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Zone 2/3 Special Education Directors Meeting October 7, 2013
Inclusion Update October 2013: Outcomes of an inclusive education system:
Each child and youth belongs, is supported and is successful in his/her learning.
Families are encouraged and supported in helping their children to be successful
in their learning.
Supports and services that help children and youth in their learning are provided
in a coordinated and seamless manner.
Last May we had our first results from the first two outcomes based on Accountability Pillar survey measures that most closely align with the outcomes. Unfortunately we do not currently have any measures for the third outcome. Provincial results:
Each child and youth belongs, is supported and is successful in his/her learning.
– Improved significantly:
Families are encouraged and supported in helping their children to be successful
in their learning. Improved:
We are making progress, 85.9% of students, parents and teachers responded that each child and youth belongs, is supported and is successful in his/her learning. 84.2% of families are encouraged and supported in helping their children be successful in their learning. – This means that more than one in 10 students don’t belong, are not supported and are not successful in their learning and that more than one in 10 families are not encouraged and supported in helping their children to be successful in their learning. We have a ways to go. I encourage you to analyze your school authority and school level reports to help you in your planning for the next school year. Education Funding
As you know the department provides funds for qualifying children and students from 2 ½ years of age 20 less a day on September 1st. School authority allocations include Base Instructional Funding and Additional Funding for Differential Cost Factors such as ESL, FNMI, Hutterite Colony Schools and Inclusive Education Funding. When we transitioned to the Inclusive Education Funding model government increased funding for students with special needs by 22%. In addition, Budget 2013 increased inclusive education funding by 2% when a number of other grants were eliminated and most were kept at 0%. This strongly demonstrates government’s commitment to supporting an inclusive education system.
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In addition, government provides funding to support regional planning and service delivery as it makes more sense for some supports and services to be shared between school authorities rather than having each school authority responsible to paying for these on their own. The regional planning and service delivery model is moving from three distinct provincial programs (Student Health, CYCN and RECS) to one integrated provincial program, the Regional Collaborative Service Delivery model. This will move us from three sets of regional boundaries to one, from 3 governance models to one, from 3 overlapping mandates to one, from 3 funding models to one, from 3 reporting and accountability processes to one and from 3 referral processes to one resulting in improved access to supports and services, improved coordination and integration of available resources, and increased capacity and flexibility. Working Together: Collaborative Practices and Partnership Toolkit was developed in collaboration with the ASBA, ASCA, ATA, and CASS to help superintendents, division office leaders, principals, school leaders, and education partners build capacity and develop partnerships with the goal of ensuring that our youth have access to an equitable and inclusive education system. Regional Collaborative Service Delivery (RCSD) RCSD is a regional partnership between school authorities, Alberta Health Services (AHS), Child and Family Services Authorities (CFSA) and other community stakeholders. Under RCSD, partners will work together on a regional basis to meet the identified needs of children and youth. RCSD resources must be pooled and shared to support the identified needs of children and youth in a given region. Children and youth throughout the region must have equitable access to services regardless of their school program. RCSD is intended to more effectively meet the learning needs of children and youth and support their well-being. Its purpose is to ensure that the children and youth in any given region have streamlined and coordinated access to supports and services they need to be successful in school and in their community.
“The goal of RCSD is that children will have access to the right supports at the right
time in their school and community. It will achieve this by improving access to supports and services; building capacity within communities, including school staff,
service providers and families; and improving integration and coordination of services.”
Under RCSD, there will continue to be a wide range of services and supports. However, the supports and services that are available in a particular region will depend on what service priorities have been identified by the regional partners. All supports and services offered must improve a child or youth’s ability to take part in their school or community.
