WestEd News
February Focus: Improving Outcomes for Young People with Disabilities
This month, WestEd focuses on how educators are working to improve outcomes for children, youth, and adults with disabilities.
Our technical assistance, professional development, and resources help states, districts, and schools provide necessary supports and equitable opportunities. Check out a small sampling of our resources below.
Using Research for Targeted Dropout Interventions
Research indicates that students with disabilities complete high school at lower rates than their classmates. To begin building the knowledge needed to target interventions more effectively, REL West researchers Vanessa X. Barrat and BethAnn Berliner led an effort to disaggregate key outcome data on students with disabilities. Their research highlights important variations and patterns that educators can use to inform policy and practice.
English Learners Who May Have Learning Disabilities: Translating Research Into Policy
Identifying the nature of learning challenges is vital to ensuring that the nation’s growing population of English learners receive the supports they need to succeed in school. However, current systems do not always identify learning disabilities among English learners correctly.
REL West researchers examine this topic in a comprehensive report, Identifying and Supporting English Learner Students with Learning Disabilities: Key Issues in the Literature and State Practice, and an accompanying brief.
Webinar: Building Capacity for Improving Instructional Practice for English Learners with Disabilities
Improving outcomes for English learner students with disabilities requires research-based instructional strategies to tailor academic instruction for dually-identified students.
Watch this webinar to hear how the state of Georgia is building statewide teacher capacity in this area, and how one Georgia district is working to infuse effective instruction through its schools.
Webinar: Improving Teaching and Learning for Students with Disabilities
Every school improvement plan must address the needs of students with disabilities. Led by WestEd’s Matt Navo and Aldo Ramirez of the San Bernardino City Unified School District, this webinar explores how administrators can do that using the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, a framework that organizes the issues state, district, and school leaders should consider when planning for a successful and sustainable turnaround. Watch it here.
Find additional insights on our Special Education page, the WestEd E-Bulletin, and on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Posted on February 10, 2020