Author: wa-case

I’ve been teaching third grade for 12 years. You’d think I’d know what I was doing by now. But nothing could have prepared me for coming back from break and having literally half my class out with COVID. I really don’t want to go back to virtual learning.

When high school students have a say in what happens in the classroom, they become more invested in their work.

On February 16 from 12-1 PM, Washington CASE would like to start a conversation about the experience and changes that are occurring at the state level with regard to Due Process, Citizen Complaints, and Conflict Resolution. This is an opportunity to learn from and share with your colleagues. The focus will be on experiences, learning from peers, and advocacy for consistency across the state and within the regulations.

A district assistive technology specialist writes that removing barriers for diverse students requires overcoming pervasive narratives in learning.

At the beginning of 2020, Shelly Emann felt like her district was on the right track with reading instruction.

In the Madison public schools in New Jersey, where Emann works as a K-8 instructional coach, teachers in kindergarten and 1st grade had just started using a program that taught students the building blocks of reading in a systematic progression: how to identify the different words in sounds, how to match those sounds to letters, and how to use that knowledge to decode new words.

To create a caring learning community where teachers and parents are partners and the strengths and competencies of students are celebrated, a strengths-based framework for curriculum, instruction, assessment, and evaluation is key. For students with exceptionalities, their educational program, supports, and related services are largely determined by an individualized education program (IEP) or individual services plan (ISP) that pulls information from their present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP).

Equitable instruction includes careful consideration of and planning for access by all students, including students with learning disabilities. UnboundEd, an organization focused on educational equity, describes three foundational moves in their paper “Equitable ELA Instruction”:

1. Adopt aligned curriculum.
2. Provide instructional support that fosters all students’ persistence with grade-level reading and thinking.
3. Provide targeted intervention in addition to and in service of grade-level learning.

From pre-kindergarten through second grade, the now 20-year-old New Jersey man was among roughly a dozen special education students in his public school classrooms, helmed by a special education teacher and two teaching assistants. In addition to learning the alphabet and other fundamentals taught to all pre-K through second-graders, whether or not they were officially enrolled in special ed, he received therapy for his speech, reasoning and other cognitive skills and to regulate his social behavior.

From third through fifth grades, as that kind of instruction and assistance continued, he was among five children with special needs in a classroom with a teacher not trained in special education, one teaching assistant with a background in special education and 25 classmates who didn’t require special education.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common mental health condition that can cause inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

This can make studying difficult, and many young people with ADHD struggle in school. Students with untreated ADHD earn lower scoresTrusted Source than students without ADHD.

Treating a person’s condition can reduce symptoms, helping them perform better Trusted Source in school. In addition to treatment, certain study skills, tips, and interventions can help students manage their ADHD in school and at home.