As you continue in your advanced graduate program and work towards becoming a special education scholar-practitioner, you become equipped to handle the complex issues involved in creating individualized educational plans and services to advance the learning of students with exceptionalities. Scholar-practitioners are aware that all students do not learn in the same manner, nor follow the same path to achieve academic success.
As a result, there is no single prescription for success, rather a commitment to the field of special education and a compilation of research-based strategies and best practices to create meaningful learning opportunities for students with exceptionalities. Scholar-practitioners participate in professional learning communities in which they engage in rich discussions and collaboration to develop comprehensive curricular agendas, while sharing best practices and the latest in research in the field of education.
For this Assignment, you will synthesize credible research while identifying best practices, innovations, and strategies to support and make sound educational decisions.
To prepare:
- Enter the Grand City interactive community and locate West Ridge Middle School. Re-view the case study video titled, “The New Student.”
- Review all module Learning Resources.
- Gather at least 3 scholarly articles to support your educational plan of action, along with your reflection and rationale identified in the discussion related to the case study.
Imagine that you are one of the teachers in the video and the principal has asked you to create an educational plan of action. You are to give this plan of action to the other teachers who will be working with Jamal so they can be prepared to foster his success in school.
Your educational plan of action must summarize Jamal’s strengths and needs and identify best practices and research-based resources that will be beneficial to his situation. The plan should be a minimum of 2 pages. Include at least 2 best practices and 2 resources while considering at least 3 of these topics in your plan:
- Response to Intervention (RTI)
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- Cultural Responsive Teaching
- Cultural Awareness and Diversity
- Assessments (Informal and Formal)
- Behavioral Intervention
- Ethical and Legal Implications
- Data Recording (Academic and Behavior)
Be sure to support your educational plan of action with current scholarly resources.
Learning Resources
Note: To access this module’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Florian, L. (Ed.). (2014). The SAGE handbook of special education (2nd ed.). London, England: Sage Publications Ltd.
- Chapter 46, “Inter-agency Working and Special Education: Beyond ‘Virtuous’ Ideas of Partnership Towards Alternative Frameworks for Collaborative Work With Children” (pp. 785–800)Focus on the description of alternative frameworks for collaboration.
Bal, A., Sullivan, A. L., & Harper, J. (2014). A situated analysis of special education disproportionality for systemic transformation in an urban school district. Remedial and Special Education, 35(1), 3–14.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
A mixed method collaborative case analysis that examines disproportionality in one urban school district.
Gofen, A., & Blomqvist, P. (2014). Parental entrepreneurship in public education: A social force or policy problem? Journal of Education Policy, 29(4), 546–569.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Focus on the analysis of aspects of parental entrepreneurship and the role parents play in reforming public education.
Yull, D., Blitz, L. V., Thompson, T., & Murray, C. (2014). Can we talk? Using community-based participatory action research to build family and school partnerships with families of color. School Community Journal, 24(2), 9–32.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Focus on the findings from several focus groups that consisted of parents of color. Parents share their experiences within the school and in the community. Information that was collected is analyzed using critical race theory.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011c). Special education: Collaboration [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 12 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011d). Special education: Continuing concerns in special education [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 13 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011b). Special education: Advice for advanced study in special education [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 12 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript
