Least Restrictive Environment 2024-2025
Speaker 1:
[A logo of FIN pops up]
Welcome to the FINs video series.
[The screen cuts to a few pictures of students in a classroom]
This video will highlight the least restrictive environment, LRE for students with disabilities.
[ The slide cuts to students raising their hands ]
What is the least restrictive environment?
[ The screen cuts to a slide with students cheering and high fiving, the speaker will now read from it ]
The Code of Federal Regulation, section 1412 of Title 20, indicates to the maximum extent appropriate children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities are educated with children without disabilities and special classes. Separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
[ Transition to pictures of students working on a group projects ]
The least restrictive environment is a principle in special education that ensures students with disabilities are educated alongside their peers without disabilities. To the greatest extent appropriate. This means that whenever possible students with disabilities should be included in general education classrooms and participate in the same activities as other students. LRE is not a specific place, but a guiding principle that shapes a child’s entire educational program. It is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which mandates that schools provide necessary supports and services to help students with disabilities succeed in a general education setting.
[ The video transitions to a slide with text, the speaker will now read from the slide ]
A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, division of Public Schools Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.
[ Slide transition, the speaker will now read from the slide ]
A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute, Florida State University.
[ A logo of the Learning Systems Institute from FSU is shown ]
[ A slide is shown with text, the speaker will now read from it ]
The FIN is an individuals with Disabilities Education Act funded state project by Florida Department of Education, division of K 12 Public Schools, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.
[ The screen fades to black and then shows the FIN Logo on screen ]
ESE Administrator Best Practices in Supporting Students in the Least Restrictive Environment
Speaker 1 (00:00):
[FIN logo pops on screen] Welcome to FIN’s Video series.
[Transitions to building of Clay County District School] This video will highlight Dr. Melanie Sanders sharing best practices on how [Transitions to a classroom of students] the district has supported students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment [Transitions to another classroom of students] and systems that have been created and implemented to support positive outcomes for students with disabilities.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I’m proud of the [Dr. Melanie Sanders appears on the screen, already speaking] work that Cla y County District Schools has done over the last several years in building and sustaining capacity of teacher leaders and school leaders in order to positively affect the trajectory for our students with disabilities. [Transitions to a classroom of students] We have been very intentional about our cross departmental [Teacher is on screen teaching his class] collaboration, the ESE department, working with other departments within [A group of 4 students appear on screen solving a math problem] our district, such as the Professional learning Department, [Transitions to teacher helping out students] the departments of elementary and secondary education, as well as Title one ELL, and all other departments as well. We strategic funded specialists [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] to really guide that work and help bridge the divide between general education and special education. We’ve [Transitions to teachers talking in front of their class] also been very intentional about utilizing technical assistance from discretionary projects in order to build our capacity at the district level, and then help our schools build their capacity to serve our students with disabilities as well. Some of the professional learning that [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] we have focused on throughout this work is the [Transitions back to teachers talking in front of their class] collaborative teaching and planning work between ESE and general education teachers, ESE teachers and classroom instructional assistants, and [Transitions to a woman (left) and man (right) sitting down, talking] also our administrators both at the school level and the district level.
(01:48)
As the [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] Director of Exceptional Student Education for Clay County, I [Transitions to teachers helping out students] try to really support our schools in several ways. First of all, I make sure that I attend our principal and assistant [Transitions to students finishing an assignment] principal monthly meetings so that I can share important information about the best ways to serve our students with disabilities and [Screen transitions back to a group of students doing group work] to answer any questions that our school leaders may have. I try [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] to be as involved as I can in our district walkthroughs through our school improvement department and our professional learning department, walking side by side with other district leaders and school leaders to identify those best practices that are happening inside our classrooms. We [Transitions to students are doing assignments with the help of a teacher] look for evidence of high leverage practices, collaborative teaching and planning, and evidence of strong, specially designed instruction that helps our students do their best. In 2022, [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] we started and ESE Advisory Council that meets monthly where [Transitions to student completing worksheet] we invite the community and families in each month to [Transitioned to teachers helping out students] learn about various ways that they can help their children, and also to provide us at the district input and feedback on the best ways that we can support families as we plan for activities and professional learning for our teachers and our leaders.
