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M4 Assignment: Running Project Part 1

Katherine Hewett

Department of Special Education, University of Kansas

SPED 856

Dr. Stacie Dojonivic

February 6, 2023
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M4 Assignment: Running Project Part 1

Mary Beck Elementary School is an urban school located on the south side of Elkhart,

Indiana, and is an elementary school in the Elkhart Community Schools district, one of the larger

districts in northern Indiana and the greater Michiana region. There are currently 396 students

enrolled at Mary Beck, with 87% receiving free and reduced lunch and 17% of students

receiving special education services. Overall, the population of students in Elkhart Community

Schools is racially diverse, and Mary Beck’s student population reflects this. Of the students

enrolled at Mary Beck, 45% of students are Latinx, 33% are black, 14% are white, 7% are

multiracial, and <1% are Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska

Native.

At Mary Beck, I currently serve as the 4th-6th mild interventions special education teacher as well

as the building MTSS coordinator. In my role as a special educator, I am responsible for

providing reading and math instruction via pull-out small groups into my resource classroom. I

write their IEPs and track data on these students for regular progress monitoring reports. I also

work with students identified as needing Tier 3 reading and math interventions, and I track data

on these students’ progress to share at weekly meetings with the building MTSS team. The

majority of the students I work with are identified with high-incidence eligibility categories:

specific learning disabilities (SLD), mild intellectual disabilities (MiId), mild cognitive

disabilities (MiCD), high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and students with speech

impairments (SI) and language impairments (LI) who also require academic goals. For this

assignment, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsey Cox, the Supervisor of Exceptional

Learners in the Exceptional Learners department of Elkhart Community Schools. In addition to

being one of my district supervisors, Lindsey also monitors the transition plan section of district
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IEPs for compliance, as well as organizes and conducts district professional development on a

variety of special education topics.

The Quality Indicators of Exemplary Transition Program Needs Assessment (TQI-2) identifies

various domains related to the needs of transition programs. The TQI-2 domain scores ranked

from highest need of improvement to lowest need of improvement are as follows:

 Family Involvement

 Curriculum and Instruction

 Student Involvement

 Transition Planning

 Interagency Collaboration and Community Services (tied for 5th)

 Transition Assessment (tied for 5th)

 Inclusion in School and Access to General Curriculum

Based on the results of the survey, the Family Involvement domain is the domain with the

highest need. The overall score of this domain is a 9, with the average score being 1.5 per

indicator. From my own experience as well as my interview with Lindsey, I know this is a high

area of need in my current building as well as the district as a whole. Though this is the domain

with the highest need, there are some areas of strength. Generally speaking, there is a good

process for families to be involved in the transition process. Per Indiana’s Article 7 special

education laws, parents and families are required to be invited to attend all IEP meetings,

including transition meetings. Meetings are also held in a variety of formats-in person, video

conference, over the phone-in order for families to be as involved as possible based on their

current needs and situations. Another area of strength is the fact that information is provided in
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multiple formats throughout different phases of the IEP process. Families receive various IEP

documents such as meeting notices, procedural safeguards, and draft IEPs based on the timelines

provided by state and federal regulations. As the transition process begins, families receive

documents, pamphlets, and even meetings with community partners and stakeholders to provide

information on available services and resources. This can be done in person with paper copies as

well as digital ones, and can be translated into other languages to fit the communication needs of

the family. Though this domain does have some strengths, there are also areas of growth. Many

attempts are made for families to be involved in the process, but not all families take advantage

of the opportunity to be involved. It is not an uncommon practice in my building nor in the

district to hold IEP meetings without the family present. Some families refuse to enter the

building to hold meetings in person, some cannot due to transportation needs and scheduling

conflicts, while others cannot even talk on the phone due to work schedules as well as they

simply do not want to talk. I can speak for me and the staff in my building in saying that we try

to be as accommodating as possible, but I cannot say the same of the district as a whole with the

same level of confidence. Unfortunately, the family is sometimes at the mercy of the teachers’

and staff members schedules, and even local community partners are restricted by their schedules

as well. Transportation is a repeated barrier for many families, and unfortunately there are not

many options available to accommodate those who want to come in person but are unable to. It

should be noted that my interviewee’s responses for this domain were similarly high, reflecting

the same areas of growth as well as those for improvement.

The domain identified as the second highest in need is the domain of Curriculum and Instruction.

The overall score of this domain is a 7, with the average score being a 1.4 per indicator. As a

new teacher, I personally struggle with this domain, and based on what Lindsey shared with me
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during the interview, I am not the only teacher in the district experiencing this struggle. There are

some strengths to be celebrated amidst the struggle. Overall, for myself and others, instruction

provided to students in the areas of education, employment, and independent living is

appropriate based on individual student needs. Though I do not typically service students’

transition needs, I do make an effort to have authentic conversations with my students about their

futures, both in impending middle school and beyond; we discuss what they want to accomplish

and what they may need to do to reach those goals. Another strength is that students in the

district are able to have opportunities to participate in the community during secondary school.

The district high school curriculum is split into different career paths where students begin to

take classes and participate in internships with local companies and organizations related to the

field they want to pursue; we also have a county career center with similar experiences available.

