Whole Child Education

Post submitted by Nicole Eredics, an elementary educator who has spent more than 15 years working in inclusive classrooms. She is an advocate and has led community support groups. She currently hosts The Inclusive Class radio show on the Talking Special Needs Network on Blog Talk Radio (Friday mornings at 9 a.m. ET). Eredics has developed and discovered many valuable resources for parents, teachers, and schools that focus on the inclusion of special needs children in the classroom. More information can be found on her blog The Inclusive Class.

In recent years, there has been considerable thought and research given to how schools can create inclusive learning environments. Dozens of reference books have been written that recommend inclusive practice, strategies, and solutions. As a result, teachers are becoming more skilled at including children with special needs in the general education classroom.

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In any group of young people, you will find a range of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional skills and abilities. No two students have the same strengths and challenges. Classrooms in an inclusive school may have students with a wider range of skills and abilities than in traditional classrooms, but staff and students respect, support, and build on those diverse needs and strengths.

This benefits not just students with special needs; inclusive learning environments prepare all students for citizenship, employment, and further study where they will need the skills and understanding to interact and collaborate with diverse individuals and groups. By preventing young people from experiencing and participating in an inclusive environment, we fail to prepare them for the reality they will face outside of formal schooling.

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Despite the rumors, school improvement is hard. It's not about a single passionate leader. It's not about "fixing" teachers and teaching or parents and parenting. It's not about poverty. It's not about money. And it's not about standards. It's about all of them. And more.

In this column, I'll take on the real deal of school improvement—for all schools, not just certain kinds. And for all kids. Because it's not about quick fixes or checking off the instant strategy of the moment. It's about saying, "Yes, and..." not "Yes, but..." no matter what our circumstances are. It's about asking ourselves the best questions.

I am a word snob. I confess. I think words are powerful and beautiful and that word choice matters every day. My dad used to hand out buckets of praise at the dinner table when one of us used "SAT vocabulary." And I loved it.

But sometimes it's the simplest words that matter most. Like "each." As in, "each child, in each school, in each community deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged." Too often in education and politics we use a word like "all" and actually mean "some." Or "most." Or "kids like mine." You can't get away with that with a beautiful little word like "each."

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This article has been reposted with permission from William H. Hughes and the Cascade Matters Blog. Hughes has worked in education for 34 years as a teacher, principal, and superintendent of schools. He has served as superintendent of the Greendale School District in Greendale, Wisc., for the past 15 years. Greendale Schools is ranked as the top school district in the Milwaukee metro area. It is known for high student achievement, inclusive schools, and engagement and consistently has student achievement that is beyond what community demographics would predict. He is a partner with Cascade Educational Consultants, based in Bellingham, Wash., and teaches educational leadership classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

School leaders realize that inclusive schools engage all children and youth, resulting in higher student achievement. That leads to success post high school and beyond. We are looking for inclusive schools.

We have all seen schools that are struggling to be inclusive. Places where adults and youth and students with and without disabilities all seem disconnected. Places where there are clear differences or where there are distinguished characteristics between general and special education programs—students in isolated areas of the schoolhouse, a lack of attention to participation by students with disabilities in school programs and classes, or lack of respect for their well-being.

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Post submitted by Evan Heller, a youth advocate and leader for Special Olympics who currently serves on both the National and Massachusetts State Youth Activation Committees. He also participates with Special Olympics as the head coach for a unified soccer team and a unified football team, as well as an assistant coach for bowling and track and field. Additionally, Heller has participated in numerous local and national conferences about youth leadership and activation. This fall he will begin his freshman year of college at University of Massachusetts–Amherst. Listen to Heller discuss inclusive learning environments on the Whole Child Podcast.

I was recently invited to help emcee and facilitate the 2011 National School Climate Summer Institute, held at John Jay College in New York City, along with two of my youth peers. Despite the plethora of e-mails I received in the week leading up to the institute, I arrived with little knowledge of what would be coming and even less knowledge of how, as a youth, I would be received by an audience primarily consisting of high-level administrators and educators. At the beginning of the first day of the institute, I was handed a name tag that read, "Evan Heller—Youth Leader." Well, I guess that sums me up?

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Creating an inclusive environment where each student feels safe and supported in an engaging and appropriately challenging environment is rarely an easy feat, yet it is essential to educating the whole child. Regardless of strengths and challenges, each student needs and is deserving of full membership within the classroom and school community. While each student benefits from this inclusive environment, it is critically important and often challenging to ensure it for students with special needs.

In this episode of the Whole Child Podcast, we focus on creating inclusive learning environments that develop students at all levels. You'll hear from

• Timothy Shriver, chairman and CEO of Special Olympics. In that capacity, Shriver serves 3.1 million athletes and their families in 175 countries. He has helped transform Special Olympics into a movement that focuses on respect, acceptance, and inclusion for individuals with intellectual disabilities in all corners of the globe.

• Evan Heller, a student who has been involved with and coached Special Olympics for eight years. Heller is also a member of the national Special Olympics Youth Activation Committee and his local Massachusetts State Youth Activation Committee. He is a recent high school graduate and this fall will be a freshman at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he plans to double major in psychology and English.

• Latoya Dean, a doctoral student at the University of North Texas in the Leadership for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders program. She is also a Content Mastery/Helping teacher in Garland, Tex. Dean has worked in varies capacities with people with disabilities, and her current research interests include transitioning students with disabilities into adulthood, parental involvement, and interagency collaboration. She is interning this summer at the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education.

Do you have an Evan or Latoya at your school? What can you do when the school year begins to help create inclusive environments to meet each student's special needs?

Creating an inclusive environment where each student feels safe and supported in an engaging and appropriately challenging environment is rarely an easy feat, yet it is essential to educating the whole child. Regardless of strengths and challenges, each student needs and is deserving of full membership within the classroom and school community. Although each student benefits from this inclusive environment, it is critically important and often challenging to ensure it for students with special needs.

Join us throughout August as we focus on creating inclusive learning environments that develop students at all levels. During the month, make sure to check out the following.

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Assessing students in modern and diverse classrooms can prove daunting for educators. Ensuring that students understand the curriculum and are keeping up in the classroom is important for them to receive a high-quality education.

Rethink assessment based on the unique needs of each student with ASCD Express.

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In-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, long-term suspension, suspension for minor infractions, lack of counseling, adoption of zero-tolerance policies: are these just the rhetorical appearance of toughness instead of what is actually tough to do?

And for what end? To be a deterrent for others? Well if that's the case, it ain't working.

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News

Ontario Students Start Own Food Revolution: Some students from Ontario High School in southern California launched a campaign to improve the nutritional quality of the food at their school. Students stated that healthier food leads to decreased tardiness, increased attendance, better test scores, and higher graduation rates as part of their justification of their demands. (www.dailybulletin.com)

Canadian Program Teaches Students Empathy: Roots of Empathy, a Canadian program that teaches students social and emotional lessons by having a parent and baby regularly visit a classroom, has expanded to the United States. Mary Gordon, the Canadian educator who founded the program in 1996, said her goal was to teach students empathy to prevent issues such as violence and neglect later in life. Students watch parents interact with their babies, and studies show reduced aggression among students and improvement in how they treat others. (ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief, 5/24)

Researchers to Study Effects of Teacher Stress on the Classroom: Researchers at the University of Houston are about to embark on a three-year study looking at how chronic stress among middle-school teachers can affect the classroom, including teacher well-being and student performance. Results from a preliminary pilot study showed that educators older than 55 were better able to manage their stress, suggesting a scenario where veteran teachers could be paired with newer educators in the classroom. (ASCD SmartBrief, 5/31)

Resources

Miss the Healthy School Communities Virtual Conference?: The archived sessions of the inaugural Healthy School Communities (HSC) Virtual Conference are currently available for free. Also, let HSC staff know if you have an idea for a future presentation by filling out the feedback form. (www.ascd.org/hsc)

Rate Your School's Readiness in Emergencies: The American Red Cross has just launched ReadyRating.org to help schools better prepare for emergencies. Ready Rating is a free, self-paced, web-based membership program that can assist schools in determining levels of emergency preparedness deal and provides customized feedback on how they can improve their efforts. (ED's Safe & Supportive Schools News, 5/26)

Take Action

CVS Community Grants for Public Schools: CVS Caremark will provide grant funding of up to $5,000 for proposed programs that are fully inclusive for children with disabilities in early childhood, adolescent, and teenage programs that encourage health and rehabilitation or physical movement and play. Deadline is October 31, 2011. (http://info.cvscaremark.com)

Coca-Cola Company Supports Communities with Healthy Living: The Coca-Cola Foundation Community Support Program will fund organizations in these areas: water stewardship, healthy active living, community recycling, and education. Healthy active living includes providing access to exercise, physical activity, and nutritional education programs. Award amount varies. Eligible applicants must be tax-exempt organizations with 501(c)(3) status. Deadline: Rolling. (www.thecoca-colacompany.com)

Healthy School Communities is a worldwide ASCD effort to promote the integration of health and learning and the benefits of school-community collaboration. It is part of a large, multiyear plan to shift public dialogue about education from a narrow, curriculum-centric and accountability system focus to a whole child approach that encompasses all factors required for successful student outcomes. Visit the Healthy School Communities group on ASCD EDge and share everything from ideas and solutions to common concerns.