>> Rochelle: Good afternoon. I'm Rochelle Cassella.

Welcome to today's Satellite Broadcast Network program for educator staff development. Today's edition of "Tools for Schools" is sponsored by the New York State Education Department's Office of Vocational Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities, VESID. We focus on preparing students who have been receiving special education services for the new requirements for graduation.

State Education Commissioner Rick Mills and the Board of Regents have stated that all New York State students, including those with disabilities, must pass the comprehensive English Regents exam in June, as well as other new Regents exams in the future, in order to graduate. The decision raised concerns that many students with disabilities would never earn a Regents high school diploma, so the Regents adopted what are being called safety nets that would be available to students with disabilities for several years.

While we will detail the safety net for you today, we'll also take you to two New York State high schools where students with disabilities are succeeding and the safety net is perceived as a support for students with disabilities during the phase-in of the higher standards and new assessments.

As we look at these videos, keep in mind this year's programming theme: Tools for Schools, six basic elements common to high-performing schools.

Those tools: Innovative leadership, comprehensive planning, ongoing staff development, engaging curriculum, flexible use of resources, and parent and community involvement.

We begin now with the details of the safety net option, outlined for you now by Rita Levay, Coordinator of Special Education Policy and Quality Assurance from the VESID Office. Rita, what are those safety nets? What are we talking about?

>> What we're talking about is that students with disabilities under the federal law must have access to the general education curriculum. It's not just access; it's having the supports and the services that are there so that students can progress in that general education curriculum. It's important that students have access to the state and local examinations, and federal law requires that all students with disabilities be assessed in a state-level assessment. The vast majority of students with disabilities in New York State will be assessed under the State assessments that are available to all students. So that's why the safety net is so important.

Also, students with disabilities will have access to appropriate testing accommodations, and those accommodations are important because they allow students to access those examinations, be assessed adequately and yet not to change the basic fundamental construct of the examination. We don't want to provide so many combinations that we change the construct of the examination so that they're worthless; we're not able to assess a child's progress or the quality of the programs, which is what those assessments are really for.

Students with disabilities have to have access to the general education curriculum irrespective of the location of school. So it doesn't matter whether a student is in a private school, a special ed school district, a BOCES program, an educational program within a psychiatric center, or a special class or resource room or in a general education curriculum classroom. They must have access to the courses that are available. They have to have access to the course content, which means that they have to have teachers who can modify the curriculum, modify the instruction to make sure that the critical elements are being taught to the students.

We don't want students to face traditional barriers when they're able to transition from a more restrictive to a less restrictive setting. For example, if a student is in a special ed school district or in a psychiatric center for a short period of time, generally less than 18 months, we want to be able to make sure that students can come back to a public school setting and be able to pick up where they left off in instruction; they're not facing an additional barrier.

It's also important that students have access to the electives that are available for all other students. That's critical as well.

As far as the safety net, we know that students who have special education needs who have been identified by the Committee on Special Education, as well as students who are Section 504 students, who do not qualify for special education services, can access the safety net, and it's available for students with disabilities who began entering ninth grade in 1996 and for each year thereafter through the year 2000.

Students with disabilities must take each Regents exam that is required for their class. There are five Regents examinations. They are being phased in over time. The local diploma requirements can be met by passing the Regents competency test in that subject or the equivalent if the student fails the Regents examination.

Flexibility is also available during the safety net. So, for example, a student could take the Regents competency test before the required Regents examination. That's particularly important for individual students perhaps who have to take a Regents exam over multiple days so that it's drawn out; it's lengthier than for other students. A student who might have particular test anxiety, to take two examinations at the same time might be not productive for that particular student.

Performance is going to be monitored to determine additional safety net provisions over the next few years. We need to take a careful look at how students with disabilities are doing on each of these required examinations. We need to take a look at individual school districts, individual students, trends, so that we can make adjustments as we need to over the next few years.

It's particularly important for parents to be aware of the safety net, and that's one of the big issues we have found is that parents aren't really knowledgeable about what's available to their child. They're concerned that perhaps there is no safety net. So we're just getting ready to publish within the next few weeks a parent brochure that will be sent home to every child with a disability in New York State. It talks about what's available in the safety net, how you can access the safety net, and the latest results on how well students with disabilities are doing.

>> Rochelle: Okay. That will be available when?

>> Probably within the next three weeks. It will be coming home and parents can expect that to come home with their students.

>> Rochelle: Okay. One of the things you talked about is access to general education curriculum for students with disabilities. We're really kind of talking about that that can't happen at the last minute, right?

>> It's really important to understand that these examinations aren't just one-year examinations. You don't take the course for one year, pass the test. They are really milestones along a path of acquiring knowledge and skills over multiple years. So it's important that students have access to the curriculum and instruction for multiple years.

