D21 strengthening its special education program

Wheeling School District 21 plans to expand and strengthen its special education program as it prepares for the 2011-12 school year.

Marsha Schultz, director of support services for District 21, presented a five-goal plan to the school board Thursday that emphasized including all students in general education, involving families as equal partners in the education and approaching student learning from a strength-based perspective.

The plan focuses on inclusion and “co-teaching” — where general education and special education teachers work together. The goal, Schultz said, is to try and have special education students included in as much of the general education curriculum as possible.

“It used to be where you would have to earn your spot back in general ed if you were placed in special education,” Schultz said. “But it should be your right to be included in general education.”

Increasing inclusion is no easy task, she said.

While teachers will have to work together, general education teachers will also have to understand how to communicate the same material in unique ways to reach all students in the class. Schultz said the more training the two groups of teachers do together, the more powerful the results.

The curriculum expertise of the general education teachers combined with the expertise of unique teaching methods from the special education teacher has more potential than most realize, she said.

“These two together make a very powerful team,” Schultz said.

Teachers and school administrators have already started the learning process as many attended a workshop in June conducted by Dr. Richard Villa — one of the nation’s leading experts in co-teaching and classroom inclusion.

Dr. Candace Thompson, director of special education for District 21, said between the summer training and future workshops, along with the infrastructure already established, the goal of increased inclusion should be evident soon.

Thompson said the inclusion program should help continue to lower the rate of special education students as some may realize full inclusion.

“It grows organically,” she said. “It used to be you had to be labeled ‘special education’ to get certain services, but now they’re open to everyone. The more resources available for every student, the better.”

The district was just below the state average last year with 11 percent of its students in some form of special education.

Board members praised the plan and said it should help all students. Two board members told stories of their children befriending students in the special education program and how District 21 has already done a good job of promoting an accepting culture.

“It’s a great help to the kids with disabilities, but it is even a bigger help in some sense to the kids that don’t to understand all the similarities,” said Pam Dean, a board member.

The district plans to implement as much of the inclusion practices as it can starting at the beginning of this year.