Medium
ND Olmstead Plan Goal #8 Strengthen inclusive education.
- Improve training for all educators, including specialties (Music, Art, Phy. Ed)
- Provide continuing education opportunities on the value of proven instructional techniques for the inclusion of students with disabilities in classrooms, adapted physical education, and school activities.
- Educate school personnel on the value of helping all students assert their decision-making rights into adulthood by gaining appreciation of alternatives to guardianship, including supported decision making.
- Strengthen Individualized Education Programs (IEP) to include everything that students need to succeed in school.
- Educate families about resources available to assist in IEP development and their rights through Family Voices and other organizations.
- Cultivate higher expectations for students with disabilities and their families.
- Incorporate physical education to encourage students with disabilities to develop commitment to physical activity and healthy living.
- Improve transitions at every level from elementary through high school and beyond.
- Provide information on successful navigation of recommended options at each transition point for each person.
- Expand the use of Assistive Technology for students with disabilities.
- Provide continuing education to school personnel and educators on advancements in technology products and applications.
- Include students with disabilities in the schools closest to their homes with necessary services and supports.
- Establish policies that aim to prevent, severely reduce, and ultimately eliminate shortened school days, suspension, and expulsion.
- Issue guidance on the use of special education funding for inclusive, least-restrictive settings for educational placements.
- Correct funding mechanisms that incentivize local schools to seek out of district placement.
- Create state funding pool that schools may access to supplement costs of disability-related services.
- Reward schools for rigorous inclusion efforts – i.e., add inclusion standards as a requirement for recognition as a School of Excellence.