Abstract
This chapter is designed to inform and educate the reader about high-leverage practices used in the general education classroom and with students with identified special educational needs. The chapter starts by explaining how high-leverage practices originated and continues with a discussion about the similarities and differences between the general and special education high-leverage practices. The chapter then finishes with a discussion about how both types of practices can be applied to any educational situation.
TopBackground
The 19 HLPs from Teaching Works (2020) originated at the University of Michigan when faculty within the College of Education collaborated to determine what skills beginning and early-career general educators needed to acquire in order to be successful in their classrooms. Once the list was generated, it was sent to current practicing K–12 general education teachers all across the United States who were asked for their opinions and thoughts concerning the list. After the surveys were returned to the University of Michigan, the educational faculty once again collaborated and revised the current HLPs. Although these practices are currently being used in some college teacher preparation programs, it should be noted that these practices are constantly evolving, which allows them to be modified to ensure the best quality of teaching practices (Teaching Works, 2020). In addition, the HLPs were designed to provide teachers with the basics of good teaching and provide students with not only the content they need to be successful in society but also the necessary support to meet their social and emotional needs. The HLPs apply to any content area and grade level and assist the classroom educator with becoming a more advanced teacher.
The 22 HLPs for special education were developed through a collaboration between the CEC and the CEEDAR Center (McLeskey et al., 2017) and took about 18 months from first draft until approval. The premise of these 22 HLPs for special education focuses on four practices: “collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral practices and instruction” (McLeskey et al., 2017, p. 3). These two comprehensive strategy lists are not mutually exclusive (e.g., the practice of assessment can be used with instruction to both drive it and provide data toward Individualized Education Plan [IEP] goals). Many of the HLPs in special education can and should be used in the general education classroom; however, the manner in which the special education teacher uses them with students with an exceptionality may differ. For example, instructional practices in a general education classroom will probably include differentiated instruction. Although differentiated instruction can also be used with students with an identified learning disability, their instruction may also include chunking of the material, in which the content is broken into smaller learning segments.
Regardless of which HLP an educator follows, the end goal is to teach all students so they can reach their best academic potential. This goal can be met only if these practices are followed with fidelity, followed without deviation, and completed daily. While HLPs were originally created for beginning and early-career educators, any teacher, regardless of how many years of experience they have, can use and benefit from them.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Scaffolding: Building a lesson based on previous knowledge. Much like a house, the foundation is built first and then the various levels are taught until the students understand the entire concept.
Collaborator: Any stakeholder who works with others for the betterment of the student. Possible collaborators include general and special education teachers teaching in the same classroom, teachers and parents working on the IEP, or the school and an outside agency working together on an agreed-upon behavioral plan.
Bloom’s Taxonomy: A leveled system of inquiry in which the bottom level asks the student to simply recall facts about a topic, and each progressive level asks them to build on their knowledge gained from the previous level.
Social Skills: Personal skills one needs in order to interact with others (e.g., shaking hands, nodding one’s head in recognition of another individual, looking at a person’s face when they are speaking, nodding and smiling when understanding what the other person is saying, etc.).
Direct Instruction: A three-step teaching model in which the teacher first explains the concept to the students, then models examples while explaining each step out loud, and finally has the student complete examples on their own while the teacher walks around the classroom assisting as needed.
Explicit Instruction: Another name for direct instruction.
Assistive Technology: Any device, from a pencil grip to software that can read what is on the computer screen, that assists a disabled student’s learning and allows them to be educated in a classroom with their grade-level peers.
Flexible Grouping: Placing students in a group according to their ability level or interest in a topic.
Social Stories: An instructional teaching strategy that demonstrates how to act appropriately to a student struggling with a specific social skill. The story typically includes pictures of the student and is written on a reading level that the student can comprehend.