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I was excited to partner with @Results4America and @AnnenbergInst and to co-author this new new #EdResearch4Recovery brief with Sharon Vaughn of @utexascoe & Lynn Fuchs of @VanderbiltU.
https://bit.ly/Ed4Rbrief2
A few key takeaways…
https://bit.ly/Ed4Rbrief2
A few key takeaways…
We wrestled with the challenges in offering broad guidance for the population of students with disabilities. But, I’m happy with the strategies we came up with.
While we don’t yet have empirical evidence of the specific learning losses experienced by students with disabilities during distance learning, we anticipate that these students are among the populations that have regressed the most.
See this recent survey by @ptogetthis, which reports that many students on IEPs have not received services to which they are entitled. https://parents-together.org/parentstogether-survey-reveals-remote-learning-is-failing-our-most-vulnerable-students/
We suggest that the biggest thing we can do for students with disabilities in the coming year is to provide additional intervention time focused on foundational skills in reading and math or on student behavior. For many students, this will need to be 3 to 5 times per week.
@NCII maintains useful databases on the validity evidence surrounding academic and behavioral interventions.
https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/aintervention
https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/bintervention
https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/aintervention
https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/bintervention
A number of groups have made excellent resources available to support schools in delivering interventions remotely. See, for example, this tool from @TheNCII:
https://intensiveintervention.org/resource/continuity-learning-tips-educators
Or this practice brief from @CenteronPBIS: https://www.pbis.org/resource/guidance-on-adapting-check-in-check-out-cico-for-distance-learning
https://intensiveintervention.org/resource/continuity-learning-tips-educators
Or this practice brief from @CenteronPBIS: https://www.pbis.org/resource/guidance-on-adapting-check-in-check-out-cico-for-distance-learning
To make this shift to intervention happen, it would take concerted effort and will. Special educators’ work would need to be substantially re-oriented toward the delivery of interventions. And other tasks would need to be redistributed to paraprofessionals and other personnel.
Researchers like @MattKraft and @SarahCohodes have made calls for tutoring. This strategy could hold promise for SWDs. But evidence in special ed suggests that for paras or tutors to successfully deliver interventions, they need training, supervision, and structured curricula.
Finally, we should be clear that we are not advocating for time in interventions as a replacement for access to general ed. Instead, we argue that, for many SWDs, strategies relying on support in general ed – like differentiation or co-teaching will likely not be enough.
A bit more on co-teaching because I’m sure this rec is likely to raise some eyebrows. Simply put, we have to acknowledge the urgency of this time for SWDs. While co-teaching is popular, there is very little empirical evidence suggesting it leads to improved outcomes for students.
See this 2012 summary of meta-analyses on co-teaching by Michael Solis and colleagues: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224827729_Collaborative_models_of_instruction_The_empirical_foundations_of_inclusion_and_co-teaching
My colleague, @MarcusAWinters , and I have a new working paper using longitudinal student data in ELA and math from Massachusetts. We looked at the effect of attending a co-taught classroom for students with and without disabilities.
At the elementary level, we do find small, positive effects of co-teaching in ELA. But at the secondary level, both students with disabilities and their general education peers experienced lower test scores in ELA when attending a co-taught classroom.
http://sites.bu.edu/voise/files/2020/06/Effect-of-Co-Teaching.pdf
http://sites.bu.edu/voise/files/2020/06/Effect-of-Co-Teaching.pdf
In sum, to meet the pressing needs of SWDs this fall, schools should be prioritizing intervention time. If schools do elect to use co-teaching, we encourage them to prioritize models where special educators can deliver specialized instruction aligned with students’ IEP goals.
