It Takes A Village: Working with Stakeholders and Building Charter

Networks to Serve Students With Disabilities

ARRA LAUSD Charter SchoolSpecial Education Project

Presentation for California Charter Schools ConferenceFebruary 28, 2012

Dr. Alice Parker, Project DirectorDr. Ginger Adams Simon, Quality Control Manager

Five Project Objectives

1. Conduct a Needs Assessment of Special Education Services Across Charters

 

2. Evaluate current system for data analysis at student level aligned to special education requirements

 

3. Train for pre-identification intervention/Response to Intervention (RtI) and data-informed instruction.  

4. Provide a Continuum of service options for students with disabilities, including Autism and support for behavior and/or emotional needs

 

5. Build capacity for additional Extended School Year (ESY) programs

Needs Assessment Process

• Engaged with 31 schools in the LAUSD SELPA through site visits, interviews and focus groups

• 320 classrooms observed in 24 site visits• 82 educators trained in observation protocols• 182 educators involved in focus groups or interviews

• Sent survey to all LAUSD Charter School Leaders for distribution to staff – 600 returned

Schools and CMOs who Participated

SchoolsTotal

EnrollmentStudents with

IEPsPercent

with IEPs 2010 API

PALSS SITE VISIT

Focus Grp/Interviews Training

Accelerated 870 62 7.1% 776   X  Accelerated Elementary Charter 130 12 9.2% 749   X  Animo Locke HS #1 325 62 19.1% 563 X X XAnimo Pat Brown HS 526 45 8.6% 790 X X XBert Corona Charter School 359 34 9.5% N/A   X  Birmingham Community CHS 2,690 331 12.3% 653 X X XCA Acad Lib Studies Early College HS (CALS) 295 28 9.5% 769 X   XCamino Nuevo Harvard campus N/A 4 N/A N/A   X  CHIME Charter EL 367 38 10.4% 805  X  X X CHIME Charter MS 207 30 14.5% 756 X X XCommunity Chrtr Early Col. HS 424 31 7.3% 753 X X XDiscovery Charter Prep. #2 856 26 3.0% 667 X   XFenton Ave. School 607 88 14.5% 762 X X XFernando Pullum Performing Arts HS 131 17 13.0% 567 X X XFrederick Douglass Academy MS 460 36 7.8% 713 X X XGranada Hills Charter HS 4,143 294 7.1% 874 X X XJames Jordan MS 208 44 21.2% 701 X  X XLakeview Charter Academy 311 39 12.5% 851 X   XLou Dantzler Prep HS 274 24 8.8% 626 X X XMilagro Charter ES 260 43 16.5% 893 X   XMontague Charter Academy 1,140 86 7.5% 761 X   XMulticultural Learning Center interviews 332 33 9.9% 787   X  Para Los Ninos Charter 358 37 10.3% 699 X   XPara Los Ninos MS Charter 143 10 7.0% 708 X   XSanta Rosa Charter Academy 96 17 17.7% 768 X   XSynergy Charter Academy 155 20 12.9% 897 X X XSynergy Kinetic Academy 231 28 12.1% 802 X X XVaughn Next Century LC 609 156 25.6% 774 X X XView Park Preparatory Accelerated Charter 54th St. 431 22 5.1% 891   X  View Park Preparatory Accelerated Charter Middle 356 22 6.2% 805   X  View Park Preparatory Accelerated High South Crenshaw Blvd 401 19 4.7% 738 X X X

Total 17,695 1,738 9.8%        

Eighty-five Percent of Students in the Charter School Project Poolare in the Regular Classroom 80% or More of the Time

Students aged 15 or older in the Charter Project Schools are more likely to have Transition related Language in their IEPs

Students aged 15 or older in the Charter Project Schools are more likely to have Transition related Language in their IEPs

Findings and Recommendations Organized Thematically

Leadership, Culture and Systems

Teaching and Learning

Data Management

Resources and Support for Learning Communities 

Summary of Needs for Leadership, Culture and Systems

Improve communication systems and collaboration for the provision of services for SWDs between Charters and LAUSD

Improve communications regarding placement procedures

Improve training and support to enable more schools to handle moderately to severely disabled students.

Continue collaboration efforts in the planning for the new SELPA.

 

Strengthen organizational leadership skills for communicating vision and values related to special education.

Provide access to networks and help with community outreach and fundraising strategies for charter leaders who have more limited resources and community support.

Strengthen the knowledge base of Charter leaders on research-based service delivery and RtI options.

 

Summary of Needs for Leadership, Culture and Systems, continued…

Summary of Needs for Teaching and Learning

Strengthen skills of general educators and special educators in differentiated instruction and teaching to different learning modalities.

