Assignment # 4 Situational Analysis System Level Project on Collaborative IPP writing France Goulard

APSY513 Assignment 4 Situational Analysis System Level Project on Collaborative IPP writing Name: France Goulard Topic of Inquiry: Collaborative IPP Writing at Sturgeon Falls Elementary Date: June 14, 2009 1. Description of Inquiry Situation Many sources attest that collaboration is the key to success in writing an effective Individual Program Plan (IPP). According to Mastropieri and Scruggs (2007), collaboration in programming for special needs students can substantially improve the school and life functioning of students with disabilities yes!. The benefits to the students future is significant and can include better gains in his/her well-being and educational achievement by simply getting all the right information from all sources involved (teacher, parents, psychologist, etc.). A lack of collaborative effort can result in weakened professional relationships, feelings of alienation from the education process, misnomers about parent apathy, and miscommunications (Mostert, 1996). The specific area of concern for this situational analysis is in how to improve positive and effective collaboration during the IPP process at Sturgeon Falls Elementary nice clear statement of the problem, well done. 2. Clarification of Inquiry and Guiding Questions One of the most important parts of writing an IPP is discovering the best goals suited for the areas of need for each student I absolutely agree!. The goals need to be specific, observable and measurable. When goals are given by the teacher without consulting the parents or some of the other members of the IPP team, the quality of the IPP becomes poor and less effective (Archambault & Chouinard, 2003). Another problem is that without the collaboration and input of others, the IPP goals may focus more on one area and neglect other areas of equal importance. For instance, the goals may focus mainly on academic and leave the social and emotional side behind. In general, IPP goals written in isolation are known to be inconclusive and lack validity (Archambault & Chouinard, 2003). Collaboration is a common day to day practice at Sturgeon Falls Elementary, however it is unknown to what degree the collaboration is effective or is it that you dont know if the collaborative practices are actually collaborative?. This is especially true in the regards to students IPPs area. There seems to be a lot of contreoversiesy between professionals involved and too many leaders wanting to do things their way. Even though all members are involved in the IPP process it is questionable on how much impact it has on the actual creation of the IPP. This inquiry intends to discover the effectiveness of Sturgeon Falls Elementary staff collaborative skills, as well as the supports in place to improve them good!.

3 Teachers attitudes and beliefs regarding collaborative endeavors will play a key role to better understand the system-level inquiry. As Jordans (2006) research demonstrates, teachers beliefs about their role and responsibilities for students with disabilities, impacts on their teaching practices and the decisions that they make about IPP for students with special needs this is an excellent resource for your iquiry. The guiding questions for this inquiry are as follows: 1. What are Sturgeon Falls Elementary teachers knowledge, views and experiences with the IPP process? 2. What are teachers beliefs towards collaboration? In what ways do they support it? 3. What systems are currently in place at Sturgeon Falls Elementary to support collaboration in the IPP process. 4. What are the obvious and specific changes needed to improve the IPP process at Sturgeon Falls Elementary? Good guiding questions, are there other persons perspectives that you would need as well? (i.e., other members of the collaborative team) 3. Background and Plan for Inquiry Collaboration implies an understanding of principles and practices for effective involvement and participation with others (Goupil, 1997). These are issues concerning cultural appropriateness and understanding of laws and policies that impact on the application of collaborative practices in different contexts as well as issues concerning teachers and parents values and beliefs about collaboration. This analysis intends to identify the degree to which the Sturgeon Falls Elementary community utilizes collaboration in IPP writing, and how beneficial they believe this to be. It will also focus on the changes that would improve the quality, validity and effectiveness of IPPS at this school. Information will be gathered in a variety of ways in order to gain an understanding of the above factors. The methods for collection of information included: 1. Paper surveys and interviews of parents evaluating would they be evaluating or just sharing their experiences and perspectives? their involvement in IPP preparation. 2. Discussions on the current IPP process at the school as well as on the collaboration model during teacher/administration meetings 3. Administration meetings in regards to the above discussions. Would these be regular meetings that you would sit in on or would these be meetings set up for the purpose of data collection? 4. Administration meetings to discuss possible ways of allowing more time for teachers to write effective IPPs. is this to collect data or to improve practice? 5. Literature review on collaboration and effective IPP writing of Alberta Education IPP resource manual. 6. Analysis of Sturgeon Falls Elementary IPP and collaboration practices. A very important component to your inquiry The plan to gather multi-methods of information and data will maximize the chances of collecting relevant information to either support or challenge the propositions contained in the plan. Great idea!

