From the Seattle Times:

A recent audit found that more than 30 percent of the students in the Seattle school district are in a more restrictive environment than federal law requires. In an effort to revamp its “outdated” model, the district is now striving to bring educational services to students rather than bringing the students to the services.

Among the district’s innovations is a general-education language arts class that has students with learning disabilities working alongside their typical peers. It is co-taught by two teachers, one with a special education background. Federal law requires that students be taught in the “least restrictive environment” appropriate for their needs.

“When you start really looking at the results, you can’t argue with that,” said one Seattle principal. “The kid who the year before couldn’t write a sentence, he’s writing a whole essay.”

Language-arts teacher Lesley Rosenthal, who is co-teaching this year, said, “It’s fun. It’s a super open-doors policy.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am and is filed under education, inclusion, NOT2BEMISSED, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.