Undivided Learning with Dr. Caitln Solone: Standards-Based Goals

Dr. Caitlin Solone - education advocate, teacher educator, and faculty at UCLA - explains how to develop standards-based IEP goals that work for kids during this live event with Undivided Learning. For the recap of this event, check out this page.

To learn more about establishing strength based goals in an IEP, check out our strength-based IEP goals decoder.

Lindsay
Welcome everybody to our Undivided Live! Happy Thursday. So we're here to talk about how standards-based goals and curriculum can work for any child. We'll be tackling the most common myths and best practices in addition to your questions from the chat window. I'm Lindsay Crain, the head of content and community at Undivided. I'm here with Dr. Caitlin Solone, a teacher educator and faculty within UCLA Disability Studies Department. Hi, Caty.

Dr. Caty Solone
Hi, everybody. Welcome.

Lindsay
Yes, and welcome back. We are always happy to have you here. So let's get right to it. Let's talk goals. So first, just to make sure that we're all speaking the same language, Dr. Solone, can you define standards-based goals? When we say that, what does it mean?

Dr. Solone
When we're talking about standards-based goals, we're talking about IEP goals that directly align with the standards that are aligned with the grade level that your child is in. So if your child is in second grade, then we're talking about IEP goals that align with second grade standards from whichever state that you're tuning in from.

Lindsay
And just so we can clarify, those state standards still apply to students with IEPs.

Dr. Solone
Aways, always, always, and they always should. Just because a child has an IEP, just because a child is on alternate curriculum does not mean that they should not have a standards-based IEP. All IEP goals should be aligned with the state standards. Yeah, definitely.

Lindsay
And I know both of us have talked to many parents who love the idea of standards-based goals, but they don't fully understand how they can make it work for their kids. And their IEP teams definitely don't know, they're not seeing this modeled in their schools. So let's just break it down. First, how can the child receive standards-based goals if they're not learning at grade level?

Dr. Solone
It does not matter where a child is at in order for them to have standards-based IEP goals. Standard space IEP goals, it doesn't mean that we're talking about IEP goals that are the same as the the state standards, we're not talking about the same goals as the standards necessarily. What we're talking about is goals that are aligned, that they connect to, that we're working towards those standards. So you can think about it like benchmarks leading up to the Common Core or the state standards that are being utilized. And so I like to think about it as a roadmap going to the overarching standard. And so your goal should be somewhere along that roadmap, getting you to that ultimate destination.

Lindsay
So can you maybe give us an example? Because I know one thing that's hard what we hear from, which I'm sure you heard from many parents as well, like, how do you write a standards-based goal, for example a fifth grader who is, a reading goal for a fifth grader who is maybe reading on a kindergarten level? So how does a parent even start thinking to approach that?

Dr. Solone
That's a really great question. And I want to point out two things here. One is that, you know, when we're thinking about these goals, or thinking about, say, fifth grade reading standards. Well in fifth grade, we're not working on phonics anymore. We're working really on more deeper concepts around reading and comprehension. And so when we're talking about students who are not quite there at fifth grade level, what do you mean? What are we talking about, their comprehension level? Their phonetic skills, their, you know, oral reading fluency, what are we talking about here? And so it's important to break that piece down, because there are many components of reading, right? And so when we're looking at goals that are aligned to the state standards, and we're looking at a fifth grade standard in reading, say, we're taking reading comprehension, for example, and we want to make sure that your your child is working towards a goal that is going to be aligned with a fifth grade reading comprehension goal. Well, we can break that down and say, Okay, so maybe we're not working towards reading the text, and comprehending it, but maybe we're working towards listening to that higher level text and comprehending it, right. And so it's really thinking critically about how are we breaking down these goals. Now, if a child doesn't have their phonics skills yet, then I would always recommend still have those reading goals that are aligned to the core fundamental goals of reading. You still want to make sure your child's getting really meaningful reading instruction. But when we're talking about goals that are aligned with the standards, say in fifth grade, then we got to break it down and talk about what type of goal and what is the most essential component here. Just because a child is not reading at fifth grade level doesn't mean actually that they can't comprehend a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh grade level, right? It just simply means that they're not reading it in a standard way that we're typically used to.

