Leading with Inclusion at The IDEAL School of Manhattan

 

Transcript

ANNOUNCER:  This is Curious Incident, a podcast for special needs families, and your window into the world of special education. Special needs parenting can be challenging, and we want to make it easier by providing you with the resources you need to help your child. Step deep into the world of learning differently with your host, special education attorney Adam Dayan.

ADAM:  I am pleased to welcome my next guest on the Curious Incident podcast, Janet Wolfe. Janet joined the ideal school of Manhattan as its head of school in February 2016. She led the process of expanding the K-8 school into a fully accredited K-12 school with a high school of over 70 students, including the development of a post-secondary program for students aged 18 through 21. Janet has led the development and expansion of a wide range of inclusive programs all differentiated and individualized to meet each student’s needs. Janet, welcome.

JANET:  Thank you so much, Adam, and thank you for having me.

ADAM:  It’s a pleasure and a happy year. Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

JANET:  I am in my heart, a teacher. I love providing opportunities for every single child to thrive. I’ve experienced firsthand as a student, as a teacher, and as an administrator how very important it is for students to feel comfortable seeing, heard, and celebrated for them to thrive. And my passion as an educator has really been providing that space for students, making sure every single student has what they need to really be their very best selves.

ADAM:  That’s wonderful. We need more great educators like yourself.

JANET:  Thank you.

ADAM:  That’s very kind. What sets ideal school apart from other schools in New York City?

JANET:  Well, just about everything. We’re extremely unique and we’re really proud of our pioneering model. We are the only K through 12 independent inclusion school in New York City and quite likely in the state. As an inclusion school, we expand the definition of diversity to include ability. This means that we have a wide range of students learning together. Those who are typically developing, some who have disabilities, and we get to witness the growth that occurs because of this unique model.

ADAM:  Inclusion can mean different things to different people. In some context, it means the inclusion of students from diverse backgrounds. In other cases, inclusion of IEP students or special needs students with typically developing students and in other cases, the inclusion of both a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the classroom. What about inclusion do you want listeners to take away from this conversation?

JANET:  That ideal inclusion means that no one has to leave their identity at the door. We provide a program that helps each and every child achieve their full potential. We have typically developing students and students with disabilities learning together in the same classroom and community. Beyond that, we are designed such that students who may have been underrepresented in other independent schools in the past are fully welcomed at ideal. We are socioeconomically diverse in terms of the background of each and every student and we are also diverse just in where kids are from. We have students from every borough of the city.

ADAM:  Can you describe how the inclusion model at ideal benefits both students with IEPs and typically developing students?

JANET:  Absolutely. I wish more people knew that being in an inclusive environment where the definition of diversity is expanded to include ability results in gains for every single member of that community. Academically, both typically developing students and students with disabilities show gains over their peers in more segregated or homogeneous environments.

ADAM:  Why do you think that is?

JANET:  I have a theory and my theory is that because in an inclusive environment, all students recognize each other’s strengths and celebrate each other’s gifts and also acknowledge their own areas for growth, our students develop a very unique kind of grit. They don’t see themselves as anything other than a great member of the community. And because of that, our students don’t shut down when they reach a challenge. Because of that, our students learn to advocate for each other and for themselves.

ADAM:  A very important skill.

JANET:  Socially, inclusion is good for all students as well. Both environments promote respect for the self, for one another. They promote kindness. And at Ideal, we intentionally teach these values through our concepts of the month, through advisory, and through the ways we interact with one another as adults and role models in the community.

ADAM:  So I know you have both the Dylan and Zenith programs at Ideal School. How do those programs differ and what levels of support do they offer?