Often a parent will say to me, "When should I be concerned about access to the general educational curriculum?" And I say it's important consideration the moment your child is referred to special education. That always has to be in your mind whether your child is in kindergarten, second grade, fourth grade, eighth grade...not just as you get closer to those required examinations.

>> Rochelle: So this can be done, say, through inclusion classes, but also in resource, separate classrooms?

>> It's really important that the curriculum be available and be mirrored both within special classes as well as in resource rooms, and inclusion is one way that can happen.

>> Rochelle: These safety nets are finite. We're talking about through 2000, but what happens after that?

>> At that point we'll have enough data to take a look at how well students are doing. We have already made some adjustments in the safety net and we'll continue to make other ones as we see how well children are doing.

>> Rochelle: Okay. I think what we're going to find is that children, when we ask them to do more, actually are doing more.

>> I think we see that in some of the early test results, that students with disabilities are doing far better than people thought they would do, and hopefully that trend will continue. But we'll monitor that.

>> Rochelle: Okay. We're going to see what's happening in some schools around New York. We have a couple of schools we want to feature today.

One of western New York's largest school districts outside of the Buffalo City Schools is the Frontier Central School District, located in Hamburg, New York. The Frontier High School classes we visited are blended inclusion classes. The school also is on a block schedule, adopted after a Frontier research committee visited several schools using the format. Frontier's committee decided that if the safety net was to be a last-choice option for its students with disabilities, the block schedule format would have to include something called an academic support program. Here's how it works.

>> We believe students with disabilities can be successful in a regular education program and can meet higher standards, but in order for them to experience that success, they need access to the regular education curriculum.

>> We looked at where we were and where we had to go and we felt the way things were wasn't the way to get there. So we had to figure out what was the route to take? And the blended inclusion model proved to be the best that we felt could work here at Frontier.

>> Take a look at the front board. There are four things that you will do by the time class is over.

>> Blended inclusion offers the best of both worlds. We have a regular education teacher who has the academic training and background to teach at the Regents level, and a special education teacher provides the supports and the modifications that the special education students need to be successful.

>> Another meaningful lens. Christen?

>> So far it is working, the blended inclusion class, team teaching, special ed teacher and myself. It allows us to provide more one-on-one instruction. Two people to plan, two people to assess, two people to deliver direct instruction... the old saying two heads are better than one, in this particular case, so far it's working.

>> We sit down with each other and we talk about what we're going to do next, who's on task, whatever, and then we get a list, an organizing list, and then we'll follow up with phone calls. I might take half the list; they'll take the other half. We might get a parent conference in the works; we might talk with that student one-on-one, arrange schedules, "See me after school," and they'll get both of us in a day.

>> I was upset that my son had to take the Regents exams. He is a student with disabilities. He has his own individualized education plan in special ed where he would get test modifications, and I just did not think he was going to do it. But with the blended classes, the support from the teachers, the block scheduling, he's been very successful.

>> Don't be overwhelmed by the math. Just try and follow along with what I'm telling you. First thing, we have a portion....

>> As we blend our teaching styles, I'm an art science teacher, so the core curriculum is mine. It's my job to make sure all the material is covered, and Mike's role is usually modifying what I've done so that not only does it help the special needs children, the students with disabilities, but it also helps the regular ed kids.

>> The first modification that we made was that students don't take notes. The notes are in pamphlets put out on each unit. So the students can just pay attention to what we're talking about and just highlight the important facts.

>> This is an example of how we have gone away from notetaking the old-fashioned way in that all we do is we give an idea; we discuss it in class, and then we need to highlight it. Then we read it through and we go over it, "Remember when we talked about this?" "Remember when we talked about that?"

Eventually what we'll end up doing is going into the Regents-type questions, which are incorporated right into this. We walk around to make sure the kids now can understand, first of all, what the question is asking and then how to answer a Regents-style question.

>> On this globe you can feel the bumps. That's all that statement is saying. The earth itself in real life...

>> I modify the test right on the site and implement their test modifications. So if they need double time, if they need questions read or the test read, I'll do it right on the site and they don't have to leave the class, go up to the resource room; they don't have to feel isolated.

>> What did we find out? Does the earth have more or less water? You don't know. Okay.

>> Okay. So you've got 3-zero plus 4 is zero, plus 3 is going to be what?

>> Three.

>> Very good.

>> What this is is a time period where students can go to see different teachers and really learn the information more in depth, which is one of the goals, and also give them a time to connect and also a time to get involved with enrichment programs.

>> Academic support is a time where they can use me as someone to help them mediate or help them with a subject they're behind in. I think they need that to keep them on task because there are higher standards, because they have to do more, they have to know more.

>> Most of our students who have been classified have achieved higher than expectation, achieving in the area of Regents curriculum, again, that they haven't been involved in. We looked at credits earned from one year to the next. There was an increase of 69 credits earned by students who had been classified. We review it and they are credits earned in Regents courses.

>> Now every time they get a good grade, it's like, "I got a 90! I got this!"

>> Usually when I get home from school my mom is at work, so I call her and I tell her. "Mom, guess what? I got 100 on my test."

>> We were thrilled. We knew the students were doing well. They did better on their report cards, had better grades, better attendance, but we knew that the final test would be the Regents assessments. And when we got their Regents scores, we were elated. For the students because they worked so hard and for the teachers because they had invested so much of themselves, and for the whole program. It sent the message out that these kids can meet the Regents standards, can meet higher standards, and they can be successful.

>> Rochelle: Joining us now from Frontier High School are Dorothy Robinson. Dorothy is Director of Pupil Personnel Services. Mary Ann Costello, high school principal, and Margaret Brooks, special education teacher for Frontier.

Welcome. Thank you very much for joining us.

One of the things that we wanted to talk about is I want to get into the details of the academic support program, but I want to talk about your success rate. You talked about success rate. What is the success rate?

>> Our students amazed us with the results that we had. Actually, in most areas, the special education students, the students with disabilities, had higher passing rates than the regular education/general education students on the Regents assessments. 100% of our students passed the Regents in English and 97% of our students passed the Course I Regents. So even in the first year of the program, we had very good results.

>> Rochelle: And you took awhile in determining to go to block scheduling and then also to blended inclusion and then the academic support program. Mary Ann, tell us a little bit about that process, about how it all came about and the work that went into planning and making that happen.

>> We had been looking at alternative scheduling for a few years before last year. I think the thing that really turned it for us was the Time and Learning position paper that the subcommittee really researched. They took a look -- because the schedule in itself is not really anything; it's how students best learn. We looked at multiple intelligences, the dumb-and-dumb model of learning styles, and some of the work on ultimate scheduling, and with the new standards, it just seemed like it should all go together and so far it has.

>> Rochelle: Did you phase it in? How did things happen?

>> Well, Margaret was actually one of the pioneers in the blended inclusion model, and we had a couple of pilot programs in place before we went to the block. But last year we put all five of our core areas into a block and it all went together.

>> Rochelle: What do you feel that the block schedule accomplishes both for students with disabilities and for your general ed population?

>> Well, it's time-on-task, and it's better for long-term memory than the 40-minute bell... ring, go to a whole new discipline and be expected to turn off what you had just been working on and plunge into something new. So I think that's really one of the greatest features.

>> Rochelle: Margaret, I'm going to talk with you for a few minutes about the blended inclusion. How did that come about?

>> About four years ago, Kathy Northway, who is the Department Chair of the history department, I approached her and said, "Would you like to try one class?" We started with one ninth grade class. And I have dual certification in special ed and in history, so she agreed to that and we started. And then we went from one class to three classes to all five classes.

A couple of things that we did was we planned -- the district was good in giving us time for summer workshops. Common planning is a must. You must have common planning. You have to have somebody you like because it's like being married to somebody. We team-teach. We do all the planning together; everything is done together. It's a 50/50 split. The kids don't know who is the special ed and who is the regular teacher. We never, ever address those issues. We just go in and start.

You have to like the person. You have to have planning time from the district. It has to provide that time. Looping was another thing we did. We kept the same students for nine and ten so they didn't have to go through all the writing processes and all the different getting used to somebody's discipline and rules. That was a big help.

So we looked at kids and a lab for the special ed kids. I had a lab that I ran every day and the kids would be -- not only the special kids but regular ed kids came to that. So that was a terrific help.

>> Rochelle: The academic support program, talk to me a little bit more about how that works, what exactly it entails and when does it come into play for a student? Is it mandatory? Is it required? Tell me a little bit about the details.

>> It's done with study hall periods in the block scheduling and on even days, they have an eighty-minute block of time. The student can sign up to see any teacher that they're having a problem with. And for the special ed teachers, we have our base students right in our own academic -- we have 15 kids usually and they can -- you know, I'll work with them or people come in or they'll leave, go see the math teacher, English teacher, whoever they're going to go see. Sometimes it's very chaotic.

>> To say the least!

>> To say the least, yeah. But it's a real adjustment because we last year went to block scheduling and had the new curriculum, and it was an interesting year, to put it mildly.

>> In addition to the academic support period, we also have an academic support center that is open before school, every period of the day, and after school, and that's staffed by a special education teacher, a regular education teacher and a teacher assistant/teacher aid, to provide support for students who need to leave a class for extra help or who need test modifications. Any time during the day that a student needs extra help, needs additional work, that support center is open to the students with disabilities as well as the regular education students. They're really taking advantage of that.

>> Rochelle: Great. Is it ever -- do you go to a student and say, "You need to attend"? And how do you monitor that they actually attend and what the progress is?

>> I tell you, the whole concept in the beginning for me was a little scary to have 1,700 students purposelessly moving about the building without knowing where they all were at one particular moment. The best control device that we have is the agenda book. If a teacher wants to see the student, they will presign their pass in the agenda book for a time and a place and they'll meet.

>> Rochelle: Every student has one?

>> Every student has one. That's what is so good about it. It's really a seamless operation. You don't know who is a regular ed student or student with disabilities. Everyone has the option to do this, and in a lot of cases it's mandatory. So it's a seamless movement.

Teachers control how many students they see on a particular issue. If a student is having -- some students are having trouble with quadratic equations, they might bring a group of six or ten in, and they'll determine in the eighty-minute time limit how many minutes they need. "Do I need fifteen with this group or twenty or the whole period?" So it gives the teachers a lot of freedom. It's sort of like an office hours during the day. You go in and get the help you need.

>> Rochelle: Would I be required or would a teacher assign me to it if I have a C or a D average or is there a grade level --

>> When they think you need help. You could be an honor student and might need help in a certain area or might need some enrichment. The teacher might think, "Gee, this student might need enrichment," or the student with the disability may need extra time. It depends. The teachers control it all.

>> In addition to that, the base teacher monitors the progress of all of the students in that group, and regular education students, students with disabilities, we look at the report cards; we look at the progress reports, students who are missing homework assignments or incompletes. And the base teacher makes sure the student meets all the requirements.

>> Rochelle: Talk to me a bit more about the home-based teacher and that role and how that works?

>> For students with disabilities, the home base teacher really acts as a consultant teacher. In addition to providing a special class within a class in our blended inclusion program, we have what we consider consultant teacher services. The base teacher meets with the teachers, the general education and the special education teachers, to find out how the students are doing, what their needs are, what we have to do to make sure they're being successful, and monitors the progress of the student. That teacher is also responsible for the student's I.E.P., for their test modifications, for the annual review process.

>> Rochelle: Okay. Margaret, I want to talk with you a little bit. You talked about all the things that happened last year. It's overwhelming enough for kids but the staff, faculty, had to be like "Whoa! What's going on here?" How did the school -- what kind of staff development issues were taken into account to help teachers prepare for what was happening?

>> We have professional growth and so we applied for professional growth. We used to meet on Tuesday afternoons and Thursday afternoons. We did global nine and global ten and we met with a lot of the teachers that were teaching that and we worked on preparing lessons and doing, you know... you can't just take two forty-minute periods and throw them together. You have to shift gears three and four times during a period. So we had to come up with some really innovative and creative ideas, which usually we were about a week ahead of the kids, I think. This year we're doing a little bit better.

But you've got to have -- planning is utmost. You've got to have somebody who is willing to work with you and take the risks because it is a risky thing.

>> Rochelle: So how do you prepare? How do teachers feel, general ed and special ed teachers, feel when they're now teamed and working in this way?

>> Some are threatened by it. It's tough when somebody comes into your classroom. But you've got to team up -- that's the most important thing, I think, to get somebody who is willing to do it, who is volunteering to do it. You have to be able to get along.

>> Rochelle: So as you're saying then, you really need to work the teams out...

>> Absolutely. It has to be a volunteer. You can't just say, "You and you, you're going to do this." You can't force it through. It has to be a voluntary thing. It's almost like being in marriage... it is.

>> Rochelle: You've got to like them!

>> You do because if you don't, the kids are going to pick up on it.

>> Rochelle: Principal Costello?

>> Margaret makes an excellent point. The team is really the most important ingredient in this, and you really can't mandate who is going to work together. What you can do is put out a "We need a team for" and see if people come together. And in most cases they do very successfully. And it's -- you know, a lot of old traditions are being broken.

First you had the special education rooms that were on one side of the building and you had the curriculum experts and regular education, and now you're asking these two to come together. I must say it really has jelled. A lot of our students don't know who is certified in what area, and it's great.

>> I think one of the biggest differences I have seen is that now everyone takes ownership for all of the students. It's not "your students" or "my students." We all have responsibility for these students. And when that happens within a classroom, you can't tell which students are the students with disabilities, which are the general education students. They all work together. The kids don't even know, and that is what I think makes it so successful. We have seen an improvement in attendance; we have seen an improvement in behavior, and in achievement.

