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District pushes inclusionary practices; plans UDL training and co-teaching pilots to expand access
Summary
Kevin Brennan and colleagues described a district initiative to expand inclusive practices across elementary and secondary schools, naming Whitney and Martin Luther King elementary schools as pilot cohorts, citing UDL training, site visits and plans to measure Least Restrictive Environment outcomes.
Kevin Brennan and district colleagues updated the board on a multi-year inclusionary-practices effort intended to increase student access to general education classrooms. The board heard a mission statement for inclusion: "to ensure a safe, equitable, inclusive, and high-quality learning environment where all students are valued, supported, and empowered to thrive," and learned the program's first operational year ('year zero') will move into a more active implementation next year.
Brennan said the district will pilot deeper changes in two elementary cohort schools—Whitney Elementary and Martin Luther King Elementary—and expand professional learning in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). At the secondary level the focus is on access to core instruction; the district is exploring co-teaching/co-planning models that place a special-education teacher in general education classrooms alongside the content teacher to preserve access to core instruction. "We're looking at models like co-teaching so that those students can receive their specially designed instruction inside the gen-ed classroom and have access to core instruction," Brennan said.
Presenters reported site visits to model districts and schools (including Ruby Bridges Elementary and Seome High School) and said outcomes to be tracked this summer and fall will include Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) placement data, academic monitoring (reading, writing and math), dropout rates for students with IEPs and membership of building inclusionary-practice teams. The presenters acknowledged that the district currently ranks high in the state's LR3 measure (they cited that 20% of students are in the LR3 category and said the district ranks third worst in the state) and said the plan aims to reduce exclusion by design changes and targeted case management.
Board members asked about data collection and whether trustees could join future site visits; presenters said they would provide baseline data this summer and organize site visits with board participation where feasible. The board did not vote on any policy changes at the meeting; presenters said they will return with baseline metrics in the fall.
