Fall 2018 Member Meeting - Call for Presentations

Inclusive Practices Belonging, Embracing, Sharing, and Celebrating!
Invitation to Participate

We know that inclusive practices work. Research, legal guidance, and the experiences of many students, families, and educators confirm the benefits of educating students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers. In fact, research finds that inclusive practices benefit both students with and without disabilities and there is no evidence that fully self-contained placements provide positive outcomes. Inclusive practices are even a focus, as seen in UNESCO's Salamanca Statement signed by 92 countries and 25 organizations stating that that "those with special educational needs must have access to regular schools."

Even with what we know, there remains a significant need to implement the practice of educating students in their least restrictive environment, and the need is more pronounced for students in culturally and linguistically diverse populations. There is also pushback on inclusive practices in the wake of incidents of school violence. As leaders in special education, what can we share with each other to help increase the practice and improve the quality of inclusive practices? 
A Call for Presentations: Inclusive Practices: Belonging, Embracing, Sharing, and Celebrating!
 
This call for presentations focuses on a variety of potential presenters (leaders, teaching and learning staff, professional learning communities, family & communities) with the meeting themes (inclusive practices: belonging, embracing, sharing, and celebrating).
 
District presentations for this meeting will focus on inclusive practices, including what has worked and what are the barriers. We need to learn from each other’s successes and challenges, so please do not think that your district needs to have everything figured out to present! Engage your colleagues in finding solutions by submitting your presentation here.
 
Presentations for Inclusive Practices: Belonging, Embracing, Sharing, and Celebrating! might address some of the following questions. We hope that these help to guide members and broaden the scope of what may be presented.
 
Leadership
  • Belonging – How do your district's inclusive practices allow students with disabilities and special education staff to feel that they belong to their peer group, the school, district, and/or the community? How has an inclusive mindset changed your leadership structures? 
  • Embracing – What work has your district leadership done to embrace the need to focus on mitigating the disproportionate representation of linguistically and culturally diverse students populations in inclusive settings? How do your district's inclusive practices allow students without disabilities and all staff to embrace the idea of inclusiveness as a positive aspect of their peer group, school, district, and/or community? How are students with more significant disabilities included and embraced by the district and school community?
  • Sharing – How does your district leadership collaborate across departments within the district to share the work of providing inclusive special education supports and services?
  • Celebrating – How does your district leadership celebrate inclusive practices?
Systems Change
  • Belonging – How have you created systems where special education and general education practices and related staff belong together? How are you ensuring that inclusion is about high quality learning for all students by all teachers?
  • Embracing – Do your systems incorporate and embrace the notion of universal design for learning? How has your system embraced family engagement opportunities in order to make them more inclusive and representative of families consisting of people with disabilities?  
  • Sharing – How does your district share its focus on eliminating disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations? How does your district share its knowledge of implementing effective inclusive services across all schools for students with high- and low-incidence disabilities? How does your district share its knowledge of supporting students needing social and emotional supports? English language learners?
  • Celebrating – What has your district done to celebrate and embrace the difference between the ideas of equal and equity or "equality does not mean the same"? What about the difference between learning a second language and having a disability?
 
Teaching and Learning
  • Belonging – Has implementing the UDL framework created a sense of belonging for students with and without disabilities? How have your district's inclusive practices allowed students with disabilities and special education staff to feel that they belong to their peer group, the school, district, and/or the community? Is this the case for students with cognitive disabilities? Emotional and behavioral disabilities? English language learners?
  • Embracing – What have teachers in your district done to help students and staff embrace the difference between the ideas of equal and equity or "equality does not mean the same"?
  • Sharing – How do teachers and related service provider share in reducing the disproportionate representation of classifying linguistically and culturally diverse students, placing them in more segregated settings, and the overuse of disciplinary actions? How has the district shared in the inclusive education of students with more significant disabilities? What professional development activities are shared with and provided by your professional learning communities?
  • Celebrating – What have teachers in your district done to celebrate and embrace the difference between the ideas of equal and equity or "equality does not mean the same"? 
Family and Community engagement
  • Belonging – How has your district helped families to share in the belief that all students belong together? Have you applied the UDL framework to family engagement approaches? Do families of English language learners belong to the school community? What about families of students with social and emotional needs?
  • Embracing – Have your family and communities embraced the fact that there is disproportionate representation in non-inclusive settings and are working with the district to address?
  • Sharing – In what ways has the district shared their current data on inclusive practices and collaborated on its vision to move forward with families and the community?
  • Celebrating – How have you working with your families and communities to celebrate their children's successes?
If you are interested in having your school district conduct a Concurrent Session at our Ft. Lauderdale Meeting, please submit your proposal by September 30, 2018.

If you have any questions, please contact Briana Gochenour at bgochenour@edc.org or 508-904-7258.

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