now being paid to first nations people. The theme: Change happens at the speed of trust ~ Indigenizing Leader Perspectives was very fitting for education leaders who gathered from across Canada.

It was fascinating to be immersed in the Yukon culture and to learn about the challenging journey of the first nations people and the innovative collaborative process in transforming the Yukon curriculum.

Robert Martellacci, CEO, C21 Canada presents the Shift Minds Art to the Minister of Education in appreciation of hosting the C21 CEO Academy Winter Summit in Whitehorse, Yukon

WHAT DO INDIGENIZED ASSESSMENT AND LEARNING LOOK LIKE? What’s going on with learners in the Yukon?

How do we know? Why does it matter?

It was such an honour to partner with the Yukon Department of Education on this very important C21 Summit. As a first timer to the Yukon, I can assure you that I will return to further explore the region for its beauty, history and the people.

In closing, two words that comes to mind, ‘respect’ and ‘hope’ for the first nations people as we enter this period of reconciliation. Hence, I feel that it’s never been a more exciting time to be in education; to drill more deeply into Canada’s history and reconcile the lost parts and give credit and respect where it’s due, infusing the richness and culture of first nations peoples in our daily lives.

The Communicating Student Learning Resource and Professional Development Tool is provided on iPads, complete with video exemplars and Yukonized authentic assessment student samples.

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CANADIAN K-20 EDUCATORS HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO SHINE! Showcase your innovative teaching and learning practices and help your school win amazing edtech prizes from MindShare Learning and Dell EMC, C21 Canada, Padcaster, Logics Academy, Edwin, Diversified, Copernicus, Steelcase, Ergotron, and Preper. Click below to learn how you can enter a video story in the 12th annual Schools of the Future Challenge.

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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

80 Yukon teachers are involved in Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education (NOIIE) using the Spiral Playbook to guide regular disciplined professional network inquiry.

NATIONAL SUMMIT OF EDUCATION LEADERS MEET IN WHITEHORSE Education leaders from across Canada are in Whitehorse for the C21 Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation CEO Academy Winter Summit. This is the first time this summit has taken place in Yukon.

This summit’s theme of Cultural Responsiveness, Relationships and Common Messages provided an opportunity for education leaders to learn about Yukon’s approach to student learning in Kindergarten through Grade 12 public education. Discussions included culturally responsive assessment and learning, Yukon First Nations Education Agreements, as well as how Yukon schools work in partnership with Yukon First Nations governments to support learning that is grounded in the community context and focused on reconciliation.

The summit kicked off with an opening reception at MacBride Museum on Sunday, Feb. 23 with presentations by Deputy Minister of Education Nicole Morgan and Yukon University Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Engagement Tosh Southwick. Participants visited Elijah Smith Elementary School and the Haa Shagóon Hídi, the learning entre in Carcross, to gain immersive learning experiences.

During the summit, the C21 Canada presented the Shifting Minds Learning and Innovation Acknowledgement to recognize all voices in Yukon, including Yukon First Nations, who have contributed to Yukon’s student-centred and culturally responsive classroom assessment model, and on creating a leading model of reconciliation for all Canadians.

“We are excited to be hosting education leaders from across the country here in Whitehorse. This summit is a great opportunity to share stories about the collaboration underway with Yukon First Nations in Yukon schools to support student learning and outcomes for all students, including examples of how Yukon First Nations ways of knowing, doing and being are included in Yukon’s curriculum and school programs.”

— Tracy-Anne McPhee Canadian Minister of Education “We are honoured to be co-hosting the C21 CEO Academy Winter meetings with the Yukon Department of Education in Whitehorse. The Shifting Minds Acknowledgement is a token of our appreciation in recognition of our partnership, and leadership and innovative spirit demonstrated by the Yukon Department of Education.”

— Robert Martellacci CEO & Co-founder, C21 Canada.

The beauty of Carcross Native Reserve Community Centre backdrop is tempered by the residential school that still stands on the edge of the lake on the left.

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DIALOG ANNOUNCES CANADA’S FIRST ZERO-CARBON, MASS TIMBER HIGHER-EDUCATION BUILDING, HONOURING INDIGENOUS CULTURE

Centennial College, Ontario's first public college, has collaborated with DIALOG, Smoke Architecture, and EllisDon to design and build the first zero-carbon, mass timber higher-education building in the country.

Scheduled for completion in 2023, the new gateway structure will bring together Indigenous and Western cultures in both form and function.

"We wanted to raise the bar for future post-secondary projects […]

At Centennial we view sustainability, inclusivity and Indigeneity as wholly interconnected ideas and we wanted a building that demonstrates that crucial relationship.”

— Craig Stephenson President and CEO, Centennial College

Courtesy of Historica Canada Education Guide: Residential Schools in Canada. This revamped education guide, “Residential Schools in Canada,” aims to raise awareness of the history of residential schools in Canada and bring to light the importance of education in the reconciliation process.

Download the guide for free HERE

VIEWPOINT FROM EDMARKET

THE MORE WAYS WE TEACH, THE MORE STUDENTS WE REACH

(Education Market Association)

By Laureen Reynolds & Jim McGarry Laureen Reynolds is an experienced teacher, consultant, and author of more than a dozen teacher resources, including "Catch Your Kids Before They Fall: 140+ Skill-Builders to Boost Academic Success."

She serves as the Director of Professional Development Services for SDE/Stenhouse.

As President/CEO of Education Market Association (EDmarket), Jim McGarry facilitates the board’s communication of a redefined mission to connect people who want to succeed in the education market by providing events, resources and leadership to those who serve education.

Today, more than ever, educators are working diligently to evolve their teaching toolboxes to meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations. Equity, access, and inclusion look different in any given classroom and putting action behind the words is paramount to the success of children nationwide.

Ensuring each teaching moment comes with an eye towards building roadways to these ideals will not be the same for every educator. It may mean that more time is built into each day for students to talk to each other or their teacher through workshop formats. It may mean giving students choices about where they work, how they practice, and ultimately, how they show what they know. It may mean teachers practice and review concepts more often, and in more creative ways, or that they ask different kinds of questions. It may mean educators purposefully plan to incorporate their students’ interests and strengths into the teaching and learning of each day. It may mean more energy is dedicated to setting and practicing expectations with students and not for them.

In short, it means embracing and celebrating the diverse abilities and experiences students bring. It means placing a greater emphasis than ever on adapting our instructional approaches to meet every learner’s abilities and needs. It means educators will become stronger by learning how to lift-up each student.

learner. They engage in small-group work, acquire new strategies, explore intriguing concepts, gain insight into research, network with those that share common goals, and maybe even laugh, sing, dance, or create while they’re at it.

This summer SDE’s National Conference is chock-full of opportunities for educators to make purposeful, informed plans to engage colleagues and to work collectively to meet each student where they’re at. Through our partnership with the Education Market Association (EDmarket), teachers have the chance to see learning coming to life with products that meet the pedagogical demand of today’s students. EDmarket’s expertise advances the conversation surrounding innovation in learning environments.

Because the concepts of equity, access, and inclusion go far beyond the traditional definitions of yester-year, the workshops that exist around those topics also take many forms and come in all shapes and sizes.

Here’s a sample of sessions and topics available this year: • Building Cultural Diversity • Teaching Students Living with Poverty • Project-Based Learning; STEM Makerspaces • Creating Deep Teacher-Student Relationships • Looking Beyond (Dis)ability • Learning through Talking & Gaming • Creating an SEL Culture in Your Building • Learning Centers & Work Stations – even for older students • Differentiated Grading • Empowering Language Learners So how do teachers best serve the students they see each day? They become learners too. One of the best places to do that this summer is at SDE’s National Conference.

Every July, PreK-12 educators and administrators from all 50 states and a dozen countries gather in Las Vegas for Staff Development for Educators’ (SDE) National Conference. They devote personal time to put themselves in the shoes of a

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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Hands-on and on the move. Tannah intuitively knows how she learns best.

