By
Matthew Tucker, EdD
&
Kalli Kemp, PhD
This issue of NASET’s Classroom Management Series was written by Matthew Tucker, EdD and Kalli Kemp, PhD. There is research highlighting the importance of strong classroom management skills, however, special education teachers must also consider how to manage the adults too, through collaboration. Collaboration skills are identified as “important” in legislation such as IDEA (IDEA, 2004), and as critical skills for educators in professional standards (CEC, 2020). However, teacher preparation programs seldomly address these critical collaboration skills (Hamilton-Jones & Vail, 2014; McKenzie, 2009). Teacher preparation programs don’t have collaboration courses, and those that do, may only offer them to Special Education teachers (McKenzie, 2009). All special education students and classrooms are served by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) that collaborate to develop and implement the student’s IEP by providing the student with educational, related, and other supplementary services. A lack of attention paid to managing and collaborating with adults who work with the students in a SPED classroom may lead to difficulties with resolving conflict among staff.
There is research highlighting the importance of strong classroom management skills, however, special education teachers must also consider how to manage the adults too, through collaboration. Collaboration skills are identified as “important” in legislation such as IDEA (IDEA, 2004), and as critical skills for educators in professional standards (CEC, 2020). However, teacher preparation programs seldomly address these critical collaboration skills (Hamilton-Jones & Vail, 2014; McKenzie, 2009). Teacher preparation programs don’t have collaboration courses, and those that do, may only offer them to Special Education teachers (McKenzie, 2009). All special education students and classrooms are served by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) that collaborate to develop and implement the student’s IEP by providing the student with educational, related, and other supplementary services. A lack of attention paid to managing and collaborating with adults who work with the students in a SPED classroom may lead to difficulties with resolving conflict among staff.
In any given special education classroom, the number of staff members may equal or even exceed the number of students. Most classrooms will be led by one certified teacher, however co-taught classrooms are increasingly more common. Several related service providers such as Speech Language Pathologists (SLP), Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), and Counselors may provide intervention services to students in the classroom. Many special education classrooms also include teacher assistants, teacher aides and one-to-one aides. For example, consider a self-contained classroom with a ratio of 8:1:2. This classroom will have 8 students, 1 special education teacher, and 2 classroom aides or assistants. Some students in the classroom may also require a one-to-one aide for additional supports such as redirection. If, for example, 6 of the 8 students in this scenario have one-to-one aides, the classroom will have approximately 9 staff members resulting in more staff than students. If there are 9 classroom staff and 3 related service providers supporting students in the classroom, the total staff or building members of the MDT could be 12 or higher depending on the student’s needs and classroom placement. The situation can become even more complicated when we consider that many students with disabilities are served in inclusive classrooms, which will require collaboration with at least one – but often more – general education teachers.
Consider the following scenario of a student served by various members of the MDT.
Angel is in 3rd grade and is classified with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has a 1:1 aide to help him with redirection during the school day. Angel also has a reading disability, as well as challenges with fine motor skills like holding a pencil and putting on his shoes. Angel receives speech services from an SLP, occupational therapy services from an OT, and reading services from a reading specialist. Angel has presented with challenging behavior and receives counseling services from a school psychologist. Finally, Angel has a Behavior Intervention Plan with support from a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). The members of the MDT for Angel are the special education teacher, parents, 1:1 aide, OT, SLP, reading specialist, school psychologist, and BCBA. Angel is just one example of the professionals who work with him and the professionals that may be members of the MDT.
Managing a classroom depends on the teacher’s ability to create relationships with students and families, but it also depends on the teacher’s ability to create relationships with the various members of the MDT to ensure that services are provided appropriately. Additionally, the types of collaborative models and strategies that teachers and schools use may have a substantial impact on how members of the MDT develop and implement plans and interventions for the students they serve.