Children or youth who are registered with Alberta Education in Early Childhood Services (ECS) to Grade 12
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Children and youth who have a low incidence disability*
A child or youth who needs a coordinated plan through a team approach
Children and youth with complex needs** between the ages of 0 and 20
School staff, families and service providers who need training or skill development
*Low Incidence disabilities include:
Blind/Low Vision
Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing
Deaf-Blind
Significant Developmental Delay
Significant Physical and Multiple Disabilities
Significant Communications Disabilities requiring the use of a speech generating communicating device
**Children and youth with complex needs are those who require significant extraordinary care due to the severity of their impairment(s) and require services from more than one ministry. This may include children and youth:
with multiple impairments, complex mental health and health issues and/or severe behavioral needs
for whom all currently available resources have been utilized with limited success
who require fiscal and human resources that strain the capacity of any one ministry
for whom there are questions about the safety of the child, youth, family, or public
RCSD is moving from three distinct provincial programs (Student Health, CYCN and
RECS) to one integrated provincial program, the Regional Collaborative Service
Delivery model. This will move us from three sets of regional boundaries to one,
from 3 governance models to one, from 3 overlapping mandates to one, from 3
funding models to one, from 3 reporting and accountability processes to one and
from 3 referral processes to one resulting in improved access to supports and
services, improved coordination and integration of available resources, and
increased capacity and flexibility.
Indicators of Inclusive Schools: Continuing the Conversations is available and designed to help school staff develop strategies and action plans to strengthen inclusive practices and better meet the diverse learning needs of all students. Curriculum Redesign: This initiative is moving toward prototyping in the creation of new digitally based, competency focused programs of study, the identification and/or development of classroom based assessments and learning and teaching resources. An important aspect of curriculum redesign is to support an inclusive education system. New and Updated Education Standing Offers
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The Ministry of Education has created a new category of Education Standing Offer (ESO) to support learners’ communication, innovation, discovery and sharing of knowledge. Through the Reading and Writing Learning Technologies ESO, school authorities will now have access to education pricing for software products that offer text-to-speech, word prediction, speech recognition, visual thinking tools and/or symbol supported text. The list of products available through this ESO will be updated on an ongoing basis as new manufacturers are added. For up-to-date information about which products are offered, please visit Education’s website. These products provide support and flexibility in how students access content and demonstrate learning. Students can also use them to help reduce or overcome individual barriers to learning. Teachers, learning coaches, and others who want to know more about how learning technologies can support and benefit students are recommended to visit the Learning Technologies: Information for Teachers website, hosted by the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium. I encourage you to bring this website to the attention of teachers in your school authority when you are discussing this new ESO with them. As well, please note that the Education Standing Offer for Laptops/Desktops has been updated to include “Mobility Products,” such as tablet devices, and the product list under Projection Devices has been updated. More information, including future updates, can be found on the website identified above. To order from these or any other Education Standing Offers, please visit the Learning Resources Centre (LRC) website at www.lrc.education.gov.ab.ca/pro/default.html and log in. If you have questions, please contact Jason Paradis, Manager, Resources Management, Learning Resources Centre, at [email protected] or by phone at 780-427-5293 (toll-free by first dialing 310-0000). Digital Citizenship Technology Briefing The second in Alberta Education’s planned series of Technology Briefings for school authority senior leadership has now been released. As you may recall, the first briefing addressed the topic of Cloud Computing. This new briefing is on the subject of Digital Citizenship. It is being distributed electronically by CASS and the Association of School Business Officials of Alberta to their respective memberships. Attached is a copy of the briefing so that you can be prepared for questions that may come from senior leaders in your organization. The concept for these briefings arose from discussions our staff had with the College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS). CASS membership felt that there was a need for high-level introductory information senior leadership could access to familiarize themselves with emerging technology trends. In the context of Inspiring Education’s vision for students to become engaged thinkers who use technology to learn, innovate, collaborate, communicate and discover, this information will support school authority leadership to be well-informed as they make critical technology decisions.
