Review list of interview questions used by the school in selecting new personnel to ensure that their attitudes reflect the school’s commitment to inclusive practices. This will facilitate the integration of new faculty into the school culture and continued success in implementing inclusive education.
Convene a school leadership team meeting to identify strengths and needs in current staff (both general and special educators) related to students with disabilities and inclusive practices. Consider those needs in reviewing applications for open positions.
Work with staff to clearly define the role of paraprofessionals in each class they serve. Discuss the importance of the teachers’ role in supervising and training the paraprofessional in their classrooms. A sample list of possible tasks for a paraprofessional is attached in resources.
Survey special education staff to ensure that all teachers have copies of all needed resource materials for the students and grades they serve. All teachers should have access to Teachers Editions of curriculum materials and any supplemental materials used in general education. This may not be covered under the state allotment for materials and may need to be budgeted from school funds.
Confer with both general and special educators to identify training needs for paraeducators. Talk to paraeducators about the training that they believe would be helpful to them. Work with both school and district staff to provide training that is needed. It may be necessary to budget an amount to cover hourly staff who stay after school for training.
Work with the district on guidelines for the identification of students needing one-on-one support from paraprofessionals. Such support can be detrimental to students unless it is deemed necessary to the learning, health or safety of the individual student. Develop plans to fade such support when possible.
Create a campus collaboration calendar which includes scheduled collaboration time. Ask each collaborative partner to identify a time each week when they will plan together. Add these times to the collaborative calendar. When teachers cannot identify a regular planning time, it may be necessary to support them by identifying time that is protected through use of substitutes or non-teaching staff on the campus.
Include specialized support teachers in regularly scheduled planning opportunities with their general education colleagues in order to ensure application of the general education curriculum in any separate special education setting.