JANET:  It’s interesting because the names are a little bit misleading. We have one program really at Ideal and it is an inclusive program, the Ideal program. Every student is in the same classroom. They’re learning together. The Zenith and Dylan programs really refer to additional levels of support for students who need that support. In the Zenith program, students can have up to 180 minutes of related services. And we have an amazing related services department with speech and language, occupational, physical therapists, and counselors. And also they have access to further differentiation. Parents are encouraged to attend more conferences. And in the Dylan program, students not only have up to 270 minutes of related services, but they also work with an associate teacher, a one-to-one teacher assigned to make sure they’re fully included both academically and socially.

ADAM:  Is that a one-to-one teacher in addition to the two teachers they have in their regular classroom?

JANET:  Absolutely. It’s a teacher who follows them throughout the day, who knows when to help, who knows when to step back and give independence, who can help a student participate in full-class activities, and also sometimes can help make social exchanges and transitions easier.

ADAM:  How does Ideal ensure that students are both academically challenged and emotionally supported across all grade levels?

JANET:  Differentiation is a really powerful tool. And at Ideal, we make sure that all of our curriculum is differentiated.

ADAM:  Do you want to define differentiation?

JANET:  Sure. Differentiation means making curriculum accessible to everyone and also challenging for everyone. It starts with teachers having the end goal in mind and setting a high bar that’s clearly defined for each and every student, and then providing all of the students in the room the tools to achieve those goals, or at least to work towards them, because students are always working further towards goals.

ADAM:  And the high bar is something that so often gets overlooked. People underestimate what students with unique learning differences can achieve.

JANET:  That is absolutely true. It is not for us as adults to set a ceiling. It is up to us as adults to inspire and to challenge our students. And we also, of course, have gifted students and students in the middle in our program. And having clear goals, make sure kids can go as far as possible.

ADAM:  You may have touched on this already, but I’ll ask you to elaborate if you want to. What role does collaboration between general education and special education teachers play in shaping the student experience?

JANET:  The collaboration is really, really important. It means that there are two people always to make sure that they can consider each and every student in the room, and what each and every student will need in order to continue to grow and achieve their goals. It means there’s a general educator to design an overall curriculum, to develop lesson plans, and there’s a partner at all times to make sure that each and every lesson plan is differentiated and will be both accessible and appropriately challenging to every student in the room.

ADAM:  That’s probably an aspect that gets overlooked as well, perhaps, especially the parents of mainstream or typically developing students. You have two teachers in the classroom. It’s an asset to have that additional person there, isn’t it?

JANET:  It absolutely is. It helps us personalize education. I also think that one thing that’s important for mainstream families to know is that differentiation was actually invented to serve gifted students. It serves all students, but in fact, the high bar makes sure that every single student is challenged in the room.

ADAM:  It’s so interesting because it is a term that is used nowadays, mostly in the context of special education, and at the same time, it’s so commonsensical. Differentiation is beneficial for everybody regardless of their learning needs.

JANET:  Absolutely. We all have different learning styles. We all have different interests. Differentiation is also about giving kids choices, letting them be autonomous to a degree in their learning so that different kids in the room can approach the same assignment through different lenses.

ANNOUNCER:  If you like what you are hearing, please let us know by subscribing to the Curious Incident podcast and letting other special needs parents know about it too. Give you a thoughts, questions, comments, or would like to suggest ideas for a future episode. We’d love to hear it. So email your feedback to podcast@Dayanlawfirm.com.

ADAM:  I know you mentioned related services before. Can you talk about the role of related services like speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and counseling in the daily life of ideal students?

JANET:  Absolutely. Before I came to ideal, I really didn’t understand the integral role that related service providers have in a school. Not only do they meet with students with IEPs and our Zenith and Dolan program, but they’re just a part of the life of the school. All of our students see our related service providers. It’s just teachers in the community. They come into classes to help make sure specific students are achieving goals and carrying their goals over. And just as important, they’re resources for our teachers. Occupational therapists, for example, can help if any student in the school is having trouble holding a pencil as they’re learning to write. If the desk chairs are not the right height for students to stay focused, speech and language therapists help our students prepare their eighth grade speeches, which we call ideal talks, and their senior speeches, and they’re available really to help all students.

