This past week, I spent some time in Washington, DC at the Virtual K-12 Public Schools Forum focused on students with disabilities. Several themes emerged from the forum, and our national group crafted recommendations for the United States Office of Special Education Programs. As the group was comprised of administrators, agency members, educators, and parents, I could not help but think of a consistent theme over the three days - Adults are often poor gatekeepers of opportunities for kids. Some adults "hem and haw" over policy, procedure, and roll out while kids every day are denied services to virtual education. Other leaders are "gifted gatekeepers" who continue to "learn by doing", "pilot", and ultimately just take risks if there may be a chance to reach a kid a different way.
As you read through this week's key themes at the forum, pay particular attention to the gifted gatekeeper strategies to make virtual opportunities a reality for kids with disabilities and for all kids in North Carolina as many of the themes cross over to why or why not "all kids" are being served with www.ncvps.org and www.nclearnandearn.gov.
Theme #1: Personnel Quality and Preparation
§ Need for appropriate professional development - NCVPS offers our GO LIVE approach. It can be easily integrated into your existing district and school improvement planning. Check it out here: http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/
§ Need for teaching standards that specifically address the unique challenges of providing education within a virtual environment, and specifically special education and related services within this environment - Such standards are already in place with www.sreb.org and www.inacol.org and can easily be integrated as to what you look for in terms of North Carolina teacher instrumentation and/or executive evaluation. Reach out to www.ncvps.org to compare our coaching and evaluation model for instructors and/or administrators as well.
§ Need for training of appropriate personnel (including parents) in accessible technology and assistive technology (AT) (e.g., including how the device or software is programmed or set up, how to recognize and fix minor problems, how to incorporate AT into the student’s educational program, information on maintenance) Many www.ncvps.org services are easy to adapt for all sorts of modifications and environments. Do not be a poor gatekeeper in the online environment of exceptional children because you think tools have not caught up and/or cannot provide assistance. One example is our archiving tools which easily accommodate dictate to scribe, transcribed notes, proximal seating, and/or syllabus expectations on an IEP.
Theme #2: Accessibility for Students with Disabilities (and/or all students)
§ Ensuring that the relationships among the state education agency (SEA), local education agencies (LEAs), and virtual schools do not result in students with disabilities being denied admission and enact policies to ensure this is not the case - Email www.ncvps.org, and we'll show you how to work with your local school board to enact policy to these ends.
§ Ensuring accessibility of virtual curriculum to students with disabilities – off-site kiosks, loaner programs, flexible schedule times, and rotating labs are all example of how to improve accessibility. Not to mention the virtual school bus, aimed at students who need it the most during traditional downtimes of education. See more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html
§ Ensuring flexibility of virtual curriculum (i.e., ability to be modified/adapted for students with disabilities): NCVPS has already integrated mastery learning with its credit recovery program and modular pilots. In your school system, the relationship between your distance learning advisor and our teachers is critical to connect the IEP and/or any student learning plan. Check out the www.thevlc.org for multiple tips on how to improve the capacity of your DLA’s.
§ Ensuring that software developers are creating software, digital content and e-learning accessible to students with various physical and learning disabilities - At www.ncvps.org we know how our folks are providing quality access to content. How confident are you as a gatekeeper that this is happening with other service providers or software solutions you are using? Contact us for a comparison chart today of how www.ncvps.org stacks up against private software providers. If it sounds too good to be true from a provider, it probably is. Therefore, ask the experts in your state on blended learning - we might just surprise you with a free and more effective solution for your district, school, or student.
Theme #3: Accountability
§ Ensuring quality of virtual special education instruction and related services, and effectiveness/appropriateness of a virtual environment for serving students with disabilities (LRE) - Our courses are evaluated at the state level, nationally, through AP audits, via SREB rubrics, and through iNACOL’s review process. We are completely aligned to the North Carolinas Standard Course of Study and to all special education regulations as well.
§ Regulation and monitoring of virtual schools and providers - our teachers participate in IEP training, and they meet regularly in e-learning communities to discuss students with special needs in their courses.
§ Difficulty in monitoring students progress when we cannot determine the level of help offered the student (e.g., ensuring that parents aren’t doing their children’s work for them) - virtual tools shatter this barrier presented at the forum. Web ex meetings, audio and video threads, safe assign, etc. are all ways we can ensure student work is at an high academic integrity level.
Theme #4: IEP Issues
§ Roles and responsibilities in implementing the IEP (e.g., virtual school staff, LEA staff, contractors; as well as general educators, special educators, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and/or parents when appropriate) - This plan is no different at the school level than trying to get all IEP team members to the table. Virtual teachers can even participate in archives of the IEP meetings. Is that done at your school now? If so, contact us and we'd love to list you as a best practice site for gatekeepers.