Lindsay
And another part of the, which was sort of a big aha moment for me, if you're looking at the standards, and it still feels like I don't know how to connect what my child is doing, if they're not at grade level, that the Common Core Connectors, I think, are something that exists that a lot of parents and schools, but I'll ask about that in a minute, but that they don't know exist that are, I will say, on a personal level, every time I start an IEP, I will get out, in thinking about my goals, I will look at my daughter's goals, I will look at you know, the grade level standard, I usually look at maybe the year before. And then I look at the Common Core Connectors and the Essential Understandings. So I could really see like, that really helps. Great like, here's all of these words that sometimes feels like a foreign language, I'm not a teacher. But then here is what they are talking about this is what they're trying to master. This is what all students are going to be working on that year. So how do we draw up something that makes sense for my daughter? But that those Core Connectors are really sort of the heart and the root of how I approach all of our IEP goals. But if you can talk to parents, tell parents what that is, and how they can use those.

Dr. Solone
The Common Core Connectors and the Essential Understandings are crucial in helping to develop these standards-based IEP goals. And if your school is not using it yet, show them, you know, I'm sure we'll be sharing resources with you, links to exactly what we're referring to. But share those with your teachers, your IEP team, because many schools, many teachers don't have access to these resources that are really super valuable and meaningful in terms of developing these standards-based IEP goals. They will thank you, I am sure, they will be like, thank you for this great resource because it really breaks it down. And it's something that I always wished as a teacher that I had, and I couldn't find it. And so it is wonderful that we are starting to see these resources start to be fleshed out more and more. But when we are using the common, or the Common Core Connectors and Essential Understandings, you can think about it like, here's the overarching fifth grade reading comprehension goal. And the Common Core Connector is what a child needs to be able to do in order to then reach that goal. And so can your child reach this overarching goal? Maybe not quite yet. But can they work towards meeting this goal in the Common Core Connector? Can they work towards this benchmark that they'll need to be able to do to then reach that for their goal? If we're not here yet, then we look at the Essential Understanding. What is the essential thing the child needs to understand in order to master that Common Core Connector so that they can then get to that state standard? And so you look at that Essential Understanding? Can my child reach that goal? Is that a meaningful goal for my child? And if the answer is yes, then you found the goal that you're working on. Sometimes those Essential Understandings might be too advanced. Sometimes, that's the reality, once we get into the upper grades. They might be. But then you can break it down even further by looking at grade levels prior and seeing the linked standards because they link from year to year. And so you think about kindergarten, we're working in kindergarten, building up to first grade, building up to second grade, building up to third grade, and so forth. And so if the fifth grade Essential Understanding is still too much, then we're going to look back at fourth grade, standard, connector, Essential Understanding that relates to that same standard, if that makes sense.

Lindsay
Yeah, it does. And, well, I have many questions. But also, as you were saying that I thought, the traditional IEP goal, that probably a lot of people here can relate to, it's also a cumulative sort of goal, but it looks a little different. It's okay, so you're gonna get 15 more sight words, your child will get 15 more sight words than the year before, or they're going to count 25 objects instead of 20 on one-to-one correspondence. So that's, I think, a very traditional kind of goal that is still seen as cumulative. So what should parents do if these are the goals that are being thrown out at IEPs? Do they bring a copy of the Common Core standards and their own ideas? Like how, I mean, how involved should parents be? Oviously I will say the ideal is to try to talk to your teams before an IEP so they know exactly what you're expecting, and they can have time to think about how to make that work. But so many schools push this and a lot of teachers have been using this for years. So how should, are these worthwhile? And what should parents, how should they react?

Dr. Solone
Well, they are golden. And I would say what first came to mind was help the IEP team. If you have these resources that are going to help them develop more meaningful goals, not only for your child, but for the other students that they serve, then, by all means, support and help them. And of course, you know, the tact and the way that you go about it is really important because you are an IEP team. And it might not always feel like that from the parent. And it might not always be like that from the teacher admin service provider end. But you're all a team. And the more you can prioritize that and show camaraderie and collaboration, the more your team grows and becomes stronger and is more capable of supporting your child holistically. So I would say give it to them, if you have these resources, and you're pretty confident they don't have it, share it with them. And, you know, now, that being said, it's not the expectation that you have a goal for every single standard at a grade level. That would be impossible to measure. And so what you really want to do is you want to, I mean, this is really where the collaboration comes in. You want to work with your teachers and your IEP team and take a look at those standards, the Common Core Connectors, Essential Understandings and take a step back and say, what are the most meaningful standards that we want to work towards? What is actually going to help my child thrive in life, and help them obtain the skills that they need to be a successful, happy, engaged member of the community and society? And so it's really important to note that because it can feel overwhelming when you see this long list of standards, but give that resource to your IEP team, ask that all of your goals are aligned to it, and work collaboratively with your IEP team to discern which goals are going to be the most relevant and meaningful. And the goals that can be worked on the most in class for the duration of the year. Right? You don't want to just pick one standard that's going to be taught for a very small portion of the year, right? You want to think about what are the things that are going to carry over across this entire school year?

