I could use a working definition of collaboration. If a class is 50 minutes long in regular ed. we have been putting 25 of these minutes as collaboration minutes and counting them as special ed. But, if the resource teacher does not go to the class or have the sed students pulled out for 25 minutes of each class, isn’t this a violation of the IEP and federal law? In our IEP we call it collaboration. Generally, the regular ed. teacher and I talk over lunch about an upcoming test (which I read to the kids), or a behavior issue; this is not collaboration in my book. What do you all think?
Re: What is Collaboration?
Really! Checking lesson plans? I’ll be talking to our coordinator about this possibility. We casually discuss when a test is or how a student is doing and call it collaboration. This stinks in my book. Some reg. ed. teachers don’t want to deal with special teachers or students and ignore the IEP. I have always been a little concerned when we put in special ed. minutes on the IEP and neither pull the student out of class to work with or go into the classroom to help out/co-teach. We make these decisions in the spring with great intentions and then the fall schedule doesn’t work or the student is doing fine with the support. I think we need to watch ourselves. Anything more you can tell me?
Am I bound legally as the case manager to make sure those minutes are served? And if they are not am I at risk personally for due process? Any other insight would be greatly appreciated as we are doing IEPs next week and I have to decide on collaboration minutes. Thanks so much!
Re: What is Collaboration?
If you have minutes of service written into the IEP and are not meeting those minutes in the way you specify- also in the IEP- the district is liable if a parent chooses to make an issue of it- and there are many parents who do. The IEP is a legal document- an agreement- if you aren’t doing what it laid out in it- forwhatever reason- you are in violation of the law. Don’t get caught there…
This can also be caught by the state auditors BTW- and your district can lose funding. They pull individual files and then meet with staff to assess compliance.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
This is not collaboration- and collaboration is not a service to bewwritten into an IEP. It is a way of providing services. Shannon is absolutely correct in her emphasis on planning.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
Hi Sue,
What state do you teach in? I teach in Orlando, Florida. I am very fortunate since my school has an administration and staff who is very pro ESE. My principal attends the national CEC conference every year and advocates for us. We have schools visit us to discuss “how” to effectively include ex ed kids in the class. My gen ed teachers are awesome. They read and help develop the IEP. They accommodate their needs and understand their disability. That way, when I co-teach with them. I can address their entire class’ needs, not just my ESE kids. Many times “non-identified” students are the most challenging. I can support the all students since I know my ESE kids needs are being met.
As far as the collaboration issue. We had an entire day inservice discussing terminology and legal language. According to the definition outlined in IDEA. Collaboration is the development of materials, adaptation of materials and plan of implementation of a lesson in the gen ed classroom. Meaning, it is more than just a discussion. Documentation needs to be made on “how and what” will be adjusted to accommodate the students in the classroom. Consultation is the “discussion”. ” How is Johnny doing?” Should we change any accommodations? Is his spelling list too long? Maybe we can move him to a seat closer to the teacher. This is a face to face discussion on”how” the student is doing in the gen ed class. It is very tricky to determine the difference. How I differenciate is, If I am just talking about a student over lunch, or in a conference and documenting the discussion, then it is consultation. If I am talking about a student and we are examining a test or textbook looking at how we can accommodate the student or documenting a co-taught lesson in our lesson plans. Then we are collaborating. I hope this helps a little. I will be happy to help you on other issues if needed. Good Luck!
Shannon Thibert
ESE Inclusion Teacher
Orange County, Fl.
Re: What is Collaboration?
Shannon and Robin,
Thanks a bunch for the information. I’m going to print your e-mails and discuss them with my coordinator. I’m really re-thinking collaboration vs. consultation. Can you put down consultation minutes on the IEP? I personally don’t see why not. That’s truely what we’ve been doing. By the way, I teach in a rural school in Illinois. Thanks again.
Re: What is Collaboration?
Yes, I think that you can- the OT’s do it all the time. It does not count as direct service I think- but as a related service.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
Are you considering collaboration a direct service to a student or is a consultation with the general education teacher? If there is not direct service from a sped staff member, there is no service being provided. We do consult. for very brief times on a weekly basis on our IEPs. If we are providing staff in a general education classroom, we consider it to be inclusion and list it as a direct service for the length of the class period. I’m curious as to what you consider collaboration?
Re: What is Collaboration?
We bantered back and forth on whether Collaboration IS a “service” to the student since our definition of Collabortaion is the creation of materials or lessons that will benefit the student in the inclusive setting. We do not claim “minutes” for collaboration. We just state it on the IEP Services page as “Collaboration for academic progress” Plus, this is not the primary service delivery. We Co-Teach in the gen ed class everyday and collaborate with that same gen ed teacher at lease once a week OUTSIDE of the coteach time.
Re: What is Collaboration?
okay, lots of stuff here. from what i understand through my reading and experience. collaboration is indeed a the process by which team teachers plan lessons. team teaching can happen when a special ed and a general ed teacher teach in an inclusive setting.
when a kid is on a consultative basis according to their IEP, they are not receiving services directly in the classroom. that means there is no special educator in the room when the student receives instruction, but rather the case manager keeps tabs on the student through personal conferences and checking in with his/her teachers. this does not mean that the student cannot receive other related services, such as speech therapy, counseling, etc.
there are some nice articles on ldonline and on the CEC website about team teaching and collaboration.
hope this helps.
Re: What is Collaboration?