That's why we'll never stop exploring new ways to design learner-centered products where not one, but every child is engaged and empowered.

For ten years, we've held fast to our commitment that learning spaces have to work as hard as our educators. Adaptive, active spaces. We're out to transform education, because nothing moves us more than creating spaces that move them.

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z ,,. will tell you she's a tactile learner -- who needs to move within her seat and around her space. Freedom of movement both calms and focuses her.

A MODEL FOR PARTNERSHIP:

HOW COLLEGES CAN ANCHOR RURAL SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES

By Dreama Gentry To most people, the relationship between colleges and school districts seems straightforward. School districts educate their students, sending as many as possible study at colleges, which provide those students the skills needed for a successful career. What is less often noted is that many colleges have institutional missions that encourage them to find ways to serve their local communities.

Generally, this leads to partnerships focused on individual educational programs, such as after school tutoring or summer programs.

Though such programs provide valuable resources, our experience at Partners for Education at Berea College suggests that by acting as anchor institutions, colleges can leverage greater resources to enact structural changes that will support rural students and their home communities.

Expanding the number of anchor partnerships between colleges and school districts can be a critical strategy for improving access to equitable educational opportunities to students from rural areas.

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What does it mean to be an anchor institution? Generally speaking, the term is used to describe nonprofit organizations like colleges, hospitals, and libraries that are rooted in a specific community which creates a long-term commitment to improving outcomes in that place. For urban serving anchor institutions, their place may consist of a few blocks surrounding campus, which means anchor work can include sharing physical resources—such as space in buildings—or changing hiring and procurement strategies to leverage nearby resources. Rural serving anchor institutions, however, face distinctly different challenges because their place can stretch over hundreds of miles of sparsely populated territory. Adapting to this challenge led us to develop a model for rural anchor institutions built on strong relationships with rural school districts.

Our model for anchor work is rooted in strong relationships with local school systems for two reasons.

First, rural schools are the heart of rural communities functioning the symbolic center for community identity.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Second, rural schools increasingly function as resource hubs that are essential to the wellbeing of rural communities. While each rural community is unique, many face a common set of challenges including low college degree attainment rates, high rates of obesity, and lack of access to treatment facilities for addiction and other mental health issues. Due to their low population density, rural communities lack access to networks of service providers—YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, counseling services. This means that rural schools are a critical resource for addressing the broad range of community needs.

Unfortunately, most collaborations between colleges and local schools focus on a single issue, such as increasing college access, supporting students in adopting healthier lifestyles, or bringing more significant healthcare resources to the community.

However, treating issues in isolation typically proves ineffective because the problems and the pressures that cause them are interconnected. Our model for working as a rural anchor counters this tendency by placing the emphasis on a long-term relationship with a school and community and

on building local capacity to move educational outcomes rather than providing an individual program, activity, or service.

The model is based on five principles that are essential to success for organizations that aspire to anchor their rural community.

Developing these principles enabled Partners for Education to grow from a program created to lift educational aspirations in a single school system to an organization supporting the educational success of 50,000 students across Appalachian Kentucky. More important than the number of students served is that the model leads to positive change. For example, in one community our partnership helped schools increase the percentage of students scoring proficient in math from 27% to 40% and in English language arts from 35% to 50% over the course of four years.

PRINCIPLES OF OUR MODEL 1) Begin the partnerships with schools by

setting measurable goals focused on improving educational outcomes for all children. This means more than measuring inputs like how

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many hours of tutoring were offered or how many student groups participated in service activities.

For anchor work to be impactful the goals must reect measurable changes in all members of the target population. For example, if the goal of the partnership is to improve college readiness, then the indicator of success might be an increase in the number and percentage of students at benchmark on the ACT exam. In this case, we would track this number for all students and also for subpopulations based on gender, race, and income. Such indicators keep the focus on ďŹ nding what has an impact on the young people rather than the activities offered by the partners.

2) Begin from the premise that the best

solutions to pressing problems are local solutions. After identifying a challenge to take on, bring together as many stakeholders as possible to identify possible solutions, evaluate potential funding streams, and, above all, set indicators for evaluating progress. Then assist the community in framing their solution by bringing relevant data and research to the table, and by sharing strategies for continuous improvement.