Strengthen skills of general educators and special educators in how to create rigorous lessons.

Seek ways to include Speech and Language services in-house or if contracted out to more closely align those services to best practices for school personnel as defined by ASHA/CSHA.

 

Strengthen skills of general educators, special educators, and administrators in how to deal with severe emotional/behavior issues.

Implement more intentional, strategic, full-inclusion models  

Strengthen skills of SLPs in classroom-based assessment, curriculum-relevant intervention strategies, social-pragmatic language support, and single-sound intervention models.

Summary of Needs for Teaching and Learning, continued…

Break down isolation between special educators and general educators.

Break down isolation between the charters themselves and between charters and the district.

Strengthen skills and systems for consistent, deep-level, data-driven practice.

Strengthen skills and systems to provide high-quality Co-Teaching and Collaboration between special ed. and general ed. Staff.

Provide access and training in use of assistive and other technologies

  

Summary of Needs for Support and ResourcesFor Learning Communities

Strengthen communications about available training and resources for Welligent system.

Streamline data entry procedures and create greater efficiencies.

Create networks of users for trouble-shooting and support.

Summary of Needs for Data Management and Systems

Strengthen communications about available training and resources for Welligent system.

Streamline data entry procedures and create greater efficiencies.

Create networks of users for trouble-shooting and support.

Summary of Needs for Data Management and Systems

Stakeholders: A Necessary Component for Moving Forward

Who Were our Stakeholders?

• Charter School Leaders, CEOs, CAOs, founders and principals

• Special Education Leaders

• Teachers

• Parents

• LAUSD office of Innovation

• LAUSD Special Educators

• CCSA Special Education Leadership

What Did They Do?

• Guided needs assessment process

• Assisted in gaining access to school campuses

• Reviewed findings and recommendations

• Prioritized recommendations

• Approved action plans and implementation strategies

• Formed task forces to help with implementation and get the work done

Why Were They Important?

• Their ownership and buy-in made the process a positive one rather than a compliance task.

• New bridges were able to be built with the district in this context.

• They became partners with a common goal with other charter educators, formerly their competitors.

• Their energy and leadership during implementation were essential to the success of the project.

What We Achieved Together

Instructional and Leadership Coaching

• 14 coaches hired and worked with 17 schools on behavior, inclusive instructional models to serve students with disabilities, co-teaching, and leadership

• Two-day RtI training for multiple schools

What We Achieved continued…

Charters Taking the Lead Summit

855 total attendees over two days representing:•  Over 130 charter schools

• 67% teachers

• 7% paraprofessionals

• 23% administrators or other district or county roles

• 2% parents

 

What We Achieved continued…

Charters Taking the Lead Summit continued…

• 30 Workshops over two days

• Nationally recognized, high quality keynote presenters

• 6 strands- Autism, Behavior, Instruction (Tiered Strategies), Leadership, Co-Teaching, Parent Education

• 12 Charter Showcases

What We Achieved continued…

Charters Taking the Lead Evaluations:

received 2,443 evaluations for sessions

84% reported that “the Knowledge/skills learned in <a given> session will be useful to my work”

of 28 sessions 80-100% reported as high quality and would be used in classrooms

70% of evaluations were completed by teachers 47% had taught 3 years or less 22% were first year teachers

What We Achieved continued…

Technology Rich Classroom Awards and Training

• 128 teachers awarded equipment and trained to use it• 61 School sites• 38 Awards for Viewsonic Projectors• 16 Awards for Promethean Boards• 3 Awards for iPod touches• 74 Awards for iPads

What We Achieved continued…

Infinitec

•Assistive Technology and UDL Training provided to 1000+ educators

•200 Schools

•60 trainings

•112 requests for continued or new training in 2011-2012

What We Achieved continued…

Brokers of Expertise (www.myboe.org)

• Online communities of charter educators formed

• Local training and summit training

• New resources and tools being shared

• All summit power points and videos shared

What We Achieved continued…

Data Management

• Analysis conducted

• Welligent Users Guide Developed and Distributed

• End Users group formed on BoE for on-going support

• End Users training provided 8/29 and 8/30/2011

What We Achieved continued…

Extended School Year

•6 schools participated

•20 classes offered

•230 students participated

•Manual developed and provided to schools to assist in starting their own ESY programs

•Administrative oversight and support provided to all sites

• Dr. Kaye Ragland, Director of Inclusion and Special Education, PUC Schools

• Dr. Myranda Marsh, Executive Director, James Jordan Middle School