NCAC Background

Index

The Problem ¦ What is Meant by Accessing the General Curriculum? ¦ Purpose ¦ NCAC Goals ¦ Approach ¦ Outcomes ¦

The Problem

d

The most critical issue for children with disabilities in public education today is gaining full access to the general education curriculum. The idea that students with disabilities, given the means, are able to interact with the curriculum, benefit from it, and achieve measurably improved performance thoroughly supports Congress's 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Additionally, the movement in most states toward standards-based educational reform has resulted in an increased emphasis on learning outcomes for all students, including those with disabilities (Jorgensen, 1997).

To realize the goal of improving outcomes for children with disabilities, IDEA 1997 calls upon schools to provide the greatest possible access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities within the general classroom. We contend that IDEA cannot be implemented successfully by merely adapting existing curriculum and methods. Although curriculum adaptation can be effective in individual instances, and serves as a necessary stopgap, this approach is costly and inefficient, and does not contribute to a globalized solution.

d

A universally designed curriculum, with built-in flexibility permitting customized learning experiences, is a promising approach requiring more research and development. This approach sets high standards for all students, but provides flexibility in the means of representing information, expressing ideas, and engaging students. Such a flexible curriculum will not only serve the needs of students with physical, sensory, or learning disabilities, but will also be more effective and efficient for all students, whose learning needs and styles are far from homogeneous (Meyer and Rose, 1998).

References:
Jorgensen, C.M. (1997). Curriculum and its impact on inclusion and achievement of students with disabilities. Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices Issue Brief 2(2), CISP Publications and Resources.
Meyer, A. & Rose, D. (1998). Learning to read in the computer age. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Back to index.

What is Meant by Accessing the General Curriculum?

d

Under the 1997 IDEA reauthorization, all students, regardless of their abilities, must be given the opportunity to become involved with and progress in the general education curriculum. Every student must have access to what is being taught. Providing access, however, involves much more than supplying every student with a textbook or a computer. Teachers must ensure that students are actively engaged in learning; that is, the subject matter is cognitively challenging them, regardless of their developmental level.

Students with disabilities can be blocked from this interaction because of an inflexible text that may inadvertently create physical, sensory, affective, or cognitive barriers. Even though they may have the same tools as everyone else, they do not truly have equal access to the curriculum (Orkwis, 1999).

Reference:
Orkwis, R. ERIC/OSEP Digest #E586. http://ericec.org/digests/e586.htm/ [1999, December].

Back to index.

Purpose

d

The purpose of the Cooperative Agreement between CAST and the U.S. Department of Education is to support a strategic research program to synthesize existing knowledge and to evaluate policies that affect access to the general education curriculum, and to plan and implement national leadership and dissemination activities.

To make universal design for learning a viable proposition requires a careful study of both the barriers and promising designs in current curricula; an analysis of best teaching practices and successful educational reform efforts; and an examination of existing policies at state and national levels. It also requires something more: a vision of how new curricula, new teaching practices, and new policies can be woven together to create a powerful implementation model that will bridge theory and practice. Attaining this vision will require tight collaboration between experts in universal curriculum design, advanced teaching practices, educational policy, and consensus building.

Back to index.

NCAC Goals

The goals of the Center are to:

• Create a unified, synthesized body of knowledge from the fragmented research in policy, teacher practice, and curriculum design through research and consensus building.
• Create a new vision and new practical approaches for access to the general curriculum, including policies, teaching methods, and curriculum designs based on knowledge gained from research synthesis, feedback from stakeholders and partners, and real-world application of new ideas.
• Disseminate research syntheses, new vision, and concrete solutions to the broad education community through traditional methods and also by creating a Web-based network (CenterNET) that provides a research database and fosters communication, knowledge building, and collaboration.

Back to index.

Approach

CAST brings NCAC and its key partners together in order to effect change that will improve learning outcomes for students with disabilities. The efficiency that comes from each of the partners operating in their field of expertise is an important aspect of the approach. But while such "parallel processing" has great power, it can also lead to solutions that are too narrow and that fail to take into account the complex interactions that exist in real contexts. Therefore, a plan has been implemented that will allow the Center to benefit from the "specialization" of each of the partners, and yet also maximizes the interconnectedness of the partners with each other and with the external networks of which they are a part.

This year, the partners will test the results of the separate research reviews through case studies. These real-world cases will combine ethnography with direct interviews, participant-observation, and archival research. The cases will challenge the partners to reach consensus about the interactive factors that facilitate and impede genuine access to the general education curriculum, and will also eventually serve as vehicles for teaching and learning by the wider network of interested parties.

To facilitate this, the plan calls for the design and construction of a fully accessible Web site that will be both the means of collaboration between the partners and an important outcome of the project. Through this "CenterNET," the partners engage a larger constituency in the work and disseminate results in a more timely, accessible, and efficient manner.

Back to index.

Outcomes

Anticipated benefits/outcomes of the National Center include:

• Increased availability of and access to information that is useful to educators, researchers, administrators, policy makers, publishers, parents and students;
• Increased capacity of key stakeholders to implement strategies that will enable students with disabilities to participate and be involved in the general curriculum;
• Substantially increased results for students with disabilities who participate and are involved in general curricula.

CAST has prepared a review of research and solicited input from its partners. CAST will report findings, provide products and materials developed under this award, and implement a dissemination plan.

A Final Report of Implementation will be produced at the end of the 60-month project period. It will include an executive summary, introduction, procedures, findings, and conclusions that integrate findings with implications and recommendations for educators, researchers, administrators, policy makers, publishers, parents, and students.

Back to index.