Several challenges may present themselves to collaboration in any given school including a school culture that does not prioritize collaboration, background experiences and education related to collaboration, power dynamics that exist within partnerships, and logistical issues such as finding time to collaborate (Friend, 2020). Teachers may request common planning time with those individuals they know they will collaborate with frequently in order to ease some of the logistical issues that exist with collaboration. They will also need to determine other members’ schedules to find appropriate times for collaboration when common planning time isn’t available. Teachers should also be particularly mindful of power dynamics when collaborating with teacher assistants and one-to-one aides. Teacher’s assistants and aides typically have less formal education and training. Additionally, oftentimes one-to-one aides are young and inexperienced. In some states, there are not formal requirements to be a one-to-one aide, unlike a teaching assistant who will most likely be certified per their state’s requirements. Teachers must also be mindful that different terms may exist to describe a wide-array of roles depending on one’s location (e.g. paraprofessional, teacher’s assistant, one-to-one aide). They will need to take time to understand the different titles, what types of background experience and education accompanies them, as well as the district and school expectations of each role. Regardless, respect must be conveyed to all members of the classroom staff (Biggs et al., 2019; Friend, 2020). It will be important for teachers to understand the classroom staffs’ background experiences, comfort and skills with various tasks on an individual basis. They may need to provide ongoing support and coaching to members of the classroom staff based on their education, experience, and performance.
The following are several steps that special educators may take to improve their own collaboration skills and develop strong partnerships with the members of the MDT.
Step 1: Building relationships starts before the school year.
The teacher should begin developing relationships with all members of the MDT before the school year begins. Teachers should know their students IEPs to determine the Related Services the students will receive. Once the teacher knows this information, they can begin to reach out to the members of the MDT in the Summer. The teacher should send a welcome email to all classroom staff and related service providers (MDT) introducing themselves in an effort to begin collaboration. This collaboration should include an agreement as to when services will be provided. This is the time to begin to understand that Angel may be receiving speech service 3x/week. The duration, frequency, time and place must be decided as an MDT. For example, 3x/week may mean one 30-minute pull-out and two 30-minute classroom push-in sessions. This is critical to the success of your classroom management and most importantly the success of the student, or in this case, Angel. The teacher needs to know this information and share it with other stakeholders.
Teachers may wish to create what are often referred to as “student-at-a-glance” forms for each of their students. These forms may take several variations, but are often one-page forms that summarize key points of the student’s IEP such as services, strengths/needs of the student, a weekly schedule, and any other pertinent information (Jones, 2012; Shamash & Martin, 2014). While being careful to maintain student confidentiality, the teacher may share the “student-at-a-glance” form with other appropriate providers to ensure members of the team have necessary information. This can help with organization of the classroom, which is seen as an important skill when collaborating with various classroom staff members (Biggs et al., 2019).
Step 2: Hold daily, informal meetings with classroom staff.
As the school year begins, the teacher should take time to get to know the various staff members working in the classroom or with students. Engaging in conversations can help build rapport and lay the foundation for trusting partnerships between staff members. Remember that relationships with students and in this case, staff, is the key to managing the classroom. Teachers may also want to lead more substantive conversations about the daily work responsibilities in the classroom in order to better understand the strengths, needs, and desires of the various staff members. Even when teachers have already worked with other staff members in the past, it can still be helpful to gather updated information in case of changes. Numerous questionnaires are available for teachers to use in order to gather a better understanding of the preferred working style of classroom staff. Having these conversations, and building these relationships can help to ensure that all staff members are knowledgeable of their role and responsibilities, and that all staff members are appropriately sharing the responsibilities of the classroom and students. Additionally, gathering this information ensures that the voice of all classroom staff members is heard and valued.
Once roles and responsibilities are clear, teachers need to clearly and explicitly communicate expectations to the classroom staff (Biggs et al., 2016; Biggs et al., 2019). It is also important that teachers be organized (Biggs et al., 2016; Biggs et al., 2019). They should share lesson plans with classroom staff, and have clear expectations at the start of each day so that the classroom staff is knowledgeable and prepared for classroom activities. Additionally, the teacher should begin to engage the classroom staff in daily informal meetings. At the end of each day, the teacher should discuss with the classroom staff three questions: what worked well today, what did not work well today, and how can we best proceed tomorrow? These meetings give the opportunity for all staff members to share their perspectives and to make changes as needed. It also provides an opportunity to discuss issues that require immediate attention.
