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Story posted October 23, 2008

Results:
• Special education students have received 60% fewer detention referrals for poor behavior
• Special education caseloads have declined by more than half since 2002

McKinleyville Middle School serves over 370 students in grades 6-8 in the town of McKinleyville in northwest Humboldt County, California. 43% of the school's students receive free or reduced price meals, and 15% are in special education.

Until 1999, McKinleyville taught special education students in the traditional way: by pulling them out of mainstream classes and teaching them in separate classrooms for most of the school day.

But that year, a special education teacher started a process that helped change all that when she gave notice to McKinleyville's principal. The latest in a long line of teachers that had quit that position, she cited serious concerns about the behavioral and academic problems she regularly faced. Rather than accept her resignation, the principal asked her what the school should do to address those persistent issues. That teacher began an intensive research process about alternative models for educating middle school students, particularly those in special education. Her research ultimately led to a new approach that has helped the school improve test scores and behavior among its special education students.

This new approach keeps special education and general education students in the same classrooms. McKinleyville initially implemented its "integrated model," as it is known, on a small scale. In its first year, a general education teacher agreed to pilot some of the new ideas identified through the research. In 2000 this teacher and a special education teacher began to team teach one 8^th grade classroom with a blended population of students in both special and general education. They covered the core subjects of language arts, reading, and social studies.

For the next school year, the two teachers sought other general education teachers who were willing to try the new approach. Some were initially skeptical, but they were persuaded by the academic and behavioral successes that they witnessed in the blended classroom. In polls, students expressed strong support for the approach as well.

McKinleyville gave teachers who agreed to participate in the integration model opportunities for professional development through CalSTAT (California Services for Technical Assistance and Training) conferences and consultation with schools and districts taking a similar approach to special education.

For 2001, the school expanded the new approach to sixth and seventh grade core classes, and in 2002, to math and science. In 2002 academic support components were also added. Now blending and team teaching are used universally at the school so that special education students receiving resource support (the services of a resource specialist in providing instruction and in communicating with parents regarding academic issues) and those receiving services in the Special Day Classes (intensive educational program which typically serve students with more severe mental and emotional disabilities) are included in general education classrooms. The integrated model enjoys across-the-board support from the teaching staff.

Key components of McKinleyville's integrated model include:

• Students receiving special education services are taught (with some exceptions) in the general education classroom.
• Special education teachers provide in-class support to general education teachers coverage of the curriculum. They team-teach in general education classrooms two to three periods a day (and teaching academic support or intervention courses in other periods).
• All teachers receive training in "differentiated instruction"-that is, instruction that targets individual students diverse needs-to maximize classroom time with all students.
• All departments give teachers common planning time. The schedules of special education teachers rotate daily so they can share planning time with each department at least once a week.
• Special and general education teachers meet weekly in grade-level teams to discuss curriculum and individual student progress. They also meet less frequently in subject-area groups across grades.
• All students receive academic supports, regardless of classification in special or general education. These supports:
  
  • Academic support classes, which any student can take in place of an elective. These classes offer additional instruction in any core subject area.
  • Intervention classes, which provide intensive reading instruction to all struggling students based on ability level.
  • After-school tutorial programs and Saturday school, where teachers work with students on the general education curriculum. Teachers re-teach or pre-teach important material and provide homework help.
• Planning and initial placements for the fall academic year occur in spring, with the resource teacher and the administration planning the fall schedule around anticipated student needs.

This innovative model has affected student behavior, standardized test scores, and staff turnover. For example, children in special education have received 60% fewer detention referrals for poor behavior since the program began in 2000. McKinleyville staff attribute this drop mainly to special education students' participation in a general education environment with higher expectations for positive behavior. In addition, more students in special education are participating in extra-curricular activities, including sports, than did before the program was instituted.

Academically, McKinleyville's API (Academic Performance Index) "similar-schools ranking" has risen from seven in 2003 (the first year academic supports were added) to nine in 2008. In other words, McKinleyville is performing much better than other schools enrolling similar students. Resource students' English and math scores have risen steadily since program's inception.

The school has seen special education caseloads decline by more than half since 2002. And under their new model, McKinleyville's teachers believe that they are making more effective use of their time and spending more time working directly with students. The staff feels that, under this model, substantially more students are getting the help they need.

McKinleyville owes much of its inclusion model's success to its implementation strategy: The school started small and allowed teachers to drive most of the process. The success of the first teachers using the model helped inspire buy-in from the rest of the staff. Teachers also welcomed the training they received and the administration's commitment to support them in the classroom. And McKinleyville's results demonstrate how such teacher buy-in can lead to student success.

For additional information, please contact:
Holly Matthews
Resource Specialist/Reading Intervention
hmatthews@nohum.k12.ca.us

This story came to LFA's attention as a CalSTAT Leadership Site.

Adapted with permission from CalSTAT and McKinleyville Middle School.

Click here to access the original site profile as contained in CalSTAT's website.

Prepared for CalSTAT by Casey Morrigan Associates. Copyright © 2006 (updated 2008) by CalSTAT.