Academic Support Class Analysis

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Pages: 9

The academic support class provides an opportunity for special education teachers at secondary schools in the Brandywine School District to provide students with disabilities the tools necessary to close the achievement gap. In fact, research demonstrates direct instruction for students with disabilities is one of the most effective practices a teacher can offer (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Reviewing research on skills and strategic instructions aided my understanding of methods to equip and provide special educators with resources. These synthesized findings were included in the Synthesis of Selected Literature on Learning Strategies for Students with Disabilities (See Appendix B), which explained the current struggles students with disabilities …show more content…
In other words, it provides a way for teachers to work through the lesson and plan their instruction. To assist with this process, I created the Academic Support Lesson Plan with an annotated version (See Appendix J). This document can assist teachers in planning and preparing for their academic support class. The lesson plan includes the skills teachers intend to cover, the connection to a high-leverage practice, and the specific actions both the teachers and the students will take during the academic support class. Accompanying this lesson plan is an annotated version of the teacher walk-through the …show more content…
Once we provide teachers with practices that support skill and strategy instruction, they must be held accountable for implementing that instruction in the classroom. Administrators are tasked with observing and holding teachers accountable for student success. A problem that has arisen in some of the secondary schools concerns the level of comfort and knowledge the building administrators have with special education instruction. I have had discussions with administrators who want to learn and understand their role in observing the academic support classroom. To meet this need, I created the Academic Support Walk-Through Tool. This tool will guide administrators through the evaluation of teachers in the academic support class related to the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS-II). Therefore, the walk-through tool outlines what an administrator observes in the academic support class as it aligns to three components: (a) planning and preparation, (b) classroom environments, and (c) implementation of instruction. The result should be the implementation of this tool in the upcoming school year with the intention to hold teachers accountable for providing high-quality instructional practices to support skill and strategy