ADAM:  Before you gave an example of how the general education teacher is designing the curriculum and supporting the special education teacher, and vice versa, do you want to give an example of how the related service providers are interacting with or supporting the classroom teachers?

JANET:  Absolutely. Classroom teachers really see our related service providers as resources to them in countless ways. One example would be that our school counselors, if something surprising or impactful happens in the world, they’ll help our teachers navigate that event with our students by giving appropriate language and prompts and telling us how to bring up that subject in an age-appropriate way. Our speech and language therapists are available to help our teachers if, for example, a student is very quiet in class or is having trouble articulating their thoughts in class. They may come into the classroom and watch to make sure a particular student is carrying their goals over, but at the same time, they’re looking around the room and they’ll be comfortable sharing their feedback on how one particular child who might be typically developing just could be better supported in speaking out in the classroom. And our teachers feel really comfortable going to our counselors. I think it’s really important to know our counselors are just and our related service providers. They’re just a part of the life of the school and the faculty. They do lunch duties. They do study hall here and there. They help welcome kids in the morning. So all of the kids and all of the teachers see them as a seamless part of the community as opposed to an isolated group that is there for just some specific students.

ADAM:  It’s another thing that seems very common-sensical to me, whether it’s a mainstream school, a special education school or an inclusion school, to have a team of therapists who are able to home in on a particular student and how they learn their function. And I just think of the typically developing students whose issues with sensory processing, attention, anxiety or executive functioning may never be detected because the school doesn’t have a team of therapists like the one you’re describing.

JANET:  Absolutely. Before I came to ideal, I really had no idea how extraordinary the benefits would be for typically developing students. You mentioned executive functioning. In the world of technology, that’s something all students tend to struggle with. Therapists are fantastic. In their role as advisors in the upper school in making sure students have written down their assignments at the beginning and end of every day are going to class with the right books and home with their homework assignments listed clearly. That’s a really important life skill for all students. It’s not something other schools can focus on as easily or with that level of expertise.

ADAM:  You mentioned technology where in that time of you set out to plan and do one thing, you pick up your phone, you get distracted and you can’t even remember the thing you set out to do. You said it way better than I could, but having that focus on executive functioning so that we can continue to plan and execute is so important these days.

JANET:  Thank you. It’s really amazing what occupational and speech and language therapists and physical therapists as well can do for a typically developing child.

ADAM:  How does ideals arts and extracurricular programming like music, drama and sports, foster inclusion and talent development?

JANET:  First, I’d like to say that we seem to have an inordinate number of talented students in the arts and in sports for such a small school. And why that matters is that I think in an inclusive environment, I think the setting goes hand in hand with the creative leadership skills that the arts develop. So many of our kids feel comfortable expressing themselves visually or verbally and they find new confidence in our spring musical. It’s not unusual to see a student in our annual battle of the bands have a breakout performance. Someone you never knew really could sing. Maybe a quiet student stands up there belting the lyrics of Led Zeppelin and it’s just amazing. And then after that moment, that student always holds that confidence. So it’s not only about the skills that our arts teachers teach, which are in and of themselves really important, but it’s also just about learning to express themselves. And that is more important in our world than so many other things.

ADAM:  I love that. And let’s get back to ideal talks. Tell me more about that.

JANET:  In eighth grade, our students develop and present a talk to the entire middle school that just informs the group about an area of interest. So there are slides. The students speaking at a podium, they practice for weeks and weeks and weeks delivering their talks. And the talks are on such a wide, wide range of topics. There are talks on black leaders in the arts on nikes and aspects of Nike shoes, political leaders, anime, just to name a few topics. And it’s really an incredible thing to see how different each student is and to really learn more about their passions. And the other thing that’s really amazing about ideal talks, it’s actually my favorite part of ideal talks, is after each talk there’s a Q&A session led by the student who was hosting the talk or led by the speaker and is really incredible to watch the middle school students and teachers ask questions and the speaker to answer questions. And the questions are always so loving. It’s such a beautiful representation of the results of inclusion. Sometimes kids will just raise their hand to say, hey, I didn’t know that about you. That was a great talk. Thank you. And you can’t help but leave those talks super uplifted.

