Rethinking Special

Education Program
Support
Proposed changes to increase student involvement
in the regular education environment and increase
teacher supports throughout the district
Chris Ditzman, Program Support Teacher for Green Bay Area
Public School District (GBAPS)

What does involvement in the regular

education environment look like in GBAPS?
O Percentage of students in the regular

education environment in GBAPS is

53%
O High school percentage is 34%
O Middle school percentage is 43%
O Elementary percentage is 75%
O DPI benchmark is 65% or greater
across all settings

Collaborative Learning Team

Goal
O To increase involvement in education environment

A (in regular education 80% of the time or

greater) by 10% in Webster, Sullivan, and Preble
schools through staff trainings in the buildings,
coaching focus, and access to created supports via
Google Drive folder system that we create for each
building
O Personal EEP goal: By June 1, 2015, the amount of
students with an education environment in area A
at Preble High School will change to: 38% or
greater (upon mid-year review it is 35%)with
additional increases occurring in the following year.

What supports are available to teachers to

better support inclusion in the regular
education environment?

O Collaborative Google folder for goal

sharing, IEP writing, and

accommodation suggestion
O Building PSTs
O Specialized PST support roles
(Behavioral, Academic, Assistive
Tech, CD, ELL, etc.)
O UDL model roll-out
O District trainings on UDL and IEP

How do teachers feel about current

level of support from building PSTs?
O Overwhelmingly positive in terms of support

and communication
O Teachers still struggling with new IEP forms
and procedures. This may affect reporting of
reg ed participation
O Teachers want more in-class support from
building PSTs
O Specialized PSTs are not accessed by some
O Teachers do not understand how to get
specialized support when they need it at
times

Changes for 2014-2015

O UDL model roll-out at secondary

level. Students will be in regular

education classroom via team-taught
structure for LD and EBD instead of
pull-out courses
O Refinement of behavioral supports
and FBA process for consultation and
students with IEPs to be released
O Traditional PST supports will remain

Proposed changes for 201516 related to PST Roles

O Create focused PST positions including diagnosticians,

coaching focus PSTs, and transfer student specialist

O Coaching focus PSTs focus on specific subsets of
students (High, Middle, Elem)
O Increase in-class support for 1 st and 2nd year special
education teachers via PST coaches
O Diagnosticians focus on disability areas (OHI, SLD, EBD,
A)
O PSTs continue to support buildings to share information
O Increase use of Google folder system to be building
specific, declutter information

Joint GBAPS PST meeting

outcome on 02/26/15
O PSTs like focus on coaching. Some need definition of what it

looks like.
O Some PSTs like varied job duties, do not want to specialize in
one thing
O Some PSTs argue that building relationships that have been
developed are too valuable to adjust
O Some PSTs may not be interested in PST position any longer
if role drastically changes, and bidding for new positions
begins in two weeks. Fear timeline is too tight to make
decisions. Union issue?
O No PSTs are interested in Transfer Specialist Position
O Electronic supports and supports that teachers can
independently access should continue to be developed

Administrative thoughts from

03/06/15 meeting
O Timeline too tight to radically adjust

PST roles for 2015-16 as far as

staffing
O Will consider adjustments for 201617 school year
O Focus on independent teaching
supports this year
O Focus on defining specialized
supports for behavior and new UDL
roll-out

Current focus moving

forward
O Instructing teachers on how to use electronic

resources on intranet, Google folder, etc.

O Continue coaching push using Jim Knight model.
Get in classrooms more often, especially with 1 st
and 2nd year teachers
O Focus on proper IEP writing. Quell over reporting
of services which affects LRE reporting to DPI
O Focus on UDL roll-out and supports for new team
taught structure, accommodations, roles for
teachers, instructional methodology, grading,
etc.

Progress thus far

O In focus schools (Preble, Webster, Sullivan)

percentage of students inside the regular

education classroom has increased 3% on
average through the 2014-15 school year
O Teachers are increasing understanding how to
write IEPs to reflect services more specifically
O Teachers can (reported as 80%) access
developed electronic supports for
accommodations, IEP goals, IEP writing help, and
instructional help
O More teachers have taken advantage of PSTs for
coaching in focus buildings

Continued challenges
moving forward
O Teachers need additional training on UDL roll-out.

Need instruction on their roll versus the reg ed

teacher roll, how to accommodate many different
learners in regular education, behavioral support,
grading, IEP writing related to UDL, etc.
O PSTs are short on time and cant get into classrooms
as much as they would like to focus on coaching and
1:1 teacher support
O Continued turnover in special education. New
teachers require much more extensive support than
what is offered via traditional new teacher trainings
O Some teachers need technology support to access
supports electronically and to write compliant IEPs

Reflection on Goal and

Process
O Teachers

are overwhelmed with all of the changes taking place.

We need to continue to find ways to reach them more efficiently
and effectively
O Staff turnover is an ongoing issue and supports for new hires
should be defined
O Teachers are able to access resources well electronically, and
using new Google technologies are able to collaborate with one
another effectively. They prefer this to scheduled face to face
meetings
O Finding time for more 1:1 coaching is important
O Extensive UDL training is needed in all secondary buildings
O Involvement in regular education has increased through these
efforts in targeted buildings slowly and they should be continued
O Teachers need to know how to access other district level
supports and professionals