Step 3: Hold formal meetings at least twice per month with classroom staff.
The teacher should formalize the classroom staff meeting at least twice per month. This provides an opportunity for the classroom staff to discuss classroom needs and activities in more detail. An agenda should be developed so that all pertinent topics can be discussed and to keep the meeting focused (Carnahan et al., 2009). During this meeting, the previous three questions should be discussed, but additional topics may be added as needed. This is also a good time to discuss specific student needs and develop plans for addressing those needs. This is the time to develop plans and agree on steps, responsibilities, timeframes, and expected outcomes for moving forward. Once this meeting is complete and documented, the teacher should send an email to all classroom staff memorializing the meeting and specifying who will do what, when they will do it, and how they will track progress. Creating a consistent form to gather this information may be helpful in sharing it with classroom staff.
Separate from the classroom meeting, teachers may need to schedule meetings with individual members of the classroom staff. This can provide an opportunity to further develop the partnership, provide feedback, discuss issues or needs, and identify potential opportunities for further development. Teachers will need to provide ongoing support and coaching to classroom staff (Biggs et al., 2016; Biggs et al., 2019; Carnahan et al., 2009), and these individual meetings provide an opportunity to identify and discuss areas for development. Coaching classroom staff can include introducing evidence-based practices, creating written protocols, modeling, observing, and providing feedback (Carnahan et al., 2009).
Step 4: Hold formal meetings with MDT at least once per month.
At least once per month, the teacher should invite all members of the MDT, including related service providers, to formal meetings. The previous three questions can be discussed along with other relevant topics. These meetings may be difficult to organize, as related service providers often have large caseloads and may work at multiple schools. However, including all related service providers in regular meetings allows for the classroom staff to share important information about students. Related service providers may also share some of the strategies they use with students so that they may be embedded into classroom instruction. This meeting is also formalized and an email should go out to all those in this meeting to document the agreed upon decisions.
Managing a special education classroom means that the teacher will need to consider how to manage the staff in the room. Building strong relationships with students is critical to the success of the teachers ability to manage the classroom. However, building strong relationships with the staff who work with these students is equally important to the success of the students. Oftentimes, classroom staff (assistants and aides) are new to the field. Conversely, it is common for a new teacher to inherit older, experienced staff who have already built relationships with students. These staff members experiences should be considered by the teacher. Although managing the adults is seldom discussed, it is equally critical to the success of the teacher, the classroom staff, and most importantly, to the students.
References
Biggs, E. E., Gilson, C. B., & Carter, E. W. (2016). Accomplishing more together: Influences to the quality of professional relationships between special educators and paraprofessionals. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 41(4), 256-272.
Biggs, E. E., Gilson, C. B., & Carter, E. W. (2019). “Developing that balance”: Preparing and supporting special education teachers to work with paraprofessionals. Teacher Education and Special Education, 42(2), 117-131.
Carnahan, C. R., Williamson, P., Clarke, L., & Sorensen, R. (2009). A systematic approach for supporting paraeducators in educational settings: A guide for teachers. Teaching Exceptional Children, 41(5), 34-43.
Friend, M. (2020). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school professionals, 9th Ed. Pearson.
Hamilton-Jones, B. M., & Vail, C. O. (2014). Preparing special educators for collaboration in the classroom: Pre-service teachers’ beliefs and perspectives. International Journal of Special Education, 29(1), 76-86.
Jones, B. A. (2012). Fostering collaboration in inclusive settings: The special education students at a glance approach. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47(5), 297-306.
McKenzie, R. G. (2009). A national survey of pre-service preparation for collaboration. Teacher Education and Special Education, 32(4), 379-393.
Shamash, E. R. & Martin, A. M. (2014). Family communication: Strategies for building effective partnerships and working relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 107-121.
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