Will pacing guides paired with professional development increase the grade appropriate core curriculum content taught to students with significant challenges in Pitt County?

Abstract

Research suggests "general education classrooms" promote progress for students with severe disabilities (Wehmeyer, 2006, pp. 323). However, most students with significant challenges, which is the more appropriate term used to refer to students with severe cognitive impairments and multiple impairments, continue to be educated in substantially separate classrooms, which further limits their access to the general curriculum among many other features of an education provided in the least restrictive environment. The information sought from this study was to determine if the implementation of Pitt County's pacing guides paired with professional development would increase the grade appropriate core curriculum content taught to students with significant challenges in Pitt County. The lack of current research on approaches to improving teachers' capacity to ensure that students with significant challenges are taught general curriculum content drove the interest and potential findings of this study. A new Low-Incidence Instructional Coach process was implemented with all low-incidence teachers. As part of this process, lesson plans were collected before and after the implementation of pacing guides and professional development. The purpose of the lesson plan analysis was to study what core curriculum content was being taught in these classrooms. The pacing guides are a tool that suggests a sequence that teachers could use to teach core curriculum content in their classrooms throughout the school year. The study examined baseline lesson plans collected at the beginning of the Low-Incidence Instructional Coach process and the lesson plans collected after the pacing guides had been implemented. There was hope that the tool, training, and continuous coaching (Low-Incidence Instructional Coach process) would help the teachers enhance the education of students with significant challenges.