(03:11)
In order to support our students with disabilities and all students, we have worked with all of our schools collaboratively to build their capacity in building a master schedule that [Transitions back to Dr. Sanders] is very supportive of our students with disabilities and the supports and services that they need to be successful.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
A special thanks to Clay County School District and Dr. Melanie Sanders, director of Exceptional Student Education. A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through Federal Assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, part B. A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University. FIN is an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funded state project by Florida Department of Education, division of K 12 Public Schools, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services [FIN logo pops on screen].
School Leaders-Best Practices in Supporting Students in the Least Restrictive Environment
Speaker 1 (00:00):
[FIN logo pops on screen]
Welcome to FIN’s Video series.
[Transitions to Lakeside Junior High main office]
This video will highlight two school administrators at Lakeside Junior High in Clay County School District in Florida.
[Transitions to a classroom of students, completing work]
These two administrators will share the significance of data discussions regarding students with individual educational plans and students without individual educational plans with general education and exceptional student educators. In a collaborative teaching partnership, Lakeside Junior High students with disabilities are thriving in collaboratively taught classrooms. Principal Dustin James, and Assistant Principal Hope Davis will share a few best practices that contribute to student success.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
[Transitions to (left, assistant principal) Hope Davis and (right, principal) Dustin James, speaking]
Lakeside Junior High serves a population of approximately 925 students, and it is comprised of seventh and eighth grade students here on our campus.
[Transitions back to a teacher and his students in his class, doing work]
25% of our students are students with disabilities having 75% students without disabilities. Our goal here is to reach every student and make sure that every student that walks through our doors and on our campus is very successful.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking]
Here at Lakeside Junior, we support our teachers by helping them meet the needs of all of our students with disabilities. By focusing on our support facilitation model, it goes back down to the foundation of how we support them through our master schedule.
[Transitions back to a teacher and his students in his class, doing work]
We ensure teachers have the appropriate amount of collaborative planning time so that they can collaborate and work together to make sure all of the students with disabilities needs are met. We also do frequent classroom learning walks to ensure that we are able to give immediate feedback to all of our teachers, gen Ed and ESE to ensure that we are helping coach them through the support facilitation model and how we support all of our students here at Lakeside Junior.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
[Transitions back to a teacher and his students in his class, doing work]
I appreciate Ms. Davis bringing up the idea that we have many classroom walks to provide some subjective data
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking]
and have conversations with our teachers to coach them through the cycle of a collaborative teaching approach.
[Transitions back to students in class, doing work] We also provide data discussions and it really moves from subjective to objective. For
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking] example, this year we took the data from the FAST PM one to PM two, and looked at our classrooms that were supported with our support facilitated teachers.
[Transitions back to students in class, doing work]
It was interesting to see and provided great conversations when we were able to see that there were some classrooms supported with the same support facilitated teacher, but there was a wide array of growth within those classrooms. Subjectivity. Moving to objectivity with the data allows us to have those conversations and ask the question, what might be different
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking]
in a classroom that has growth of five points between PM one and PM two, and a classroom that has an average of 12 point growth between PM one and PM two, what’s the difference?
(02:37)
[Transitions back to students in class, doing work]
That objective piece and that data discussion is able to really help us to make data-driven decisions not just for this year, but for the next year to come so that all of our students can be successful in a classroom learning environment. If
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking]
I had, one thing that I was going to share with administrators about our experience and collaborative learning in our classroom is to make sure that you’re inspecting the classroom of what you’re expecting out of the teachers.
[Transitions back to students in class, doing work]
Many times we put a teacher into a classroom and we hope for the best, and we see them periodically, but what are we doing to make sure that, as Ms. Davis mentioned, we’re in those classrooms to see what’s happening, but also we’re looking at the data to find out when the rubber meets the road, which students
[Transitions back to Ms. Davis and Mr. James, speaking]
are learning, and what can we do if they’re not learning at the level that we want them to? What can we do to make their achievement elevate to the level that we expect here at Lakeside Junior High School,
[Transitions back to students in class, doing work] whether it’s a student with disabilities or a student without disabilities, having that collaborative approach, the students really kind of get a two for one in the classroom. Having two educators in that classroom that are able to support that learning goes a long way to make sure that every student here at Lakeside Junior High, whether with disabilities or without, are going to be successful and ready for the next level.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
A special thanks to Principal Dustin James, assistant Principals Hope Davis and Megan Alfano, faculty and students at Lakeside Junior High of Clay County School District. A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through Federal Assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, part B. A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University. FIN is an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funded state project by Florida Department of Education, division of K 12 Public Schools, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.
Secondary Collaboratively Taught Classrooms Collaborative Teaching
Speaker 1 (00:00):
[ FIN logo pops up] Welcome to FIN’s Video series. This video will highlight a middle school classroom where two teachers are providing instruction in a collaborative teaching partnership. [ Transitions to scenes at Lakeside Junior High of faculties and students engaging in various classroom activities] This video is to highlight the significance of two teachers maximizing instruction to meet the needs of students. This classroom has two teachers that provide instruction. Both teachers are ensuring that all students are receiving instruction that allows them to master academic achievement standards. In a collaboratively taught classroom, it is imperative to view parody where both teachers are on equal status. In this classroom, you will view a few of the collaborative teaching partnership approaches, such as station teaching
On Screen Text:
Station Teaching. A teaching method where a classroom is split into groups and students rotate through stations, learning the different materials using different methods.
Speaker 1:
alternative teaching
On Screen Text:
Alternative Teaching. A teaching method where one teacher leads most of the class in a lesson and another teacher leads a smaller group in an alternative or modified lesson.
Speaker 1:
and one Teach one assist.
On Screen Text:
One Teach, One Assist. A teaching method where one teacher instructs the whole class and another teacher roams, helping individual students as needed.
Speaker 1:
[ Continues showing scenes at Lakeside Junior High of faculties and students engaging in various classroom activities] For more information about the collaborative teaching approaches, please visit our webpage focusing on collaborative teaching partnerships at www.fin-network.org. This video was intended to capture the robust ways collaborative teachers partner to create a conducive learning environment for all students. Thank you for viewing and please contact FIN for more information.
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Speaker 1 [reading the on-screen text]:
A special thanks to Principal Dustin James, assistant Principals Hope Davis and Megan Alfano, faculty and students at Lakeside Junior High of Clay County School District.
A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through Federal under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, part B.
A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University. FIN is an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funded state project by Florida Department of Education, division of K 12 Public Schools, bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.
Team Teaching – Collaborative Teaching
[FIN logo pops up]
On Screen Text:
[Transition to a drawing demonstrating Collaborative Team Learning] “Collaborative Teaching Approaches. Team Learning”
Speaker 1:
[Transitions to scenes at Lakeside Junior High of faculties and students engaging in various classroom activities] Collaborative teaching is a model used in Florida to provide in-class support for students with disabilities. Training and technical assistance for this model is provided by FIN. When teachers teach together, there are a variety and a combination of approaches that should be used to provide specially designed instruction and intensify instruction in the general education setting. This video clip will explain the station teaching and teaming teaching approach. Team teaching is used when the lesson content can be presented to the whole group. Teachers may demonstrate different ways to use strategies or materials to solve problems in the math lesson. Specially designed instruction can be embedded into this approach when the ESE teacher uses strategies or techniques that are strategically planned to enhance the content for an individual student. The recommended use for the team-teaching approach is occasionally.
The benefits of team teaching are that the tier 1 instruction is explicitly taught, in conjunction with strategies. It can be engaging and motivating for students to see the interaction between the teachers.
[On screen text pops on the bottom left; “Barbara Amerson, General Education Teacher”] Often, teachers will use team teaching to present opposing methods for solving problems. [On screen text pops on the right; “Karey Adkison, Special Education Teacher”] Team teaching requires that both teachers have a good grasp on the lesson content and that they are comfortable with each other. Teachers choose to use this approach when they want to model specific strategies for students to respond or engage in learning the material. In team teaching, teachers must be able to present the content equally well, so often this approach is used for introducing and explicitly teaching the content before gradually releasing students to independent work. Teachers must plan for their specific responsibilities with this approach. Team teaching along with the other five collaborative approaches can be a powerful way to provide specially designed instruction, as well as more intensive instruction for students with disabilities and their peers in a general education setting.