Both the high school and career center programs are available to special education students. I

would say that an area my building as well as the district could grow in is the integration and

implementation of appropriate social skills instruction. We do have a district-wide

social/emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, but not all educators teach this with fidelity. These

SEL lessons are also not always appropriate for special needs students, as students with IEPs

may need more authentic, relevant, and frequent social skills instruction. Teaching older students

with disabilities also needs to take place in age-appropriate community settings. Students in

secondary life skills classes do participate in weekly community outings and experiences, but

these could be implemented more often and tailored to individual student needs. Across the

district, instruction and curriculum practices could and should be adjusted to better meet the

needs of diverse learners.

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Student Involvement is the domain with the next highest need. This domain had a total score of

8, with 1.3 being the average score per indicator. Mary Beck and Elkhart as a whole are

becoming much more intentional about including students with disabilities; inclusion is the main

philosophy as far as special education goes in the district. This growth by the building and

district can be seen through the fact that students with special needs are gaining more access to a

variety of opportunities. These students are able to participate in general education and go into

the community to make meaningful connections and have impactful experiences to inform their

future decisions. There is also beginning to be more of a shift towards self-determination.

Teachers are providing more instruction and even writing goals for exceptional learners to work

towards self-determination; this is true not only for secondary students, but even for those in

upper elementary school. However, not all students are actively involved in the transition

process. Unfortunately, there has been a high level of staff turnover in the district, especially in

the middle schools and high school, so not all transition IEPs have been implemented with

fidelity, including intentional student involvement in the process. This high staff turnover also

results in the inconsistent use of research-based curricula. Not all students are receiving the same

instruction nor having the same experiences, resulting in varying levels of ability for these

students to make informed life decisions. Though student involvement is not the highest need,

there are significant areas of growth that district officials need to remain mindful of.

The Transition Planning domain had an overall score of 7, with each indicator having an average

score of 1.17. Elkhart Community Schools demonstrates multiple areas of strength in this

domain. Transition planning starts as early as age 13 (the year in which the student will turn 14)

per Indiana’s Article 7 state special education policy. By this same set of laws, certain

assessments are required to determine postsecondary goals and services related to the areas of
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education, training, employment, and independent living. Per my interview with Lindsey, these

assessments are administered at least once a year and are tailored to each individual student.

However, even though transition planning is individualized, Elkhart Community Schools does

not currently use the term “person-centered planning” to describe the transition process. The

transition plan is based on the student’s strengths, preferences, interests, and needs (SPIN) but

may not be exactly person-centered. ECS is also still working on a consistent plan and procedure

for collecting data on postsecondary outcomes. This is currently monitored for compliance at the

state level, but participation in the survey at the district level is voluntary. Transition planning

has made some progress in Elkhart Community Schools, but there are still some significant areas

of needed growth.

Two domains- Interagency Collaboration and Community Services and Transition Assessment-

tied at an overall score of 6 with an average score of 1 per indicator. A strength of Interagency

Collaboration is the fact that there is accurate information of community resources and services

available to students and their families. ECS has a community resources page available for

families with the most accurate information; this document is updated regularly to maintain

accuracy. A strength of the Transition Assessment domain is the inclusion of assessment

measures, methods, and procedures in the IEP; these are all required per Article 7 and have

specific sections in the IIEP system. An area of growth needed in the Interagency Collaboration

domain is the existence-or somewhat lack thereof-of community partnerships; there are many

resources available, but not many opportunities for employment for students with disabilities. An

area of growth needed for the Transition Assessment domain is the availability of both formal

and informal assessments to develop effective and individualized transition plans; these

assessment types are available, but are not consistent across the district.
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The domain of Inclusion in School and Access to the General Curriculum has the least amount of

need based on the survey results. The total score of the domain was 3 with an average score of

0.6 per indicator. As mentioned previously, inclusion is the main philosophy regarding special

education not only at Mary Beck but also in Elkhart Community Schools as a whole. One major

strength is in the area of assessment accommodations being included in the student’s IEP. One

feature of the online Indiana IEP system (IIEP) is that teachers can select specific

accommodations needed for district and state assessments; the testing accommodations are even

broken down by test subject and grade level so all accommodations are extra customized per

each student. Generally, all other accommodations, including those for supplemental services,

are also included in the IEP courtesy of the IIEP system. Students are able to receive these

accommodations not only in the special education setting but also in general education.

However, there are still some areas for needed growth. There are significant staffing shortages

across the district, especially at the secondary level, that impact the level of inclusion available to

students with disabilities. There are not many specific strategies for facilitating social inclusion,

nor is there a consistent process in place for IEP teams to make individualized decisions about

students’ education. Overall though, inclusion is a strong domain for ECS’s special education

program.

The domain that is the most critical is the Family Involvement domain. Based on the TQI-2

survey results, this domain had the highest score, meaning many indicators were only partially

achieved. My interview with Lindsey Cox also shed some light on this significant need in the

district. Though there area a good number of systems in place to include and support families,

many do not have adequate access to information, and there are not many ways to currently

accommodate families so they can be more involved. With the high amount of staff turnover, it is
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difficult to maintain staff members for long enough to build consistent procedures. This is true

not only for the district as a whole, but even for an individual building like Mary Beck. Sadly,

many parents and families are not involved unless it is required, and even then there are some

struggles with getting them to attend meetings and be involved in the processes. This is an area

where I would like to see improvements in not only at the building level, but the district level as

a whole.
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TQI-2 Survey Results

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