>> Rochelle: Terrific.

>> It's great.

>> Rochelle: We're going to take a look at another program that's doing well. From western New York to downstate, the Sewanhaka Central High School District in Nassau County. Of the five junior/senior high schools that make up the district, Floral Park Memorial High School has the smallest building but the third largest student population. OF Floral Park's 1,460 students, just over 8% of them are students with disabilities. Strong support systems in place for all students enable Floral Park to graduate a higher number of students with disabilities with Regents high school diplomas.

>> At Floral Park, we have like the parents, the students, the teachers, everyone knows that our main focus is going to be on making our school the best academic school we can be. And the only way we can do that is if the parents, students, and teachers work together to make that happen. And whether students are regular education students, special education students, advanced students, they must do their best.

>> In this particular school we had the longest inclusion program in special education and the largest one. We knew that it would work here because of the type of students, the involvement of the parents, and the fact that the school was very committed to having an inclusion program.

>> Our special education program was being very successful in terms of resource room and special class education. We decided, however, that there were students who really could be very successful in mainstream if they had a little more support.

>> Look at the topic and write it down in your notebook. Let's go. Agenda books out. Write down the homework. Topic and aim, write it down. Three things about the Greeks that you learned last night in doing your outline.

>> Today's lesson was -- the topic was ancient Greek civilization. The introduction to the lesson was, one, why is it called classical? And how did the geography affect the development of early civilization? ...to get them geared toward this area of Greece and the history of it.

>> What I'll do is Kathy is giving a lesson and talking about a certain word, let's say, a particular word, and I will try to find another word that the student may need that's a little simpler, and what I do is try to explain to the students sometimes in a more concrete fashion and have them write it down what exactly is going on in class.

What I'll have them do basically is practice, practice, practice. We get them in resource room working on it; we have extra help sessions after school for the students from 3 to 4 o'clock to also work on it, and naturally what it comes down to is that they have to continue to work and practice at this throughout the entire year. Our students are of course taking these Regents. We know they have the safety net, if they need it. Bu we don't dwell on that. We concentrate on passing the Regents exams, and all of our students know that.

>> If they did fail the Regents with below 55, for example last year on the English Regents, we would give them the R.C.T. if they're special education students, so we knew they had passed the minimum requirement as a safety net. But we still wanted them to have the opportunity to pass the Regents, however, so they would take it again in August, and they would have a remedial course during the summer prior to taking it. And then if they failed that, they would again take it in the following January. If they fail that, then the following June.

So we're hoping that all of our children, special education and regular education, will have passed the Regents by the time they graduate.

>> Remember this?

>> My greatest fear for my students is that they might shut down in that environment, and yet I saw the complete opposite. They want to do as well as their peers in the classroom.

>> They're showing, the students, that "I can excel; I can succeed." The other students are realizing more of an acceptance. Some of the students really shined in that class.

>> Because ancient Greece was near water and it was a very mountainous area, trade was an important part of their economy.

>> What's the formula for a disaccharide? (Inaudible reply) Beautiful.

What we saw this morning was getting the structural formulas of these organic compounds with three-dimensional molecular structure. Then we took those structures and used them in the class called dehydration synthesis. We linked the molecules together to start building larger complex molecules which applies to all the families of organic compounds.

>> That's CH2OH.

>> I'm responsible for my students, for my special education students, but I'm available to all the kids, any kid who is struggling. I'll try to spot those kids a little extra help. I keep in close contact with ten of our kids who are having trouble.

Well, sometimes I'll come right into their resource room. I'll take them out of a study hall. I'll meet them after school. I don't like to take them out of the classroom because that's not inclusion. And I'll review the day's notes with them or the topic or review for the test, and often that's enough to get them to pass.

>> You have to work cooperatively or it really is doomed to fail, I believe. You have to be in constant contact, work together with your co-teacher, with your assistant, with the resource room teacher and, of course, with parents. And when everyone comes together, I feel it works very well.

>> We're seeing tremendous success. I have to tell you, I was very positive with all the parents and I was positive with all the teachers, but inside I was quaking because I didn't want those children to fail at all. Even I was surprised when I started to take the stats down from all the buildings how many children passed the Regents. There were very few failures. And we know if the children do fail, it's our problem, not just their problem, and we have to double up those supports to help them get through. But as far as our success rate, it has been phenomenal.

>> I'd hate to take it apart. I guess we better take it apart. Can we look for a little while more before we take it apart?

>> Rochelle: Representing Floral Park in our studios at Hudson Valley Community today: Diane Kelly, principal of the high school for the past 14 years, right there in the middle; Dr. Roselyn Kessler, Director of Special Education, and Ken Becker, biology teacher.

