PARTNERSHIP CASE STUDY
Inclusion is An Academic Strategy
Lincoln Parish Public Schools
PARTNERSHIP CASE STUDY
Inclusion is An Academic Strategy
Lincoln Parish Public Schools
The Challenge
In 2020, Lincoln Parish set out to address a long-standing pattern of disparate outcomes for their students with disabilities, which was disproportionately affecting Black students across the district. When Dana Talley, Chief Academic Officer, joined the district in 2020, the reality was apparent: resource rooms had special education teachers who often had limited or no content expertise. Observations showed that the pacing was slower in self-contained classrooms, and students received 1-2 units less instruction than their non-disabled peers.
For LP, something different meant stepping away from resource rooms and implementing a co-teaching model, where a general and special educator collaborated to deliver instruction to all students within the general education setting.
Insight & Action
While the performance of SWDs was a priority, Talley and the team also uncovered that core instruction was not meeting the needs of additional groups of students below grade level. Members of the team asked themselves: How can we provide high-quality core instruction to all students while also meeting the needs of students with disabilities who are learning in a general education setting?
The team recognized that while SWDs had unique needs that required intentional support, ALL students learn differently. Thus, teachers needed the skill sets to implement instruction that addressed this learner variability—not circumvent it.
The team recognized that while SWDs had unique needs that required intentional support, ALL students learn differently. Thus, teachers needed the skill sets to implement instruction that addressed this learner variability—not circumvent it. Blue Engine and LP’s partnership would focus on the following priorities:
Explicit support of instructional leaders was just as essential as the support for teachers. The partnership between Blue Engine and Lincoln Parish started with the support of an instructional coach who directly coached a subset of classrooms across two school sites. The work was focused on co-planning and effectively using data to make instructional decisions that ensured every student got the scaffolds and support they needed to access grade-level instruction.
Within the first year of the partnership, LP began to see the results of this work. Reading proficiency rates for students in classrooms coached by this instructional coach, supported by Blue Engine, outperformed classrooms without the support. This was true for both students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.
Talley’s team knew that while equipping teachers with skillsets was essential, a new reality for students would not be achieved if educators didn’t deeply believe in their ability to do grade-level work. The intentional coaching support provided by this instructional coach also significantly impacted teachers’ mindsets.
This combination of intentional focus on mindsets, alongside building the skills in educators to deliver instruction that meets all students’ needs, has continued to show promising results. Over the two years of this partnership, proficiency rates across the district for all students in grades 3-8 have increased by 10 percentage points, from 31% to 41%. When disaggregated by subgroups, proficiency rates for Black students increased from 15% to 23%, and SWDs increased from 8% to 10% district-wide.
Impact
In 2023, Lincoln Parish was named the fastest-improving district in Louisiana. LP’s strategic plan set a clear direction for what needed to be done to evolve instructional practices and shift mindsets in supporting SWDs. The district was clear that placing SWDs in general education settings was not enough. Blue Engine’s products provided their team with the skills and resources to effectively implement inclusive co-teaching to address the needs of all students. One LP general education teacher shares:
Executive Summary
While districts are shifting to a more inclusive model, where students with disabilities (SWD) are educated alongside their non-disabled peers, simply placing students in the general education classroom is not enough. At Lincoln Parish (LP), district leaders asked themselves: How can we provide high-quality core instruction to all students AND meet the needs of SWDs in the general education setting?
In a district in which Black SWDs made up 60% of students in self-contained settings in the parish, solving this problem became imperative. In 2020, LP shifted its delivery model at the elementary and middle school level, ensuring that SWDs were in a co-taught general education setting with access to rigorous instruction. After two years of implementing Blue Engine strategies, LP improved its B rating from the Louisiana State Department of Education to an A rating by Fall 2023 and exited two of three schools from urgent intervention required (UIR) status.
The Challenge
In 2020, Lincoln Parish set out to address a long-standing pattern of disparate outcomes for their students with disabilities, which was disproportionately affecting Black students across the district. When Dana Talley, Chief Academic Officer, joined the district in 2020, the reality was apparent: resource rooms had special education teachers who often had limited or no content expertise.
Observations showed that the pacing was slower in self-contained classrooms, and students received 1-2 units less instruction than their non-disabled peers. For LP, something different meant stepping away from resource rooms and implementing a co-teaching model, where a general and special educator collaborated to deliver instruction to all students within the general education setting.
Insight & Action
While the performance of SWDs was a priority, Talley and the team also uncovered that core instruction was not meeting the needs of additional groups of students below grade level. Members of the team asked themselves:
The team recognized that while SWDs had unique needs that required intentional support, ALL students learn differently. Thus, teachers needed the skill sets to implement instruction that addressed this learner variability—not circumvent it. Blue Engine and LP’s partnership would focus on the following priorities:
Priority 1
Position Inclusion as An Academic Strategy
Priority 2
Focus on Critical Mindsets
Priority 3
All Teachers must Support Learner Variability
Stakeholders across the system see this as a shared challenge to solve together, not just a “special education priority.”
Mindsets set the foundation for educator practice. All stakeholders need to believe:
- All students deserve access to grade-level learning. Every day.
- Educators can be successful in doing this work.
- School leaders must support educators in this work.
Teachers need explicit skill development in teaching to learner variability through job-embedded coaching support.
Explicit support of instructional leaders was just as essential as the support for teachers. Dana Talley Shares:
The partnership between Blue Engine and Lincoln Parish started with the support of an instructional coach who directly coached a subset of classrooms across two school sites. The work was focused on co-planning and effectively using data to make instructional decisions that ensured every student got the scaffolds and supports they needed to access grade-level instruction.
Within the first year of the partnership, LP began to see the results of this work. Reading proficiency rates for students in classrooms coached by this instructional coach, supported by Blue Engine, outperformed classrooms without the support. This was true for both students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.
Talley’s team knew that while equipping teachers with skillsets was essential, a new reality for students would not be achieved if educators didn’t deeply believe in their ability to do grade-level work. The intentional coaching support provided by this instructional coach also significantly impacted teachers’ mindsets.
0%
50%
87%
At the beginning of the partnership, 0% of surveyed teachers agreed with the statement that all students could handle challenging concepts.
Two years later, 87% of teachers strongly agreed with the same statement, higher than the national average of 50%.
This combination of intentional focus on mindsets, alongside building the skills in educators to deliver instruction that meets all students’ needs, has continued to show promising results.
Over the two years of this partnership, proficiency rates across the district for all students in grades 3-8 have increased by 10 percentage points, from 31% to 41%. When disaggregated by subgroups, proficiency rates for Black students increased from 15% to 23%, and SWDs increased from 8% to 10% district-wide.
The Impact
In 2023, Lincoln Parish was named the fastest-improving district in Louisiana. LP general education teacher shares:
Lincoln Parish’s strategic plan set a clear direction for what needed to be done to evolve instructional practices and shift mindsets in supporting SWDs. The district was clear that placing SWDs in general education settings was not enough. Blue Engine’s products provided their team with the skills and resources to effectively implement inclusive co-teaching to address the needs of all students.
