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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/nebraska-special-education-students-learn-with-peers/>
"When Bethany Jolliffe started teaching kindergarten 15 years ago, she picked
up on what seemed like a long-standing pattern: Teachers mostly stayed in their
lane, with general education teachers focusing on “their” students, and special
education teachers homed in on students deemed to be their responsibility.
Instead of keeping children with disabilities in classrooms and bringing help
to them, teachers often pulled them out of the classroom, away from their
peers.
Nationwide, that’s a common approach in schools, where many students with
disabilities, starting in kindergarten, are segregated from their classmates
for large portions of the day. At Westmoor Elementary in west Scottsbluff,
where Jolliffe is now assistant principal, that’s no longer the case. In
classrooms across the school, children of all abilities learn side by side.
Special education teachers and paraprofessionals spend hours in the same
classrooms to provide support to students who may need it. All teachers spend
time planning together to figure out how to support every student who walks
through their door.
“Kids don’t earn their way into a general ed classroom. That’s where they
belong,” said Wendy Kemling-Horner, executive director of student services at
Scottsbluff Public Schools, home to Westmoor and seven other schools that serve
3,500 students in western Nebraska."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics