High-Leverage Practices - Grappling with the Pandemic - Teaching Students with Disabilities—and All Students Who Need a Learning Boost

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

High-Leverage Practices focuses on teaching students with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic, describing how a sixth-grade team adapts to a hybrid schedule and addresses rising stress, disengagement, and academic setbacks. It shows classroom strategies such as modeling with think-alouds, summarizing text, targeted scaffolds like graphic organizers, and small-group reteaching to reinforce foundational skills. The article emphasizes coordinated inclusive practices, clear learning goals, and research-based instructional accommodations to improve academic and social-emotional outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

High-Leverage Practices

Teaching in a Pandemic Hybrid Model

Instructional Supports, Scaffolds, and Accommodations

Coordinated Team Strategies and Research-Based Outcomes

High-Leverage Practices GRAPPL ING WITH THE PANDEMIC Teaching Students with Disabilities—and All Students Who Need a Learning Boost ILLUSTRAT IONS BY RACHEL SENDER By Mary T. Brownell, Stephen Ciullo, and Michael J. Kennedy acqueline is a sixth-grade special education teacher whose Jschapporoolishttraeccehinntlgyaecid leationimpg Nemew spneanial cnlusd gvne eral educators collaborate to provide a stronger system of instructional supports based on their analysis of students’ data. Jacqueline and her colleagues are systematically supporting students with disabilities and others who are struggling in one or more academic or behavioral domains. After months of online Mary T. Brownell is a distinguished professor of special education at the University of Florida and director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center. Stephen Ciullo is an associate professor of special education at Texas State University. Michael J. Kennedy is an associate professor of education in the Curry School of Education and Human Development atthe University of Virginia and head of the STORMED (Supporting Teachers through cOaching, obseRvations, and Multimedia to Educate students with Disabilities) Lab. The content of this manuscript was produced under US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Award No. H325A170003. David Guardino serves as the project officer. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the US Department of Education. No official endorsement by the US Department of Education is intended or should be inferred. learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, they now have a hybrid model in which students are on staggered schedules, coming to school two days a week. While some families have been able to adjust, many are experiencing a great deal of stress. More students than ever are slipping behind, acting out, and withdrawing. The whole sixth-grade instructional team has been searching for more effective practices to foster academic, social, and emotional development. Jacqueline’s sixth-grade general education colleagues have started to teach using modeling with think-alouds and strategies like summarizing text. They are also using specific scaffolds, including graphic organizers, to better accommodate students’ learning needs. When working with students in small groups, Jacqueline reteaches strategies, models foundational skills necessary for successful participation in the general education curriculum, and helps her students learn to use accommodations that will support learning in both settings (such as text-to-speech software so that students who are still developing reading skills have access to gradelevel content). The changes Jacqueline and her colleagues are making seem tobe working. Almost all the students with disabilities and the students who have been struggling during the pandemic are securing better grades and seem more motivated to participate in instruction. Many are even beginning to show their peers how to usestrategies they learned in Jacqueline’s small groups. 12 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2020–2021 Jacqueline and her general education colleagues have always worked hard and been dedicated to their students, but in the past their instructional strategies were not well coordinated. As they started working together more closely to adopt the inclusive model, they also dug into research on how to accelerate learning. They found that agreeing on some foundational ideas—like collaborating so that core and supplemental instruction are tightly connected and being more specific about students’ learning goals and the scaffolds the team would use to meet them—made a big difference in their team’s day-to-day work and their students’ development. Jacqueline’s experience is in keeping with what research has established: students with disabilities can achieve content-area standards and meet soci

FAQs

How does the article describe the instructional shift during the coronavirus pandemic?

It describes a move to a hybrid model with staggered schedules, where students attend school two days a week and the team responds to increased stress and learning gaps.

What teaching strategies are highlighted for supporting students in general and special education settings?

The article highlights modeling with think-alouds, summarizing text, and scaffolds such as graphic organizers, along with reteaching and helping students use accommodations like text-to-speech.

What is the role of coordinated teamwork in the inclusive model described?

It emphasizes agreeing on foundational ideas—linking core and supplemental instruction, clarifying student learning goals, and selecting specific scaffolds—so the team’s day-to-day work and student development improve.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford