IEPs: Meeting the Needs of Students

 Thomas Connolly has achieved more than 20 years of experience in New Jersey education, including his tenure as a principal and assistant principal in public schools in the Florham Park and Clinton Township School Districts. Following his principalship in Florham Park, New Jersey, Thomas Connolly accepted a position as principal of Rock Brook School for students with special needs, where he and his team serve students from ages 3- 21 representing over 25 school districts across the state. All students receive the highest quality of services so that students will reach their full potential. All students receive individualized programing as outlined by the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which is updated and reviewed annually.

An IEP is a plan to ensure appropriate school placement and instructional goals according to a child’s special education needs. Once created, it becomes a legal document, and is shared among a child’s educators, school administrators, case managers, and family. IEPs incorporate many components which include present levels of performance, goals and objectives, how progress will be measured, modifications/accommodations, test results, and transition planning. This information along with additional information in an IEP, add up to developing a map of an individualized program to best support a child. IEPs are reviewed annually and changes can be made as needed.

The concept of free appropriate public education (FAPE) states that children with disabilities can participate in education that meets their unique individual needs. In addition, schools must allow students to participate in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This may include a general education classroom, support services within a general education classroom, resource room, or a private school. The IEP provides an in-depth understanding of a child's strengths and challenges. The document provides educators with detailed information such as goals and support services that may be needed for a child to succeed in school.

IEPs contain a summary of individual student information and educational attainment. It will specify any modifications necessary in the classroom to accommodate the student’s disability and address the student’s special needs, such as speech, language and communication. To qualify for an IEP, children would be in a specific classification category. This may include, but is not limited to, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Multiple Disabilities, Speech and Language, Visual Impairment, and Specific Learning Disability.

As part of an IEP are transition planning and services. This process helps prepare students with goal setting as they move through high school and after graduation. Students are a part of the transition planning by determining goals focused on interests and needs as well as being provided with opportunities to receive services and activities to assist in achieving these goals. This can include ensuring the necessary coursework is taken which will lead to a projected goal. Goal setting will include employment, postsecondary education (e.g., college), vocational, or independent living skills. Once the goals are established there are a menu of services that may be needed to best support this student, such as job sampling, counseling, coursework, and related services.

The IEP is a truly collaborative process for many stakeholders to improve educational results for children with specific disabilities. As stated by John Evans, "Every student can learn just not on the same day or in the same way."

About the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

 

With a successful career in the education sector for over 20 years, Thomas Connolly is serving as principal at Rock Brook School in Skillman, New Jersey. Thomas was an elementary principal in Florham Park, New Jersey and was an assistant principal in the Clinton Township School District. As a school leader, Thomas Connolly is passionate and dedicated to his work and believes in equity and advocacy for all students as they reach their full potential. He is a lifelong learner and continues to be an active participant in professional development opportunities. Thomas Connolly is affiliated with numerous professional organizations, including the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Established in 1943, ASCD seeks to empower all educators through different programs and attends to superintendents, principals, teachers, and advocates. It has over 125,000 members in nearly 130 nations and over 50 affiliate organizations. In partnership with adult education specialists, the educators design and deliver educational programs to help educators improve their professional careers and, by extension, strengthen the education system and school performance.

ASCD offers a comprehensive central repository of learning resources, with a customizable digital learning platform where members can create their learning journeys based on level and need. Other services include professional audits for educators, diversifying expertise in school faculties, instructional coaching and modeling, and a research-based approach to educational institutions' needs.

ACSD holds regular virtual and in-person sessions, including workshops, seminars, symposiums, leadership summits, and the Annual Conference. The conference attracts hundreds of educators and stakeholders in the education industry. It provides a platform for educators to brainstorm ways to solve issues facing the education sector, create connections, and seek ideas to implement in their schools.

                               Challenges and Strategies for Students with Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is broken down in five categories which include normal hearing, mild, moderate, severe, and profound.  Each category increases in severity of the loss and has a direct impact on speech and language.  Any degree of hearing loss puts a student at risk, such as with missing information, fatigue, and social misunderstandings. With the improvements and advancement of technology, such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, students have greater access to sound at all levels of hearing loss.

As students transition to the mainstream environment, there are things educators must keep in mind as they plan and prepare to welcome students with hearing loss into the classroom.

• Assistive Technology: Students will be using personal (hearing aids/cochlear implants) and/or soundfield technology to assist them in an educational setting. This technology improves the signal-to-noise ratio, therefore allowing the child to access speech and language.  

• Background Noise: Listeners with typical hearing are able to tune out sounds such as noisy heat or air conditioning units, spillover noise from other classrooms or outside, other children speaking, chair legs scraping on the floor and the reverberation or echo of sounds “bouncing” off hard surfaces such as walls, uncarpeted floors, desks and chairs. Because hearing aids and cochlear implants process all sound equally, children who listen with these devices will have difficulty selecting the important sound information from the teacher or speaker. Acoustic modifications (carpeting, area rugs, tennis balls on table and chair legs, bulletin boards, quilts and wall hangings, and other sound absorbing materials), can greatly improve one’s ability to understand oral language.

• Seating in Classroom: Preferential seating in the classroom is very important. The student should be seated off-center from the teacher. This allows the student to have optimal visual and auditory access of his/her teacher. It also allows the student to turn to view classmates as they speak during discussions.  Semi-circle seating is recommended when possible.

• Group Conversations: Students with hearing loss can have difficulty following and understanding group conversations due to multiple people speaking, increased ambient noise, and localizing information. Often, by the time a student locates the speaker, another child has jumped into the conversation. Teachers can make a habit of using the students’ names and allowing the students to use the handheld microphone when contributing to the classroom discussions.  This will direct the child with hearing loss to the speaker.  In addition, using the handheld microphone gives visual reinforcement of the speaker and allows increased time to process the auditory information.

• Introducing New Topics:  Difficulty following a lecture and classroom conversation may be eased by writing technical terms or new vocabulary on the board. Also, conversations that shift topics rapidly are difficult to follow for children with hearing loss. Words or phrases that signal a change in topic, such as “Oh that reminds me of a story.” or “By the way-did you guys see that notice in the gym?”  Some children will benefit from learning and self-advocacy and taking control of his her needs in conversation. 

• Listening to Instructions:  It is easy for a student with hearing loss to misinterpret spoken instructions. Directions and/or instructions should be written on the board to prevent misunderstandings. When students with hearing loss have to look at materials like maps and books and simultaneously listen to what the speaker is saying, they could miss some of the learning points from both sources. Appoint a “buddy” or town to take turns assisting the student and sharing class notes when possible. Another idea is to check for understanding by asking specific questions that will elicit more than a “yes” or “no” response. For example, “What should you do after you read the paragraph?”

• Orally Presented Questions: If the student doesn’t understand you, it is better to rephrase the question than to repeat it. Sometimes the complex language structures and/or vocabulary may be unfamiliar to the child. Rephrasing the question in a different way may improve the child’s understanding. For example, “Can you compare ____ and _____?”   Instead, say, “How are ____ and _____ the same?”

• Loudspeaker Announcements:  Quite often, loudspeaker announcements can be unintelligible to students with hearing loss due to clarity and distortion. It is important to repeat and/rephrase announcements after they are delivered to the class. It may also be helpful to list the announcements on the board as they are being received.

• Fatigue:  A child’s ability to hear may fluctuate. The strain of watching intently in order to understand through speechreading, as well as the strain to listen could result in a child tiring quickly. It is recommended to give short breaks throughout lessons as needed, so as to hold his or her attention.

Golf Tips: Preventing Injuries

Thomas Connolly is the principal of Rock Brook School in Montgomery Township, New Jersey. As an educational leader, Thomas provides equity and advocacy for all students, meets the various needs of his students' academic and social-emotional needs, utilizes educational technology, seeks professional development opportunities, and actively participates in community outreach. In his career as an administrator, Thomas has worked as an elementary school principal in Florham Park, New Jersey and as an assistant principal in Clinton Township, New Jersey. When Thomas gets the opportunity, he enjoys golfing with his family and friends at golf courses in his community and the surrounding area.

Golf is an incredible way to improve your health. Golfers have shared it helps them stay in shape, lose weight, and build endurance. Additionally, benefits of golf include social networking, meeting new people, reconnecting with friends, and developing a sense of community. Golf is a popular sport from the beginner to the professional level and can be played at any age. Compared to other sports, golf puts less strain on the body, however injuries may occur. Many golfers have experienced lower back pain while golfing, as well as other injuries with the arms, wrists, and shoulders. To help prevent common injuries, here are a few tips to put in place:

1. Warm Up

Stretches and warm up exercises help prepare the body for a golf game. This can include movements for the back, shoulders, arms, and core strengthening exercises. It is recommended to use practice swings and gentle movements. As golfers warm up, they use short irons and repetitive movements to help prepare the body.

2. Take Lessons

When it comes to golf, learning the proper technique is best to acquire the fundamentals of the game. Sign up to take individual and/or group lessons to learn the basic techniques with your swing. With practice, golfers develop muscle memory to help with consistency and accuracy with their swing.

3. Equipment

Be sure you have properly fitting gear such as shoes, gloves, and clothing. Have golf equipment professionally fitted and adjusted as needed. Continue to maintain equipment due to use, such as golf grips to ensure clubs are in good working order for play.