Lindsay
Right. And how do you bring all of your classes into those? Like if there's, you know, certain, you know, grades, there's vocabulary, there's all kinds of words, so great, does your child need to, you know, to be pre taught some science vocabulary words? Great, you build those goals in and they're still getting what they need, and they're functional, in the best way, functional IEP goals. And I actually had a question about that as well, because we had some questions ahead of time. Is there a place for functional academic goals? And can they be standards-based?

Lindsay
I think that was that's a great point. Because we did have some questions too about there were some people saying that my child has really executive functioning goals on his IEP. So can those still be aligned with standards? I mean, is there, yeah, I would love to hear an example of something because I was, when you were talking, I immediately thought even like behavioral goals, like if there's listening or they're, you know, like, the state standards, if your child still needs support for them to behaviorally be able to attain those goals. And that is a way to align those standards with also the behavioral goals. So it's all functional, but I would love for you to give some examples just to bring that to life.

Dr. Solone
Yes, yes and yes. Yes and yes. When you think about functional academic goals, you're thinking about, like, what is actually going to be meaningful in my child's life, right? What is going to give them the skills, the self help skills, the daily living skills that they need to thrive? But that many of the standards have components of them that are just that. So you might not have a cooking goal, but you might have like a following directions school, following multi step directions, reading the instructions, being able to follow a checklist and things like that. So you're thinking about what are the skills that are going to build towards these goals? And yes, they can be aligned with the standards. And the standards are not just reading, writing, math. The standards include things like listening and speaking, and different things like that as well. So you're really getting kind of this holistic view of what kids are expected to learn throughout their academic career, and through that lens, you're able to then extract some really meaningful functional skills and goals through the use of those standards.

So say you want your child to work on executive function skills, maybe you want them to work on utilizing checklists or to-do list, right, checklists, and that's a really functional thing. I use checklists all the time. I wouldn't be able to live without them. It helps me manage my day in every task that I do. When we go to the grocery store we use them, when we are cooking in the kitchen we use them, when we have a list of errands to run, use checklists, right or, you know, however we manage it on our own. But you can use those in the context of a classroom and in the context of standards-based IEP goals, because you can talk about using a checklist or you can have goals around using checklists across multiple subject areas to complete tasks, right. You can use a checklist during math to complete word problems, multi step word problems, or even just one step word problems. You can use checklists when you're going out to play, to check do I know who I'm going to play with today? Do I know what I'm going to play? Do I know who I can go turn to to help on the playground? Right? So these are just some very simple goals or examples that can show you that you can start to just think a little more broadly and creatively about embedding these goals throughout the different standards that are addressed in each academic year.

Lindsay
And another big concern from parents is that the Gen Ed curriculum, or the standards, that they will move too fast, right, which can be a very legitimate concern, because if it's not done right, and things are moving too fast, it's like is, you know, I've probably said this before, but I know even internally, for me, it's like, do I want my child to be the guinea pig here, right? Like, if they don't have it together, is this going to be a total waste? And then districts will frequently say, well, your child can't learn in this environment the same way they can in a special ed classroom. So what is your response to the "everything's moving too fast" conversation, even though we know for parents, that can be a very legitimate concern, but what about when districts say this isn't the right placement, things will move too fast? What would you like to say about that very common IEP conversation?

Dr. Solone
That's a common, common IEP conversation and such a common justification as to why Gen Ed may not be the appropriate placement. And my response to that is, is that, yeah, the curriculum might be moving quickly. And we might be seeing teachers, because they have to cover so many standards, right? So, so gen ed classrooms, they do them fast. But that doesn't mean that every child no matter how significant their support needs can be engaging meaningfully in the curriculum, despite the movement and momentum, because you can have goals that really address their own unique needs, that allow them to engage in lessons and be a part of the class and engage in the learning, but through the lens of their unique goals that they're working on on their own, right, or not on their own, but you know, as a member of that classroom. And so, for example, if they're in a math class in middle school, and it's like, wow, these concepts are going flying by and we're getting through them super quickly. Yes, that is true. But we can still be working on checklists, we can still be working on really functional math skills through the context of different types of lessons, whether it's fractions, whether it's multiplying multi digit numbers, whether it's positive and negative integers, all of these different types of concepts can be used to build students' strength and capacity to master the foundational mathematical concepts and even, you know, executive function behavioral goals as well.

