A New Partnership

The call for reform in early childhood education is global in scope, as is the need to advance services worldwide to children with exceptionalities. A recent partnership between The Open Society Institute (OSI-Soros foundations, http://www.cec.sped.org/intl/stepbystep.html#about_osi) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) champions both those needs through the innovative Step by Step Disability Initiative.

The Soros foundations network, founded by philanthropist George Soros (http://www.soros.org/), established the Step by Step Program in 1994. Step by Step promotes systemwide educational reform in countries transitioning to free societies by encouraging democratic thinking and ideals. Further, Step by Step endorses child-centered education for children from birth through age 10; provides appropriate learning environments for underserved populations such as Roma children, minorities, and children with disabilities; and encourages the participation of parents and the community at large. Overall, Step by Step seeks to provide equal access to quality education for all children, regardless of race, economic, or cultural background.

Step by Step maintains a presence in 29 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mongolia, and Haiti. Multiple Step by Step initiatives that exist in each country offer developmentally appropriate educational programs to children within participating classrooms and schools. Step by Step Country Directors ensure that regional training centers have the curricular materials, technical support, and professional development resources necessary to succeed locally.

Step-by Step-Countries

Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Georgia
Haiti
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Kyrgyzstan Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Tajikistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan

Each country appoints one local Step by Step organization to collaborate with the International Step by Step Association (ISSA, http://www.issa.nl), which is registered in The Netherlands and based in Hungary. ISSA is the nongovernmental membership organization that unites Step by Step programs in all participating countries, promoting global visibility and efficacy. Members include early childhood professionals, teachers, trainers, and representatives of international organizations. ISSA helps members to advocate for policy reform, obtain training resources and technical assistance, form strategic alliances with organizations that have similar missions, and implement new local or international projects.

Perhaps the most tangible of ISSA’s membership benefits is its journal, Educating Children for Democracy (ECD). This journal is published semiannually in English and Russian to accommodate ISSA’s multilingual audience; it is available in print and online to members of ISSA. With a strong emphasis on practical application, ECD provides a forum for educators to discuss best recommended practices, current research and theory, new ideas for teaching and administering educational programs, and member news. ISSA members also receive a member newsletter via e-mail and discounts on ISSA’s books, events, and training. In October, members will gather for the annual ISSA conference (http://www.issa.nl/conference_info.html) in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, to discuss quality issues in the early childhood programs of more than 30 countries.

CEC Supports OSI’s Disability Initiative

At the invitation of OSI, CEC applied for and received a grant to support OSI’s Disability Initiative for Step by Step programs within 29 countries. CEC is providing a variety of multimedia training resources, in-country training and mentoring by U.S. and European disability experts, and technical assistance to the participants in this initiative.

CEC hosts a Web page dedicated to the Step by Step Disability Initiative, which serves as the comprehensive site for resources on special education and disability issues (http://www.cec.sped.org/intl/stepbystep.html). This site provides Step by Step teachers, trainers, consultants, and in-country staff with updates on issues relevant to Step by Step, links to resources available from the ERIC Clearinghouses, and links to online resources from other affiliate organizations. In the future, CEC plans to facilitate discussion forums on disability issues through CEC’s Open Bulletin Board.

In response to the immediate need for training materials, CEC is providing numerous professional publications to Step by Step Country Directors for their use and distribution to regional offices. These high-quality resources include instruction on adapting curricular materials for the inclusive classroom, preventing problem behaviors, planning behavior intervention, and creating effective Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

Through a collaborative venture with the eLearning services of The Learning House, Inc. (www.learninghouse.com), CEC is premiering online education during the summer of 2003 to master teacher trainers in the Disability Initiative. The first online course, Learning and Behavior Disorders: Assessment and Instruction, is being piloted as concurrent training, with The Learning House, Inc. providing 27/7 technical support services. The entire course, from lesson readings to assignments and discussions, is facilitated online. CEC will offer an introductory course suggesting techniques for successful distance learning to ensure that participants have a productive experience. CEC is also developing Web-based coursework, projected to be available in the fall of 2003, on a number of disability and special education topics that will further enhance inclusive education in Step by Step classrooms.

Step by Step Countries Strive for Inclusive Education

Several Step by Step countries, such as the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, have already made great strides in the inclusive education of children with disabilities.
All three countries work in partnership with their governing ministries and other agencies to enhance the provision of special education services. The Ukraine has the most developed policies for identifying children with special needs and implementing inclusive education. The Ukraine’s educational system features a wide network of specialized Kindergartens and special boarding schools with appropriate learning environments for the education of children with disabilities.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have made great progress in inclusive education, despite the lack of government funding for inclusive programs. In both countries, Step by Step serves hundreds of preschool and primary school children with speech, physical, cognitive, and sensory disabilities in general education classrooms.

CEC is working closely with the country directors to help them overcome local barriers to accommodating children with disabilities in their Step by Step classrooms. Through specialized training, CEC supports Step by Step staff in building vital relationships between schools and families, adapting the classroom environment to the special needs of children, and developing IEPs for children with disabilities.

Collaborating With DISES

Through the Step by Step Disability Initiative, CEC builds on the momentum of the Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES, www.cec.sped.org/intl/), whose mission it is to further worldwide progress in education and services for children who have disabilities.

Become a Member of ISSA

To become a member of ISSA and support the Step by Step program, please visit http://www.issa.nl, or contact admin@issa.nl.

The eLearningEdge is pleased to introduce Brooke Weihe (brweihe@hotmail.com), staff writer and reporter for The Learning House, Inc. who is based in Charlotte, NC. In the following two articles, Brooke takes a fresh look at educational and training initiatives implemented by Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ, http://www.djj.state.ga.us/).

New Educational Technologies Reach Youth in Need

Over the past few years, Mr. Jack F. Catrett, EdS, Special Education Director for Georgia’s DJJ, had became aware of a discrepancy between how many days some adolescents spent with them and how much school credit they received for their time. Catrett contacted the staff of The Learning House, Inc., with whom DJJ had already completed an online training system.

Fifty-five percent of the clients coming through DJJ are there for 10 days or less. Often, 4 of those days are taken up by the process of acquiring the adolescents’ school records, leaving a mere 6 days (or less) in DJJ’s classrooms. This resulted in a loss of integral school credit for these adolescents. The Learning House, Inc. found its answer to this problem in technology with which the youth would be familiar, namely, compact disks. CDs were formulated, along with corresponding workbooks, to test reading levels and deliver educational services to youth at all three of DJJ’s education stages: elementary, middle, and high school. The equipment and booklets, which follow the guidelines of the Georgia state school system, are available in English and Spanish.

“The technology is really good,” Catrett said of the CDs. “They transcend not only language barriers but also those of learning disabilities or illiteracy. In almost all cases, no matter whether the clients can read at their age-appropriate levels, they know how to easily work a CD player.”

“They have not done anything like this before in terms of CD production,” said Dr. Denzil Edge, President/CEO of The Learning House, Inc. Tailoring educational technology to the specific needs of youth in juvenile justice systems allows for the greatest possible use of educational time within the system.

Special Education Certification Tailored to Georgia’s DJJ

Three years of collaboration between The Learning House, Inc. and Georgia’s DJJ is paying off. Two organizations that seemingly have little in common produced a new method of teacher certification in Georgia, spreading a wealth of knowledge among educators and students alike.

distance learning program developed by The Learning House, Inc. is responding extremely well to the needs of DJJ. It is tailored to deliver certification in special education to DJJ’s many teachers through a combination of online delivery, supplemental CDs, and the involvement of pretrained mentors.

“We have teachers in 46 different schools spread across the state,” Mr. Jack F. Catrett, EdS, Special Education Director for Georgia’s DJJ, explained. “We had a real shortage of special education teachers.” Prior to the installation of this certification program, Catrett estimated that only 10% of the youth in DJJ had been identified as requiring a special education curriculum. Now, DJJ offers special education to approximately 40% of its clients, consequently preventing far fewer of them from falling through the cracks. This summer, the first class of students to go through the special education program will graduate.

Delivering this certification to DJJ’s staff was not a simple task. Although other teachers in Georgia’s school system may take special education certification classes during their summer breaks, DJJ’s educators teach throughout the entire calendar year. Therefore, taking time off for certification becomes nearly impossible in this department, which desperately needs the benefit of special education information. “We had that problem there of how we work this out,” Catrett said of DJJ’s efforts to find a way to work around the teachers’ schedules. “However, most of them really wanted to.”

That is where the expertise of The Learning House, Inc. in distance learning became integral. “One of the things that they’re trying to do is upgrade the quality of their professionals,” said Dr. Denzil Edge, President/CEO of The Learning House, Inc. The company consequently developed an online course for DJJ that is enhanced with additional materials and personal guidance from a pretrained mentor teacher. It is free of charge, excluding books and materials, and because it allows for home learning around an individual’s personal time, it has been integrated successfully into the schedules and lives of many DJJ teachers.

The results within DJJ have been better than expected. “We felt [that because] this was such a good program, we didn’t need to keep it within ourselves,” Catrett said. This sentiment led to a partnership among DJJ; The Learning House, Inc.; and Armstrong Atlantic State University. The Georgia university has developed a master’s program in special education, and many teachers within DJJ have gone on to earn that degree. Tuition is nominal, and Catrett noted that “the demand is such that the classes are held year-round.”

Enabling teachers within Georgia’s DJJ to not only become certified but also earn their master’s degree in special education furthers the educational capabilities of those guiding the state’s youth in need. With a 30% increase in students diagnosed as requiring special education, the important benefits-those to the children-are already visible and tremendously inspiring.