Thank you very much for joining us.

I want to talk a little bit about your phenomenal success rate, Roz. You talked about that as well. What has your success rate been?

>> Well, I think practically every single child passed that Regents. We had one or two who failed it and then they have to take it again and of course they do have the safety net of taking those R.C.T.s if they failed it. That's always been a good backup for them, knowing that's a way out.

But our expectation is that they will take it and -- if they can. I should tell you also that there are a number of children that we had in district who are exempted from the Regents because they're I.E.T.-diploma-bound. Those children have more severe cognitive disabilities, and we know that would be a test that would be too formidable. So they have that problem and we kind of address it that way. Parents know that from the beginning, that it's not going to be something that they're going to have to do, those children. So we tell them that right up front.

>> Rochelle: Okay. In some of your classes -- I know the math and science courses, we are talking two years for a course... Diane, explain to me how that works.

>> Yes, We have instituted a way for students to take biology, for example, that Ken teaches, in two years instead of one year. We have an introduction to biology course and then the following year they take the biology course and the Regents at the end of that time, so we're looking forward to the results of that program.

>> Rochelle: What other things do you have available to guarantee success for all of your students?

>> In the English department, we offer a lab component for those students who are lower functioning in reading and writing. And then in the math program, we have a program that's similar to science. We have an introduction to Sequential Math I program followed by the Sequential Math I course, and hopefully success at the end of that time in passing the Sequential I Regents.

So in each area, we have something special for those students. In social studies, for example, we give electives that include some of the types of subject areas that are covered in the curriculum, with the different approach, and the students take that at the same time that they take the Social Studies 10 and Social Studies 11 courses.

>> The other thing that we have there that wasn't mentioned, that we put in the programs for all children, called Operation Success and Homework Helper. And those subjects are taken either before or after school, zero period or tenth period, not scheduled periods, and anyone can go to them. Children who fail are gently encouraged to go to Operation Success. The Homework Helper is available for children who are struggling, and it's for everybody. That's another thing we do.

In addition, we have computer labs that we've instituted in all of our buildings, two in each building, so they can get extra help there. We have an extra math lab.

So all of those things together, I think, gives them a lot of opportunities for reinforcement.

>> Rochelle: Before I ask Ken some questions about what goes on in his classroom and how he feels about having another teacher with him, I want to go back to something that Rita mentioned earlier, exposure to the general education curriculum for students, all students. I know at Floral Park, in classes that you have that are not inclusion classes, how does that work that students then, special ed students, get exposure to the general ed curriculum?

>> All of our classes at the high school are Regents-level classes, whether they're special classes or inclusion classes. In fact, we place in the schedule the special class opposite the inclusion class. So as the year goes on and the student is ready to be mainstreamed, they can automatically go from special class to inclusion class without a problem because we mirror the curriculum in both of those courses. It's working very, very well. The students are really succeeding and feeling very comfortable about the inclusion program.

>> Rochelle: Ken, you are -- first of all, I have to comment on your D.N.A. tie. (Laughter) The other part is that you're the general ed biology teacher, not the special education teacher. Tell me how you felt about having an inclusion class and a special ed teacher involved who is teaching at the same time that you are? And you do not co-teach, as we saw at Frontier. How does it work in your classroom?

>> Well, we began with -- in the past, we had a general biology class and this has sort of evolved into the new class. With the team teaching, it's more that my assistant in the class allows me to keep on task with the students who are gradually grabbing material, and it allows him to help the students who are struggling.

>> Rochelle: Is it disruptive at all to have somebody else in your classroom talking, working with individual students at the same time you're lecturing? It seems to work very smoothly, but it takes some coordination, does it not?

>> In the beginning the students were distracted, but they realized why we were there and it goes really nicely now.

>> Rochelle: Do you also find some of the general ed students are tapping into the aid offered by the special ed teacher?

>> Yes, they don't realize he's there for their assistance. They just think he's my right hand.

>> Rochelle: How did the district prepare teachers such as yourself for having somebody else come into your classroom and for the inclusion class itself?

>> They have special staff development days where we have met to introduce the teachers to the program.

>> Rochelle: Okay. I want to ask everybody now here on the panel, at what point does the safety net come in to play for your students? When would this be an option? Mary Ann?

>> The expectation at Floral Park is that all of our students take the Regents. If we find that they're having difficulty, we try some remediation, some academic intervention. If that's still a problem, then we use the R.C.T. as the safety net.

>> Rochelle: So the idea is to see how you do with the Regents first, retake the Regents perhaps, and then the R.C.T...

>> Yes.

