“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers
Can one teacher effectively teach students with a variety of disability and/or language needs? Or do we need special education teachers?
Perhaps a better question is, can computers do the job of both regular and special education teachers?
Here is an example of what I am talking about. This ad appeared for a webinar throughEducation Week underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I have noticed nuanced messages in a lot of ads for teacher training. See what you think.
Adams 50’s Steve Sandoval—a 2016 Education Week Leader to Learn From—created an “interventionist framework” out of frustration that his district’s talented education specialists were isolated by separate certifications, regulations, and funding streams. The framework helps to “cross-pollinate” teachers of special education, English-language learners, and gifted students, to identify common strategies and target interventions for all students. The approach has helped dramatically raise student achievement in the district during a time of demographic change, and has helped make possible Adams 50’s switch from traditional grade levels to a competency-“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers: