Leading by
Convening:
Tools for talking
and Acting
Together!
www.ideapartnership.org
What’s In the Bullseye?
Tools for Talking…
• Co-create Grounding Assumptions
• Test our assumptions with the field
• Share what we learn
• Reconvene to ‘think together’ about what leaders
should do
• Move from ‘thinking together’ to ‘acting together’!
Let’s demonstrate the use of the tool
created by MAASE
• Numbered flip chart
• Ask the question
• Tally responses
• Draw some conclusions
• Ask how what you learned informs what you
should do?
Co Creating Grounding Assumptions
At tables:
• Generate five core beliefs about the role of
special education
• Rank them 1-5
• Share your #1
• If another table shares your #1…share your #2
Working List of Core Beliefs about the
Role of Special education
• Working document
• Your draft …
o volunteers ‘wordsmithed’
o reviewed and validated
o will require input from the field to be valid beyond
the core group
o will require revisiting…often!
Going Forward
• Publish the Master List
• Share in the field
• Coach potential ‘conveners of dialogue’
virtually
• Hold some ‘dialogues’ using the tools
• Share insights
• Think together
• Act together
Creating Dialogue
Hold for Presenters:
Brenda, Eric, Anne Marie’s team
and me to report on FL CASE
9
There are gaps between research, policy and
practice
• Information gaps
• Gaps in prior knowledge
• Skill gaps
• Gaps between the dispositions needed to
implement and the dispositions currently held
• We must learn how to communicate simply
• We must build multiple opportunities for
engagement!
10
Dialogue : An important strategy
• To implement IDEA as envisioned we need to
develop shared meaning
• To create shared meaning, we need to understand
what others see in an issue
• Dialogue is a way to learn what others see in an issue
and share our own perceptions
• Stakeholder engagement demands dialogue!
Let’s practice holding the dialogue on the
MAASE Grounding Assumptions!
Sample: Tally Sheet to Record
Responses on Grounding Assumptions
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Use of the Grounding Assumptions to Create Dialogue: Areas
of Agreement
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Numbered a flip chart to correspond to the number of Grounding Assumptions that you
created.
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Ask the question that you choose
 You can customized questions for various audiences..
 You can use the same question for every audience and compare responses.
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Begin by asking the participants to individually check the Grounding Assumptions that they
believe have the most agreement
 Give them a mental picture ... If you made this statement in a mixed group, heads
would nod in agreement
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Ask each table to come to agreement on the top 3-5
Ask the table to mark their choices on the blank chart with a green X
Tally responses
Draw some conclusions about aspirational beliefs and areas of agreement
Ask “How should what we learned inform what we do”?
Sample: Tally Sheet - Agreement
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3. XXX
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8. XXX
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9.
10. X
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14. X
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Use of the Grounding Assumptions to Create Dialogue: Areas
of Mixed Belief and /or Controversy
•
Numbered a flip chart to correspond to the number of Grounding Assumptions that you
created.
•
Ask the question that you choose
 You can customized questions for various audiences..
 You can use the same question for every audience and compare responses.
•
Begin by asking the participants to individually check the Grounding Assumptions that they
believe have the least agreement
•
•
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•
•
 Give them a mental picture ... If you made this statement in a mixed group, eyes would
roll.
Ask each table to come to agreement on the top 3-5
Ask the table to mark their choices on the blank chart with a red X
Tally responses
Draw some conclusions about perceptions that perpetuate lack of agreement
Ask “How should what we learned inform what we do”?
Sample: Tally Sheet – Agreement AND Lack of
Agreement
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2.
3. XXX
4. XXX
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6.X
7.
8. XXX
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9.
10. X
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12. XXX
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14. X
15. XXXX
16.
Break
What’s In the Bullseye?
Insights from a GA Administrator
• “Everybody is in their own lane!”
• “Those people have to come close enough to
join hands!”
Recent Policies Encourage Us to Join Hands!
