Where is the discussion on inclusion?

Hawaii continues to lag woefully behind the rest nation on educating children with disabilities in the general education classroom.  We have been looking at this depressing data for the last decade, yet we remain entrenched in old ideas and old models.   There is clear evidence from the recently released Smarter Balanced Assessment scores that students with disabilities are not achieving anywhere near their disabled peers.  Therefore, it seems abundantly clear that schools remaining stuck in old models of education is no longer just poor leadership but is now clearly discrimination.

Yesterday, I heard Jon Sapier from Research for Better Teaching speaking on Making Student Learning Visible (MTSV).   This is not brand new information – he has been speaking on this since at least 2010, but the way he has structured and clarified the key features, steps or hallmarks of MTSV is new to me.   A point he made about the lack of data on fixed intelligence gave me renewed hope for the potential of presenting a new perspective to Hawaii’s educators.  Armed with a fresh perspective, and lack of achievement with the current model, do we finally have the stars aligned to move to schools becoming inclusive communities?

Here is what Dr. Jon Sapier explained:  The United States has fully embraced the incomplete notion that intelligence is fixed.  The hallmark of that fixed mindset philosophy is the bell curve.  We all know it well. We may have seen it presented at a special education IEP meeting, or during our own educational journey through developmental psychology.  We can recite by heart the different levels of ability clearly and definitively shown on the chart.   Furthest to the right, the group with the smallest sliver of brilliance is the RS group.  RS – Really Smart.  Moving now to the left we have the larger group of SS – Sorta Smart.  Then moving further left below curve we have the KD group – KD? Kinda Dumb.  And finally, you know what lies at the tail end – FAI  – Forget About It.     These labels intentionally make fun of this system as there is no empirical data to show that intelligence is fixed as this artifact maintains.   

Don’t agree – ok check this out.   First recall that Alfred Benet who created the first IQ test in the late 1800s early 1900s said it should not be used to categorize people. Hm.  The study and measurement of intelligence has been an important research topic for over 100 years IQ is a complex concept, and researchers in this field argue with each other about the various theories that have been developed. There is no clear agreement as to what constitutes IQ or how to measure it. There is an extensive and continually growing collection of research papers on the topic. Howard Gardner (1983, 1993), Robert Sternberg (1988, 1997), and David Perkins (1995) have written widely sold books that summarize the literature and present their own specific points of view.  Our MCH LEND Psychology Trainees could certainly provide us more on this - but for basic understanding for educators - get this - there is no agreement among the on what IQ is  - so for our purposes, we need to keep an open mind. With me so far? 

Now there is compelling data that came out a study done in Tennessee between 2005 and 2014.  The researchers took the testing data from 3rd grade students across the state. They then selected all the 3^rd grade students who performed at the 60% on the state achievement test.   60% was a solidly proficient performance level. They then gathered data on those students over the next 3 years measuring their achievement on the same state test.  Along with student testing data, they triangulated data on teacher effectiveness.  They determined effectiveness by several measurers including their own accountability system and student outcomes from state testing and grouped teachers in 3 categories:  Highly effective,  Effective and Ineffective.   The group of students from the original 3^rd grade group – who had the same achievement scores on the state test, remember -  performed significantly differently based on what sort of teacher they had over a period of those next 3 years.  Those who had highly effective teachers for 3 consecutive years performed on average at 96% on the state test.  Those who had effective teachers remained at about their same 3^rd grade level performing at an average of 56%.  Finally those who had Ineffective teachers for 3 consecutive years scored at less than 45% on the state test. Again, remember these kids were all equally proficient in Grade 3.    Still not sure?  Researchers at another university repeated the research in a different locale and got the same results.  There are 50 percentage points different between the achievement of those students who had highly effective teachers for 3 years and those who had ineffective teachers for 3 years.  That is compelling data for reconsidering our belief in fixed intelligence.  And urgent data on how crucial teachers are for student achievement. 

Ok, if you are still reading, you are curious - good, me too.  Now, back to educating children with disabilities in the general education classroom.  Please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that special education teachers are ineffective – they are teachers with an equal possibility of being effective or not - that is not my point.  My point is that assuming that students with disabilities are incapability of achieving beyond some arbitrary number we have given them that indicates their “Potential” is damaging and discriminatory.  And we discriminate when we arbitrarily place them in special education classes based on their potential and continue this practice confirming our own wrong beliefs when they remain flat in their performance.   Of course they are flat in their performance, they have no peer role models,  the curriculum provided is not the same as their non-disabled peers are receiving, the norms and expectations in a special education class are not the same as in a well managed general education class. And data shows all students do better in mixed groups – again ALL students do better.  

More next blog on change at Kahului Elementary School.  

Signing off, Listening Lesley