UPDATED! Principles and Practices to Build and Sustain Inclusive Schools Tool

At the onset of the IPP Project, there were many inquiries into specifying what was meant when the term “inclusionary practices” was referenced. This document was created in response to define inclusionary practices more clearly. In conjunction with our partnership with demonstration sites, this document is a result of what we have learned, and continue to learn, regarding inclusionary practices to build and sustain inclusive schools, districts and communities.

The Principles and Practices tool adopts a critically inclusive lens which guides teams to self-assess inclusionary principles and practices occurring in their contexts. This tool supports ongoing reflection and action planning throughout continuous cycles of analyzing, disrupting, and restructuring social processes that produce inequity (Siuty, 2019) . The following principles and practices are pivotal to supporting schools and districts to build and sustain inclusive schools. The tool is framed around an appreciative inquiry lens to take a strength-based approach and celebrate practices that are in place.

Please check out other featured inclusionary resources.

Family Engagement Case Study

The IPP Demonstration Sites continue to partner with others and showcase their inclusionary practices. Take a look at the IPP Family Engagement Collaborative Inclusive Education and Family Engagement report. This report describes how two demo sites, Chase Middle School and Kodiak Cubs Preschool, have implemented inclusive education and family engagement. The case studies highlighted in the report are intended to document the knowledge and lived experiences of parents, educators, students, and technical assistance providers related to partnering with families to provide meaningful, inclusive education for students. Both demo sites are committed to establishing a culture of inclusive education in their settings and are exemplary in their work but use different strategies to ensure implementation is reflective of their local context, strengths, and needs.

Teams visit Mark Twain Elementary School

Mark Twain Elementary School in Lake Washington School District just closed out its inspirational and transformative 2022-2023 tour season. This year they hosted school teams from all over Washington and Oregon. Led by the administrative duo of Principal, Craig Mott and Associate Principal, Malia Goodfellow, visitors learned about the school’s inclusive journey and how they have created an inclusive master schedule to support student access and engagement in core content instruction, as well as flexible service delivery. Additionally, participants learned about the school’s commitment to grade level common planning to support strong tier 1 instruction as well as how to leverage “power groups” (I.e., intervention blocks) as a way for students to receive targeted instruction on a six-week cycle.

During most tours, MTSS Coach, Sara Celms spoke about Mark Twain’s work supporting teams’ progress in their implementation of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, differentiation, and resource mapping. The goal of resource mapping is to look at collective resources and strengths of a community in order to fully optimize school resources as a way to support all learners.

5^th grade special education teacher and case manager, Alisha Poling, took visitors through some learning about grade level common planning, as well as the important journey toward writing more inclusive Individualized Education Plans (IEP). Drawing from the TIES 5-15-45 planning tool, grade level teams engage in the collaborative process of planning to ensure that all students are appropriately supported during core content instruction. Common planning occurs every Wednesday morning before school and is kept sacred, meaning that no other meetings occur on Wednesday mornings. Additionally, Ms. Poling provided visitors with examples of inclusive and non-inclusive IEP goals and discussed how changing the way goals are traditionally written open so many more opportunities for students to learning in the general education setting as well as in more naturalistic and generalizable ways.

Finally, 3^rd grade general education teacher, Jamie Chapple, shared her journey with visitors as she learned how to teach students with extensive support needs (ESN) and the importance of communication and collaboration with families. One of the tools that Ms. Chapple and other teachers find helpful is the Ohio State Extended Learning Standards. These standards provide teachers with information on how to break down state standards to support student learning growth through targeted scaffolds.

We appreciate the Mark Twain Elementary Team for opening their doors and allowing participants at various stages in their inclusive journeys the opportunity to come and learn from a school and a group of inclusive leaders so open and transparent about their work!

“Our visit to Mark Twain was amazing! We were heartened and motivated to continue our inclusion work.”

“Thank you for sharing your journey and being transparent about the work. We are so grateful for this opportunity!”

Professional Learning Plan

In our work and through collaboration with school and district leadership, we often hear that their WHY for inclusive and equitable education is more clear to them, but HOW to change systems, implement and sustain more inclusive practices are what they are still needing to understand more fully. We are excited to share the Inclusive Education Prof Learning Plan. The plan supports both the WHY and HOW by focusing on five identified priority areas of Rationale for and Research, Collaborative Lesson Planning, Inclusive IEPs and Education Day-at-a-Glance, Creating a Culture of Belonging and Peer Engagement and Inclusive Service Delivery. The plan is intended to break down ongoing professional learning into smaller accessible pieces. Teams can choose what content fits their current needs and priorities. Please reach out to RinaMarie Leon-Guerrero rinalg@uw.edu if you have questions or comments on this plan. Watch this short video description

Category: Inclusionary Practices