ADAM:  That sounds amazing.

JANET:  It is.

ANNOUNCER:  If you like what you are hearing, please let us know by subscribing to our podcast and letting others know about it too. If you have thoughts, questions, comments or would like to suggest ideas for a future episode, we’d love to hear it. So email your feedback to podcast@Dayanlawfirm.com.

ADAM:  What kind of planning went into creating the new building at 5 Hanover Square and how does the physical space support inclusion?

JANET:  What kind of planning, I would say a lot of planning, before this project I had no idea what went into the creation of a new school space. Like everything in ideal, I think the creation of a space that’s fully accessible and a visual representation of accessibility starts with collaboration. So we had a really fantastic team who worked with our team of teachers, trustees, parents to get input on how to make the space not only ADA compliant, which is really a low bar, but a space where everyone felt comfortable, everyone felt they had access to each and every space and that would really be a visual representation of a community that comes together. So the planning that went into that, I couldn’t begin to count the number of committee meetings, the number of surveys that went out to gather input on what furniture would be best. But the results really incredible. We have beautiful wide hallways without carpet. A lot of schools have carpeting in the hallways, but that can make movement for individuals in wheelchairs much more difficult. We have in our science labs tables that are at regular desk level, so that there’s never a situation where some students are standing and some students are seated. We have incredible art and music studios for both the lower school and the upper school to really show how we highlight the arts program and to make that a hub of the school. We have an incredible foyer where our community can come in, gather, and we never had that before because we were in two buildings.

ADAM:  Very thoughtful planning went into this new building and I can tell from the way that you’re describing it that it’s a remarkable place.

JANET:  It really is almost every visitor who comes to ideal, remarks on what a joyful space it is.

ADAM:  How does ideal approach conversations with parents regardless of whether their child has an IP?

JANET:  At Ideal we recognize that a parent is a child’s biggest advocate and that they know their child the best. And we see parent teacher communications as integral to personalizing our program and making sure our program is suited to each and every child. We have very much an open door policy. We not only have conferences but we welcome meetings. We try and reach out proactively to celebrate achievements, not just to share when there’s an issue. But when you’re individualizing a program and when you’re providing a program to such a wide range of students, it’s more important than ever that we acknowledge the parents point of view and that we hear what they’re seeing at home to make sure that all of our students are really comfortable, thriving, achieving, happy, and challenged.

ADAM:  I think we don’t focus on this enough. The partnership between schools and parents and keeping that open line of communication, can you say a few words about why that’s so important?

JANET:  As educators, our day ends at four. We send students off and of course we’re preparing and reflecting on the day after that but we’re not seeing students at home. We don’t know what they’re sharing at home and without parents’ input we won’t. And likewise, I really believe it’s important for parents to know what we’re seeing during the school day. It’s particularly important when parents are making such a commitment to send their child to an independent school and to such a unique independent school at that, that the communication be warm and open and frequent.

ADAM:  In what ways do younger and older students interact to build a culture of inclusion and citizenship?

JANET:  Well, one of the best things about our new building is that it is one building and prior to moving two years ago we were in two separate buildings, one for lower school, one for upper school. So we are really working to capitalize on being all together in one building. And the first thing I would just say is that everyone knows each other at ideal. Every teacher knows every student and every student knows every other student. It’s an amazing thing to watch the littlest kids as they see some of the high schoolers come in. The high schoolers are their heroes. Whenever high schoolers make an announcement at the lower school assembly, you would think Madonna had appeared. Now that’s clearly dating me, but Taylor Swift. Or Bono. I should have said Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber. And our older kids love and know, our younger kids, we have a buddy program that partners students in lower grades with those in higher grades and any number of opportunities throughout the year that are planned for students to come together in their buddy groups and read a book or talk about something important or even just walk to an event together. It’s really, really special.