For more information about the collaborative teaching approaches, please visit our webpage focused on collaborative teaching partnerships at www.fin-network.org. A special thanks to principal Elise Taylor and assistant principal Debbie Chapman, fifth grade teachers, Barbara Amerson and Karey Adkison, faculty and students at S. Bryan Jennings Elementary School in Clay County School District.
A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B.
A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.
[Background blurs as on-screen text appears]
Speaker 1 [reading the on-screen text]:
A special thanks to Clay County School District and Dr. Melanie Sanders, Director of Exceptional Student Education. A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B. A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.
On Screen Text:
“FIN is an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – funded state project by Florida Department of Education, Division of K-12 Public Schools, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Studcent Services”
Station Teaching – Collaborative Teaching
[ FIN logo pops up. ]
On Screen Text:
[ Transition to a drawing demonstrating Collaborative Station Learning. ] “Collaborative Teaching Approaches. Station Learning”
Speaker 1:
Collaborative teaching is a model used in Florida [ Transitions to scenes at Lakeside Junior High of faculties and students engaging in various classroom activities. ] to provide in-class support for students with disabilities. Training and technical assistance for this model is provided by the FIN. When teachers teach together, there are six approaches that should be used to provide specially designed instruction and intensify instruction in the general education setting. Station teaching is one approach used to provide in-class support for students with disabilities. This video clip will explain the station teaching approach. Videos for each of the five other approaches are also available on the FIN’s website.
[ On screen text pops on the bottom left; “Barbara Amerson, General Education Teacher.” ] Station teaching is used when teachers want to increase instructional intensity and provide differentiated activities to address student needs. [ On screen text pops on the right; “Karey Adkison, Special Education Teacher.” ] Specially designed instruction is easily embedded into the stations when the ESE teacher leads a group that has been strategically planned for that purpose. In station teaching student activities and groupings are designed intentionally and groups rotate through stations. For example, students who need a lot of support can meet twice with teacher-led groups and once independently for practice, whereas students who are on track with the concept may start with an independent activity, check in with the teacher-led station, and return to a different independent activity.
The number of stations varies depending on content, student needs, and the amount of oversight needed. The benefits of station teaching are that the small group structure allows students who need additional instruction or assistance to receive it with a higher level of teacher, student interaction and differentiated activities. Activities at stations are strategic and purposely planned to meet student needs related to student data, individual educational plan goals, and the content standard. The recommended use for station teaching is frequent. Teachers should carefully consider the independent activities to be used for station teaching to ensure that the groups do not rely on sequential material and students have the prerequisite skills for the work. Group membership should be flexible, informed, using student data. In addition, classroom rules and routines should be explicitly taught in practice so transition time between stations is minimal and the noise level is acceptable. The use of a timer is recommended.
Station teaching along with the other five collaborative approaches can be a powerful way to provide specially designed instruction as well as more intensive instruction for students with disabilities and struggling learners in a general education setting. For more information and support, please contact the FIN. A special thanks to Principal and Assistant Principal Elise Taylor and Debbie Chapman, fifth grade teachers, Barbara Amerson and Karey Adkison, faculty and students at S. Bryan Jennings Elementary School in Clay County School District. A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B. A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.
[Background blurs as on-screen text appears. ]
Speaker 1 [reading the on-screen text. ] :
A special thanks to Clay County School District and Dr. Melanie Sanders, Director of Exceptional Student Education. A special thanks to the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B. A special thanks to Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University.
On Screen Text:
“The FIN is funded by the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B”
Celebrating Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
[ FIN logo pops up ]
On-screen Text:
We need to let them test their boundaries…
Mira Gaitanis :
[ Transitions to Mira, sitting down ] I was born with a retinopathy of prematurity. It causes abnormal blood vessel growth in the area around the retina, so I can’t really see anything below my chin. When I wave my hand here, I can’t really see it, and so I have to turn my head certain directions to make sure I don’t bump into anything. I have a real bad habit of that.
Victoria Gaitanis :
[ Transition to Jason Gaitanis and Victoria Gaitanis (Mira’s parents)] I wouldn’t for a long time, let her touch a pair of scissors because she couldn’t really see what she was doing with them. I was afraid she was going to cut herself, and so one time, one of her early interventions sat down with me and said, so what’s your long-term plan for this no scissor approach? And I’m like, [ Transitions to Mira and her friends together at school ] you get this feeling where they’ve been through so much, there’s so many surgeries, there’s so many things going on. You want to protect them from everything.
Jason Gaitanis :
We have to create a safe space for them to fail, I think, [ Transition back to Jason and Victoria ] and allow them to have experiences with each other and with their siblings where they can test the boundaries of what they’re capable of, what they’re willing to do, what they’re willing to try, push their limits a little bit and then have it be okay if they try something and it doesn’t work.
Mira Gaitanis :
[ Transitions back to Mira ] People may see me differently because I have a visual impairment. Even if I start using a cane and I’m using my tools in public, people might see me a little differently, but that doesn’t necessarily matter because it’s [ Transition to group photos of Mira with her friends holding instruments ] important for me to just be me and accept that I have this visual impairment is a part of who I am, and it’s taken me a very long time to understand and realize that
[ Screen fades to white ]
On-Screen Text :
‘It’s just a small thing… but it’s so big for her’
Chris Miller :
[ Screen transitions to Chris Miller sitting down, a teacher at Mira’s high school ] The first thing and the most important thing to the student is that the student is accepted as the student is with whatever the student has or doesn’t have, and that [ Screen cuts to inside of one of Chris’s classes with students ] the teacher is willing to work with the student and do what needs to be done.
Mira Gaitanis :
We don’t really necessarily want to erase that concept of the disability rather than erase. We want to embrace it, have it become the norm, just like we are just all people. Over the years, [ Screen transitions back to Mira sitting down and talking ] I’ve kind of built up this person that I am. I’ve worked really hard with my eye doctors and they learned to layer contacts and glasses so I could see better than with just without it. [ Transition back into Miller’s class ] You saw also an orchestra. I have that pair of glasses that’s called a monocular inside of it so that I can have access to that material
Chris Miller :
When she needs something. [ Camera cuts back to Chris talking ] She’s very gentle in asking for it, but also you realize that it’s a very, very specific need. When she says, could I please have an enlarged version of this? It’s little things like that that teachers have to adjust to. It’s just a small thing, but it’s so big for her [ Screen fades to black ]
On Screen Text :
‘You have to ask the teachers to stretch’
Joe Burgess :
[ Screen cuts to Joe Burgess sitting down, Mira’s principal ] First of all, it starts with meeting with your feeder schools, so you have transition meetings and that’s really important. What did you do the past three years with this particular student to make them successful, or were there things that you did that were not successful so there’s no sense of repeating things that didn’t occur well? Also talking with the parents. Are there things at home that work well? You talk with some of the other teachers, if there’s a certain kind of success that’s happening in one room, we need to try to duplicate it in the other rooms, and sometimes that’s asking, you have to ask the teacher to stretch beyond themselves. Everybody does what they’re comfortable with, but what you’re comfortable with may not be what’s best for the student.
Mira Gaitanis :
[ The screen fades to white with black text, ‘It’s like a whole new chapter in my life…’ , Mira then appears on the screen ] I’m so excited that I’m going to be graduating. It’s like a whole new chapter in my life. I’ve worked so hard for these past 12 years just to get here and being able to graduate from high school. I’m actually going to go to FSU and do pre-law, and I have applied for scholarships there and there’s living Learning communities there that I just did interview for. It’s been about this whole new chapter in my life and being able to just go and pursue a career in law and be able to help as many people as possible.
[ Screen trasitions to Mira waving and smiling ]
[ A logo of FIN is then displayed on a white background ]