Lindsay
Well, and I think my my first response to that is what a lot of people's, it's like, that sounds great in theory. How do we realistically make this work if there's no one identified to help modify any of the work in school, like, what should parents asked for? Where it's like, yeah, I want to do this. And then here's this gen ed teacher who has all of these different students who doesn't have time written into their, you know, to their day? How can parents really realistically say, This is what I want, and these are the supports I need?

Dr. Solone
The biggest thing in making that type of system work is pre planning and having that dedicated time for planning for teachers, and as an IEP team, and thinking big picture and unit planning. So you don't have to necessarily be a part of the planning for every single tiny little lesson. You don't even have to modify every single worksheet for every single, tiny little lesson, because truly, that's not feasible all the time, right. But we can think about what are the systems that we can put in place? How can we plan for this six week unit through the context of my child's IEP goals and set them up to thrive during this unit and get a lot out of it? And it does require that pre planning. But when you do take that step back and take a look kind of more broadly at the big picture, what is the goal of math this year for my child? What do I want them to get out of this time? And how can that be meaningful for them? And how can they be active members of the classroom community during this time? And you can come up with really thoughtful, meaningful systems that don't require a ton of overhead and, not overhead, but you know, management and work. It takes that pre planning for sure, and you have to have a committed team. But once you start to do it, you'll see it is a lot easier than it seems like at first, and I made the mistake when I first started teaching in an inclusive setting, I thought I had to modify every single paper, like worksheet, I had to modify every single moment of every single day. And I was at work until like midnight every night and still wasn't getting everything done. And it wasn't until later that I realized, wow, I've been going about this all wrong. And really the way to do is to do this unit planning and really look kind of broadly at the big picture, and the big ideas, the big goals that we are working towards, and then how can the lessons fit into those? Rather than how can each tiny lesson fit into the goal. So kind of thinking about it in the inverse and backwards planning.

Lindsay
I was just gonna say work backwards. And of course, the gold standard would be that these lessons and curriculums were devised, sort of like what Pam is saying in the chat, but devised for all learners. Yeah, Pam said these suggestions of yours help educators think of ways to use these techniques for all learners. And the unique skill, of course, would be the gold standard. But unfortunately, it's not even the norm.

Dr. Solone
It's so funny too that you mentioned that because that I was recently in a school and looking at the curriculum and then looking at the standards, and realizing that oftentimes teachers are trying to jam through so much because the curriculum that they have decided to use as a school takes you through so quickly. But when you look at the standards that are required of teachers, it's not, it is more simplified than what many teachers feel like they have to do, and also what the curriculum implies that they should be doing. If that makes sense.

Lindsay
Yeah, so they're balancing the state standards, their own, like, school or district's curriculum, and then also figuring out how to make all of these things work for all learners, and in most cases, without support, without training, and without resources.

Dr. Solone
Right. Yeah, all of those things make it really challenging for teachers. And I'm seeing a lot of growth and improvement there, too. And I'm seeing a lot of teachers start to really pick up these Universal Design for Learning strategies where they're really employing those in the classroom. And once Universal Design for Learning is considered, and what that is, it's giving options for the ways students learn material, different modalities for learning the material and choice, different modalities for showing what they know, and showing and demonstrating their understanding. So not just one multiple choice test at the end of the unit to show that you know and understand this concept, but many different ways to demonstrate their understanding, and many different ways to engage in the learning. And so when teachers really set the stage and start thinking about UDL, Universal Design for Learning, as the priority, then it makes adapting the curriculum for our learners that need more support in place so much easier.

Lindsay
So how do parents, so they go to their IEP, and I had sort of an advocacy question too, which we can we can ask when we're talking to Dr. Pelangka as well, the educational advocate that we're speaking to next week. But schools might be like, you know, we already do differentiated learning. Or how, like, how can a parent go and advocate for that kind of professional training for their team for UDL to really start getting people understanding what that means, what that can look like, how they can work together, working backwards, like how can you bring that into your IEP when they're looking at you, like, we have no idea how to make this happen?

Dr. Solone
It's a careful process, right? I mean, there's so many factors is involved in what professional development teachers get. I mean, I can tell you a lot of teachers want this UDL training too. And then a lot of teachers feel really overwhelmed by it because it feels like this huge big thing that they're unsure how to navigate. And I'm sure what it is, many teachers are already doing it and don't even realize it. Right. And so, you know, in your IEPs, I would just continuously bring up that language around UDL. And what I've seen is the more parents who are talking about a certain concept or a certain topic, the more that starts to really sink in and start to demonstrate that that's a priority to parents, and it starts to become a priority to teachers and to admin in terms of training, too. And so, same goes for inclusion, the more parents that start to talk about inclusion at a school, the more that starts to become the gradual and growing ethos of the school, right, and then the priority of the school. But if nobody's talking about it, nobody's throwing out those key words, then it oftentimes gets overlooked unless it's a very significant priority for the teachers right off the bat, or the admin, which oftentimes they're juggling so many different things. And it's always something new. So these things aren't going away, though, inclusion, standards-based IEP goals, that's in the law. The law says that is a requirement of the IEP goals and UDL.

Lindsay
And, I mean, and you hit on the, obviously, we have to do what we can within that IEP to get what our child needs and, you know, legally deserves. And then there's a whole other aspect of systemic change where all of the parents, because when you when you really break it down to how, where is it based in law or ethics or research to show that standards-based goals don't apply to students with disabilities? You know, and, you know, I don't want to go into a rabbit hole about that, but it really, you know, just falls back on a history of segregation, antiquated ideals that are not based in inclusion.

Dr. Solone
And there are many reasons why students with IEPs in general education settings do fare so much better than students who are in self contained settings. There are many reasons why that's the case. But one of them is the curriculum that's presented to them and the ideas and the learning that they're exposed to in that setting. And that's not to say that that can't take place in special day classrooms. It's just to say that there's not a structure for it currently. So what tends to happen is what you were talking about earlier, where it's like, these added vocabulary words, added sight words, added number identification, and we're just building off of these really minuscule concepts that aren't actually teaching students the skills that they need to know to thrive in the world and in their own bodies and minds. Right? And so when we're thinking about why is it that inclusion is so successful, why is it that students have access to general education curriculum at such far greater rates in these settings? Yeah, it's because the systems aren't in place in other settings to do so all the time. That's not to say all the time, that's the case, right? Of course, it happens. In many cases, I'm sure. But yeah.

Lindsay
Yeah, it's easier in the special ed classrooms. It's, I will speak from our experience, it's a lot of intervention versus any curriculum.

Dr. Solone
Yeah. The grade level spans so widely, right. So if you're teaching a third through fifth grade class, then you have to look at all the standards and all the students IEP goals. It's overwhelming. It's just a lot, and there's no structure really for that that is meaningful. There are some alternate curriculum programs that are aligned with the state standards. But again, they tend to be a little more cursory.

Lindsay
Well, that's actually a perfect segue to the multilevel classroom. We received this question ahead of time, and I just want to read it outright, because sadly, I feel like it probably represents a lot of parents, you know, in their children's experiences. But she wrote that my child's in a special ed classroom. This special setting has never used Gen Ed curriculum books or any recognizable standards. It's basically a multi grade warehouse. She's now fallen several levels behind, grade levels behind, which has become the new excuse not to allow her in a mainstream classroom. I obviously can't include goals for every standard on her IEP. What can I do to make sure she makes meaningful progress? And it kind of encapsulates everything we've been talking about, but my first response was just like low standards, low standards, low standards. You know, what else would you like to add on to this parent? Just because I feel like again, this is very sadly common.

Dr. Solone
It is, and I'm so sorry to hear that that's this parent's experience. It really is a bummer to hear situations like this. And unfortunately, you're not alone in that, unfortunately and fortunately, but mostly unfortunately, you're not alone in that, because that is the common practice. And I would just encourage you to continue expecting standards-based IEP goals, for whatever your child's grade would be, if they were in Gen Ed, their chronological grade that's associated with their age, just continue to expect and support your IEP team in ensuring that all of your child's IEP goals do align with the standards. And oftentimes, it's parent advocacy that then trickles down and impacts way more students because through one parent's advocacy and efforts in fighting for this, then the teacher starts to realize, oh, this is actually really good, this is meaningful, this is important. And this is a really powerful way to go about developing IEP goals. And once those IEP goals are developed, and in place, then it is the responsibility of the IEP team and teachers to develop curriculum that's going to allow for a student to reach those goals. Now, that gets complicated, and there's all sorts of questions there around does that really happen? And how do you ensure that that happens? And you know, that's complicated in and of itself, when I would also build that strong ally ship with your teacher and ask if there's support that the teacher needs, and maybe any advocacy that you can do on behalf of the teacher with the administration, either on your school site or at the district level. Because it's through efforts like that that then we start to see the districts and administration start to make these things more of a priority.

