Specially Designed Instruction Designed to reduce or eliminate the barriers related to a disability

Federal Legislation The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 made it clear that students with disabilities are to be considered first and foremost as general education students.

Specially Designed Instruction

Considerations Concern that students “get less” after determined eligible for ESE services Confusion re: “intensive” v. “specialized” instruction Lack of seamless transition Persistence of parallel systems/silos Need for unified Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)

Reading Data for SWDs

Math Data for SWDs

Assumptions SPED does not equal RED (Tier 3 or Tier 4) SWDs should be accessing support/instruction throughout all tiers ESE students are General Education students first Integrating a system of support means addressing Consensus, Infrastructure, Implementation Regardless of eligibility status, a robust Tier 1 improves outcomes for all students Special education support should improve general education outcomes Problem-solving is a four-step process RtI is part of Step 4

“Problem-solving/RtI does not ‘start’ and ‘end’ like the traditional ‘pre-referral’ process. It is an ongoing, cyclical way of work that applies to all students enrolled in school and continues for students who are receiving special education and related services.” ~Florida DOE Technical Assistance Paper for SLD Eligibility (Florida PS/RtI Project, 2007)

Shifts in focus… Under IDEA, IEP is no longer the exclusive responsibility of special ed teacher…shift toward developing IEP for improvement in general education Performance goals and indicators for SWDs are more closely aligned with goals for students without disabilities IEP plays more important role than ever before in provision of services to SWDs

Shifts (con’t) Shift in focus from “opportunity” to outcomes SWDs not just to “benefit from” gen. ed. curriculum, but meet gen. ed. standards Focus on measurable post-school goals Accountability for the performance of the subgroup of students with disabilities and for closing the achievement gap between this subgroup and all others.

What about SWD and Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) Students eligible for services in accordance with IDEA – IEP that specifies and entitles SDI (need and disability) Tier 1 – Student learning and progress on grade level standards are the purpose of providing SDI Tier 2 – SDI is implemented when small groups of students are receiving supplemental interventions to address a specific need for explicit practice in a targeted skill Tier 3 – Distinction between tier 3 and SDI: SDI is a set of services entitled to on IEP applying IDEA, but pedagogy is the same (individualized).

SDI Mythbusters students with disabilities are to be considered first and foremost as general education students. Students, once determined eligible for ESE services, are removed from additional support. “intensive” and “specialized” instruction are the same or are different. Seamless transition from one support to another is essential for a unified MTSS Under IDEA, IEP is no longer the exclusive responsibility of special ed teacher…shift toward developing IEP for improvement in general education Performance goals and indicators for SWDs are more closely aligned with goals for students without disabilities IEP plays more important role than ever before in provision of services to SWDs