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The value of embedding the work in the community became apparent during a project when we tried to determine why the levels of kindergarten readiness differed from county to county within the same rural region. School leaders and community members helped us see that in one area, early childhood care providers needed additional training, while in another, access to adequate facilities were the limiting factor.

Thanks to input from families and practitioners on the ground, appropriate interventions were identiďŹ ed and rapid progress occurred on the goal of raising the level of kindergarten readiness. Remarkably, the rate went from 16.3% of students entering kindergarten ready to learn in 2011 to nearly 40% in just a few years.

3) Engage residents to lead and do the work

locally. While this seems like a simple point, our method stands in stark contrast to the usual practice of higher education partnerships. Programs to support rural schools are often staffed by college and university staff and faculty who live outside the community they serve. By hiring and supporting local people to do the work, our approach builds the capacity of residents,

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

which means the community gains its own problem-solving expertise and builds the capacity to take on challenges in other areas.

Finding the best path to address those challenges becomes the responsibility of the community members who have the local knowledge needed to identify the gaps that need to be filled and the community resources that can be drawn upon. A further benefit to embedding services in this way is that it increases the likelihood that solutions will be well received and implemented sustainably by the school and the community.

4) Adapt research-based activities, services and programs to fit the context of rural communities. For example, service programs like AmeriCorps have typically been used to develop a sense of civic engagement in young people by providing them the opportunity to serve those less fortunate. But, residents of communities of persistent poverty, such as Appalachian Kentucky, deserve the opportunity to serve. We created an AmeriCorps program—based on a proven urban model—and actively recruited community members who were under-employed or in retirement to apply.

This created a path for residents to serve in their home community. These locally sourced service members provide tutoring and mentoring to students in schools across Appalachian Kentucky. We see this as one of our most successful programs because it increases educational outcomes of today’s youth and develops a local workforce with valuable skills.

5) Adapt funding opportunities designed for urban and suburban schools to the rural context. Many federal programs were developed with the resources of urban and suburban communities in mind. Large federal discretionary grants require considerable grants management expertise and are too burdensome for small rural districts. The ability to develop a proposal that will serve multiple rural school districts and the ability

to manage such programs are critical skills.

Colleges willing to serve as anchor institutions can bring this skill set to the table, and enable rural schools to access resources that would otherwise be out of reach. It is essential that anchor institutions ensure resources are driven to local interventions.

Clearly, serving as an anchor institution requires investing a great deal of energy, ingenuity, and commitment into a mutually accountable partnership. In the long term, we believe these investments will be repaid by the creation of stronger rural communities, where local residents have the skills to build a brighter future, and the creation of stronger higher education organizations that are deeply rooted in place.

As executive director of Partners for Education, Dreama Gentry leads Berea College’s educational outreach into Appalachian Kentucky. Partners for Education supports the educational aspirations of 50,000 students across eastern Kentucky using an annual budget of $40 million.

An Annie E. Casey Children and Family Fellow, Gentry also serves on the board of directors for the Fahe, a community development non-profit, and the Pine Mountain Settlement School. She is a member of the equity coalition convened by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, which seeks to ensure Kentucky’s school accountability system provides educational excellence to all students. Recently, she organized the annual Rural College Access and Success Summit, an event that brings together approximately 400 participants from across the country to improve the educational opportunities available to students from rural communities.

Gentry holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Berea College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky.

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VIEWPOINT FROM AASA (American Association of School Administrators)

EQUITY: AT THE HEART OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING

By Sheldon Berman

Sheldon Berman is the Superintendent of Schools in Andover, Massachusetts and Co-Chair of AASA’s SEL Cohort.

He served on the Council of Distinguished Educators for the National Commission for Social, Emotional and Academic Development and was the primary author of “The Practice Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional and Academic Development.”

School and classroom environments exert a powerful influence on learning. School is where students develop a sense of their own identity and agency and learn to navigate challenges inside and outside the classroom.

