Blackboard & Special Education: A Teacher's Approach By Craig Alexander & Karen Williams

Session Focus Educate –Small suburb school on the east side of Cleveland. Innovate –Technology is an educational tool –Apple & Windows –Partnership with SCOCA Everywhere –Our students, parent and teachers –Our technology director, supervisor and integration specialists –Our Administrative team

Educate Beachwood City Schools East side suburb of Cleveland, OH 1700 students in 5 school buildings Cleveland Magazine’s #1 School District –3 out of the past 5 years –66 different school districts including Cleveland and surrounding areas

Beachwood Middle School Ohio Hall-of-Fame Middle School (1991) Two BLUE RIBBON Awards (1993 and 2000) Harvard Business School Award (1999) National School of Distinction Award for Technology Excellence (2004)

Educate 97.9% Beachwood High School graduates go on to college 20% to "selective" colleges –Harvard –Stanford –Duke –Yale The Advanced Placement program –Beachwood High School offers 13 AP courses. 73 percent of the scores were in high range

Educate Our mission statement is “To Develop Intellectual Entrepreneurs with a Social Conscience” Creative, flexible knowledge seeking members who will take risks to see the bigger picture Young men and women who will become the global leaders of tomorrow Our Motto

Educate The National School Board Association rated Beachwood City Schools in the top 3% nationwide in the use of educational technology in the classroom. Beachwood decided technology is not enrichment but an educational tool!

Educate How to bring other people with us Professional Learning Communities at Work by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker –Explorers, Pilgrims and Settlers

Educate FACTS –Children in special education represent approximately 11% of the student population in the United States –Three out of four students with disabilities will receive at least part of their education in the general education classroom –Twice as many males as females students

Educate IDEA (Individuals with Disability Education Act) 1975 IDEIA (added the word Improvement) 2004 (Heward, 2006)

Educate Educating children with special needs is a difficult challenge Learning Disabilities (LD) Exceptional Learning Styles (ELS) Basic Skills

Educate Disability# of students% of total Specific learning disabilities2,839, Other health impairments511, Autism 166, Children and youth served under IDEA ages 6 to 21 US Department of Education 6,118,437 total

Educate Special Education is a purposeful intervention designed to prevent, eliminate and/or overcome the obstacles that might keep an individual with disabilities from learning and from full and active participation in school society

Educate What methods do we use to educate these kids?

Educate –lost folders –lost assignments –lost homework Organization

Innovate Organization is at Hand: PDAs in the Inclusive Classroom by Anne M. Bauer & Mary E. Ulrich

Innovate Apple “Profile in Success School” –Only 1 to 1 laptop program in Ohio

Innovate Beachwood Middle School –Seventh & Eighth grade –Karen 20 kids 12 different teachers

Innovate

Beachwood High School –54 students use our resource room setting –Four teachers –Four grade & outside of district placements –Roughly 57 different teachers

Innovate

Aspire went out of business two weeks before school started

Innovate Along came Blackboard Learning System to save the day!

Innovate How does Blackboard fit into our situation? South Central Ohio Computer Association –Interactive Distance Learning Partner (IDVL) –56 districts in 12 different counties in the state of Ohio

Innovate Grades Course information Always there Students in the 21st century

Innovate Using course calendar –Starts at midnight –Lists teacher name –Makes the students responsible –Parents can check homework

Everywhere Impact –Administration –Teachers –Instructional Aides –Students –Parents

Everywhere

Quotes –Student opinions about on-line learning –Middle School Ricky & Sarah –High School Different styles –Colleges & University Williams, Ohio State, Michigan, University of Massachusetts

Everywhere What does it take to innovate? –Patience –Time –Cooperative environment

Everywhere Independence Self advocacy skills Parent-teacher communication Student responsibility Student accountability

Everywhere

Thank You! Craig Alexander Karen Williams