Solutions for School-Age Students

Scaling Effective Practices to Enhance Learning for All

Students with special education needs represent a wide range of both abilities and disabilities. Most can be successfully educated in general education classrooms, with appropriate supports, while others require the structure of self-contained special education classrooms. Because of this diversity, it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations about students with special education needs except the statement that applies to all U.S. students—their achievement levels are, on the whole, unacceptably low.

Improving outcomes for ALL students is well within our reach. There is a body of research, reinforced by experience, about effective instructional practices and strategies proven to move achievement. Ensuring all teachers have access to identifying and applying these proven strategies will improve the conditions of learning—and the outcomes—for both general and special education students. Doing this will require:

• Professional development for general and special education teachers that focuses on instructional strategies proven to improve student learning and achievement
• On-demand access to learning about proven strategies
• Instructional leadership focused on improving achievement for all students

These solution strategies will be provided through ongoing face-to-face and online professional learning, supported and enhanced by focused coaching and ongoing classroom walkthroughs.

Professional Development Focused on Effective Instructional Strategies: There is a body of research on effective instructional strategies proven to improve student achievement. This includes the research on highly effective strategies by Robert Marzano and his colleagues at the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), as well as the work of researchers on academic learning time, student engagement, practice, and a panoply of other research-based instructional strategies. Teachscape coaches will work with combined groups of general and special education teachers to:

• Review the research base and analyze best-practice videos of proven instructional practices for effective teaching and learning. As part of this professional learning, the teachers will incorporate a number of strategies they select into their ongoing teaching, adapting them to address the needs of the students and the demands of the content domain.
• Determine and share outcomes of applying the instructional strategies and, in mixed groups of general and special education teachers, refine the practices to yield greater outcomes.
• Provide opportunities for teachers to share their own effective instructional strategies in order to promote peer-to-peer learning and hone instructional approaches for specific student needs and particular content areas. Wherever possible, general and special education teachers will be paired to offer suggestions on using the same strategy with different student populations.

On-Demand Access to Learning About the Strategies: Complicated schedules and logistical concerns often mean that insufficient time is allocated for formal professional learning, whether it is facilitated through face-to-face sessions or guided online studies. To ensure teachers have multiple opportunities to build knowledge and skills, Teachscape coaches will:

• Provide an online workspace for the general and special education teachers to explore research-based instructional strategies independently, beyond the face-to-face and guided online studies.
• Promote professional discussions—anytime and anyplace—through the online discussion area in the workspace. This will enable ongoing discussions between scheduled face-to-face meetings of the Professional Learning Community and allow participants to share samples of the student work products informed by the applied instructional strategies.

This on-demand access will enable teachers to take charge of their own learning and build knowledge and skills at a time and pace that suits their needs, greatly expanding the number of hours spent in professional studies.

Instructional Leadership Support: Although Teachscape coaches will provide support as the participants try some of the instructional strategies with their students, sustainability rests on the capacity of school leaders to promote and support the focused use of appropriate instructional strategies. To ensure this, Teachscape coaches will work closely with school leaders to:

• Identify and promote the use of effective instructional strategies focused squarely on improving teaching, learning, and outcomes—for all students. The Teachscape coaches will offer school leaders opportunities to explore the strategies, analyze videos of their use in classrooms, and understand how to help teachers use the strategies effectively.
• Provide tools and processes to measure implementation and monitor impact of the instructional strategies on both teaching practice and student achievement. Teachscape coaches will offer a customized Classroom Walkthrough tool to help the leaders examine the degree to which effective instructional strategies are used in teaching and determine their impact on students. The coaches will also ensure that the leaders understand how to use the walkthrough data to develop action plans with the faculty to improve implementation and impact of the proven strategies.

Strategic teaching, shaped by effective instructional strategies, improves outcomes for all students. Building the capacity to understand, apply, and assess the impact of research-based strategies relative to student achievement is a high-impact and sustainable approach to using IDEA Part B Recovery funds.