IPP Demosites
Middle Schools
Hidden River Middle School
School District: Monroe
ESD: #189
Description: Hidden River Middle School is fully committed to the idea of All Means All and we know the only way to achieve this is through unsurpassed collaboration on behalf of the students we serve. As a result of our commitment to All Means All, 6 years ago we began the process of re-thinking all that we do at HRM. This included a monumental shift in how we serve students that qualify for special education — moving from a pull-out / exclusionary approach to a full inclusionary model where all students are in grade level classes, receiving grade level instruction on grade level standards. As a part of this shift, we’ve developed a full pyramid of interventions for our students. This includes strong Tier 1 supports for all students, immediate and responsive Tier 2 supports for students that need it, and targeted Tier 3 support for the students that come to us with gaps in their learning. Previously, referring students to Special Education was how we responded when students struggled. Now, our pyramid process identifies what students need by identifying the cause(s), not the symptoms. We provide a continuum of services for students that have an IEP, including a strong co-teach model in both Math and ELA. All students have access to grade level standards because we believe that raising the bar for students is what will help us close the gap. All of this is built on our commitment to unsurpassed levels of collaboration for the kids that walk through our doors … we can only achieve greatness for All of our students by working together and relentlessly pursuing excellence as a team.
Highlighting the following inclusionary practices:
- Students engaged in core content (grade level standards)
- Collaboration
- Multi tiered systems of support,
- Coteaching and coplanning
Toppenish Middle School
School District: Toppenish
ESD: #105
Description: Our model of inclusive education in Toppenish began with a vision and mission centered on the idea of “Inclusive education for all.” We want our students to be able to access their full potential. Inclusive education is a commitment that all of our educators (teachers, school psychologists, speech and language therapists, paraprofessionals, administrators, etc.) believe in and promote within our district. We approach differentiated instruction as a collaborative conversation and process between both general education and special education teachers. Our Inclusion Specialists (Special education teachers) work with our general education teachers to identify the essential standards/targets within the core curriculum and discuss how the content is going to be delivered to students in the classroom. They plan together and Inclusion Specialists use these collaborative moments as a springboard to modify and differentiate the materials/instruction. We have created collaborative tools that increase implementation fidelity that we use when looking at student programming, plans, and instruction. We look forward to sharing our road map of how we started and the hurdles along the way. We’ve developed tools to help educators look at instruction and plan for students with disabilities in their classrooms. Our inclusion specialists can show others how to collaborate with general education teachers, modify curriculum, and help students learn/grow in the classroom along their peers.
Highlighting the following inclusionary practices:
- Differentiated curriculum planning and instruction
- Inclusive vision and mission
- Collaboration
Chase Middle School
School District: Spokane
ESD: #101
Description: The mission at Chase Middle School is All belong, All learn, All lead. When our students with disabilities access general education classes, it helps strengthen the idea that our mission is truly for all students. Our school is in year one of implementing co-teaching. Most of our students who qualified for special education services were falling farther behind as shown by their SBAC scores, they were being pulled during academic classes to receive their special education services. We started to look at the research and our data, and this suggested that there were better outcomes for students with disabilities when they attended a co-taught or general education classes. From here, we started to develop more of a continuum of services to examine how all our students could benefit from a more flexible service delivery model. To do this, we met with feeder schools of incoming 7th graders and reviewed every students IEP to match student needs with support along the continuum. We also handpicked teacher teams based on personalities, content expertise, and eagerness to serve all students. We worked extensively on our Master schedule to create common planning periods and to allow for co-teaching in Language Arts and Math in 7th and 8th grades. We are early in our journey but are already seeing good outcome data and are excited to share the changes we have made and our plans to continuously improve our inclusionary practices.
Highlighting the following inclusionary practices:
- Coteaching and coplanning
- Master Scheduling to support inclusion
Clovis Point Intermediate
School District: Eastmont
ESD: #171
Description: Our school’s vision is “Equity for All.” and our mission is “To provide the promise of opportunity to ALL through a quality education.” This means that two conditions must be met: first, every child must have equal access to the same opportunities for learning, and second, every child must have the supports they need to fully engage in those opportunities. The combination of our three inclusionary practices – coteaching, assistive technology and schoolwide modified grading rubrics – provide students with the access to and support for grade-level instruction and academic success. This is our first year implementing coteaching and full inclusion. This shift in our practice has led to a stronger culture of “our students” and more dialogue about inclusive teaching practices. The impacts of the assistive technologies are visible on a daily basis. We see struggling readers willing to tackle popular “thick books.” Pre-primer readers are able to enjoy “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and experience the same immersion in the story felt by grade-level readers. Essays written by students with significant SDI needs are growing from one paragraph to three paragraphs. Students are learning to use tools that chip away at the learned helplessness so many of our learners experience when they are not taught to use the tools they need to be successful at school. The impact of the rubrics on our students with SDI needs has been an increase in academic achievement; some of our students have made the Honor Roll for the first time in their school careers. For teachers, the rubrics have led to deeper conversations about the purpose of and equity in grading.
Highlighting the following inclusionary practices:
- Coteaching and coplanning
- Assistive technology
- Modified grading rubrics