Lindsay
Yeah, any systemic changes, yeah, as everyone I'm sure on this call or that is listening to this knows, requires a Herculean amount of effort from from parents and all stakeholders. Right. Also, you've mentioned alternate curriculum a couple of times. And, you know, a lot of families, as you know, are, that sort of comes up for the first time when their children are entering even third grade because that's when the standards, like the testing, the testing starts. So should, and a lot of parents say what is it, what does this mean? So should parents refuse? And if they don't, how do we navigate an alternate curriculum and still have a standards-based education?

Dr. Solone
That's a really great question. And I would say it's definitely case by case. But if your child is in one of the younger grades, and especially, you know, kindergarten, and first, second, third, even fourth in many cases, then if it were me and my child, I would not agree to an alternate curriculum until maybe fourth grade, maybe fifth grade. Because I think it really does lower the expectations for students when they are on alternate curriculum. Alternate curriculum is tied to the state testing. And so if a child's on alternate curriculum, so that's a consideration too, so maybe third grade, so third grade is when state testing starts in California. And so once state testing starts, the school has to determine is the child going to take the alternate assessment or the typical state assessment? And so that's oftentimes when these conversations are had around alternate curriculum. And if a student's not on alternate curriculum, then they are expected to take the typical state test. And so that presents some challenges, of course, especially when the test isn't always accommodated properly, and it might be too, truly, too advanced. And so thinking about, you know, is that a good time then, when testing starts to make that determination? Or would I rather keep my child on general education curriculum, even once testing starts, and opt out of testing? And opting out of testing is always your right. Schools are limited by the number of parents or students that they're allowed to have opted out. So it's not something that looks good for schools when parents do this, but it is a parent's right. And if it's not going to be a meaningful experience, or if you're not going to obtain meaningful data through those tests, then it is an option. But yeah, I think when parents are encouraged, especially in kindergarten, first, and second grade to go on alternate curriculum, I would definitely push against that and would not agree to that if it were me. And once the students get older, even if a child is on alternate curriculum, they should still have a standards-based education, they still should have IEP goals that are standards-based, and they should still be making meaningful progress on those IEP goals. Now, if a school is really adamant that if a child's on alt curriculum, they can't be in Gen Ed, then that changes things and that, you know, is not a legal practice. But it does change things in the way that you go about it as a parent in terms of what you are willing to agree to or not. If you're really comfortable with your IEP team, you know, they're going to support your child, you know, that going on alt curriculum feels right to you, as a parent internally, like, intuitively you feel like that is what is going to be best, it's not always a bad thing. And you can always go off of alt curriculum back on Gen Ed curriculum, if that is what is necessary and what the IEP team deems as appropriate. And that gets complicated too, because then you might have conflicting opinions about that. And it might be difficult depending on your IEP team. But the key is to know your IEP team, know what they think, and make sure that your IEP team really knows and understands what it means to go on alt curriculum. You would think that you wouldn't have to ensure that your IEP team really knows what that means. But oftentimes you do, because usually, these are institutional practices that are just in place and happen just because they always happen. Or just because all kids that look like this go on alt curriculum, that's what I'm going to always do. And so you want to really make sure that your IEP team understands what that really means, what it means for you and your family and your child, what your goals are for your child in their future, what their their goals are for themselves, and what the right path is from there.

Lindsay
Get those vision statements ready. Say, you know, this is what we need to do, you know, in order to reach this goal. But also, to be clear, I think a lot of people also hear well, if your child can't reach, or if your child requires modifications on the state standards, then they should be pushed to an alternate curriculum. But that seems like another huge myth, right? Like if you choose alt curriculum, you can, but if your child needs every single thing modified and maybe even has pass/fail or modified grades, they can still be on a standards-based curriculum that's appropriate for them. Is that correct?

Dr. Solone
They can still be on a standards-based curriculum that's appropriate for them. It would be called an alternate curriculum if that is the path, yes. But it still would be standards-based for sure. Yeah.