ADAM:  So younger students kept paired up with older students for this buddy program. Is it a type of mentor mentee situation?

JANET:  It’s probably a little less formal than that. It’s two classes that are going to be working together throughout the year, a younger grade and an older grade. Sometimes different students might be paired one day with one of the older students and then another day in another grouping. But our groups are small enough that all of the kids get to know each other. And so there is an informal mentoring that’s happening. And really the older kids take their responsibility to be role models very, very seriously.

ADAM:  That’s beautiful. Sometimes ideal helps students prepare for rigorous academics such as calculus and AP English while honoring individual learning profiles.

JANET:  Because every student at ideal has different strengths, we make sure that we offer a wide range of classes so that in middle and high school students are progressing through the right series of classes for them. This is determined independent of a student’s program. Student in the ideal program, Zenith program or Dylan program can all progress towards calculus if that’s what’s right for them and that’s what they want. We have the right scope and sequence. Just as maybe a more typical independent school would, we have the right classes and classes in middle and high school are readiness based. We also have a new program we’re introducing this year called By Design. And this is a program we’ve invented and we’re using just to ensure that differentiation at all levels from K through 12 includes high levels of challenge for those students who are ready. We’re also introducing a new STEM room that we’ve been setting up all summer. I’m super excited for all students in the school. We’ll have access now to Lego robotics, hydroponics and three 3D printers. So I’m excited to see not only the curriculum that our science teachers are developing to make sure we’re providing challenging design thinking projects to all of our students. But I’m also excited just to see the opportunities for collaboration that other teachers may find and to expand design thinking throughout the school.

ADAM:  That all sounds great and the By Design program that you mentioned, what exactly is that?

JANET:  It’s really just our way of making sure that we’re clear with families, with our own students and together as a community about all of the different levels of challenge that we offer. It’s a way of making sure that in each and every class we’re offering where appropriate, a challenge level that will support even the most advanced learners in the class. And that will also be available and clear for all learners in the class so that we’re not deciding which ones get to achieve at that level. It also is a program that incorporates design thinking and STEM. And really it’s just the umbrella under which our new STEM program is running through all of the grades at the school.

ADAM:  That’s very helpful. And how does ideal measure success? Not just academically but also in terms of who students become as people.

JANET:  Well, start with academically. There are a couple of markers that I think are extraordinary at ideal. One is our college and post-secondary program acceptance list. We have only eight graduating classes and the largest graduating class so far has been 16.

ADAM:  You mean eight graduating classes in the history of your school?

JANET:  Correct. And despite that, we have such a range of post-secondary programs and colleges that our students attend and it really is a testament to students being able to achieve the goals and path that is best for them.

ADAM:  And what about socially?

JANET:  Socially it’s really about seeing the kinds of people our students become. And talking to alums who come back and share experiences they’ve had advocating for people or for themselves in the wider world and sharing stories of how ideal impacted them. We have three alums now which again this is remarkable for a school that is only entering its 20th year. We have three alums who are current employees at the school. Two who are associate teachers and one of those is becoming our high school dean of students next year. And one who works in our facilities department. And each and every one of them talks about wanting to give back and foster kindness, respect and inclusion, the qualities that served them so well in their own education that they developed at ideal. You can also just watch our kids and you see them transform through their years at ideal.

ADAM:  Do you have any other stories or examples of how inclusion has transformed a student’s academic or personal journey at ideal?