Social-emotional learning supports equity and access because belonging to a caring, inclusive community of learners encourages all students to grow socially, emotionally and academically. This sense of community and inclusiveness motivates and empowers students to be fully engaged and enables schools to build on the assets that each student possesses.

However, social-emotional learning is not about “fixing” students or promoting dominant culture values. And it entails more than simply developing the social skills to work with others and the emotional skills to manage one’s emotions and self-regulate behavior. Rather, at its heart, social-emotional learning is about nurturing empathy, taking another person’s perspective, appreciating the richness of diversity, and entering constructive dialogue to resolve differences.

Its goal is to provide culturally inclusive, identity-safe classroom communities that enable students to experience and understand the impact of their actions—or their failure to act—on others. In its fullest context, social-emotional learning is about developing a social consciousness and sense of social responsibility, guided by a moral compass that empowers one to make ethically-grounded decisions.

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In addition, through professional development in social-emotional learning, educators can become aware of their implicit bias and are supported in creating conditions where families feel safe and respected. In affirming and valuing human connectedness, culturally inclusive and identity-safe classroom communities promote a sense of belonging and eliminating barriers to build quality education, particularly for traditionally underserved students. Thus, equity is both the lifeblood and the outcome of social-emotional learning.

Social-emotional learning will not address all equity disparities, many of which arise from inequitable funding, inequitable distribution of talent and other resources, and historic institutional bias. However, social-emotional learning helps build an asset-based approach that affirms students’ strengths and cultural identities and appreciates the lived experiences they bring to the classroom.

It creates fair and just environments where all students are valued and where students who learn differently or who have experienced trauma or the stress of growing up in poverty are fully included and supported.

Through the relationships that students develop, the competencies they acquire, and the support they experience within caring classroom environments, social-emotional learning not only serves these students but models how an inclusive and respectful community can bring compassion, responsibility and equity to life in the world around them.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

MICHIGAN SCHOOLS ARE MAKING HEADWAY ON EQUITY INITIATIVES

By Cherie Vannatter

In 2016, the Michigan Department of Education issued a challenge to their 587 local and 56 county-wide intermediate school districts or educational service agencies, to become a Top 10 education state in 10 years. In order to meet this challenge, a major effort has been focused on addressing equity in education.

race/ethnicity, disability, or family’s income will no longer determine the student’s educational opportunities and outcomes. The WISD Board of Education is focused on achieving three goals: • Providing leadership for equity and opportunity to ensure coordinated and aligned efforts from birth through college and career with specific attention to the underserved and underperforming students in Washtenaw County.

As the Interim State superintendent, Sheila Alles explained, “Providing an equitable education to all children in Michigan is a long-standing, very complex challenge that needs to be addressed so we can achieve Michigan’s mission to Support Learners and Learning as well as become a Top 10 educational state in 10 years. It will require us to take bold, courageous steps toward addressing the systemic inequities that perpetuate low performance and negatively impact too many of our learners.”

• Advocating for policies that support equity and inclusion on the local, state and national levels.

For the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD), in the greater Ann Arbor, Michigan area, this means that a student’s

These efforts have started by engaging the community and local school districts utilizing the following strategies: (1) using enhanced

• Cultivating an organizational culture of equity, inclusion and social justice through education, engagement and action.

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resource allocation to address inequities in school funding; (2) increasing local technology resources to provide students access to rigorous curriculum; and (3) offering professional development to teachers and administrators to increase awareness of individual student differences.

As background, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District is a county-wide educational service agency that provides programs and services (some general education, but mostly special education) in support of nine local districts and thirteen public school academies serving nearly 47,000 students.

WASHTENAW COUNTY DEMOGRAPHICS • 62% of students identify as White • 16% identify as African American • 8% identify as Asian • 8% identify as Multi-Ethnic • 7% identify as Hispanic While two thirds of the local districts have 85% or more white students, three districts are much more ethnically diverse, with a substantially higher percentage of students coming from families living in poverty.

Students with disabilities range from 10% to 24% percent of the total number of students in the local school districts.

