Underachieving Oregon: 3 West Albany High seniors graduate with extra help getting on track

June 5, 2015 from the Oregonian (OregonLive.com)

Written by Laura Frasier

Audience: Public, Parents, Educators, Students, Government

Link to OregonLive.com article

The Oregonian article shows some things that are going well in the Oregon Education system. West Albany seems to have the resources and made the priority to meeting students individual needs. The article didn't seem to indicate that the students received or did not receive Sped Services. The individual stories highlighted in the new article are part of the story of success for West Albany. The backgrounds of the students were varied and needs were different. What was key to their success was a program that gave them extra academic and organizational support. They benefited use of contracts signed with their teachers and use of non-traditional classes and on-line.

Online Coursetaking Evolving Into Viable Option for Special Ed.

Key Point: The article reviews the beginnings of online education for students with special needs. Most of the case studies were with school districts in the southeastern United States. The benefits of the online education is the collaborative work between a classroom teacher and an online teacher that work together. The classroom teacher would give feedback through a google doc to describe the process the student goes through including their behavior. The online teacher then reviews the information and creates assignments that would best support the student. The online program can support these students through repetition, speech therapy, visual supports, etc. Specialist are also on hand to help these students succeed. The concern is whether or not the purposed individualized education plans actually happen, or will they be they same struggles we face in the face to face classrooms today.

Intended Audience: Educators, Special Educators, Parents of Special Needs Children

Published: Education Week on April 1st, 2015

URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/01/online-course-taking-evolving-into-viable-option-for.html

Training Educators for Virtual Special Education

Training Educators for Virtual Special Education
Michelle R. Davis
Education Week
Link to Article Here

This article explains the basic idea of how an online special ed class is taught.  It explains how Connections Academy runs its online classes. Each teacher gets 15 minutes to an hour of professional development a week during their regular work day to keep up on assistive technology and other supplementary instructional programs. There is a concern about students who have social goals because the teacher isn't meeting face to face with students so they can't really work on them. This also affects the type of IEP goals that can be written. The teachers do get in person training on some of the technology that will be used for their class and they are also allowed access to a website with other resources to help them out.

This article would be relevant to someone who is considering teaching an online class. I can see how it may be a good structure for some students, however, I don't think it is very appropriate for special ed students.