Leadership Institute: Highly Effective Inclusive Schools

Dr. Thomas HehirProfessor of Practice

Harvard Graduate School of Education

DSAC General/Special Education Collaboration Institute

October 2011

Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Thomas Hehir, Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Role of Education

The concept of ableism: Schools often reflect the attitudes of the broader society in which disability is devalued and persons with disabilities do not enjoy equality of rights and opportunity

Should schools:• Serve the role of reinforcing the status quo?• Be a vehicle for promoting equality and societal

progress?• Take an active role in eliminating ableism?

Ableism and…

• Deaf students• Students with blindness and vision

impairment• Students with LD• Students with emotional disturbance

Role of Education

1. Minimize Impact of Disability

2. Maximize Opportunity to Participate

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• Multiple means of representation

• Multiple means of expression

• Flexible means of engagement

• Universal design for learning• Universally designed support for positive

behavior• Universal design & school organization

Toward Ending Ableism in Education

The Promise of Universal Design

Implementing UDL: Lessons from Three Schools

The O’Hearn School

• A small and diverse learning community committed to helping all children learn and succeed.

• 235 students representing a range of ethnic, linguistic, and ability backgrounds.• 56 staff members, interns, and other volunteers collaborate to create a caring

and challenging learning environment in which children can perform at their highest possible levels.

• An inclusive school.  Students involved in general education; students with mild, moderate, and significant disabilities; and students considered talented and gifted learn together and from each other.

• All O’Hearn students participate in visual arts, dance, music, and hands-on science classes.  O’Hearn students and staff have gained widespread recognition for their outstanding performances.

• Strong family leadership and involvement.  O’Hearn parents have been active as decision-makers and coordinators of many endeavors including after school activities, curriculum related workshops, focus groups, assistive technology, family outreach, and special activities.

Adapted from the Patrick O’Hearn Elementary School website: http://www.boston.k12.ma.us/ohearn/

Samuel Mason School

• An Effective Practice Pilot School where students are taught in fully inclusive classrooms.

• Teachers are dual-certified in regular and special education with extensive training in literacy, math investigations and character education.

• Through creative allocation of funding and commitment of caring partners, each classroom is staffed by two or more adults, resulting in a very low student teacher ratio.

• Business and community partnerships have a strong presence in the school, including the Boston YMCA, NewMarket Business Association and John Hancock Services.Parents as partners. Active members of the school's governance board and Instructional Leadership Team. Parent-designed center staffed by community liaisons, Home Reading Coordinator and Mason parent leaders, provides workshops and training for assisting children in literacy, math and home reading strategies, bridging the gap between home and school.

• Children at the Mason School are taught to be independent.• Top 50 Elementary Schools in Massachusetts during 2005 and also winning the

Vanguard Award in 2003 for Mass Insight Education.

Adapted from the Samuel Mason Elementary School website: http://masonpilot.blogspot.com/

Boston Arts Academy

• Urban school founded on the conviction that academics and the arts are equally important to student development and achievement.

• The arts are integrated throughout the academic curriculum motivating students with a variety of learning styles to succeed in high school and pursue higher education.

• BAA’s 405 students reflect the diversity of the seventeen Boston neighborhoods from which they come: 49% are African American, 29% Latino, 17% Caucasian, 3% Asian, and 2% self-identified as Other.

• Nearly 60% come from low-income households. Because of its success with urban students, BAA is a recognized leader in public education reform movement.

• Innovative use of the arts as a strategy for improving teaching and learning has attracted national and international attention. Through the school’s Center for Arts in Education, BAA’s best practices are documented and shared with educators, administrators and policymakers worldwide.

Adapted from the Boston Arts Academy website: http://www.bostonartsacademy.org/Pages/index

• Symbolic Frame (Value and culture matter)

• Structural Frame (Organization, resources, policies, etc.)

• Political Frame (How an organization deals with issues of power)

• Human Resource Frame (How the individuals within the organization

are treated, supported and developed)

The Four Frames of Leadership(Bolman and Deal)

Symbolic Frame(Values and culture matter)

• Strong mission orientation• Leaders tell the story of the school and it’s

students• School leaders believe they are involved in

a larger change effort to remake schooling to be more equitable and inclusive

• Ceremonies celebrating success and promoting mission are common

Structural Frame (Organization, resources, policies, etc.)

• All resources in one basket• The leaders are exceptionally entrepreneurial• Collaborative teaching and problem solving

opportunities• Extended time• Integration of community resources• UDL utilizing both high and low tech is ubiquitous• Strong integration of the arts

Political Frame(How an organization deals with issues of power)

• Opinion leaders are essential elements of promoting change (Skrtic)

• Principals actively seek political support to secure necessary resources

• Principals actively seek both vertical and horizontal support within their school

• Principals actively seek community support• Principals engage in a delicate dance of being both

insiders and countercultural change agents• Implementers and clients matter

Human Resource Frame(How the individuals within the organization

are treated, supported and developed)

• All persons working within the schools are connected to the mission

• Leadership is distributed• Teacher leadership is encouraged and valued• Collaborative problem solving is the norm• A recognition that specialized expertise is necessary• Teachers and other staff evidence high morale• Significant resources are available for staff development• Clear expectations that all need to constantly improve

their ability to address the needs of diverse learners

Biggest Take Aways

• All of these schools have moved from “egg crate” performance organizations to collaborative problem solving organizations

• Kids at the margins have driven this organizational change