The WISD has been working to implement strategies designed specifically to improve outcomes for students of color, students living in poverty, and students with disabilities recognizing that this needs to be the work of all, even the districts where students are predominately white, relatively affluent, and able-bodied.

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ENHANCED RESOURCE ALLOCATIONS Washtenaw Intermediate School District leaders believe ALL students matter and each should have the resources necessary to be successful. These leaders have been challenged to think differently about core funding processes and how resources are allocated.

The current WISD funding allocation for students with disabilities allows local districts to be reimbursed for costs associated with special education services up to 100%, yet some local districts were still struggling to provide necessary services to meet student needs.

In response, the WISD has gone outside of this somewhat restrictive system and tailored support for higher need districts via the addition of staff to provide supplemental services.

Additionally, the board of education, administrators, and staff of the WISD are working with state and local elected officials to consider alternatives to the current funding systems to ensure a more equitable distribution of resources targeted to students with the greatest need.

BROADENING TECHNOLOGY ACCESS In order to address the limitations of access to a rigorous curriculum for all students, the WISD is providing support through broadening the availability of technology. The fiber network for all local districts is owned and operated by the WISD. This brings needed internet access to students in rural and/or remote areas of the county. Additionally, professional development related to the integration and utilization of technology in the classroom is offered to Washtenaw educators by the ISD trained technology staff.

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

IMPROVING TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS The third strategy of the WISD efforts involves professional development (PD). Thought provoking PD regarding accessibility, compliance, and equity is provided by WISD for county teachers and administrators to enhance their effectiveness when working with individual students from diverse backgrounds. One such example is Justice Leaders, a multi-day series that deals with racial and gender equity, as well as addressing the intersectionality of the “isms” that undermine equity. For the last five years, the participants in this training have interrogated themselves about their racial biases, gender biases, and the way they view the world, thus working to ensure they support each student for who they are and what they need. To date, more than 350 educators in the county have been through the basic course and many others have continued to the advanced course as well as train-the-trainer sessions. During the past two years the WISD has sponsored a professional development series around Responsive Instruction using a multicultural lens combined with content to enhance the understanding of teachers regarding the diverse learning needs and background of the students in their classrooms. The WISD approach to professional development is focused on capacity building and sustained support over time rather than one-time, sit-and-get sessions that reflect the latest fad or “silver bullet” solution to equity challenges.

and call out the inequities in our educational systems. He suggests that the success of the WISD’s equity initiatives will be measured in a straightforward manner; a lack of correlation between a student’s academic success and their demographics (race, gender, disability or poverty).

“We should not be able to predict how a student will perform on high stakes tests, or how a student will perform in post-secondary education based on demographics.” Each student, regardless of any particular circumstance of birth, deserves the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. The WISD is committed to eliminating systemic and structural barriers that have perpetuated inequitable access and opportunities so that the students in Washtenaw County will truly be given an opportunity to flourish.

MEASURING SUCCESS In conclusion, Dr. Scott Menzel, Washtenaw Intermediate School District Superintendent, states that the WISD must be prepared to continue to provide professional development and support to the local school districts

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Cherie Vannatter serves as the Assistant Superintendent for Achievement and Student Services at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District in greater Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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LANDMARK COLLEGE

An Integrated Approach to Teaching Students Who Learn Differently While many colleges offer special programs for students with learning disabilities (LD) and other learning challenges, Landmark College is one of the only accredited colleges in the United States designed exclusively for students who learn differently, including students with learning disabilities (such as dyslexia), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

For almost 40 years, our combination of research-based learning strategies and academic support has proved successful in preparing students for the rigors of college-level work. As the field of learning disabilities and differences expanded, our approach to working with students has grown more varied, but always with a constant unyielding mission to provide best practices for all.

ACADEMIC ADVISING

In addition to classes, students in their first year at Landmark College participate in weekly academic advising sessions while engaged with the advising curriculum. As students progress in their coursework, they become increasingly independent and meet with their advisor less frequently. Students pursuing their bachelor’s degree work with degree specific advisors. The academic advisor is central to the system which supports individual student performance.