Lindsay
There's some districts too that have literally kind of an alt curriculum, right, as well, like some larger districts have, you know, they're not looking at the standards, and it's like, an out of the box curriculum that that's what they're having students, you know, follow along for their goals, instead of looking at the state standards at all.

Dr. Solone
Yes, and well, kind of. So the bigger districts do have alt curriculum, oftentimes, it's one particular curriculum. And that particular curriculum is said to be standards-based and aligned with with the state standards. But it gets really loose, because they're aligned, but they're not as rich and meaningful and expansive. And there's one curriculum. So if you're teaching like third through fifth grade, there's an upper level and there's a lower level. So there's a lot of repeating that happens then, too. And the curriculum changes from year to year. But, yeah, so it's certainly not ideal. But in some cases, it can be a helpful tool to then use to expand on, but it does kind of, on one hand, it gives teachers something to use that is more meaningful than not having anything at all. But in some cases, in many cases, it really limits. It puts like this glass ceiling on how much we're gonna push students when they are on alternate curriculum.

Lindsay
Right. And I see Carrie is asking is Unique one of those?

Dr. Solone
Yeah, Unique is exactly what I'm referring to right now. And it's honestly, it's one of the only ones that is robust enough to cross over multiple subjects and grade levels. And so yeah, we need some curriculum developers. We need the folks who are creating the curriculum for general education, we need those folks to really start to think about how to adapt the curriculum and make it more expansive and accessible for varied learners. So, I mean, that's a component of advocacy too, right? Like calling those publishing companies of those general education, curriculum books or curriculums and asking them, where's the alternate curriculum that's aligned with with the fifth grade, blah, blah, blah, right? Because that's a huge missing link. And the more publishers and curriculum development that takes place and centralizes all students and prioritizes all students, and the more we can get curriculum that is expansive and can address many different learners' needs, the more we're going to see inclusive practices take place, because then teachers are going to have more of what they need to be able to really deliver that type of meaningful, differentiated instruction.

Lindsay
Right, which goes back to Pam, your comment at the very beginning about, like, let's look at this, you know, as a whole and tackle this instead of always being reactive. Let's be proactive.

Dr. Solone
Yeah, right. Right. I mean, that is one of the, yeah, that is one of the pieces that I think that could stand to have a lot more advocacy around it. So when you start calling...

Lindsay
We're gonna have to figure that out. Right? Like, yeah, I like this. Anybody have any ideas? Let's get this going. Let's start getting some inclusive curriculum from the get go. I love that. Yeah, exactly. Oh, we also have a good question from Mitra. For preschool, can we have standards-based IEPs?

Dr. Solone
For preschool? You know, I actually, I mean, I would say yes, but I actually am not familiar with the preschool curriculum. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I'm not familiar enough to speak to that.

Lindsay
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. If you know, let us know, in the chat window. If anyone knows the answer, but Mitra, we can look, we can look into that. We definitely need to know. So we'll look into that.

Dr. Solone
And preschool, do they have like, their benchmarks that the, you know, things that have worked very briefly in a Head Start and know that they have certain goals that they're all working towards? And it's a lot easier in preschool to make sure that those goals are aligned with whatever the class is working on. So from that lens, then yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Lindsay
So yeah, we'll look into that, Mitra, we'll let you know, it's a great question. There was another question. Dr. Solone, wouldn't it be better for Gen Ed, curriculum providers to provide embedded modifications?

Dr. Solone
Yeah, yes. That's precisely what we're talking about here. Please. Like, let's get that going. I wish that was available. And that would be a huge game changer for the field.

Lindsay
Huge. Also, we had a question, the standard for a lot of us, right, you get that IEP draft, hopefully, you're getting that a couple days ahead of time. How can we review the district written goals and assess if they're appropriate or not? Maybe we'll check that little checkbox that says yeah, that's fine. That's where my eye goes first.

Dr. Solone
Yep. So what I would do first is I would take a look at the goals, I would have the Common Core standards with the connectors and the central understandings printed out next to me because I just like things physical. And then I would also have the present levels of performance right there with me. And I would kind of cross reference and see, does this goal align to the chronological grade level that my child is in? Does this goal connect with the standards in fifth grade level? If we're wanting to make sure that that's an appropriate goal for your child, you look at the present levels of performance, what are they currently able to do? And what is a reasonable goal? Based on what they're currently doing, what can we reasonably expect them to be able to do in a year from now? And again, it becomes a little subjective and hard to measure and hard to know. And the more teams get to know your child and the way that they learn and the rate and pace at which they learn different skills, then the easier it is to write those goals that are appropriate. But a lot of the expertise around that will also come from you as parents because you know your child best.

