1. Making All Teachers Better Teachers for Students with Disabilities
Cheryl Wold, Ph.D., Alan Neville, Ed.D., and Andria Moon, Ed.D.
Northern State University
Aberdeen, SD

2. Introductions Who is in the audience?
What are some barriers to collaboration?

3. Collaboration
What thoughts come to mind when you think of collaboration?
Education often viewed as a profession in isolation
Collaboration has always been needed in special education, informally, but now an expectation
Definition “a style for direct interaction between at least two co- equal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work toward a common goal.” (Friend, 2014, p. 104)

4. History of Collaboration - Special/GeneralEducation
First Year of Teacher Education and Special Education Journal
“The issue of whether inclusion was to be or not to be the way of life in America’s schools has been decided. The affirmative position won in both the courts and the nation’s legislatures by impressive majorities. The resolution of the issue leave us with many problems to solve. One area in which we believe it is important to address the problems of mainstreaming is the preparation of regular class teachers.” (Reynolds & Birch, 1977, p.25).
1980s Regular Education Initiative
1990s Inclusion

5. “One of the problems we face in education is that we work in silos
“One of the problems we face in education is that we work in silos. You've got P-12 schools working in one silo. You have universities working in still another silo, and then there’s another silo where state agencies work. We’re often not on the same page. Because we’re not, we often don’t get done the things that we need to do that make a difference for meeting all the needs of students in schools. The important thing is figuring out how to get out of the silos so that we can work together.” David Hill

6. CEEDAR
Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR)
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) project involving many states including South Dakota
Our involvement

7. State Goal 1
*Increase the ability of general and special teachers, school leaders and teacher candidates to {successfully/inclusively} address the needs of all learners through education, assessment, and accountability

8. State Goal 2
*All professional educators including Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) faculty are prepared, supported, and engaged in ongoing professional development to effectively apply ideas of differentiated education that embed evidence-based research, curriculum, and instruction so that all educators can meet the needs of students with disabilities and students who struggle.

9. Work at NSU
Course Development and Redesign
Mentoring Program
Research

10. Activities:
Map curriculum, review courses using the configuration matrix, and implement the features of effective instruction into our courses
Develop a Special Education Law course for the graduate leadership and administration program
Develop a general Special Education course for the graduate Teaching and Learning Program
Develop a graduate Reading course
Review and possibly revise the teacher candidate student teaching final evaluation to include the effective instructional competencies

11. Innovation Configurations
ICs

12. Redesigned Courses
Features of Effective Instruction were added to four undergraduate courses:
ELED 440 K-8 Language Arts Methods
EDFN Research-based Literacy Instruction and Assessment
SEED 400 Methods and Media for Middle/High School
SEED 450 Reading and Content Literacy

13. Features of Effective Instruction
Explicit Instruction with Modeling
Systematic Instruction with Scaffolding
Multiple Opportunities to Practice
Immediate Corrective Feedback
Progress Monitoring

14. Explicit Instruction 8th Grade Social Studies Active Participation
Pair Share and Discuss

15. New Teacher Mentoring Program
Pilot program modeled after North Dakota Teacher Support System mentoring model, see
Program aligned to the Danielson Framework,
Program aligned to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, see
Mentor teachers attend daylong training session in August 2016
Follow-up daylong training session conducted in January 2017
Mentoring occurs during the school year

16. New Teacher Mentoring Program (Cont.)
Program requirements:
Training for mentor teachers
Mentor teacher conducts 3 classroom observations and provides feedback to new teacher
Mentor and new teacher complete 15 hours of face-to-face meetings
New teachers observe other classrooms
Building administrator signs off on mentor assignment
Mentor teacher receive $500 stipend and $40/1-credit graduate class

20. Challenges State Mentoring Program Board of Regents Approval
Sustainability

21. Questions

22. Contact Information

23. References
Archer, A.L. and Hughes, C.A., (2011). Explicit instruction, effective and efficient teaching. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Friend, M. (2014). Special education: Contemporary perspectives for school professionals. (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
North Dakota Teacher Support System. (2015). Mentor Manual. Bismarck, ND: North Dakota Teacher Support System.
Northern State University. (2016) Mentor Manual. Aberdeen, SD: Northern State University.
Reynolds, M.C. and Birch, J.W. (1977). The interface between regular and special education, Teacher Education and Special Education, 1,