2012- Results Driven Accountability (RDA)
Special Ed focus moves beyond compliance
to outcomes
2015 – 40th Anniversary of IDEA
“IEP goals to should be aligned with State
academic content standards for the grade
in which a child is enrolled. “
2015 –ESEA is Reauthorized ( ESSA)
Big Ideas in ESSA
• Commitment to standards
• Assessment to measure performance against
standards in grades 3-8 and once in HS
• States decisions about standards, assessments
and consequences for low performance
• Address low performance and performance of
sub-group in state plans and with locally
designed interventions
Leverage Points for Change across Policies
• Interaction between the state and the local
districts
• Relationship between local leaders and
instructional staff
• Critical connections between special and general
education
The Challenge of Change
Adaptive
• Communication
• Understanding
• Agreement
• Willingness to make
personal change
Technical
• Guidance
• Regulations
• Protocols
• Training
• Expert advice
Convening as a New Discipline
• Bring people into the change
• Understand the change from multiple
perspectives
• Keep the connections while people adapt to the
changes
• Convening is more than a meeting
• Convening is the beginning of a relationship
focused on practice change
• Convening is adaptive leadership!
Leading by Convening means we….
Convene the stakeholders to discover
what they know… what they need to know …
what will advance and constrain their own change.
.
“From your
perspective....”
“In your
experience...”
So... What Do We Know?
• We need to work across levels of the system
o State-to-local
o Local-to-state
• We need to work acorss parts of the system
o General education, including Title programs
o Special Education
• Beliefs about our current roles figure prominently
Foundational Questions for MAASE:
What do our
colleagues believe
about the role of special
and general education?
What does our staff
believes about the role
of special and general
education?
Are we willing to have the dialogue?
Reinventing Special Education
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Grass roots initiative
Championed by CASE affiliates in states
Self-examination by the field
Engage with other important stakeholders
Work to change practice
Work to sustain practice change
Significant progress has occurred since P. L. 94-142 (IDEA)
mandated a FAPE & LRE for all students with disabilities:
Students with disabilities have full access to schools & many spend
most of their day in regular classrooms;
NCLB created accountability for all students; educator evaluations are
tied to student growth;
An Inclusive mindset has emerged among many educators; strong
awareness of the range of student needs;
Instructional research and technological innovations have changed the
nature of teaching & learning (What does FAPE look like in an on-line
classroom?);
Increasing incidence of students with autism spectrum disorders and
significant medical or cognitive impairments attending neighborhood
schools;
MTSS and RTI are replacing “wait to fail” eligibility models; fewer
students with mild learning impairments identified for special
education.
Source: Three states presentation at CASE
Not Good Enough...
Missouri - 70% of students with IEPs are not proficient
in communication arts or math when they graduate (MO
MAP data)— Students with IEPs, consistently lag behind
non-disabled peers on post secondary outcomes
Michigan - Not meeting state target of 80% graduation
rates for students with disabilities, currently focusing on 3rd
grade reading proficiency
California - Data framed the work of the Task Force.
Graduation Rates, Achievement Data, CAHSEE Results,
Drop-out Information, Post-Secondary Outcomes.
Source: Three states presentation at CASE
Reinventing: Step 1
Learn from the work of other states currently
engaged in the re-invention initiative!
Source: Three states presentation at
CASE
Reinventing: Step 2
Leading by Convening
Interview educational leaders and key stakeholders about
their best case scenarios for the re-invention of special
education
✓ General Education Administrators—superintendents,
district administrators, principals
✓ Special education administrators & leaders—district,
state, national
✓ General and special education teachers
✓ Parents of students with disabilities
✓ Recent graduates or non-completers who participated in
special education services
Source: Three states presentation at CASE
MAASE: Reinventing Grounded in Four
Ongoing Focus Areas
MAASE Leadership on Reinventing
Demands Member Participation
• Grounding Assumptions ( GA)
• Communicating Four Areas simply
• Empower and encourage each member to
hold the dialogue
• Create a process to inform MAASE
• Think with MAASE about what is next
– Conversations with key groups?