Lindsay
And quick shout out if Mitra, I'm sure you saw, Lisa posted the Preschool Learning Foundations, she put those in the chat window. Thank you, Lisa. She's one of our IEP specialists at Undivided. Thanks for throwing that in. It's hard to like think back on preschool, like I would love to go back and look at my daughter's IEP goals. I mean, it was it was such a, so I feel I feel for you, Mitra, I know those are really overwhelming years. Like, it's like, where do I even start? So you're you're way ahead of most, so. Also, we are getting ready to wrap up. If there's any last questions, put them in the chat. I looked back. I did miss one question. I wanted to highlight this. So put any of your last questions into the chat. But Carrie had a question earlier that is really nuts and bolts, that goes back to what you were saying about unit planning. And she said unit based planning is a great idea. Do you have any examples of that? Would it be a longer term project that might take a little piece of each day's lesson and incorporating? And by incorporating it into one modified project that will last for a couple of weeks?

Dr. Solone
Yeah, exactly. So teachers unit plan, so they have a unit on, say, fractions, and then the fraction unit's going to last, you know, six weeks, and then they're gonna move on to, you know, positive and negative numbers. Right. And so that's what I'm talking about and referring to when I'm talking about unit planning, so you'd plan for that entire unit. And it would be different stages of learning those standards for that grade level, right, related to that topic. And yes, and usually there's like a larger project, or, you know, there are, you know, centers that happen in some classrooms, there are different, you know, different ways that teachers work towards meeting that overarching goal of the unit. And sometimes the unit is just simply like a different worksheet every day that builds upon each other and builds the skills. But yeah, so we're looking at like, what do we need to do in writing? There are writing units. So if you think about a persuasive writing unit, then you think about, okay, what's the big picture here? Go from that pre planning stage to the final five paragraph essay stage. And so thinking about units in those contexts and thinking about what should the goals be? What should the things that my child works on every day, to build their skills in this area that's aligned with what the class is doing, what should that look like?

Lindsay
And again, going back to what you said before, Dr. Solone, instead of reactively, kind of going in and on the fly trying to modify for every little detail that's happening in the class, which I can also attest to, personally for my daughter becomes, I mean, it's not effective, and it becomes extremely overwhelming. And then as they're trying to modify, and they're trying to make things happen, like every little detail, the class is moving on. And it just becomes really a cycle of distraction. So, well, thank you. I don't see any last questions, but feel free to throw anything in there that we can also answer later. I wanted to say always, thank you so much, Dr. Solone, for not only talking about what should happen, but really showing us how we need to start breaking it down. And yes, there are bigger issues and huge systemic issues that we all really need to come together to tackle for true equity. But even you know, when we can start breaking it down in our IEPs and advocating for our child, like you said, then coming together with other families, then hopefully, we can really start making these powerhouse differences in schools and districts. And then let's, you know, spread it, because it's only been 40 years since the data has come up that this works. And you know, we're still a little behind. Just a little bit. But I also think we didn't, we kind of touched on this, but didn't get into it too importantly. But, you know, first we have to visualize, obviously, how this is possible for our kids what we've been talking about. And then we have to anticipate, you know, or articulate in the IEP who's responsible in all areas of support to make it happen, such as aides, modifications if necessary, any professional development. And then, you know, I just have to say, I can't even remember the first time that I heard you talk about goals in this way. But I do know that that's when my perspective completely changed, as did our advocacy for what Lena needed. So thank you, always, for sharing your knowledge and your passion for equity with all of us. I also, you know, I mean, really, it means so much because that little checkbox and like the way the goals, it forced our team to really take to take her education seriously. And for it to be very clear that what we were shooting for could not be accomplished in her current placement, which was a segregated setting, right? So for us it was really monumental. Yeah, go ahead, please.

Dr. Solone
When we plan with all kids in mind, then every child thrives in a deeper way in the classroom, right, because it opens up doors for not just our students who have more significant support needs, but all kids who are struggling with learning or struggling with engagement or struggling to be a part of the classroom community. So it really does open up the doors for everybody in the class when we can really start to plan with the students with the most significant support needs in mind.

Lindsay
Yes, we actually should probably do a session on really specifically that segment of students as well, because obviously those are the hardest students to include and that get them the biggest pushback on the standards-based goals. So thank you again to Dr. Solone and all of you, have a fabulous weekend everybody.