Data-Driven Decision Making in Education

Data-driven decisions are an important component in education and can have a positive impact on students’ growth and success. These decisions can be made by teachers, administrators, and school districts in many areas as it relates to education. This may include curriculum, resources, programs, and student progress. For example, schools may use universal benchmark screenings and progress monitoring to assess students' performance. For many years, school management systems, administrators, teachers, and staff have collected, analyzed, and applied data to enhance student performance and target learning needs. Data should be collected from a wide variety of sources at the national, state, and local levels, it should be disaggregated, and be both quantitative and qualitative to reflect informal teacher observations of students’ needs. The use of technology has provided many opportunities for educators to facilitate this process.

Schools use data to focus on staff professional development, secure funds for programs and resources, and to inform stakeholders and the greater school community. In addition, data can help focus administrative tasks that enhance school goals. By collecting individualized and group student data, educators can obtain a snapshot of performance, competency, and areas where support is needed. Data-driven decision making uses factual information to help educators make informed choices as it relates to students’ progress and learning needs. It is a system of management and teaching practices that focuses on day-to-day learning and overall student achievement. This can include test scores such as formative assessments, summative assessments, teacher observations, and student files. In addition, data provides guidance to help teachers adjust teaching strategies and interventions to support students. Teachers continue to build students’ background knowledge to tap into what the students know. This leads to driving instruction and moving to what teachers want students to learn. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) explains that “high quality instruction, corrective instruction is not the same as reteaching, which often consists of simply restating the original explanations louder and more slowly.” Instead, the focus should be on corrective instruction which provides students with personalized learning and specific feedback about their progress. In addition, corrective instruction uses new strategies to help students who are experiencing difficulty understand the material and the opportunity to work towards mastery of skills and concepts.

Educators use data from various sources to personalize and differentiate instruction and experiences for students. With educators having the ability to track students’ understanding and progress, they are able to make the necessary adjustments in their lesson planning and preparation to meet the needs of their students. In this process of reviewing data, educators have the ability to collaborate with colleagues to generate questions once it has been determined the essential information that needs to be addressed. Some questions may include, but are not limited to, What is the performance level of students in English Language Arts and Math? What are areas of strengths and challenges? Are there common themes with students who exceeded expectations and/or fell below expectations? What interventions are being used for the students who are experiencing difficulty?

By using data, educators can gain a detailed profile of student growth and learning. In addition, educators can reflect on their own professional practice. Data is used as the road map in the journey educators are on along with their students. Information continues to be a powerful tool and with each lesson and assessment provided, adjustments can be made to the next day’s lesson with student success at the forefront.

The Red Mill

The historic Clinton Red Mill is one of the most photographed buildings in New Jersey.  This is a photo you need to add to your portfolio.  The Red Mill was recently repainted which makes it stand out even more in this beautiful setting. 

This is a must see and a great place to visit in your travels when you are in the Hunterdon County area.  The Red Mill Museum is educational and there is much to learn about its purpose since it was built in 1810.    

Be sure to stop by and grab a coffee at the Stone Bean!

Planning a Cruise Vacation

After working for long periods, it can be a relief to embark on an extended vacation that helps you take a much-needed break. Booking tickets for your vacation is only the beginning of your planning, especially if you are boarding a cruise ship. If you are embarking on a cruise for the first time, it is best to prepare so your cruise vacation is enjoyable.

On most cruises, the onboard activities, food, cabins, and other experiences are documented in flyers that are delivered to your room daily. However, not every cruise line offers a detailed explanation of the activities you experience or see at the ports of call. Therefore, it is best to do your research before arriving. This way, you have more information if you have a lot of free time after any of your planned excursions.

Both electronic and paper copies of boarding passes are accepted on cruises. However, it is recommended that you keep hard copies of all your travel documents in a carry-on bag. This is important because it safeguards you against issues including connectivity or the unavailability of your mobile device, leading to the loss of your documents. If you encounter an immigration official at a border, they may request hard copies of your itinerary before granting you passage.

The dry and wet seasons in parts of the world that are visited regularly by cruise ships are changing, specifically in Mexico and in the Caribbean. It will benefit you to research the weather before embarking on any cruise. On the cruise ship, also make sure to monitor the weather at different ports. A cruise around the Caribbean doesn't guarantee that the weather will remain stationary across every island.

It is essential to limit your luggage on your cruise. You might not need a lot of clothing due to the casual nature of cruises. The quarters in cruise ships aren't spacious; therefore, you should consider the storage space available before cramming a lot of clothes into your travel bag. In addition, you'll need all the space you can get for undiscovered treasures you might want to take home with you.

As you plan your vacation, research your options as to the location and types of cabins that are available on the ship. The best cabin to select is one that suits your budget and vacation needs. There are pros and cons to the types of accommodations offered. You should consider the length of your vacation or destination before booking a slot on a cruise. Balcony cabins are suitable for people who enjoy the sun, while they might be less appealing to someone who prefers to avoid the heat.

Enjoy your next trip...Bon Voyage!