Action research

BY: ASHLEY FELT

What The Data Says At The State,
District And School Level
In Mesa County Valley School District students with disabilities are .31 %
behind the state's average for growth in reading. In reading, the percentage of
students with disabilities dropped 3.84% from 2012 2014 in Mesa County
Valley School District. Where as the state average only dropped .70% during
this time.
The School Performance Framework Report pulled from the Data Center in the
SchoolVIEW website reports that 83% of Appleton Elementary teachers report
that within the past two years they have clocked ten plus professional
development hours in Special Education. This is just 2% under the average
Colorado Elementary School.
Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) survey
The School Performance Framework Report pulled from the Data Center in the SchoolVlEW
website Teaching
 RESEARCH TOPIC

PROBLEM STATEMENT: The problem is that SPED

students who are in an inclusionary setting are not
making the growth needed to begin to close the
gap with peers.

QUESTION: How are SPED students impacted when

adequate support is offered to general education
teachers.
Supporting Literature
Collaborative Strategic Reading For Students With Learning
Disabilities In Upper Elementary Classrooms
The article focused on equipping our general education teachers. In the article it
pointed out that more than two-thirds of students with learning disabilities spend
most of their day in general education classrooms. The responsibility to have not
only our SPED teachers but General Education teachers trained on giving proper
interventions is more critical than ever before. The study brought to light the
conflicting view of who had the primary responsibility of educating SPED students
when in an inclusive environment. Special Education teachers believe that they
should share in this responsibility, whereas administration and general education
teachers believed its fully the general education teachers responsibility. All three
groups agreed that SPED students cannot receive effective instruction in general
education only.

Boardman, Alison G., et al. "Collaborative strategic reading for students with learning disabilities in upper elementary
classrooms." Exceptional Children, vol. 82, no. 4, 2016, p. 409+. Educators Reference Complete,
ezproxy.western.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.western.edu/ps/i.do?
p=PROF&sw=w&u=gun59497&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA457828791&asid=1396ed9e9d0d9f450f337a594f01df46. Accessed 11
Apr. 2017.
Supporting Literature
Preparing All Teachers For Collaboration
This article focused on the clear need for collaboration between general and
special educators. As students needs within the general education classroom
are increasingly changing, it has become imperative that our general
educators are equipped properly to handle the various needs of students. The
amount of students within general education with special needs continues to
grow since the passing of the Individual with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act, which mandates inclusion of children with special needs.
No longer is a general education teacher required to teach the basic content
in one style, to all learners. They are now required to modify and adapt their
curriculum so all learners are able to participate and learn. A huge issue, that
the article points out, is that teachers are not being properly equipped for
these diverse learnings while attending their licensing programs.

McGinley, Vicki A., and Gail Bollin. "Preparing all teachers for collaboration." Academic Exchange Quarterly, Spring 2007, p.
167+. Educators Reference Complete, ezproxy.western.edu/login?
url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.western.edu/ps/i.do?p=PROF&sw=w&u=gun59497&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE
%7CA165912663&asid=7b2fdb156c168e2c54bfaf3d9d02a1b7. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
Overview Of Study
A eight week study was conducted starting middle of
January 2017 and ending beginning of March 2017. General
Education teachers who have a Significant Support Needs
Student in their classroom were invited to participate in
the study. Teachers were administer a pre survey before
the study began and a post survey when the study ended.
Significant Support Needs students in these classrooms
were also administered a pre and post survey.
The study looked at the impact on teachers and SPED
students when intentional time was taken to plan together
and have adaptive material for these SPED students when
focusing on Science and Social Studies in their General
Education Classroom.
 How Participants Were Chosen
The participants were chosen based on the following criteria:
must be elementary aged student, must be a student within my
Significate Support Needs (SSN) room, must attend their general
education classroom for science/social studies and must be a
willing participate with a signed assent form.
The general education teachers were chosen on the basis: must
b a host teacher for my SSN students, SSN students must attend
their science/social studies time and must be a willing
participate who signed the consent form and agreed upon
weekly meetings.
Weekly Meetings
A weekly meeting was scheduled between the general education teachers and
the special education teacher. These meetings were short, about 15 minutes in
length, and concise.
The agenda for the first meetings:
Check in
Review year at a glace notebook
Discuss current-to-upcoming unit
Based on notebook, agree upon 2-3 concepts students must master in unit
Simple modifications were reviewed and shared
The next meetings that followed were based on teachers and students
individual needs.
Conversations were driven based on need
Check in
Modified worksheets, test and examples were shared
Teachers Survey
 Support Survey