§ Need for defining appropriately the intensity of services - There is a common myth that services will be less in the virtual environment. With the multiple tools we have for parents and students this is hardly the case. By enrolling more EC students into our courses you may be surprised at the results compared to what you've been getting in the face to face arena.
§ How is placement of a child with a disability into a virtual school, as opposed to another educational setting, handled (e.g., is a home-based virtual school the “best" or "least restrictive environment [LRE]" for a child with disabilities)? Is this a focus at your IEP meetings? And/or are you being a gatekeeper as to what you've always done? Or, do you look for what is easier? The trick is to provide training to your LEA reps at the IEP meetings on www.ncvps.org being a great option for LRE requirements. This is what a gifted school gatekeeper does.
§ Challenge of providing inclusive services within a virtual classroom environment – e.g., how to recreate interactive social settings for the purpose of inclusive, as opposed to pull-out, services? Participation in online environments soars in comparison to the face to face. EC students are engaged, chatting, videoconferencing, and communicating with students across the state. This is not a barrier; it is a plethora of opportunities for EC kids.
§ How can virtual therapies best be provided to students with disabilities (e.g., tele-therapy, face-to-face)? Collaborative tools suites like www.wimba.com , www.teleplace.com, and a host of other virtual services around simulations allows for cost savings and travel time savings of traditional EC services. Have your EC department take a look at our tools today and how they can provide more opportunities over the net.
Theme #5: Roles and Responsibilities
§ Who is responsible for what within various virtual school contexts – SEA, LEA where student resides, LEA where school resides, virtual school, virtual charter school, home school, etc.? As with any effort, a strategic approach where names are listed on a deployment plan are the two key pieces for defining whose role it is to be a gifted gatekeeper for EC services
§ Identifying who is responsible for AT set up, training and support of everyone involved or working with the student, including the family. IEP team is responsible here, and if they do not know about the virtual services, the virtual teacher can help inform them on how this will work for all at the school site and off site.
§ Identifying the parents’ role in the virtual delivery of special education (e.g., can they function as paraprofessionals?) Absolutely, Florida Virtual has invested heavily in training parents for the k-8 model, and www.ncvp.org routinely works with parents to support students in a virtual setting.
§ Creating mechanisms for communication between those who set up the IEP and the virtual school. Distance learning advisors and facilitators are current best practice, and this site provides you all you need to get started www.thevlc.org
§ Roles and responsibilities in implementing the IEP (e.g., virtual school staff, LEA staff, contractors; as well as general educators, special educators, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and/or parents when appropriate) - the www.thevlc.org is the solution for a gifted gatekeeper.
§ Working with 3rd party providers to develop accessible courses and coursework, and provide necessary technical and academic support - email www.ncvps.org today for a list of vendors who meet these unique challenges.
Theme #6: Financial Issues
§ Determining how virtual schools are reimbursed for the costs of serving students with disabilities - www.ncvps.org is currently working on overall funding approach and evaluating national models for best practices.
§ Inadequate funding to provide what students with disabilities require - in many cases this is not a barrier at all. The virtual services are at a lower cost and can help provide the service more effectively. Example, a speech pathologist over a live classroom can impact multiple school sites and kids from the confines of their office.
§ Logistics and costs involved with transporting children to obtain related services (e.g., who drives and who is responsible for the cost?) This service can be integrated with virtual evening academies and/or early morning periods where virtual students are already being served.
Theme #7: Attitudes and Expectations Regarding Virtual Special Education
§ Misconceptions about delivery of special education and related services can be solved by "Going Live" with www.ncvps.org http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/
§ Reasons why parents/families choose virtual schools for their children with disabilities and parent/family expectations regarding how virtual schools will serve their children. Parents want options, and the virtual space is about options. Embrace it, plan for it, and use it to leverage the resources in your school system. Please email me directly at bryan.setser@ncpublicschools.gov , and I'll come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.
§ Skepticism about quality of virtual instruction in general, and concerns that a virtual model is not responsive to special education students' needs in particular. Please email don.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov , and he'll come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.
§ Lack of a basic understanding of the organizational structures within which virtual schools exist. Please email david.edwards@ncpublicschools.gov and he or his team will come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.
Have a great week, and try not to be a gatekeeper who keeps out the opportunities for kids in the virtual space. Rather, be a gifted gatekeeper who figures out how to "blend" these opportunities within your environments for student success.
Dr. Bryan Setser
Executive Director
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