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If you have any questions about the Technology Briefing, please contact Tara Reimche, Business Analyst, School Technology Branch, at [email protected]. MediaSmarts Provincial Licensing Education is currently negotiating a one-year extension with MediaSmarts of the licensing agreements that provided free access for all Alberta school authorities to the Passport to the Internet and MyWorld student resources. As the agreement is being finalized, MediaSmarts has agreed to keep last year’s login credentials active, so teachers will not experience any interruption in service. Passport to the Internet is an online, module-based resource that covers such topics as online safety, authenticating online information, recognizing online marketing ploys, protecting privacy, managing online relationships and dealing with cyberbullying. MyWorld is a similar online resource for students in Grades 9 to 12. MyWorld focuses on the key areas of research and authenticating online information; privacy and personal information; online relationships (including cyberbullying); and using digital media ethically. I encourage you to bring these resources to the attention of teaching staff in your school authority to ensure they are aware of the opportunity and have time to incorporate these resources into their plans as they deem appropriate. For more information or login credentials, please contact Emily Daubert, Project Coordinator, School Technology Branch, at [email protected]. Information about these and other resources for school authorities is also available on Education’s website. Guide to Education 2013/2014 Edition Available The 2013/2014 edition of the Guide to Education: ECS to Grade 12 is available on the Alberta Education website along with a Summary of Key Changes since the previous year’s edition. The Guide to Education is an important policy and programming document that helps ensure quality education from early childhood to Grade 12. Each year, Alberta Education staff work hard to make the Guide to Education a document that continues to be useful to you.
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Alberta Education Sessions for the October ATA Special Education Council Conference
Title Using Technologies to Support Literacy for All Students
Description Alberta Education has recently negotiated several Education
Standing Offers for learning technologies that support students
with diverse learning needs. This session will provide information
that teachers, learning coaches and other school leaders can
use to choose technology solutions that will enable individual
students to participate more meaningfully and successfully in
literacy activities.
Presenter Sandra Gluth - Cross Curriculum Infusion Branch
Title IPP Component Review Update
Description Alberta Education has recently conducted an Individual Program Plan Component review. This session will provide an opportunity to learn more about the results. Join Alberta Education staff for a discussion regarding instructional planning and how we can focus on meaningful instruction for every student.
Presenter Leah Dushenski – School Accreditation and Standards Branch
Title Literacy for All: Promising Results for Students with Significant Disabilities
Description This is an opportunity to learn about the exciting results emerging from the Literacy for All communities of practice. Find out how Grade 1 to 6 teachers are changing their instructional practices to create more meaningful and successful literacy learning for students with significant disabilities. This session will be an opportunity to learn about the resources they are using, the instructional supports and strategies that are making a difference and what teacher participants are learning, not only about their students but about themselves as teachers.
Presenter Catherine Walker - Cross Curriculum Infusion Branch
Instructional Support Templates – IPP component review
Over 5000 respondences to the online survey. The feedback helped inform the
development of some draft templates that we plan to have ready for school
authorities to test out in the 2013/14 school year. Our desire is to make the IPPs
smaller and more useful documents for teachers and parents. We also will
maintain the IEPT resource library as a support for teachers. School authorities
wishing to continue to use their existing IPPs are free to do so.
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As we continue to move forward with Inspiring Education, it is important that the starting point for each and every student’s education is the Programs of Study. Alberta education is designing templates that focus our attention on the use of instructional strategies to support the learning of all students.
The templates were informed by feedback from the Inclusive Education Planning Tool pilot teachers, the Individualized Program Plan Component Review and the ATA Curriculum Circle that was held in June 2013.
Alberta Education is not mandating the use of these templates for student planning. They are working documents that will help the education system transition to expectations of the Education Act and related regulations in 2015.
School authorities should not delay the planning process for individual students until the templates are available. It is critical to the education of each and every student that necessary supports and services be put into place as early as possible in the school year in order to facilitate a student’s learning.
The templates will be available as part of the Inclusive Education Library. Teachers will be able to select instructional strategies and information from the Library to assist them with providing a meaningful education program to their students.
Information about the availability of the templates will be sent to school authorities later this fall.
