I started teaching when almost all special education services were provided outside of the classroom. Then inclusion came, and students were mainly serviced within the classroom setting. Now at a time of RTI (Response to Intervention), personalization, and greater student voice, choice, and collaboration, I'm wondering if it is time to shift the special education/regular education model and intersection again.
I wonder if the movement this time is to greater team teaching which means that the entire team of grade-level teachers, specialists, special educators, therapists, and assistants meet, study the students, and plan a teaching/learning course of action that helps all children achieve--a course of action that includes collaborative work, individual/small group coaching, whole class presentations, projects, assessments and more.
Our team does a lot of this now. We meet in PLC to review student assessments, needs, and interests. We develop and grow programs together. We all teach and take an interest in every child. What we may need to do more is use our imaginations, time, creativity, knowledge, and drive to better target and tailor learning so that we meet more needs in better ways. We're already doing a good job--there's much more that is strong and right, but I think this shift might make us even better.
Many schools haven't embraced the collaborative model we use, a model that depends on PLCs, RTI, shared teaching, specialization, and a whole team focus on all students at a grade level. In some schools, it's still the one-teacher-one-classroom model. And in some schools, specialists may arrive to help, but not plan lessons or tailor targeted approaches to lift students up. In some schools there may be less communication amongst all educators, and in some schools there may be little time for this kind of collaboration.
I think it's time to overhaul how we provide services, and in that overhaul we can't lose sight of the good progress made by students when they do have an IEP, specific goals, inclusion, and tailored targeted coaching and teaching by skilled educators. Yet in the overhaul, we might redefine what it means to team, target, and teach children in ways that matter.
I don't have all the answers, and I know that it's in our dedicated collaboration that we do better for the children and each other. Moving ahead to match the research and meet the great potential that exists is challenging work that calls for the best of all of us. It's not easy, and we won't always do it right, but we have to keep trying because a really good education for every child spells greater happiness, success, contribution, and communities. Onward.