>> Rochelle: Okay. At Floral Park, how does it come into play?

>> All of the students take the Regents and the expectation is that they will pass. If they do not pass, we allow them to take the R.C.T. if they're special education students so they feel confident they have met the minimal requirement. However, in all subsequent administrations of the Regents, they must continue to take the Regents with the expectation that they will pass.

Most of our special education students aspire to go on to college and therefore they really want to take the Regents and want to pass because they know that that will be a good provider of them getting into the school of their choice. So I think they're very motivated to continue until they can pass.

>> Rochelle: We also heard from one parent who said, "I was very nervous, very upset, concerned, when told that my child who is a special ed student would be required to take the Regents."

How do you then prepare parents both for the students taking the Regents and also for the inclusion classes themselves? That's very scary sometimes for a parent. I will ask Diane first.

>> We had a meeting with the parents and we did this early on before the program was instituted so that the parents knew right from junior high age that the students would need to take the English Regents. They were very concerned at that time, but we let them know what programs we had put in place so that the students would get a maximum amount of help and now they feel very, very comfortable about it. I think all their worries have been dispelled and they know that we're working toward achievement for all of the students.

>> Rochelle: The idea is that you need to do a lot of communication?

>> Absolutely.

>> Rochelle: How about Frontier? What did you do there?

>> Communication is paramount. As you heard with all the changes we went through last year, the block scheduling, the inclusion... we had several parent meetings, one for each grade level and then one for anyone who couldn't make their grade-level meeting. The parents were concerned, as we all were, because change does that.

>> Rochelle: Change is scary. Even if it's good, it's scary.

>> It is. But we were committed to giving every student the support they needed to make the goal. And I think once everybody felt that -- well, we're all buying in this together, but we can do it, we actually did do it.

>> Rochelle: Did you find that parents are really surprised and pleased with the results you're getting? Dorothy is nodding her head.

>> Definitely. We have tried to communicate to parents that we need to raise our level of expectations for the students, that they will rise to the level of expectations. Once we've had some successful results, it's a lot easier to do. But parents also need to hear about the safety net. It's so important for them to know that if this doesn't work there's something in place so that their students won't be left behind. They will achieve a high school diploma; they will make it; they will be successful.

>> Rochelle: Roz, are you finding the same thing?

>> When we had the initial experience, it was really very difficult. I had a parent meeting for the district, and I had parents from all five schools, when the standards first came out, and I think it was like a mob scene; I have to tell you.

But we were very patient and we said, "We don't know a lot of the answers to the questions you're asking. We're going to try our best, but we need your cooperation. We need you to monitor homework; we need you to stay in touch with teachers. That's a very important component."

Gradually, I think exactly what you said, when they saw the success, that's when they feel better about it. Until that happens, they don't know.

The other thing that we did do is our board of education passed that 55 to 65 ability to pass the Regents so that they can get credit for R.C.T., but at least they have taken it and had that experience. We still encourage them to take it again but they know, "I made it."

>> Rochelle: Thank you. Time to take a look at both Floral Park and Frontier from the point of view of our Tools for Schools theme.

With regard to leadership at both schools, we saw setting the vision, the idea that there will be success for all students; total inclusion or inclusion as much as possible; academics first; collaboration among teachers to ensure success; strong support systems.

With regard to comprehensive planning, we saw Frontier doing extensive research prior to introducing its block scheduling, visiting other schools and soliciting teacher input. Also at Floral Park, we saw research prior to inclusion classes.

Tools for Schools, staff development: Special ed certified teachers working with non-special ed certified teachers in inclusion classes at Frontier. We see a lot of talk about training and discussion and in-service for teachers, both general ed and special ed teachers, at both schools as well.

The brochure, a special ed teaching strategy that I thought was very interesting, passed out at Floral Park. That might be something that you want to take a look at. The idea that general ed teachers got some special ed teaching strategies that actually probably work pretty well for the general population, especially kids who may be right on the edge there in terms of success.

Curriculum at Frontier: We see the block scheduling and the academic support period as well as the inclusion. At Floral Park, we see the two-year math and science courses for students who may have some problems there, blended inclusion classes. And we saw a lot of Power Point, multimedia presentation in class as well. Ken was using one in his science class and a lot of hands-on modeling and the idea that sparked students' interest. They liked that as well.

And Tools for Schools parent involvement... Oh, sorry. Resources: In-house expertise used at both places. Let's see what we have available to us. We have a lot of experience on our own staffs and let's use them as well. An academic support period tied to the program, use of lots of before, during, and after school programs as well. Home-base teacher, reviewing reports, summer programs in reading, writing and organization skills at Floral Park, plus planning time for general and special ed teachers to do the kind of coordination they need at Frontier. And before, during and after school programs at Floral Park as well.