Draft Planning for a Continuum of Specialized Supports and Services for Students The Continuum document was designed to foster dialogue related to what a continuum of specialized supports and services means and the associated roles and responsibilities. The feedback we received will help in ensuring that we clearly communicate what this means for school authorities when the Education Act and associated regulations come into effect for the 2015/16 school year. Together We Raise Tomorrow The Government of Alberta recently launched the Together We Raise Tomorrow (http://www.socialpolicy.alberta.ca) public engagement to ensure the province is doing everything it can to put children first. The consultations will inform the creation of a Children's Charter, and strategies around eliminating child poverty and improving early childhood development resulting in improved well-being, safety, security, education and health of all children in Alberta. Led by the department of Human Services, the engagement looks into specific areas, such as the early years in a child’s life, in an effort to ensure all children are able to have the opportunity to succeed regardless of their family’s personal and financial situation. Human Services will also lead a review of all policies, programs and services across government that impact children and is expected to provide a report to the Alberta Legislature.
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The focused work on issues affecting children aligns directly with the goals Albertans identified under the Social Policy Framework: reduce inequality; protect vulnerable people; enable collaboration and partnerships; and, create a person-centred system of high quality services.
A key component of the Together We Raise Tomorrow is the Alberta Approach to Early Childhood Development 2013 http://earlychildhood.alberta.ca that contains four strategic priorities resulting in a more integrated early childhood development system:
o Improved Maternal, Infant, and Child Health o Enriched Early Learning and Care o Enhanced Parenting Supports o Safe and Supportive Environments for Children
We encourage you to provide us with your thoughts about this important topic as we build an integrated early learning and care system.
Key factors that will drive our success include the use of research and innovation, the integration of policy, governance, the use of our resources, accountability for results, workforce planning and information sharing and data collection systems The Government of Alberta is executing an ambitious public policy agenda to ensure the needs of Albertans are better supported by government services. The ability to share information within government and with partnering organizations is fundamental to realizing this vision. The Information Sharing Strategy (ISS) The ISS was approved by government in 2012 to improve information sharing to support better decisions and outcomes for the health, education and safety of children and families in Alberta. The Strategy will be implemented in two phases over three years. Phase one in the first two years will focus on the ministries of Human Services, Health and Education and their service delivery partners. Phase two in year three will focus on bringing the remaining ministries and partners into scope. Government policy under the Strategy specifies that personal and health information will be shared by government organizations and their service delivery partners across the human services sector where necessary to support collaborative or integrated service delivery and where required for health and safety reasons. Human Services, Health and Education, along with their stakeholders and partners have started their work to implement this Strategy. The changes required to legislation to implement the Strategy will not erode the confidentiality that is currently provided to personal and health information. The Strategy will enhance service delivery, with a focus on citizen-centric services in
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a manner that continues to uphold the privacy rights of the individuals being served.
Alberta’s Children First Act received Royal Assent in May 2013 and will come into force upon proclamation. The Children First Act is a means to ensure that there is greater clarity around the use of personal and health information as it relates to or impacts on children’s well-being, safety, security, education and health. This legislation enables the sharing of personal and health information for the provision of services or benefits to children and youth and supports the Information Sharing Strategy. We have been working with Human Services and Health in supporting the GoA Information Sharing Strategy. http://www.humanservices.alberta.ca/department/14802.html. High School Completion Strategy This expanding work really is an integral part of building an inclusive education system. A big focus of the High School Completion Strategy will be on the work of redesigning high schools as part of the expansion of the High School Flexibility Enhancement Pilot Project. Other work:
Mentoring
http://education.alberta.ca/department/newsroom/news/2009/september/200909
23a.aspx
Bullying Prevention http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/safeschools/bullying-
prevention.aspx
Children and Youth in Care Protocols
http://education.alberta.ca/admin/supportingstudent/collaboration/ppf.aspx
Addictions and Mental Health http://www.health.alberta.ca/documents/Creating-
Connections-2011-Strategy.pdf
Enhancing Inclusive Environments online collaborative space – this community of
practice, Enhancing Inclusive Environments Ning is operated by the Edmonton
Regional Consortia has been growing in popularity and has revolutionizing
professional development in our province http://www.erlc.ca .