4. Dimensions of the Situation Collaboration and the IPP process are two different skills that needs to be examined with specific contexts and settings. For the effectiveness of this inquiry, dimensions of the two skills will be categorized and considered. (1) The staffs Perceptions and Experiences with collaboration; Sturgeon Falls Elementary has several collaborative structures in place, and the spirit of teamwork is a central aspect of staff life. The attitude was clearly displayed by all staff during interviews. Some of the structures identified by the staff as positive collaboration efforts were regular learning team meetings, staff mentorship programs, parent-teacher interviews and divisional teams. The staff seemed to possess the necessary skills to collaborate effectively, and was eager to apply them towards the IPP process. Linkage to lit? (2) Parents, teachers and administrations attitudes towards the IPP process; this could also be split up into 3 different dimensions, one for each viewpoint. Information gathered in this inquiry demonstrates a range of attitudes towards the IPP document, and the process that leads to its creation. Some parents expressed their concerns with the difficulties in understanding all the information contained in the IPP. They also felt like they didnt participate as much as they would like to in the IPP process because of the lack of understanding its purpose. It is important to get the parents perspective to effectively write their childs IPP (Overton, 2005). Most parents did feel like they were well informed about the IPP once they were written and a signature was required. Information gathered in this inquiry showed that many teachers were very frustrated towards the IPP process. Some of them felt like they lacked training, others were uncertain how to develop proper goals and felt overwhelmed by the amount of time it took. They all agreed that further IPP training sessions would benefit them all greatly and ease some of their anxieties towards IPP writing. They also wished to receive extra time to be able to write the IPP effectively. Administrators were concerned with the quality of the IPPs written by the teachers as well as the level of informed consent available to parents. They were also concern with the fact that teachers wanted extra time towards their IPPs. It isnt easy to get a replacement teacher given the area the school is in I like how you are linking this to your specific context. (3) The role of the resource teacher at Sturgeon Falls Elementary Resource teachers play a major role in the IPP process and collaboration (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2007). In the span of three years, there have been four different resource teachers at Sturgeon Falls Elementary. This has created a problem on the collaborative side since there wasnt always a comfort level between the teachers and the resource teacher good point!. It also affected the IPP process since all four resource teachers had different perspectives towards the special education approaches a big challenge to overcome. As a result, there have been different methods of individualized program planning tried at Sturgeon Falls Elementary including pullout models, resource rooms and full inclusion. Students have been forced to adapt to the changing models of instruction delivered, and IPP goals have changed accordingly. The current resource teacher is aware of the

5 frustrations surrounding these changes, and feels that proper collaboration and the use of effective models would provide some stability over time.

5. Analysis of Situation In considering all of the information gathered from the Sturgeon Falls Elementary in this inquiry, it is apparent that collaboration is valued but is lacking in the process of IPP preparation. This causes frustration for teachers, parents and administrators. Good analysis of the relationships between dimensions The problems in IPP preparation at Sturgeon Falls Elementary are explained by the lapses in the collaborative effort between team members. Teachers feel under qualified to create quality IPPs because of a lack of direct support from the resource teacher, as well as a lack of administration support. Parents do not understand IPPs well for the same reason. Also, the resource teacher does not necessarily know these students on a personal bases, beyond simply reviewing their files, and this can impact their ability to meaningfully collaborate on behalf of the student in question. Overall, each team member lacks important information, which limits the quality of the output product, in this case, Individual Program Plans. Working to improve the collaboration and knowledge of the IPP process will hopefully improve the overall quality of programming for the students attending this school. Situational Analysis Diagram You did a great job illustrating the interrelationships between dimensions in this figure, well done!
Problems with effective IPP writing at Sturgeon Falls Elementary.

Parents, teachers and parents value collaboration but do not utilize it well in the IPP development.

Parents and teachers differing knowledge and lack of experience and expertise in the IPP process.

Poor IPP quality equaling poor quality of programming for the students attending Sturgeon Falls Elementary.

6. Priority Dimensions and Guiding Principles for Improvement The following guiding principles for improvement will be suggested in this section:

Using effective collaboration during the IPP process at Sturgeon Falls Elementary. Giving teachers easy access to the IPP software program Providing each teacher with their own computer Allocating more time to teachers during IPP writing times Improve access to resources and needed support. Educate all members of the learning team regarding the purpose and standards for IPPs. Good guiding principles, well laid out and practical Which dimension(s) do you think is a priority and why? 7. Improvement Plan Collaboration is valued in principle but not always put into practice. This is true at Sturgeon Falls Elementary during the IPP process. Collaboration in the IPP process will have to be effective. In order to do so, involving knowledge and skills on collaboration will be necessary to work out effective strategies and goals in the students IPP yes!. Objective: Teachers, support staff, administration and parents will work in collaboration to write effective IPPs for students at Sturgeon Falls Elementary. Rationale: Collaboration is a key componant to superior results in the school environment (Dettmer et al., 2009). IPP writing has been identified as an area lacking collaborative focus, and one that frustrates parents, teachers and administrators alike. School staff agree that it would be worthwhile to invest in resources and professional developmental programs in order to facilitate the IPP process. Nice summary of the issue and identification of the importance of this plan Program/Method: In regards to time and effectiveness, the use of substitute teachers how can they get around the issue of funding constraints and/or PD days will be utilized during the IPP writings I like the idea of dedicating PD days for this, a great professional development activity. A full day will be dedicated to the IPP writing and the teachers, resource teacher and other team members involved will gather in the same room and work on their IPPs in collaboration with the others. This will eleviate certain concerns and or frustrations as well as reach common goals, strategies and give them time to discuss the students needs and strengths in each subject. Clarification on the purpose of each IPP section and the type of information that belongs there can be provided at this time by the resource teacher. Once the preliminary IPP has been finalized, a parent IPP meeting would follow I would argue that it would be useful to include the parents in the beginning stages as it would result in a more complete document in the first stages, and make the necessary changes from the parents input. Person(s) Responsible: Teachers, Administrators, resource teacher, parents and students are involved in the collaborative IPP writing. Resources: The resource teacher will help to facilitate the collaborative IPP process with the Sturgeon Falls Elementary teachers. Other resources, like