THE LANDMARK COLLEGE DIFFERENCE

Landmark College offers the same range of student services found at any college—from counseling and health services to student life and athletics. The difference at Landmark College is that these professionals, like our faculty and academic advisors, bring specific expertise in, and a passion for, working with students who learn differently.

Working together, we help students discover their path as confident, empowered, and independent learners. We integrate our innovative learning strategies into everything we do.

CENTERS FOR ACADEMIC SUPPORT

Landmark College’s Centers for Academic Support offer unparalleled support to students who learn differently, at no additional charge. The Drake Center for Academic Support is the first place students turn for help with reading, writing, and study skills. Academic support centers within individual departments offer drop-in support and one-on-one scheduled appointments with Landmark College faculty.

COUNSELING & HEALTH

Counseling Services are available to provide support to students dealing with stress and other personal, social, or academic difficulties. Health Services offers support for physical issues.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION COACHING

Through the office of Coaching Services, Landmark College’s Professional Certified Coaches work with students who have a variety of learning profiles and struggle with executive functioning.

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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

INTEGRATED SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM

SUMMER PROGRAMS

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES & CURRICULUM

Whether located on our Putney, Vermont campus or at one of our programs in California and Colorado, the instructors consist of current Landmark College faculty as well as teachers from the surrounding areas who are experienced in working with students who learn differently.

Students with autism who are academically prepared for college may still face significant challenges navigating the social curriculum and adjusting to the more fluid routine of the college student. Landmark College recognizes the need to provide additional programming to assist students with autism to meet their college goals. Our integrated services model for ASD support services provides a structured living and learning environment that combines an effective pedagogical approach with tailored social and other programmatic supports.

Originally founded as a two-year college, Landmark College began offering four-year degrees in 2014. We now offer an array of baccalaureate and associate degrees, with optional minors and concentrations.

Landmark College offers summer programs to assist a wide range of students with learning differences, including middle school students, high school students, graduating high school seniors, and students enrolled at colleges around the country. All of the programs are designed to enable students to identify their learning strengths and differences. Students learn specific strategies to be successful in formal academic settings and grow personally and academically in an intentional and supportive academic community.

Landmark College offers a diverse selection of courses in anthropology, English, business, communications, humanities, philosophy, psychology, history, literature, math, science, foreign languages, theater, video, music, art, physical education, and other disciplines.

For all entering students, the curriculum sequence begins with skillsdevelopment courses, designed to address the key areas of writing, reading, communication and study skills. Self-management, as well as the development of self-understanding and self-advocacy, are also important parts of this firstsemester curriculum.

Initial courses are offered at non-credit and credit levels. This allows students to be placed in classes where they are able to succeed, from the start. Due to our rigorous academic standards, more than 50% of incoming students begin in non-credit courses, with most moving into credit courses after one or two semesters.

VISIT OUR CAMPUS

Landmark College offers several Open Houses on Saturdays each semester. You can also schedule a visit with our Admissions office any week day during regular business hours by calling 802-387-6718 or emailing admissions@landmark.edu.

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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS AASL ............................................................ 17 ACTE ............................................................ 25 Benetech ...................................................... 2 CatchOn ...................................................... 35 Cox Business Cloud Solutions ................ 12-13 Curriculum Associates ................................. 22 Education Talk Radio ................................... 60 edWeb.net ............................................. 26-27 Gaggle ........................................................ 33 Landmark College ....................... Cover, 56-57 Magnet Schools of America .......................... 7 MindShare Learning .............................. 40-44 NAEYC .......................................................... 9 NorvaNivel ......................... .................. 20, 47 Tek Nekk ..................................................... 29 Texthelp ...................................................... 39 Waterford ................................................... 45

LIGHT IT UP BLUE

April 2: World Autism Awareness Day 58

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

PREPARING FOR LEARNING WITHOUT DISRUPTION

By Lindsay Portnoy & Karen Reiss Medwed

As the CDC monitors COVID-19, educational and industry leaders across the globe are asked to prepare for alternative learning options in the event of a domestic pandemic. While this is not the only disruption to traditional schooling, it’s a unique moment in time when large numbers of schools across the nation may experience disruption simultaneously and resources may be few and far between. How is it possible to prepare for learning without disruption?

Equitably meeting the needs of all learners necessitates mindfulness—not only of available resources, but also of the potential burden of accessing those resources. It may also be an opportunity to leverage promising new tools to advance interdisciplinary knowledge through multimodal learning, and perhaps enhance our home-to-school connections in the process.

CASE ONE: MATH In a statistics class, local high school students work from any location to map neighborhood resources within their community ranging from access to grocers to transportation. As they map community resources on Google

Maps, patterns emerge that support student responses to questions such as, “What gaps do you see in access to transportation in your community and how might you address them?”

Students use video tools to communicate statistical insights broadly to peers in their classroom or across the globe. Tools like FlipGrid may supplant penpals as communities of learners connect instantly through digital networks. Suddenly, learners can communicate mathematically, sharing statistical data about their unique communities and moreover are able to co-create solutions to pressing, widespread issues through their shared knowledge.

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Through a series of intentional prompts, educators transform a course on statistics into an opportunity to engage with learners the world over and see firsthand how data can be used to advocate for more equitable access to essentials like transportation and food sources. Student work leads to conversations about food deserts and helps learners see themselves in the role of others, taking the perspective of those they may not otherwise meet. Together, these students begin to work toward solving similar problems that exist under different names across the globe.

CASE TWO: HISTORY Using our current situation, students in a history class create an online time capsule to document their lived experiences, connecting the current situation to similar experiences in our shared past.

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FOR INSTANCE: • What systems were in place to combat the flu pandemic of 1918 and how do they compare to those in place in 2020?

• What ways have industrialization and commercialization impacted the spread of these viruses?

• How has the nature of our infrastructure as a society changed the way diseases spread?

In seeking answers to questions connecting historical events to events experienced today, learners grow in their ability to have a sense of agency in their learning.

Existing platforms like Google Docs allow us to co-create writing, while those such as Flip-

Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education

Grid invite asynchronous responses to prompts that elevate all voices. More exciting is the fact that novel tech tools are emerging each day. These tools will continue to transform and enhance our ability to learn anywhere and at any time.

Our role then, is to support learners in discovering these resources and to model the active curation of content as our learners explore, engage, and continue learning on these new platforms.

Instead of simply replacing a lecturing educator with a lecturing educator on video, we’ve seen the intentional integration of multiple free platforms that put learners at the center of curating and co-creating knowledge. These new models of learning give caregivers access to traditionally closed processes of learning. They support the home-to-school connection, making learning visible to all, and

inviting all community members to become lifelong learners.

Rather than replicate the rote learning that often happens in classrooms, we can offer students ways to make meaning of their lived experience through this time across domains, from science and art to history and language.

Thanks to new technologies and approaches, those of us who work in communities and homes with network connections and access to technology can meet virtually and continue to grow and thrive together.

Our next, pressing challenge is to address solutions for our students and teachers whose learning exists outside the privileged pockets of technology access. In dire situations, the worse educational solutions are ones which grow the gaps of systemic inequity and do not attend to the most vulnerable in our midst.

Lindsay Portnoy, Ph.D. is Associate Teaching Professor in the Graduate School of Education of the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University.

Karen Reiss Medwed, Ph.D. is Assistant Dean of Networks and Digital Engagement of the Graduate School of Education in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University and Associate Teaching Professor.

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DON’T JUST TALK ABOUT EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY... LISTEN. EDUCATION TALK RADIO • Weekday mornings with Larry Jacobs • More than 3,000 shows on education • Average of 1,700 listens per day

A FEW RECENT DISCUSSIONS: Making Educational Products Accessible Rachel Comerford, MacMillan School Infrastructure and the Federal Budget Mary Filardo, 21st Century School Fund School District Communication Heidi Otero, Arizona School Boards Association and Rich Bagin, NSPRA

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