In January of 2019, I visited CHIME Institute, a fully inclusive K-8 charter school in Woodland Hills, California. I was lucky enough to tour the campus and interview the principal, Dr. Erin Studer, about what makes CHIME stand out among other charter schools.
At CHIME, “it does not matter if students have a disability like autism or Down syndrome; there is always a place for them in a general education classroom.”
One of the things that struck me about my conversation with Dr. Studer was their commitment to having no “pull-out” classrooms for any students. “Everyone is in the model,” Dr. Studer explained.
At CHIME, co-teaching and co-planning are an expected practice. Since there are no separate special education classrooms, teachers can meet together during standard planning times, giving them the needed collaboration opportunities. Special education teachers are a valued part of the school community and not only provide insights into working with students who have learning challenges but all the students in the classroom.
Another benefit of spreading out the support of special education teachers across the school is that it reduces the stigma of receiving individualized support. Many students know where their work has to be adapted some way to help them learn. In a typical school setting, these accommodations stick out as entirely different from what the class is doing. In a school like CHIME, adaptations are just part of the normal flow of the classroom, so students do not feel singled out.
https://www.noodle.com/articles/what-is-the-chime-institute-and-why-is-it-so-important
Would you like to learn more about how the team at CHIME makes inclusive education possible for all students? Listen to my interview with Dr. Erin Studer and professor Amy Hanreddy of California State University Northridge.
To those who think inclusive education is a pipe dream, look no further than the model that CHIME has exhibited since 1990.
Some of the key features of CHIME Institute model include:
- Through thematic units and project-based learning, students develop an understanding of key concepts and learn social and problem-solving skills at the same time.
- Co-teaching and co-planning (where general and special education teachers are partners in teaching, planning, and assessment) occur across grade levels and classrooms.
- Teachers use a framework called Universal Design for Learning when planning instruction. This exposes each learner to multiple ways of engagement, representation, and expression of the curriculum.
- Teachers and paraprofessionals work together to implement the instruction of all students, including a commitment to training them in instructional and behavioral interventions.
- Through School-Wide Positive Behavior Support, expectations are taught and reinforced using social skills and bullying prevention curriculum where students are critical stakeholders in the process.
- Speech, Occupational, and other therapists offer services within the school and classroom settings, and students are not pulled out of their class to work on skills.
- Transdisciplinary teams develop, in partnership with each child’s family, interventions based on an assessment of the child’s developmental strengths and needs, including the family’s priorities.
- A university partnership with active research projects and student teachers get real-world training in an innovative educational model.
If this model is effective and replicable than why are not more school districts implementing it?
It is too difficult for many systems to manage. School systems that do replicate an approximation of an inclusive model require trained staff, schools with the correct infrastructure, and families that are willing to go on this journey with them. Not all families are supportive of a fully inclusive system and prefer small group special education program classes.
Ultimately, the critique is not of the inclusive education model but of how school systems operate in the United States. Even in Canada, where an inclusive education model is mandated, there are mixed reviews.
As a special educator who sees the enormous divide between the general curriculum and specialized instruction, the solution seems evident, albeit implausible.
The United States needs one educational system that works for all students. Not a system that gives everyone the same thing, but a system that is flexible to the needs of every student (regardless of disability category or label).
I might never see a fully inclusive system come to fruition, but I won’t stop telling people about one that works.