7 substitute teachers, will help ease a lot of tension and frustration in regards to the IPP writing process. Alberta Education guidelines for IPPs were also produced and shared with teachers during a professional development day. Technological supports, such as smart boards, and individual laptops will be used to allow all involved members to create, share and edit the IPP taking place excellent idea. Also, by giving access to the IPP website from home will also help teachers work on their IPPs in a more relaxing environment if they are working on it at home would it still be a collaborative process, they would be working alone. You would have to be careful using this strategy and put in guidelines to ensure the rules for collaboration were still being followed.

8. Outcomes Possible outcomes are as follows: Given the importance of the IPP writing and process and the fact that teachers are more aware of their weaknesses and have the necessary resources and time to elaborate a well planned IPP is promising. All team members feel that it is worth the time and money to collaborate on IPPs. Most of the teachers have already started to come forth and give specific comments on how their understanding of the IPP process has increased awesome!. They will feel more support by the resource teacher, their administrator and will love the fact that a substitute teacher will replace them for the school days needed while they work on their IPPs or the extra time they will get during a PD day. With their support, teachers will feel more empowered, insightful and less stressful when it comes time to creating their IPPs. The teachers will be less bothered by the fact that more time is needed outside of school hours to finish their IPPs, knowing they have access to them from home and will be more willing to meet collaboratively after school hours to finish them yes!. Parent feedback will become more positive as they will feel more involved in the IPP process and writing of their child. They will also feel more comfortable with the IPP because of the better knowledge and collaboration their teachers and staff will be able to offer them. Their frustration levels will decrease significantly as the teachers and resource teacher will be there to support and to answer any questions they feel important. The teachers will also be more confident in asking for parental input, and encourage them to request modifications of IPPs where they feel necessary. They will also enjoy the flexibility that the teachers will be able to provide given the fact that they will have more time on their hands to do so. In general, the plan for the collaborative IPP improvement seems promising, and will be utilized at Sturgeon Falls Elementary for future program planning. I agree! 9. Reflective Evaluation A significant outcome of this project was the coming together of staff for work on the collaborative IPP improvement process. Staff differed significantly in their values and beliefs about IPPs but in the process of working together on the project, they were able to develop some shared understandings about the process and how it might be implemented more successfully in a collaborative way excellent, a great example of a

8 professional development opportunity. The fact that each teacher was able to express their concerns and frustrations was advantageous as this enables a sense of understanding and commonality amongst the teachers at Sturgeon Falls Elementary. Given that the resource teacher, administration and teachers expressed their views and thoughts in weekly meetings, a general collaborative effort has made significant progress and improvement in the areas of frustration excellent!. Everyones views and opinions were taken seriously and recommendations to try and solve or eleviate the problem immediately followed. This ensured the teachers that the IPP process needed improvement and that the necessary steps were put in action. I found that it was difficult to interview teachers about their own values and beliefs about IPPs. While they overly stated how much they valued collaboration, their practices in the IPP process did not always match with their stated beliefs interesting, good observation. They all understood and were aware of the power of collaboration during the IPP process but for a number of reasons didnt feel that it was possible due to the many different views and knowledge towards IPPs. Now, with the right resources and the willingness to collaborate in the IPP process, teachers are way more confident and less stressed when it comes to doing an IPP. Overall, I believe that this project has been significant in developing positive attitudes towards IPPs and explained clearly on how collaboration plays a major role in its effectiveness., Nnot only within the school but also with the parents. It is satisfying to see how collaborative efforts and a little communication can go a long way! References Alberta Learning (2008/2009) Resources to support students with diverse learning needs. City, AlbertaB: Learning and Teaching Resources Branch. Alberta Education. (2006). Individualized Program Planning: ECS to Grade 12, Book 3 of the Programming for Students with Special Needs series. Edmonton, AB : Publisher. Archambault, J. & Chouinard, R. (2003). Vers une gestion ducative de la classe (2e ed.). Qubec, QC :. Gatan Morin diteur lte. Dettmer, P., Thurston, L.P., Knackendoffel, A., & Dyck, N. J. (2009). Collaboration, consultation and teamwork (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education Inc. Goupil, G. (1997). Les lves en difficult dadaptation et dapprentissage (2e ed.). Montral, QC :. Chenelire ducation. Jordan, A. (2006). Introduction to inclusive education. Mississauga, OntarioN: John Wiley & Sons. Mastropieri, M. & Scruggs, T. (2007). The inclusive classroom: Strategies for effective instruction (3rd ed.). New JerseyCity, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. Mostert, M.P. (1996). Interprofessional collaboration in schools: Benefits and

9 barriers in practice. Preventing School Failure, 40, 135-138. Overton, S. (2005). Collaborating with families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.