Parent involvement: Frontier, teachers regularly involve parents of at-risk students in discussions. A lot of communication with parents, we heard: Getting people involved, letting them know what's going on. Floral Park, parents attend the C.S.C. meetings and they record books on tape for students who have visual impairments. I thought that was kind of interesting, bringing parents in to read those, and working with their students, their children at home, making sure those modifications, if somebody needs things read to them, that that's available. Make sure that you get your parents involved, and you do that in terms of making sure that parents understand and really are included in what's going on.

And once again we want to talk about the -- Rita, we want to talk about the brochure that's going to be available for parents.

>> The brochure should be available within the next two or three weeks. It will be sent home to every student with a disability. I would also encourage parents, that any adjustments we're making in the safety net that they go on to our web site, which is nysed.gov/vesid/. And you can sign up for something called listserv, which we'll notify you by E-mail if in fact any changes come down in the safety net or any other information that parents really need to access, that professionals need to access. Just sign up and we'll send you the information by E-mail as soon as it's available.

>> Rochelle: Terrific. Once again, that's www.nysed.gov/vesid/.

Any final comments before we say good-bye? A couple of ideas? If you had to give one or two solid pieces of advice for schools out there watching saying, "We would like to do some of your programs or take some of the tips that you have offered us here into our school," what suggestions would you make?

Let's go to Roz and Diane and Ken over at Floral Park first.

>> I would say cooperation and working together. It used to be when I first started way back that special ed students were kept in separate places and had separate classes and everything different. Now it's -- they're going to be your children. They're there; they're going to be in your class and let's work together to make it happen and make it effective.

>> Rochelle: Okay. Dorothy, Mary Ann?

>> Collaboration, training, support... support from the administration, support from the board of education. Our board of ed has been very supportive of the programs that we have implemented at Frontier.

>> Communicate, communicate, communicate... with each other, with the board of ed, among teachers, with parents. Right?

>> Staff development, that's also critical, getting everyone on board.

>> Rochelle: Before you do something, let's talk a lot about it before we begin to implement.

Rita, parent involvement, any ideas or suggestions you have for parent involvement?

>> Accurate information, that you communicate any changes and that you really communicate your successes because parents are very concerned about their own child's achievement, but we really need to raise the standards, and kids step up to the plate.

>> Rochelle: Great. Terrific. Thank you all very, very much for joining us. Those are terrific suggestions. We congratulate your success so far and we wish you the best of luck in future success as the next round of Regents and new assessments come in. Thanks very much for sharing everything today.

It is time to say good-bye. I would like to thank everyone for their participation in our videotaping as well, for letting us into their classroom and disrupting their students, and for joining us in the studio today.

Our best wishes for continued success to the staff and students at Floral Park and Frontier High. I know Commissioner Mills would be very pleased with what we've seen and with your accomplishments. I will pass along his best wishes for you as well.

My thanks also to all of our audience members. I am sure you have been able to find something of use to you, as you work with your district in preparing all students for success.

If you have any comments or questions related to today's program, please don't hesitate to notify us at the Satellite Broadcast Network. You can reach us by fax, telephone or E-mail at the following numbers and addresses: rcassel1@twcny.rr.com or tmoore@questar.org. Phone number: 518-477-6749. Fax number: 518-477-4311. We will make sure that your questions are sent along to the VESID offices and that they get in touch with you.

In addition, we at the Satellite Broadcast Network would like your feedback about today's program. It will help us in planning future shows. So please take a minute to complete our online survey. You can find it at the State Education Department website at www.nysed.gov. Click on the SBN, Satellite Broadcast Network, Survey Hotlist.

What's coming up? On Wednesday, December 1st, from 2 to 3 p.m., is our next tools for schools program. This program looks at how schools are integrating English language arts skills of reading, writing, listening, notetaking and communication throughout school curriculum and at all grade levels to support the learning standards and assessment. This program can be seen on Public Broadcasting Stations. So look to your local PBS station for the listing.

The next Satellite Broadcast Network production that will be sponsored by the office of VESID is scheduled to air on Tuesday, February 8th. At that time, we'll be taking a look at positive behavioral supports as part of discipline issues for students with disabilities. That program will be sent out to you via satellite such as today's program, and we'll contact you with the coordinates and program details as we get closer to the air date. Look for that information out there.

For a look at the entire SBN program schedule for this year, check out our web site at www.nysed.gov/ciai/satellite.html. Okay? That's nysed.gov/ciai/satellite.html. That's for the entire Satellite Broadcast Network television program schedule for the 1999/2000 school year.