– Joint work over time?
Today: Your Table is a MAASE Referent
Group
• Help MAASE develop messages
• Think together about what will support/constrain
members to act
• Explore tools that can be useful going forward
• Inform your own practice!
• Post to a PADLET that captures our work for
MAASE and the members.
• http://padlet.com/IDEAPartnership/ppk5uusztxn6
High Quality Student Evaluations
• High quality student evaluations are based on rules established
through both State and Federal Special Education Law, along with
best practice standards, and conducted by a highly skilled
educational team. Evaluations require a systematic process that
includes a thorough collection and review of relevant data from a
variety of sources and result in the rejection or establishment of
one of the 13 Michigan special education eligibility
categories. Eligibility is contingent upon ruling out a number of
confounding factors that may account for the student’s diminished
performance including limited English proficiency, lack of
appropriate instruction, and/or environmental, economic, or
cultural disadvantage. Further, eligibility for special education exists
only if both eligibility and need for special education services are
present.
Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
• Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) means organized and
planned instructional activities typically provided by a
qualified special education professional that modify, as
appropriate, the content, methodology, or delivery of
instruction. What makes instruction truly individualized and
specially designed for a student with an IEP and different from
what a student without an IEP receives is how the instruction
is linked to the student's IEP goals and objectives. SDI is
planned, organized and meaningful in that it is an intentional
and systematic process that specifically addresses the
student's needs as expressed in the IEP goals and objectives
Skilled Staff
• Skilled staff systematically individualize instructional variables to
maximize the learning outcomes of students with IEPs. They identify and
use evidence-based practices appropriate to their professional
preparation and are most effective. Skilled staff use regular progress
monitoring to accurately measure the learning progress of students with
IEPs, and they individualize instruction variables in response to
assessment results. They create safe, effective, and culturally responsive
learning environments by using behavior change practices that are
evidence-based, embracing the use of positive behavior supports that
respect the culture, dignity, and basic human rights of students with IEPs.
Skilled staff engage in the objective and systematic evaluation of
themselves, colleagues, services, and programs for the purpose of
continuous improvement of professional performance. They promote
opportunities for parent education using accurate, culturally appropriate
information and professional method
Program Evaluation
• Program evaluation is the use of research-based methods to
systematically investigate the effectiveness of
programs/services, to inform decision-making, and to
ultimately improve educational outcomes. Program
evaluation entails asking questions in one or more of four
different domains: (1) program/service need and design; (2)
program implementation
• Effectiveness
• Decisionmaking
• Outcomes
• EBP
• Progress
monitor
• Self reflective
• Eligibility
• Instruction
Program
evaluation
High
Quality
Student
Evaluation
Highly
Skilled
Staff
Specially
Designed
Instruction
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Content
Method
Delivery
IEP
Communication Approach
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Key Messages
Failure to Act
What Does it Look Like?
Deciding to Act
What to do
In your group...
• Use the sheets to develop your messages
o You an also use them as you hold your own
dialogue in your district
• Post your messages to the Padlet in the
column for your focus area
• Review what other tables post
Lunch
LbC Tools for Exploring Reinventing
• Already introduced:
o Four Simple Questions
o Engaging Everybody
• Introduced today...
o Problems Come Bundled
o Web of Connections
o Needs of the Field
o More....
At Your Table...
• Review the tool with the full group
• Use the tool in your small group
• Share your views about usefulness and
usability
o For MAASE
o For MAASE members
o For future conversations with key groups
LbC Tools that We Have Covered to Date
• Four Simple Questions
• Engaging Everybody
• Rubrics on Depth of
Engagement
• Problems Come
Bundled
• Web of Connections
• Grounding Assumptions
Activity
• Needs of the Field Activity
• Communication Approach
• Dialogue Guides ( Text)
• Infographics
• Dialogue Guides (Infographic)
Break
Wrap up and Looking Forward
• What’s next?
• A quick summary using Four Simple Questions
I look forward to our meeting in June
I look forward to our meeting in June!