Phone: 1-800-453-7461
Fax: 239-631-2259

NPRInc Blog
The Educator's Choice for Classroom and Professional Development Resources

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

New laminated reference guides by Lisa Dieker, Rebecca Hines, and Carrie McDermott now in stock!

Two new laminated reference guides arrived at our Florida warehouse this week and are now ready for immediate shipping. They are the brand-new guide English Learners: Strategies to Adapt Instruction in Content Areas, by Carrie McDermott, and the newly updated and expanded edition of Lisa Dieker and Rebecca Hines’ guide, Co-Teaching in Secondary Schools: 7 Steps to Successful Inclusion.

In English Learners: Strategies to Adapt Instruction in Content Areas, Dr. Carrie McDermott provides guidance for teachers working with English learners in diverse classrooms to help them address their students’ complex needs by unpacking learning. It offers proven strategies that make learning more accessible for English learners and help these students meet rigorous standards and achieve their greatest goals. Because all students are language learners, the strategies in the guide, which include focusing on crosscutting skills, implementing project-based learning, and using buddies/partners, among others, benefit all students in K-8 classrooms. Read more about English Learners: Strategies to Adapt Instruction in Content Areas and purchase the guide.

Co-Teaching in Secondary Schools: 7 Steps to Successful Inclusion, 2nd edition, is an easy-to-use, quick-reference tool for middle and high school teachers embarking on co-teaching for the first time, as well for those in established co-teaching partnerships. Drs. Lisa Dieker and Rebecca Hines offer readers concrete strategies for building strong co-teaching teams and creating a successful inclusive classrooms. The guide includes a checklist of the key characteristics of effective co-teaching classrooms to help teachers stay on track, as well as planning forms and helpful charts to assist both special education and regular education teachers in lesson planning and tracking informal teacher observations. Read more about Co-Teaching in Secondary Schools and purchase the guide.

About the Authors:

Carrie L. McDermott, EdD in an assistant professor in the Division of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York, with concentrations in action research, cultural and linguistic diversity, ESOL methodology, theory, and language acquisition. Prior to entering the field of teacher education, she was an educator for over twelve years and previously worked in the business industry. Her areas of expertise include teaching English to students of other languages for grades K-12 and adults; elementary, middle, and secondary education; PBL; Science; Technology; Entrepreneurship; Response to Intervention; Curriculum Writing; New Teacher Mentoring; Learning Styles; and College and Career Readiness.  Dr. McDermott works with school district administrators to strengthen and implement ESOL programming as well as supervise and evaluate these practices through couching and mentorship protocols. She is also involved in several research projects involving the evolution of integrated reading comprehension applications for ELLs, co-teaching practices, and graduate education program impact. She has published numerous textbook chapters, journal articles, and has presented at various national conferences.

Lisa Dieker, PhD, is a Pegasus Professor and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar Chair at the University of Central Florida in the College of Education and Human Performance. She coordinates the doctoral program in special education and is Director of the Lockheed Martin Mathematics and Science Academy. Dieker continues to lead numerous research projects focused on systemic change of school districts across the country related to inclusive practices, co-teaching and STEM education. She currently serves on numerous editorial review boards and was the associate editor for Teaching Exceptional Children and co-editor of the Journal of International Special Needs Education. She has been awarded the Council for Exceptional Education Teacher Education Division National Service Award and Outstanding Journal Publication Award for 2015; the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Children Advocacy Network Advocate of the Year Award; the UCF Graduate Student Mentor of the Year Award; and University of Illinois and Eastern Illinois University Outstanding Alumni of the Year Awards. Over the course of her career, Dieker has received over $15 million in grant funding in and has published 6 books and 2 DVDs on her work in teacher education along with over 50 chapters and journal articles and provided over 200 workshops and 50 Keynote addresses. 

Rebecca A. Hines, PhD is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. With degrees  and teaching experience in both general and special education, Hines has a unique focus on preparing educators to meet the needs of students with disabilities in the general education classroom.  She has taught as a language arts teacher, a teacher of students with severe emotional disturbance in a self-contained setting, and as a middle school co-teacher. Her rich experiences working in and researching inclusive settings have led Hines to speak at seminars and conferences across the country about her research and classroom experiences.  Her other research interests include working with students with emotional/behavioral disorders, universal design for learning, and technology in the classroom. 

Meet our Founder and CEO, Dr. Robert Hanson

Get to know our founder and CEO, Dr. Robert (“Bob”) Hanson. In this short video, Bob talks about his long career as an educator and special education administrator with Southern Westchester BOCES before founding National Professional Resources (NPR, Inc.). With palpable passion and energy, listen to the man who started it all over 40 years ago describe what we do and why we do it. Then be sure to check out our proprietary offerings on our website, https://www.nprinc.com/categories/npr-inc.html

 

New Year, New Editions of Best-Selling Laminated Guides for Teachers

New Year, New Editions of Best-Selling Laminated Guides for Teachers

We’ve started off the new year by publishing expanded and updated editions of some of our most popular laminated reference guides! The following guides are now in stock and available for order:

MTSS & Reading: The Elementary Essentials by Karen Kemp (replaces RTI & Reading: The Elementary Essentials)
MTSS & Reading: The Middle School Connection by Karen Kemp (replaces RTI & Reading: The Middle School Connection)
Inclusion Succeeds with Effective Strategies and Collaboration, Grades K-5 (2nd Edition) by Toby Karten
Inclusion Succeeds with Effective Strategies and Collaboration, Grades 6-12 (2nd Edition) by Tony Karten

Each of these brand new six-page guides offers teachers simple and effective, targeted strategies that can be put into use right away to reach all students in diverse classrooms. And, as always, they’re written by leading experts in the field.

About the Authors:

Karen Kemp is the author or co-author of over 30 publications. She has worked in the public school system for 33 years, in positions that include director of special education, assistant principal, pupil services coordinator, adjunct faculty, program specialist, and classroom teacher. Her areas of expertise include: instructional support teams, Response to Intervention/Multi-Tier Systems of Support, positive behavior supports/social responsibility, reading strategies, effective instruction for inclusive classrooms, and progress monitoring techniques.
She is the co-author with Sharon Poole of two forthcoming laminated guides, MTSS: Collaborative Implementation, and MTSS & Math: The Elementary Essentials, available spring 2018 at www.NPRinc.com.

Toby Karten is the author of over one dozen books on inclusive education practices, as well as eight laminated reference guides for NPR, Inc. Her diversified experience includes being a staff developer, mentor, resource and inclusion teacher, an adjunct professor, inclusion coach, and international consultant for populations of learners ranging from preschool to adult levels. Ms. Karten’s continuing passion is for educators to prepare students to enter inclusive societies as productive adults.

Come See Us at Booth 1612 at the CEC Special Education Convention in Tampa

Our senior leadership, including CEO Robert Hanson and President Joe Casbarro, is eagerly looking forward to the upcoming CEC Special Education Convention and Expo, which takes place this year from February 7-10 in Tampa, FL. You can find us at booth 1612 where you can browse our extensive selection of books laminated reference guides on a wide variety of topics in special education, including autism, inclusion, transition, co-teaching, assistive technology, RTI/MTSS, paraeducators, and much more. Deep discounts off retail pricing will be offered at our booth!

Several of the experts who who have published with us will be leading sessions and/or workshops at the convention. These include the following:

David Bateman, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA
(co -author of the laminated guide Using Data to Improve Student Learning)
Workshop 2* – Administrators: What You Need to Know About Special Education
Wednesday, February 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Elizabeth C. Hamblet, Columbia University, NY
(author of the laminated guide Transitioning to College: A Guide for Students with Disabilities)
Workshop 4* – College Transition: Knowledge and Skills Students Need to Make the Shift Successfully
Wednesday, February 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Marilyn Friend, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
(author of the laminated guide Co-Teaching: Strategies to Improve Student Outcomes and co-author of the laminated guide Co-Teaching and Technology)
Workshop 18* – Specially Designed Instruction in Co-Teaching: The Key to Achieving Meaningful Student Success
Wednesday, February 7, 1-4 p.m.

Padmaja Sarathy, Infinite Possibilities, Missouri City, TX
(author of the laminated guide Autism Spectrum Disorders: Seven Steps of Support)
Workshop 24* – Activities and Supports to Improve Executive Functions for Young Learners with Special Needs
Saturday, February 10, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Lisa Dieker, University of Central Florida, Orlando:
(author of the book Demystifying Secondary Inclusion and co-author of the laminated guide Co-Teaching in Secondary Schools: 7 Steps to Successful Inclusion)
Getting to the STEM of Co-Teaching
Thursday, February 8, 1 p.m.-2 p.m.

Kent Gerlach
(author of the book Let’s Team Up and the laminated guide The Paraeducator’s Survival Guide)
A Statewide Program to Train Teachers and Administrators in the Supervision of Paraeducators
Thursday, February 8, 1 p.m.-1;45 p.m.

We hope to see you next week in Tampa!

*Convention workshops are special ticketed items and are not included as a part of a standard convention registration. Get more information on convention workshops at https://cecconvention.org/convention-workshops/.

An Inspiring Conference on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, CEC DADD

We just returned from an “exceptional” conference in beautiful (but cold) Clearwater, FL—the 19th annual conference of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD). Our president, Joseph Casbarro attended the 3-day conference, held from January 17-19, along with Georgina Casbarro and Lisa Hanson.

Joseph Casbarro, President

Given that it was a relatively small conference and we had three team members in attendance, we were able to sit in on some sessions and visit poster presentations. We left feeling incredibly inspired by the enthusiasm, expertise, and dedication of conference attendees. Children with disabilities, their families, and society are incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people devoting their lives to helping individuals on the autism spectrum and those with developmental disabilities succeed.

Among the sessions we were fortunate enough to observe was one by Padmaja Sarathy, who presented “Nurturing Executive Function in the Early Years: Designing Environment, Instruction and Adaptations.” Padmaja is the author of the laminated guide Autism Spectrum Disorders: Seven Steps of Support, and a good friend of NPR, Inc. Her presentation offered a well balanced combination of research and ideas for implementation, with strategies on how to put them into practice.

Some take-aways from Padmaja’s presentation on ways to promote executive function during instruction for young children:

  1. Brain loves action. Heighten children’s interest, engage and sustain their attention during instruction with interactive demonstrations, storytelling, role play, and drama and movement activities.
  2. Use an interactive learning process to sustain children’s attention. Combine direct instruction with hands-on activities to allow children to practice what they have learned.
  3. Incorporate novel materials (e.g., musical instruments and toys, puppets, objects hidden in a bag, photos, science and math tools such as magnets, magnifying glass, talking calculator, etc.) to heighten children’s curiosity and sustain motivation.
  4. Weave multi-sensory features into your lessons. Moving, touching and experiencing –– linking abstract concepts with concrete objects and experiences –– will facilitate comprehension of the concepts presented and will assist with recall.
  5. Play games to exercise working memory, build attention, develop self-regulation and cognitive flexibility. Children will learn to take turns, wait their turns, reflect and respond.
  6. Strengthen children’s emotional literacy. Role-play problem situations and model how to respond to stressful situations.
  7. Teach and model self-calming strategies to develop self-regulation. Integrate yoga exercise and mindfulness-based practices into the daily routine. Guide students to practice deep breathing to calm down when feeling anxious.

To learn more about Padmaja and her publications, visit her website www.infinitepossibilities-sped.com.

In conclusion, we wish to congratulate CEC DADD on a very successful conference. We certainly hope we can join them for next year’s conference… in Hawaii!!

What Not to Miss at CEC2017

The CEC Special Education Convention and Expo is one of our favorite events of the year. There’s always so much to look forward to. We’ve been talking to our friends at CEC and getting updates online at http://www.cecconvention.org/, and some of the highlights we’ve identified for this year are the following:

Our Founder and CEO, Robert Hanson, and President, Joe Casbarro, will be at our booth — booth 824— along with other members of the NPR, Inc. team. We hope you’ll come say hi and get to know our line of quick-reference laminated guides and professional development books. Oh, and did we mention great snacks?

Endrew v. Douglas County: How Much Progress is Enough for Students in Special Education?

The following review of the recent Supreme Court Case Ednrew v. Douglas County is written by guest blogger David Bateman.

In what many experts predicted, the Supreme Court last month overturned the 10th Circuit ruling on what level of educational benefit is “appropriate” for students with disabilities in the Endrew v. Douglas County case. What was not widely predicted was that the ruling would be unanimous, 8-0. While overturning the ruling was the outcome disability advocates had hoped for, the decision falls short of a total victory, leaving much ambiguity on the question of how much progress students with IEPs should be expected to make.

Some background on the case: Endrew–who goes by Drew–is a student with autism who also had some behavioral difficulties. He had been educated in the same school district from kindergarten until fourth grade. Despite having an IEP and receiving a special education program, Drew’s parents did not feel he was making enough progress in the curriculum at his public school. They therefore enrolled him in a nearby private school that focuses on behavioral supports for the fifth grade.

The parents sought tuition reimbursement from the district, arguing that Drew had been denied a FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). The district said they would not pay the tuition at the private school because he was making “some” progress in his current public school placement.

The parents filed a lawsuit in federal district court, which ruled in favor of the school. On appeal, the 10th Circuit (one step below the Supreme Court) also sided with the school district. The court reasoned that the school district needed to try to provide Drew with an educational benefit that was “merely more than de minimis.” Under that test, it concluded, Drew’s proposed IEP was “substantively adequate.” The parents appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Court heard oral arguments on January 11, 2017.

As a part of their presentation of the case, the parents stated there should be a higher standard and school districts should move toward evaluating students with disabilities against grade-level standards. There was concern from the justices about this, in particular about the cost for school districts, about having justices with little experience in special education set the standards for the nation, and the about the reality that not all students can achieve grade-level standards due to their disability.

The district argued that Drew was receiving a personalized “appropriate” education, in accordance with the law, and that there was no need to impose a more specific standard. This was brought up several times, most notably by Justices Ginsburg and Kagan who wanted the standard to be more than a minimum standard. Specifically, they talked about “a standard with a bite.”

The case was necessary because the only other case the Supreme Court has heard about appropriateness was the Rowley case from 1982, involving a student with a hearing impairment who also had a significantly higher than average IQ. That case established the two-part test for appropriateness used by districts (and courts) since then: 1) Has the district complied with the procedures of the act? and 2) Is the child making some educational progress?

The Endrew case sought to determine how much progress is necessary, and what is really meant by “some.”

The Supreme Court ruled on March 22, 2017, siding in large part with the parents.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the Court:
“When all is said and done, a student offered an educational program providing ‘merely more than de minimis’ progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all,”

“The IDEA demands more.”

However, for students who are not fully integrated in general education classrooms, Roberts wrote that individualized education programs do not need to aim for grade-level advancement, but “must be appropriately ambitious in light of (a student’s) circumstances, just as advancement from grade to grade is appropriately ambitious for most children in the regular classroom.”

Further, “The goals may differ, but every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives,” reads the opinion.

The case was sent back to the lower courts to determine if Drew should receive tuition at the private school.

While heralded as a victory by many disability advocates, we now face the problem of having a clear standard for students who are working toward grade-level standards, but not for students like Drew. It is likely that families like Drew’s will now continue to turn to litigation to help determine appropriateness. While there is an expectation for advancement and having the student make progress, the question of how much remains unanswered. Whether or not this ruling truly constitutes a victory remains to be seen over the next several years as litigation using this case percolates up the system.

Putting Differentiated Instruction to Work in the Classroom

By guest blogger Helene Hanson, author of Differentiated Instruction: Enhancing Teaching and Learning Educational literature is replete with well thought out and researched strategies and programs that are designed to improve the teaching process and improve student learning. In many cases there is data to demonstrate success based upon implementation of the identified methodology. School districts often embrace, perhaps even mandate, a specific program, only to move to a newer approach a year or so later. Teachers are often caught in the very difficult position of having to revamp or alter their teaching.

Helene M. Hanson

Helene M. Hanson

However, through all the changes in best practices there has been one that remains tried and true: Differentiated Instruction. Known as a practice that can be utilized universally, DI’s model has three main components. They include: what to teach, the planning and design of lessons; how to teach, delivering lessons; and how to measure progress, assessing student learning. For teachers this includes the who, what, where and how of teaching. At the core of DI is instruction of each child, utilizing the way the student learns. It assumes that every child can learn and that, in the absence of learning, the teacher has the responsibility to modify/adapt instruction to meet the unique needs of the learner. Thus, both student and teacher experiences success. Perhaps of great significance is the fact that DI supports and enhances some of the most popular methodologies found in today’s literature, and supported by research. These include Universal Design for Learning, (UDL), Brain Compatible learning, Multiple Intelligences, Cooperative Learning and Response to Instruction ((RTI) also known as Multi Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Implementing DI may seen daunting at first, but it is well worth the effort. It involves taking several steps, including:

  • Gathering pre-assessment: Identify students’ interests, motivation, and prior knowledge before content is taught. This enables the teacher to appropriately challenge and match instructional needs to instructional strategies. For example, conducting student interviews, administering student surveys or questionnaires, assessment of student work samples, the Developmental Reading Assessment, running records, formal and informal pre-tests, etc.
  • Connecting learning to prior knowledge: Activate prior knowledge through strategies such as interactive group discussion and questioning techniques, KWL charts, etc.
  • Varying Instructional Input: Present information in different ways, utilizing visual and multi-modalities, analogies, metaphors, graphic organizers, digital, etc.
  • Using flexible groupings: Design student groupings purposefully to address instructional goals and learners’ needs. Heterogeneous groupings work well for promoting critical thinking, concepts and generalization, and open-ended discussions. Homogeneous groupings are effective for drill and practice, answering comprehension questions and for math computation. Groups can be teacher led or student led. They can be collaborative such as project-based groups or performance-based where specific concepts, strategies and skills are presented.
  • Providing Ongoing Assessment: This informs instructional decision making and provides teachers with data about how their students are learn- ing. It should identify what students are learning well and what the challenges/impediments are to their learning. Ongoing assessment can take many forms, such as review of writing samples or portfolios, classroom quizzes, journals, classroom discussions in large or small groups, pre/post unit tests, etc. Technology can be judiciously used for data collection and tracking of student progress. Students can effectively track their progress and share results with teachers.
  • Provide Feedback: Feedback, as a component of formative assessment, needs to be timely, specific and constructive. It can be in writing, such as comments on an essay, or orally, after a student performance/presentation. Error and miscue analysis can also provide feedback to students. Use of rubrics, exemplars, anchor papers and other systems provide learners with standards against which to compare their work. Students can also learn how to give constructive feedback to their peers, but this needs to be well supervised with explicit guidelines.
  • Adjusting Instruction: It can be tempting to carefully plan an instructional lesson, using all the techniques that have been addressed in this guide and then to dutifully follow the plan. But, to be truly effective, the teacher must be vigilant in recognizing when a change, minor or major, is needed to ensure that the instructional needs of ALL students are being met. Instruction must be adaptable and flexible; most of all It must be personalized for each student. The teacher must know when to adjust the content, and/or the process by which the student learns, and/or the product by which student mastery is determined, as well as the physical learning environment.
  • Designing Active Lessons: Engaging students in their own learning generates and sustains motivation. It can be achieved through a variety of approaches including learning centers or station-learning, project-based learning and cooperative learning. Brain-based learning supports the active engagement of students, with the teacher becoming a “facilitator” or “coach” engaging students in the process of discovery. Recent developments in technology facilitate active learning.

To learn simple, proven strategies for integrating DI in curriculum planning, instruction, and assessment, and to get more information on frameworks that support DI and how to use DI to reach students with special needs, consult my quick-reference laminated guide on Differentiated Instruction from National Professional Resources.

Stacy Dean’s Universal Design for Learning Recommended Resources

The following are recommended resources cited in the laminated reference guide UDL and ESSA by Stacy Dean.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelineswww.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines_theorypractice

Strategies for Multiple Means of Representation

Strategies for Multiple Means of Expression

Strategies for Multiple Means of Engagement:

Additional Resources on ESSA:

Helpful Websites on UDL:

Additional Resources:

 

Working with Your Students’ Parents: Forging Productive Relationships

A guest blog by Dr. Kenneth Shore, author of The Bullying Prevention Book of Lists, A Teacher’s Guide to Working with Parents, and others.

Most teachers learn a vital lesson soon after entering the classroom: you are more likely to have success teaching your students if you have a close working relationship with their parents. Put another way, parent support of their children’s education is the cornerstone of school success. Teachers are thus well-advised to focus not just on presenting engaging lessons but also on forging a partnership with parents founded on mutual respect, open communication, and an understanding of each other’s pressures and constraints. In this way teachers can help address issues with their students before they become larger problems.

teachers-guide-working-with-parents-cover-tgwpBy building a connection with their students’ parents, teachers can learn key information that will help them work more effectively with their students, understand their educational and psychological needs, and learn about their strengths and weaknesses as well as any talents and interests they may have. Teachers may use this information to tailor lessons to the needs of their students and enhance their academic motivation. Similarly, a close working relationship with parents allows teachers to keep them updated on their children’s progress and offer suggestions for how parents can support their performance at home.

For simple, effective strategies for how to establish positive and productive relationships with parents, check out the quick-reference laminated guide A Teacher’s Guide to Working With Parents. It includes ideas for how to

  • reach out to parents and offer ways they participate in the classroom
  • communicate with parents at the beginning of the year, throughout the year on an ongoing basis, and when a student is struggling or excelling
  • optimize parent-teacher conferences and back-to-school nights
  • deal with angry or challenging parents

Among the recommended strategies found in the guide is sending home a newsletter for parents that includes items such as:

  • Homework and test policies
  • Grading policies
  • Upcoming tests and projects
  • Field trips and special events
  • Learning activities for parents
  • Expressions of appreciation
  • Guest speakers
  • After-school programs
  • School-related web sites
  • Upcoming birthdays
  • Current instructional topics
  • Homework hotlines
  • Extra-curricular activities at school
  • Suggested art and science projects
  • Suggestions for dealing with cyberbullying
  • Book recommendations for children and parents
  • Community resources (for example, social service organizations and private tutors)