Tonight I attended a Chancellor's Forum held to discuss the state of SPED in DC. Inclusion was the focus of the program. I think the general attitude of central headquarters is the same as that expressed by Richard Nyankori specifically, when he said, "I won't force inclusion (on any one person) but I will force the issue (that children should not be segregated)." He also stated that the model of inclusion he was envisioning was one in which teachers trusted each other enough to share the responsibilities and where service providers enter the classroom and work with teachers and all needy students.
I will include more details about this meeting tomorrow, but now I am sleepy and in bed.
WTU Peterson Slate: Not a 1 Woman Dictatorship
7 years ago
Did you gather any more details about inclusion for next year? My school is starting inclusion this fall, based on messages received from downtown, but I am wondering if there will be any systemic support for us? What will happen to children with very severe needs? Are all the "substantially separate" classrooms going to be dissolved and every student included? Any additional information you can share would be appreciate.
ReplyDeleteappreciated... sorry! :)
ReplyDeletei'm student teaching in massachusetts, and inclusion seems to be the norm there. at least, in springfield it is. is there a reason the district is so unfamiliar with inclusion? does Rhee plan on having paraprofessionals or aides in the classroom if there's to be full inclusion?
ReplyDelete(sorry if the tone seems holier-than-thou; it isn't mean to be, i'm just curious)
I'm not sure why the District is so unfamiliar with the technique.
ReplyDeleteI can only hypothesize. In the past, an overwhelming number of programs and ideas have been introduced to teachers over the years, and people don't necessarily buy-in to all the different ideas – especially if they seem like just the current fad. Maybe that's what happened with inclusion.
Another hypothesis is that maybe teachers just were not educated about current, research-based strategies or legally mandated ideas for teaching children. The idea of inclusion has been around for years, but I think the larger part of teachers in DC are not familiar with it. I think our current chancellor is going to bring DC up to the times. She is accused of not doing any positives in the District, but I have a feeling that she is interested in current, proven strategies as well as progressive ideas about how we view children in our schools.
A third hypothesis is that teachers have negative preconceived ideas or bad prior experiences with inclusion.
I worked at one school in the past in which SPED teachers were told to begin implementing inclusion THE NEXT DAY (setup for failure by the administration, I’ll admit). They were given no time to prepare themselves or their students. They were given no training on how to do it properly. So they did what they thought was inclusion, and they flopped. It was a failure for them and for their students.
This meeting that I attended was one of the first in which I’ve ever heard of DCPS talking seriously about implementing inclusion. So, I think it’s finally going to happen.
Full Inclusion has to be implemented from the top first by our
ReplyDeleteSuperintendent,Administrators,Principals,made as a requirement to be included as a vital part of our Standard Base Curriculum Training, for every teacher that teach in the District Public Schools.
I am the parent of an ELL child at Ross ES. Last year, the teacher pulled him out, read simple texts, taught vocabulary, spelling and grammar in addition to literary analysis. This year, the current principal implemented the full inclusion model. The level of reading was too difficult for my child. As he did not understand over 50% of the words, the work he was given do was impossible to do (he had less than a year of English instruction). The ELL teacher said she was only following the principal's orders. The year is over and his acquisition of the English language is not much better than what it used to be a year ago -- not to mention he feels completely frustrated and has stopped reading for pleasure.
ReplyDeleteOf course the administration told us that he was unmotivated and unfocused.
Do all DC public schools have to follow the full inclusion model? Are there any schools who care more about the student rather than logistics?