Website and resources to support learning coaches
http://www.inclusiveeducationpdresources.ca/index.php
http://education.alberta.ca/admin/supportingstudent/collaboration/learningcoache
s.aspx
Communities of practice for teaching literacy and numeracy to students with
severe learning disabilities
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http://education.alberta.ca/department/ipr/inclusion/capacity/literacyforallpilot.asp
x
Video clips and learning guides to enhance and support teacher practice in the
area of literacy for students with significant disabilities
http://abliteracyforall.wikispaces.com
Supporting Every Student website – this website is our new way of sharing
resources and information to support inclusive education, collaborative practices
and partnerships. The website contains a wealth of information to support
teachers and education leaders
http://education.alberta.ca/admin/supportingstudent.aspx
Raising Children Website – is designed for parents and teachers working with
infants and children from 0 to 6 years of age
http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/resources/connection/archive/october-
2010/earlylearning/raising.aspx
Support for students with low incidence disabilities – travelling low vision clinics,
vision resource centres, skill shops for students who are deaf or hard of hearing,
training of braille transcibers, and the Vision Education website that contains
deaf-blind resources, resources for classroom teachers, workshop and
conference training materials and a discussion board.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder resources
http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/resources/fasd.aspx
Take Ten Spotlight Series that provides strategies and tools for teaching
students with learning disabilities or AD/HD
http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/resources/connection/may-
2013/inclusiveed/take.aspx
Thank you for your leadership in building an inclusive education system.
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Q & As 1. Where are things at provincially with the IPP? What items have been
removed? When will templates be available? What is the timeframe for using the new IPP?
The Individualized Program Planning (IPP) Component Review – Over 5000 responded to the online survey. The feedback helped inform the development of some draft templates that we plan to have ready for school authorities to test out in the 2013/2014 school year. Our desire is to make the IPPs smaller and more useful documents for teachers and parents. We also will maintain the IEPT resource library as a support for teachers. School authorities wishing to continue to use their existing IPPs are free to do so.
As we continue to move forward with Inspiring Education, it is important that the starting point for each and every student’s education is the Programs of Study. Alberta Education is finalizing templates that will focus attention on instructional strategies to support the learning of all students.
The templates will be informed by feedback from the Inclusive Education Planning Tool pilot teachers, the Individualized Program Plan Component Review and the ATA Curriculum Circle that was held in June 2013.
These templates will be an optional resource to help the education system transition to expectations of the Education Act and related regulations in 2015. Using the templates is not mandatory.
While the templates will be available later in the fall, school authorities should continue the planning process for individual students to ensure that necessary supports and services are put into place as early as possible in the school year in order to facilitate a student’s learning.
Once finalized, the templates will be added to the Inclusive Education Library at (insert web address). Teachers will be able to select instructional strategies and information from the Library to assist them with providing a meaningful education program to their students.
Information about the availability of the templates will be sent to school authorities later this fall.
2. RCSD
a) Provincial Operational Guidelines do not speak to hiring staff through the RCSD; will there be more direction?
Each region is to determine how their service delivery will be managed for the
2013/2014 year. Regions have submitted a strategic plan developed through a
team-based approach over the course of the past year. Each region has been
provided with an allocation for the 2013/2014 school year. As previously
communicated, this is a transitional year with the expectation that planning for
Regional Educational Consulting Services (RECS) will occur over the course of
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this school year. There will be regular meetings to plan for the RECS transition.
Contracts, funding and other details will need to be considered as part of this
planning.
b) Impact of RCSD decisions on AHS contracts – how is this being dealt with at the provincial level?
Alberta Health Services (AHS) contracts are not managed provincially through
RCSD. Regional partners are to work together to assess the impact of any
potential changes to existing contracts or conditions of employment and make
informed decisions collaboratively through a consensus based approach.
Provincial approval is not required when making regional service delivery
decisions. In terms of planning for RECS, it is important to note that details such
as staff will need to be considered within the context of planning over the course
of the 2013/2014 school year.
c) RECS allocations: how will this be determined? When will we have allocation information/amounts?
