Phase One: A School Where Special Education Is for Everybody
Focus is Meeting Educational Needs Of All Students
by Anne Silverstein
Phase One of the special education initiative is underway at 265 schools in 10 networks. Principals tell CSA that they support the philosophy of the initiative but some feel the rollout has been uneven.
Last month, CSA, working with the Department of Education, reported on the initiative at PS 304, Bronx, which has had a successful experience with Phase One. In March, we visited the Academy for Careers in Television and Film in Long Island City to see how the implementation was faring; the report is below. Later this spring, CSA will also report on the initiative at a middle school.
The Academy for Careers in Television and Film, now in its third year of existence with 317 students, is on target to graduate 95 percent of the class of 2012 next spring. That will include 10 of the 12 students with disabilities (SWD) in the 2012 cohort, an 83 percent rate.
This percentage is well above the average for the city – 24 percent of SWD graduate in four years, a number Deputy Chancellor Laura Rodriguez quotes often when explaining that the 2010 special education initiative was imperative for the city’s children.
While the school’s founding Principal Mark Dunetz agrees that 83 percent is probably a number of which to be proud, he also says he’s not settling; his school’s goals are to graduate all students in four years, to ensure that they graduate with the skills needed to attend a two- or a four-year college, and to teach students about career paths and how to pursue their goals.
In designing the Academy for Careers in Television and Film (ACTvF), Mr. Dunetz and his staff have, in effect, incorporated the goals of Phase One, well before Ms. Rodriguez introduced the special education initiative a year ago. That was one of the reasons Mr. Dunetz was involved in early discussions about the special education program. Said Ms. Rodriguez, “A lot of [his] structures already matched the goals of the initiative,” so his school was a natural fit moving forward in Phase One.
“One of the strengths of this school has been clarity of purpose,” said Mr. Dunetz during a group meeting with Ms. Rodriguez, teachers, staff members, network personnel and staff from Ms. Rodriguez’ office. “… This school is not
a collection of past practices,” he added.
Mr. Dunetz said he wants to provide a high level of support for all students, and that includes students with disabilities, who are never segregated. “In a nutshell, students with disabilities participate equally in all activities in this building with little or no stigma. They are vested in being successful in high school and graduating.” Segregating SWD “from the life of a school will have serious ramifications for their success in school,” he said.
Focused, talented staff
From the beginning, Mr. Dunetz said, all of ACTvF’s services were integrated so special education students were never apart from general education students. Students who need help, with or without an IEP, are provided with extra support. He credited a focused and talented staff with helping him design a set of systems and practices that keep students on track.
“The more we help students up front,” said Ms. Rodriguez, “the fewer students may need IEP referrals.”
Mr. Dunetz wants to add targeted skills classes for all students. “We’ve started to experiment with that,” he said. For example, pairing a targeted skills algebra class with a regular algebra class so that a student who needs help – any student regardless of classification – remains in his algebra class but has an additional class in which he can relearn concepts he missed.
One problem Mr. Dunetz wanted to avoid was one he had encountered in past schools in which he worked. Students were the “go-between” between adults, carrying their records with them or orally providing information.
To avoid the lack of communication such a system engenders, Mr. Dunetz designed a data system. (He uses Google Apps Education Edition, a free suite of applications.) Any adult working with a child has access to that child’s data including writing samples, test data, attendance records, and notes about what the student is doing. This allows that provider to give meaningful support to the child and his or her teachers. “The efforts of all adults are coordinated,” Mr. Dunetz said. In a
small school, he and his staff agree, it is imperative to keep on top of everything.
Demystify special education
Ms. Rodriguez asked Mr. Dunetz what resources he needed to make the initiative go even more smoothly. Mr. Dunetz cited two things: increased flexibility in funding formulas and the demystification of special education instruction.
Mr. Dunetz said some funding formulas seem to favor one program over another. He also finds some funding methods are unintentionally punitive. More flexibility would not mean more money for schools; it would allow more
creativity in using the funds a school has.
Mr. Dunetz also said the DOE needs to develop a quick and cheap way for dual certification for teachers. Special education qualifications are perceived as obscure and hard to learn, he said; there’s a belief that the skill set necessary to teach SWD is so different from general education teaching skills. In high school, content is the goal and teachers are used to addressing a broad range of skills in a classroom. Reaching SWD is just another dimension of that broad range. Teachers always “have a large range of abilities, and the goal is to provide [students] with the content they need in the shortest amount of time,” Mr. Dunetz said.
Twenty percent of the teachers at ACTvF are dual certified, and special and general education teachers have a common prep time together to share information, said Assistant Principal Edgar Rodriguez. In co-teaching situations, the general ed teacher takes the lead in content management and the special education teacher takes the lead in differentiated tasks.