27.5
26.5 26
25
22.5 22.5 23
21

Teacher 1 Teacher 3 Teacher 4 Teacher 5

Pre-Survey Post-Survey
 Teacher 1 Teacher 3
4.5 4.5
4
3.5 4
3
2.5 3.5
2 3
1.5
1 2.5
0.5
0 2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Supported by SPED Mod/adpt curric Refer to IEPs Interact with Para
Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Teacher 4 Teacher 5
4.5 4.5
4 4
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0

Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Written Response From Teacher
Surveys
What would make you feel more supported by your
Special Education teacher?

More time to meet

Given examples on how to modify/adapt for students needs

Written Response From Teacher
Surveys
How can your SPED teacher best support you and your
student?
Continue to communicate needs/change of student.

Give specific things to try/do with student.

Continued to consult/open-door policy to answer questions.

Support with ways to accommodate/modify curriculum to best support

students.

Frequent conversations on how to support SPED students.

How to modify curriculum to students level.

Written Response From Teacher
Surveys
If you could change anything within your classroom surrounding
SPED students what would you change?
Dont let our school psychologist retire. She is a great resource to both
SPED and gen ed. teachers.

Give her (SSN teacher) more support. Her numbers are getting big!

Nothing!

Nothing. Support has been there as needed.

Results Of The Implementation
Teachers overall confidence grew after the implementation of these
weekly meetings.
Teachers felt more comfortable and equipped to properly grade sped
students.
Development and implementation of appropriately leveled curriculum
was made easier through our collaboration.
Communication became more intentional between general education
teachers and myself. Teachers would actively seek my input on kids
growth, class planning and strategies on differentiation.
Inclusion of sped students became more of a get to rather than a
have to.
Students Survey
 Student Survey

13 13 13
12 12
11 11 11 11
10
9 9
8 8 8
7

Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6 Student 7 Student 8

Pre-Survey Post-Survey
 Student 1 Student 2
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused
Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Student 3 Student 4
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused
Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey
 Student 5 Student 6
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused
Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Student 7 Student 8
3.5 3.5
3 3
2.5 2.5
2 2
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused Feel @ class Given work Unsure answer Ideal work Confused
Pre-Survey Post-Survey Pre-Survey Post-Survey
Written Response From Student
Surveys
What is your favorite part about your general education
teacher?

"Work. Circle time. Friends.

Story time. Friends. Recess.

Toys. My teacher.
Written Response From Student
Surveys
What is your least favorite part about your general education
teacher?

Writing. When its loud. Work.

Coming back to Mrs. Felts room. Art.

Getting in trouble. Not being there more.

When she calls on other students. Reading books.

Results Of The Implementation
Three out of the eight students included in the study were able to
give relevant explanation for their answer on each question.
The other students responses indicated that they either did not
understand the question or their answer was driven their mood or impulse.
When asked to explain their answer they were unable to answer and/or
their reasons were off topic.
Students excitement for class went down and I believe it was directly
related to the weekly meetings with their teachers. Due to these
meetings expectations grew and students were challenged more.
Although the student surveys showed a decline in overall excitement,
my observation was that students were still very excited to go to
general education classrooms. For most of my students this is the
highlight of their day.
Students also began to be able to recognize and express difficulties
they were having with curriculum in the general education classroom.
Next Steps
Continue to offer on-going support to current general education
teachers through meetings, and provide future support for other
teachers as kids move on to other grades.
Continue to check in and assess how students are feeling with their
time spent in the general education setting.
At the beginning of next year set weekly meeting with general
education teachers.
Continue to build relationships with general education teachers by have
open intentional communication.
Use in-service days or staff meetings to teach and go through the
process of collaboration between sped and gen ed teachers. This would
help with teachers who feel uncomfortable with inclusionary classes.