For the 2013/2014 school year, allocations have already been communicated to
each RCSD region and RECS team. Funding for the 2014/2015 year will not be
known until after the provincial budget is announced. The allocations are then
determined later in the spring and communicated to each RCSD region. Some
aspects of this question may need to be explored through the planning process
related to the RECS transition as described above.
3. Diploma Exams – looking for guidance for local accommodation approval process; templates do not seem to be available, although the bulletin indicates they will be. Is there a time frame for these? November 4th deadline is very early for approving things like extra time? Is there flexibility on the deadlines?
Alberta Education has not created templates for school authorities to use in their
processes. It would have been difficult for our staff to create supporting materials
tailored to the business process needs of each central office. Pamela Klebanov,
Coordinator, Special Cases and Accommodations in Assessment Sector, Alberta
Education, is in the process of removing that section from the General Information
Bulletin.
There is flexibility in terms of school authority requests for extra time for this school
year for the January administration.
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Do you have a ballpark idea of when that information would available to
Special Cases?
Pamela’s objective for next year is to provide school authorities with a more realistic
deadline for the January administration.
4. Grade 3 SLA – will there be accommodations for SLAs? If so, what types and
what will the process/requirements be for determining eligibility?
Assessment Sector’s aim is to try to make the assessments as inclusive as possible,
thereby reducing the need for accommodations. For example, they hope to include
text to speech so audio and readers aren't needed, and any student can use it. Any
other accommodations will likely be handled locally.
5. FSCD/PUF “Common Vision” – What has worked in pilot regions? What parameters exist for sharing of resources/flexibility of funding use with both ministries?
Through the pilot program, families experienced improved coordination, consistency and reduced administrative challenges as a result of one team implementing a single plan across the home and early learning setting. School authorities, service providers and parents have highlighted the benefits of a more streamlined and coordinated approach to service delivery.
Reduced service costs are expected in terms of processes, particularly in the long term. The common approach reduces barriers to access services and enhances service coordination to more effectively and efficiently achieve program goals and outcomes. A more cost effective service delivery system is anticipated (for example one team across settings potentially means less travel, less administration costs and likely delivery efficiencies).
The common approach ensures a one-team approach in order to meet a child’s needs in the home, school and community. For example, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) may visit the school and home and set up strategies that make sense for a family and child. Currently a school may have an SLP for school and a family would contract a second service delivery team for home and community programming.
Collaborative planning – resulting in: – improved goal development – goals focused on parent priorities for their child’s
development and participation across settings – reduced focus on “how much service I can get” – a school authority
representative noted that “parents are now talking differently about their services, there is more buy in”
– improved goal attainment – the team, including the family, service providers, and school authority and Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD)
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representatives all work together to focus on the same goals across settings, resulting in improved goal achievement.
– Functional approach to services versus therapeutic and clinical – services focus on building the capacity of parents and others to promote the child’s participation and development.
– Parents are more engaged in their child’s learning and appreciate being a valued member of the team
– Effective use of limited resources – sharing of limited resources between FSCD and school authorities. In rural regions, this has resulted in improved availability of resources that were previously unavailable.
– A program performance and evaluation framework is being created in order to determine how well this integrated program fulfills its goals and outcomes.
We have encouraged school authorities accessing Program Unit Funding (PUF) and the Child and Family Service Authorities (CFSAs) to think broadly about what supports are required for a family and child in order to offer what has been outlined by parents as their goals for their child. We have seen regions working together to meet the needs of all families with children with special needs by offering flexible program hours and collaborative approaches to better meet their needs. In many cases, the school authority has become the specialized services provider as one way to better support families. We have encouraged authorities to use PUF dollars if needed to support better connections to school and home (e.g., increasing the hours slightly of programming to include more family oriented programming if needed or to connect to a child care worker to ensure goals and strategies are consistent through the child’s entire day). The common approach flows into RCSD as the child enters Grade 1 with a team of professionals already working together to support children in the home, school and community.