JANET:  Countless really. I talked about our ideal talks a little bit earlier. Our seniors give senior speeches which are similar to ideal talks in their personal but they tend to be more deeply personal and more reflective on their own journeys. And so many of our students talk about coming to ideal from another school and for the first time feeling completely comfortable in their skin and environment and how transformative that is for them. One of our students a couple of years ago gave a senior speech in which she shared how she felt isolated in her public school. And the struggle she had as an autistic person. And she talked about how it transformed being autistic, how she understood how that was really a strength when she came to ideal, how she made friends, how she became more comfortable in her own skin. And at the end of her speech she paused and said, and I was accepted at all of the universities I applied to and the whole crowd literally stood up and applauded her. And it wasn’t about the acceptances of the colleges. We were applauding her growth and development and the acceptance of the community was just palpable in that moment as it really always is.

ADAM:  I can’t think of how to assign a value to that type of experience in high school to be able to take that with you into life. So before we bring this home, talk about next steps and how your school meets the needs of individuals between the ages of 18 and 21.

JANET:  Ideal’s next steps program is really unique in that it provides space for students to continue to grow academically during these years as well as progressing towards their own individual goals. Just like every other aspect of ideal it’s really individualized and personalized to each student in the program and to suit their goals and their path and their hopes and dreams. So each student in next steps has an internship every year that’s really based on their interest. Some students in next steps participate in high school classes. Some students in next steps might also do an internal internship. And at the same time they’re all learning together, business and living skills and job readiness skills. They run a candle making business and they also run our school store. So there’s another example of the older students and younger students working together. It’s really truly individualized and the pathway students from next steps take following the program is also unique. We’ve had students go on to community college, to other post-secondary programs and also go into roles in the work world after next steps.

ADAM:  Some parents out there listening may be thinking, hang on a second, I thought school ends at 17 or 18. And it’s important that you know that’s not necessarily the case. If your child is not ready to graduate, has not met all the requirements for a diploma or maybe won’t be getting a diploma, there is the possibility that they can continue in a supportive environment like a deal school until the age of 21 or 22.

JANET:  Absolutely, not every student as we know develops at the same rate. Next steps is also set up for students who might just need that 13th year to get ready to develop the executive functioning skills to really think about what they want to be ready for college. I also think a really important aspect of our next steps program that’s important for parents to know is the social life. You know, a lot of parents I think worry after high school, which is a wonderful safe happy bubble and maybe even 13 years or more at ideal, will my child still have friends? What will their day to day be like? And building lifelong friendships and community is a really huge part of our next steps program. We have a first Friday every month where we bring together next steps alums, ideal alums, students from similar programs at other schools just to do fun activities. Just because having a social group is one of the most important takeaways from school.

ADAM:  Which just speaks to the emphasis on community.

JANET:  Absolutely. We always want to be a home base for our students and community members.

ADAM:  Janet, are there any final takeaways that you want our listeners to leave with?

JANET:  I think the most important takeaway for families considering school is the profound impact inclusion has on the social, emotional and academic development of young people, both with and without disabilities.

ADAM:  I love everything that you’ve shared about inclusion and acceptance. I’m so glad that we had this opportunity. I think that there are some tears in the fabric of society that need to be mended. If we could follow the ideal school example, we’d be in a better place. And I think that gives hope for the future because it sounds like you’ve got something great going on in your program. And I know that it’s going to continue to serve as a model and a beacon.

JANET:  Thank you so much Adam. I really appreciate the time talking about ideal.

ADAM:  It was great having you.

JANET:  Thank you. It was great being here.

ANNOUNCER:  Thanks for listening to Curious Incident, a podcast for special needs families. Don’t forget to subscribe for a new episode every month. For more resources and helpful information, check out our website and blog at dayanlawfirm.com. This podcast provides general information which is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice. You should not rely on this information for any purpose. For legal counsel, you should consult with an attorney to discuss your specific circumstances. You’re listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the law offices of Adam Dayan, P-L-C. No attorney-client relationship is established unless a retainer agreement has been executed between the clients and the law offices of Adam Dayan. This podcast may constitute attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcome. Any guests featured or resources mentioned on this podcast are for information purposes and are not endorsed by the law offices of Adam Dayan, P-L-C.