Special Education (SPED) and Remote Learning

In a previous post, I shared some ideas as well as strategies that districts could embrace to establish a realistic remote learning plan taking into consideration both digital and non-digital pathways.  One aspect I did not address that keeps coming up here in the United States is how to address special education students as per the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  Like everything else, thanks to COVID-19, this is uncharted territory as well. However, the US Department of Education (USDOE) has released some guidance that everyone should be aware of. You can access it HERE.

Image credit

In this post, I am going to highlights considerations for special education educations students where a local education agency (LEA), such as a school or district, has initiated a remote learning plan.  Below are some specific pieces from the report I have pulled where I also add my thoughts.

If an LEA continues to provide educational opportunities to the general student population during a school closure, the school must ensure that students with disabilities also have equal access to the same opportunities, including the provision of FAPE. (34 CFR §§ 104.4, 104.33 (Section 504) and 28 CFR § 35.130 (Title II of the ADA)). SEAs, LEAs, and schools must ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, each student with a disability can be provided the special education and related services identified in the student’s IEP developed under IDEA, or a plan developed under Section 504. (34 CFR §§ 300.101 and 300.201 (IDEA), and 34 CFR § 104.33 (Section 504).

The translation is pretty straightforward in my eyes.  If your district or school has any sort of remote learning going on during a closure, then accommodations have to be met for kids that need them.

IEP teams may, but are not required to, include distance learning plans in a child’s IEP that could be triggered and implemented during a selective closure due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Such contingent provisions may include the provision of special education and related services at an alternate location or the provision of online or virtual instruction, instructional telephone calls, and other curriculum-based instructional activities, and may identify which special education and related services, if any, could be provided at the child’s home.

If your school has not closed yet, consider getting a contingency plan in place.  In the case that you have already closed, IEP teams can meet physically (many schools are having just staff in to plan for remote learning) or virtually to modify plans. Protocols must be established to safeguard sensitive information.

The USDOE also released this fact sheet that outlines how to protect the civil rights of students during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Guidelines are one thing, but seeing what it looks like in the field is another. Thus, I decided to reach out to some educators in my home state of New Jersey.  The NJDOE, under the leadership to Dr. Lamont Repollet, had every district develop a plan on March 5 well before any school closed.  These then had to be submitted back to the NJDOE as soon as possible.  Knowing that this was the case, I sent an inquiry to two administrators to see how their districts were serving special education students.  Below you can see the comprehensive plans that have been implemented.

• Brad Currie - Chester School District (view their efforts HERE)
• Dr. Robert Zywicki - Mount Olive Township School District (view their plan HERE).

I would love to hear how your district or school is meeting IDEA requirements for your SPED students who are engaged in remote learning. Please consider sharing in the comments section below. 

For more ideas follow #remotelearning on social media. 

Edtech Tools for SPED, Math, and Reading

Over the past two years, I have been blessed to partner with District 205 in Elmhurst, IL. I still vividly remember having lunch with Dave Moyer, the superintendent, where he explained in detail the vision that had been set for the district, centered around the six C's (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, character, citizenship). It was at this time that the decision was made for me to assist. The overall goal and focus of the partnership have been to help them get the most out of the devices that were rolled out a few years ago across the entire K-12 district as part of a 1:1 implementation. My role, like in many other similar districts across the country, has been to assist the teachers and administrators with digital pedagogy leading to purposeful use and efficacy using the framework below.

One of the best parts about job-embedded, on-going work with school districts is facilitating a variety of professional learning opportunities. They have utilized me as a keynoter, coach (leadership and teaching), and workshop presenter. Recently the district asked me to be a part of their professional development day, which consisted of seven different learning strands specific to the needs and interests of their teachers. During a planning call prior, I was asked to work with special education, math, and reading teachers in particular. To be honest, these groups are not in my traditional wheelhouse, but I saw it as a learning opportunity to branch out and expand my level of knowledge. 

Prior to the day, I spent a great deal of time planning my slide deck and associated digital handouts. The overreaching goal for each session was to support instructional strategies aligned to rigor & relevance and the 6 C's with a focus on the purposeful use of technology. What resulted was a great resource that I plan to share below on specific edtech tools that can assist special education (SPED), math, and reading teachers. 

With the SPED sessions, everything was tied into support and planning for the six approaches to co-teaching embraced by the district. I realized early on that I consistently see all of these in action regularly through my coaching work in schools across the country. I went deeper into the models from a pedagogical standpoint to help them better plan for instruction. This was then followed with strategies and tools for embedding tech that would assist with both differentiation of instruction and co-planning (virtually). Both the math and reading sessions focused on how edtech could be used during independent work, formative assessment, and pedagogically-sound blended learning.

Below you will see the specific tools I provided during each session. Some aren't new, but others might be.

Co-Teaching

• Pear Deck (formative and targeted assessment)*
• Nearpod (formative and targeted assessment)*
• Padlet (cooperative learning, closure, checks for understanding)
• Linoit (cooperative learning, closure, checks for understanding, annotation)
• Flipgrid (video creation for closure, checks for understanding, blended learning)
• Newsela (assign current event articles by Lexile and quizzes)
• Freckle (differentiation, stations)*
• Edpuzzle (upload videos and insert questions)*
• GoSoapBox (confusion indicator, quizzes, discussion forum, polls)
• Formative (formative assessment, differentiation)*
• Gimkit (formative assessment, closure)
• QuizWhizzer (formative assessment, closure)
• Seesaw (demonstrate and share learning)

* Denotes importing and syncing with Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology

Co-Planning

• Voxer – (push to talk app that works like a Walkie-Talkie; share synchronous and asynchronous voice, test, and video messages in a threaded conversation)
• Google Drive
• Slack (workflow tool with instant messaging)
• Padlet (collaborative board with text, video, audio, drawing, and screen sharing)
• Linoit (collaborative Post-It note space)

Math

• Prodigy (K-5 games)
• Xtra math (free program that helps elementary students master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.
• IXL (paid personalized learning tool)
• Educreations (create mini-lessons for students to watch/refer to and then practice concepts)
• Khan Academy (videos for supplemental support and practice)
• Knowledgehook (formative assessment tool for grades 3 – 9)
• Patrick JMT (short instructional videos for middle and high school)
• Hooda Math (K-12 math games)
• CK-12 (adaptive practice problem sets; also check out their PLIX series)
• Freckle (differentiation, stations)
• Flipgrid (have students solve problems on whiteboards and then explain how they solved them using video)
• Math Pickle (puzzles and games organized by grade level)
• Edulastic (tech-enhanced assessments)

Reading

• IXL (paid personalized learning tool)
• Epic (access to 35,000 of the best children's books for elementary)
• CommonLit (free reading passages with formative assessments for grades 3-12)
• ReadWorks (K-12 articles and assessments)
• Read Theory (online reading activities by reading level with associated quizzes)
• Smithsonian Tween Tribune (articles and quizzes for K-12)
• Rewordify (simplify difficult-to-read English text, monitor students' reading and learning progress)
• ReadWriteThink (a wide array of free student interactives)
• PBS (games for elementary students)
• Starfall (K-2 reading games and activities)
• Flipgrid (have students record themselves reading passages and excerpts in order to assess)
• Newsela (current event articles by Lexile with pre-made assessments)

So, what would you add to what I have curated? Please feel free to share your suggestions in the comments section below. As I facilitate future workshops, I will add more tools to this list that align with other content areas.