Learn

II. Learn

I saw there was an instructional challenge in my area of work, specifically in facilitating student-led IEP meetings, and knew I wanted to complete my project in this area. Student-led IEP meetings are something that most of my Special Education colleagues have talked about in the past and many of us have had good intentions of starting them in our building. We have even gone so far as to purchase art supplies for students to use as an artistic medium to get their voice heard during the meetings. However, this type of meeting has never been done in my high school. I saw the lack of interest and knowledge about the IEP meeting process in my students and also knew that being an active part in the process would only benefit them. I know that many students do not even attend their own IEP meetings until they get to high school (it is required in high school for students to be a member of the team but not before then). (Artifact Survey Responses)

Learners and stakeholders in this project are my colleagues, students, parents, and general education teachers. Colleagues in my department are the most important stakeholders I need to reach because without them, we would not be able to fully implement student-led IEP meetings. My Special Education colleagues need to have “buy-in” to this idea or it will not happen. Without them giving up control and helping to facilitate a meeting, students will not be able to step up and lead. Students are important as well, though at first they will be nervous and probably not understand our change in practice, hopefully in the long run they will see how having a voice and being part of the decision making has helped them be more prepared for life after high school. Parents and general education staff are also important stakeholders as they will help encourage students through the process and during the meeting.

It is important for student-led IEP meetings to be part of our school culture because research has seen students who have led their own meetings have an increase in the following: knew about their disability rights and accommodations, gained increased self confidence and were able to advocate for themselves, interacted more positively with adults, assumed more responsibility for themselves, were more aware of their limitations and the resources available to them, and parental participation increased. (Artifact Research Student-Led IEPs).

Addressing this challenge will promote and support diversity, equity, and cultural competence in several ways. While teaching how to facilitate student-led IEP meetings to my colleagues, I will promote a safe environment where my colleagues feel encouraged to ask questions and not feel overwhelmed by the information. Knowing they all have different skills levels and comforts with technology, I will show them how to facilitate these meetings using different types of technology that they feel comfortable with but also encourage them to work outside their comfort level and use technology they are not as familiar with. We will be a "judge free zone" and help each other navigate new technologies together. The more they know, the more they are able to share with students and encourage students to use these new technologies as mediums to lead their own meetings, For example, a student might want to share their strengths and struggles through a PowerPoint, Prezi, or video. As teachers, we will need to be able to help facilitate these ambitious mediums of expression. Students with different abilities will be participating in different ways and in different quantities. For example, FLS students would not be able to lead as many parts of their meeting but they would be able to make a poster telling the team what they wold like to accomplish after high school.

My intention in this project is to change an existing practice. Currently, my school does not encourage student-led IEP meetings. Our students are actually pretty silent in meetings and usually only speak up when we are discussing the interests, strengths, and struggles. I am guilty of this, too. I often give my students an “out” and usually talk and interview with them prior to the meetings. I ask them what they like to do and what they are interested in so that I can have the section filled out before the meeting. This way, if the student does not speak up, I can say something like, “When we talked, you mentioned enjoying motocross and anime.” I see the change and I feel it needs to be made soon as we are not helping our students in this current way of practice. We could be doing so much more to get them ready for life after high school and becoming great self-advocates.

I see my project as the only solution to the problem. I can not be the only Special Education teacher to make this change. It needs to happen across our school to benefit all our students. If I did not teach the information to my colleagues and hope that by just talking about this need, I know nothing would change (it has not changed though we have discussed the need for student-led IEP meetings for several years). Teaching my colleagues to facilitate student-led IEP meetings, though different and scary at first, is the only way to reach as many students as possible because we will all have the knowledge and can hold each other accountable.

The two Overarching Competencies I will be focusing on while addressing the challenge is Technological Facilitating and Adult Learning. I chose these competencies because I knew I would need to teach my colleagues how to facilitate student-led IEP meetings. Knowing how adults learn will help me in getting the information across to them in an efficient and meaningful way. I chose Technological Facilitating because I knew I would need to use technology during my presentation to teach my colleagues how to facilitate these meetings and also because I knew we would need to use technology to help students facilitate their own IEP meetings. I will be responsible for teaching my colleagues how to use these mediums. For example, if a student wants to use Prezi to show the team his or her strengths, the Special Education teacher will need to know how the software works so the teacher can help the student make the presentation and also make sure the team will be able to view it during the meeting.

The competency within Diversity-Equity-Cultural Competence I will focus in addressing the challenge is Collaborate Purposefully. I chose this because I recognize the difference among our group and know all of my colleagues have different comfort levels when it comes to technology and also when discussing a new, innovative idea. I will need to help my colleagues through the process and encourage them to engage in ongoing self-reflection in how their IEP meetings are going and how they can improve. I feel being able to collaborate purposefully is the only way we will get through the learning curve of this new practice.

The competency in the Instructional Pathway that I chose to focus on in addressing the challenge is Coaching and Mentoring. I will need to be the biggest cheerleader for my colleagues and students as they transition from the old practice that is familiar and comfortable to this new one. I will provide formal coaching and mentoring in student-led IEP meetings during the presentation at our summer PIR as well as all throughout the school year as they start holding these meetings. We will work together, finding the good and the bad in our new practice and ironing out the glitches together by giving meaningful feedback on our IEP meetings and the process. We will work together to promote growth and development.

I worked with my Special Education department colleagues to identify the challenge. I sent out a survey to all of them asking if they thought this was a problem in our school to fix and how we could fix it together. I will continue to work with in implementing the student-led IEP meetings after giving my colleagues a training on how to facilitate the meetings. We will work with our students to get them comfortable with the idea of sharing more and more of the process each school year. Ultimately, I would love to work with special education teachers throughout the district and get more students involved in their meetings at a young age. I feel I would need to get our district’s Special Education Administrator on board with this, but I feel like if he saw success at our school, he would be willing to encourage others to participate.

Many resources are going to be important for the successful implementation of student-led IEP meetings. I know my colleagues will argue that we do not have enough time in the day to start this. Yes, this will take time to implement and no, we will not be given any. But, I hope that my colleagues will see that staying a little longer a night or two during the week, or working for an hour during the weekend to get organized and work ready for a student-led meeting will be beneficial and worth the time. Also, we currently have a Case Management period during the day to work specifically with students on our caseload and to work on paperwork related to our cases. I know this will be a change for some of them, but with a little different time-management organization, there will be plenty of time to dedicate to student-led IEP collaboration. We also have the money, currently, to help with expenses related to art supplies if students would like to use this avenue to express themselves. I am not sure how long we will be able to use Pre Employment Transition Services monies to buy supplies, but I also think that when administrators see the benefits of these meetings they will rationalize spending the money.