1. Closing the Gap Between Special Education and General Education Students in Reading at Albertville Middle School Brian Sauls Albertville Middle School July 22, 2014

2. Albertville Middle School Located in Marshall County, AL Grades 7 and 8 Approximately 641 students 59% White, 37% Hispanic, and less than 1% of all other ethnicities Over 60% receive free/reduced lunch Title I School

3. Step I: Identify the Problem The problem to be addressed is the discrepancy between general education and special education student test scores on the reading portion of the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test (ARMT).

4. ARMT Reading Scores at AMS

5. Step II: Stakeholders Impacted by the Problem Administrators Teachers Students Parents Our community/city

6. Step III: Select a Representative Committee to Address the Problem AMS Principal AMS Assistant Principal Special Education Teacher ELA Teacher Science Teacher Two Parents One Student

7. Step IV: Identify Limitations on the Group’s Decision Making Our school is a focus group school and must consult with representatives from the state department of education. Our special education students vary greatly in ability on a year by year basis. Money- we have to stay within the limitations of the school budget. Our teachers must be willing to implement new strategies.

8. Step V: Criteria to Measure Possible Solutions #1: Each solution must support the response to intervention model currently being used in our school. #2: Each solution must support content area instruction related to the reading subtest on the Aspire test.

9. Step VI: Generate Proposed Solutions #1: Common planning time for the 8 th grade ELA and Special Education teacher. #2: Implement peer tutoring program in the ELA inclusion class. #3: Have monthly PD sessions led by the ELA teacher for all core teachers. The PD would be related to reading and comprehension strategies.

10. Step VII: Solicit Feedback for Proposed Solutions Survey was distributed to members of all stakeholder groups. Results are below: Solution #:Percent Support: #189 #274 #344

11. Step VIII: Make decisions on proposed solutions Our task force based our results on our research, survey results, and group discussion and feedback. Solutions #1 and #2 were selected. They had high support, were easy to implement, cost nothing for our school, and were research-based.

12. Step IX: Implement the Solution Both solutions will be implemented during the 2014-15 school year. The common planning time will be included in the master schedule. Peer tutoring will begin as soon as school starts with the selection of peer tutors and their training.

13. Step X: Evaluate the Implementation Reading scores on the Aspire test will the main evaluation of our solutions. We will also administer a survey in October and March to evaluate the effectiveness of our solutions and guide any changes/ adjustments that need to be made.

14. Step XI: Modify/ Adjust the Implementation Two checkpoints will be utilized during the 2014-15 school year to evaluate the effectiveness of our solutions. In October and March, the task force will administer a survey to affected teachers and students to assess our progress. We can adjust either of our solutions at the checkpoints if needed.

15. Step XI: Modify/ Adjust the Implementation The reading task force will also meet after we receive the results of the Aspire test. Our group can discuss the effectiveness of our solutions and decide how to progress in the future.