Time for Change: Examining Data Relating to Student

Performanceand

Implementing a Plan to Improve Student Outcomes

Glenna GalloDirector of Special EducationGlenna.gallo@schools.Utah.gov

Beliefs Regarding Utah’s Students with Disabilities

What do we want for Utah’s students?

College and Career Ready

Each student should have education and career goals that will prepare them to experience fulfilling lives, actively participate as educated citizens, and

thrive in a particularly competitive and global marketplace.

What don’t we want for Utah’s students?

•Disengagement • Leaving K-12 education

unprepared for life, without:•Academic proficiency•Social skills•Civic responsibility

• “Good enough” attitude•Perpetuating inequities

How is that different for Utah’s students with disabilities?

Vision of LeadershipState, LEA, School, and IEP Team Levels

Stakeholder Review and Feedback

The usual stakeholders, who either pay for, provide, receive, participate in, or collaborate on IDEA services and issues, and/or provide expertise, plus…

• Special Education staff of other State Educational Agencies (SEAs)

• Other LEA staff, as invited by the Special Education Director (e.g., Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent, Directors, and Title I Directors)

• Utah Parent Teacher Association (PTA)• Utah Assessment Policy Advisory

Committee (PAC)• Institutes of Higher Education (IHEs)

teacher preparation, leadership, and math departments

• Broader stakeholder group needed as many of the identified improvement needs impact the greater educational and business community, not just students with disabilities.

• Stakeholders deferred providing input to other individuals perceived as having special knowledge and expertise regarding students with disabilities, rather than considering how the needs of all students align with and support the needs of students with disabilities who access Tier I Core instruction in addition to their specialized instruction.

• These behaviors unintentionally contributed to the current state of wide-spread separate and reduced expectations for students with disabilities in comparison with non-disabled peers in Utah, especially in regards to IEP team decisions concerning the supports needed for students with disabilities to access and progress in the grade-level state mathematics standards.

Utah Students with Disability Data

SLD42%

SLI24%

DD8%

OH8%

AU7%

ID4%

BD2%

MD2%

A Collective Responsibility

The problem human beings face is not that we aim too high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.

Michelangelo

Systems Changefor Students with Disabilities

Previous

• Silos• Replace general education with

special education• Teams with specialties• IEP content driven by special

educator and parents• Off-grade-level instruction and

assessments

Current

• Collaboration • Tier 1 Instruction for all with

additional tiered support, as needed• PLCs and cross-disciplinary teams• IEP content driven by informed

team, based on data• On-grade-level instruction and

assessment

Complete document may be found at http://www.schools.utah.gov/sars/Instruction.aspx

What do we do WITH each other, instead of TO each other, to improve student outcomes?

Educators

Leadership

Parents

Strategies & Lessons Learned

Strategy 1: Align State-Level Improvement Plans and Efforts

• State Systemic Improvement Plans (SSIP)• ESEA Flexibility Waiver• Education Excellence (Equity)

Plan

• Professional Learning• Coaching• Fiscal • Preservice Preparation

• Identified:• Root causes of current

performance• Areas of alignment across USOE

personnel• Repurposing USOE activities to

comprehensively address all root causes, regardless of section• Determine beliefs of Utah

stakeholders regarding students with disabilities• Common PD with support added

from Special Education, Title I

Root CausesHigh Expectations

and Beliefs

Multi- Tiered System of Supports in

Secondary Settings

Content Knowledge and Effective Instruction

LeadershipIEP Team Decisions

Partnerships and CollaborationPreservice and Inservice

Professional LearningActive Engagement of All School

PersonnelData Driven Decision Making

Evidence-Based PracticesFiscal Support

Inclusion in grade level core content, assessment,

graduation requirements, and CCR Plans.

Infrastructure, Scale, Fidelity

Math content and pedogogy to provide effective

instruction through UDL and evidence-based interventions.

Strategy 2: Remind LEAs of Existing Professional Standards (Which Support Plans)

Utah Educational Leadership Standards

Utah Effective Teaching Standards

• Advocate for students• Continuous evidence-based

improvement• Eliminate barriers to learning• Every student learning/hold high

expectations for students• Recognize personal and

professional biases• Create appropriate and challenging

learning experiences• Know and uses the Core in planning

and instruction• Use data to determine educational

impact and adjust instruction

In addition to being responsible for Utah Teaching Standards,special educators are also responsible for CEC Professional Standards

•Maintaining challenging expectations to develop the highest possible learning outcomes• Exercising professional judgement

to benefit students with disabilities• Promoting meaningful inclusion• Using evidence, data, research,

and professional knowledge to inform practice/

Strategy 3: Review, Discuss, and Act on the Data

• Extensive review of state data by subgroup and placement • LEA data drills, examining state trends and LEA results by subgroup

• Ongoing follow-up and analysis of LEA data

• Include parents and families in the conversations and utilize parent meetings effectively

Then:• Make decisions that target the area of need• Change processes and procedures as a result of the data and

feedback• Follow up, collect data, and ensure change impacted as

Have you ever heard

this?“Students with

disabilities spend the

majority of the school day in the general education

classroom.”

Environments – Ages 3-5

AU BD CD DB DD HI ID MD OH OI SL TB VI0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Regular Early Childhood Program Special Early Childhood Program Other2014-2015

Kindergarten

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12+

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

80-100% GenEd 40-79% GenEd 0-39% GenEd2014-2015

Access to General Education – By Grade

6-8th Grade Math ProficiencyNon- students with Disabilities SY 2014

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

75% 74% 75% 71%

47% 47% 47% 47% 48%42% 41% 41% 43%

Non-SWD 6th Grade Math Non-SWD 7th Grade Math Non-SWD 8th Grade Math

6-8th Grade Math ProficiencyStudents with Disabilities SY 2014

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

29% 31% 30% 32%

11% 13% 12% 12% 15%7% 8% 9% 10%

SWD 6th Grade Math SWD 7th Grade Math SWD 8th Grade Math

The Purpose of IDEA

To ensure that all students with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related

services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.

IEP & State/Alternate Standards

Regular Diploma or Certificate of Completion

College and Career Ready

Strategy 4: Consider the Interconnectedness of College and Career for All Students

Strategy 5: Don’t Reinvent; Repurpose

• IEP Team• PLC• Student Support Team• Teacher Assistance Team• Leadership Team• Parent/Teacher Team• School Community Council• School Improvement Plan• LEA Improvement Plan• Equity Plan• State Systemic Improvement Plan

Lessons Learned

When feeling overwhelmed or unknowledgeable, people revert back to what is know and comfortable. Who will carry the charge for change?

Time to Reflect?

• Do you, and your stakeholders, believe that each and every student can be ready for college and career?• Are your policies and actions reflecting this belief?• Have you considered how to leverage the interconnectedness of your

stakeholder groups?