I have been an inclusion teacher for 5 years. Consultation is a face to face meeting regarding a student’s progress in class, accommodations are discussed as needed or changed. Collaboration is the actual planning done by the Exceptional Ed and Gen Ed teachers. State auditors check lesson plans when they want to verify collaboration. Collaboration is not a service to the student. It is a method in which teachers can plan together to better instructional delivery for all students in the class.
Re: What is Collaboration?
Really! Checking lesson plans? I’ll be talking to our coordinator about this possibility. We casually discuss when a test is or how a student is doing and call it collaboration. This stinks in my book. Some reg. ed. teachers don’t want to deal with special teachers or students and ignore the IEP. I have always been a little concerned when we put in special ed. minutes on the IEP and neither pull the student out of class to work with or go into the classroom to help out/co-teach. We make these decisions in the spring with great intentions and then the fall schedule doesn’t work or the student is doing fine with the support. I think we need to watch ourselves. Anything more you can tell me?
Am I bound legally as the case manager to make sure those minutes are served? And if they are not am I at risk personally for due process? Any other insight would be greatly appreciated as we are doing IEPs next week and I have to decide on collaboration minutes. Thanks so much!
Re: What is Collaboration?
If you have minutes of service written into the IEP and are not meeting those minutes in the way you specify- also in the IEP- the district is liable if a parent chooses to make an issue of it- and there are many parents who do. The IEP is a legal document- an agreement- if you aren’t doing what it laid out in it- forwhatever reason- you are in violation of the law. Don’t get caught there…
This can also be caught by the state auditors BTW- and your district can lose funding. They pull individual files and then meet with staff to assess compliance.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
This is not collaboration- and collaboration is not a service to bewwritten into an IEP. It is a way of providing services. Shannon is absolutely correct in her emphasis on planning.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
Hi Sue,
What state do you teach in? I teach in Orlando, Florida. I am very fortunate since my school has an administration and staff who is very pro ESE. My principal attends the national CEC conference every year and advocates for us. We have schools visit us to discuss “how” to effectively include ex ed kids in the class. My gen ed teachers are awesome. They read and help develop the IEP. They accommodate their needs and understand their disability. That way, when I co-teach with them. I can address their entire class’ needs, not just my ESE kids. Many times “non-identified” students are the most challenging. I can support the all students since I know my ESE kids needs are being met.
As far as the collaboration issue. We had an entire day inservice discussing terminology and legal language. According to the definition outlined in IDEA. Collaboration is the development of materials, adaptation of materials and plan of implementation of a lesson in the gen ed classroom. Meaning, it is more than just a discussion. Documentation needs to be made on “how and what” will be adjusted to accommodate the students in the classroom. Consultation is the “discussion”. ” How is Johnny doing?” Should we change any accommodations? Is his spelling list too long? Maybe we can move him to a seat closer to the teacher. This is a face to face discussion on”how” the student is doing in the gen ed class. It is very tricky to determine the difference. How I differenciate is, If I am just talking about a student over lunch, or in a conference and documenting the discussion, then it is consultation. If I am talking about a student and we are examining a test or textbook looking at how we can accommodate the student or documenting a co-taught lesson in our lesson plans. Then we are collaborating. I hope this helps a little. I will be happy to help you on other issues if needed. Good Luck!
Shannon Thibert
ESE Inclusion Teacher
Orange County, Fl.
Re: What is Collaboration?
Shannon and Robin,
Thanks a bunch for the information. I’m going to print your e-mails and discuss them with my coordinator. I’m really re-thinking collaboration vs. consultation. Can you put down consultation minutes on the IEP? I personally don’t see why not. That’s truely what we’ve been doing. By the way, I teach in a rural school in Illinois. Thanks again.
Re: What is Collaboration?
Yes, I think that you can- the OT’s do it all the time. It does not count as direct service I think- but as a related service.
Robin
Re: What is Collaboration?
Are you considering collaboration a direct service to a student or is a consultation with the general education teacher? If there is not direct service from a sped staff member, there is no service being provided. We do consult. for very brief times on a weekly basis on our IEPs. If we are providing staff in a general education classroom, we consider it to be inclusion and list it as a direct service for the length of the class period. I’m curious as to what you consider collaboration?
Re: What is Collaboration?
We bantered back and forth on whether Collaboration IS a “service” to the student since our definition of Collabortaion is the creation of materials or lessons that will benefit the student in the inclusive setting. We do not claim “minutes” for collaboration. We just state it on the IEP Services page as “Collaboration for academic progress” Plus, this is not the primary service delivery. We Co-Teach in the gen ed class everyday and collaborate with that same gen ed teacher at lease once a week OUTSIDE of the coteach time.
Re: What is Collaboration?
okay, lots of stuff here. from what i understand through my reading and experience. collaboration is indeed a the process by which team teachers plan lessons. team teaching can happen when a special ed and a general ed teacher teach in an inclusive setting.
when a kid is on a consultative basis according to their IEP, they are not receiving services directly in the classroom. that means there is no special educator in the room when the student receives instruction, but rather the case manager keeps tabs on the student through personal conferences and checking in with his/her teachers. this does not mean that the student cannot receive other related services, such as speech therapy, counseling, etc.
there are some nice articles on ldonline and on the CEC website about team teaching and collaboration.
hope this helps.
I have been an inclusion teacher for 5 years. Consultation is a face to face meeting regarding a student’s progress in class, accommodations are discussed as needed or changed. Collaboration is the actual planning done by the Exceptional Ed and Gen Ed teachers. State auditors check lesson plans when they want to verify collaboration. Collaboration is not a service to the student. It is a method in which teachers can plan together to better instructional delivery for all students in the class.