This blog is written as part of the NCEA Social Media Influencer Contest.
Catholic schools (at least the ones where I have taught) are really good at teaching to "the middle." As a young teacher, I struggled to provide challenging and relevant curriculum to my highest-achieving students, and I struggled to provide learning supports for my students who students who struggled. I, too, was really good at teaching to "the middle" of my class. In Catholic schools, sometimes we need help teaching all of our students. As God calls us to fulfill our vocation of Catholic school teacher, He calls us to teach ALL students. It is a matter of justice. But it took a while for me to truly believe this.
I started teaching 18 years ago in a very small Catholic school in North St. Louis County. This school had a reputation for extreme academic excellence, sending many of its graduating 8th graders to the top Catholic high schools in the St. Louis area. This also meant that many families chose not to send their child/ren with learning needs to this Catholic school. During my first three years teaching, I had one student with a learning disability. Honestly, I do not think that student would have been enrolled in our Catholic school if their three older brothers and sisters had also not been enrolled. This Catholic school had NO resource teacher, NO learning consultant, NO Care Team, and NO student support system in place. There really had never been a need for them. And so, as a first-year teacher, I attended the IEP/ISP meeting for my one student with a diagnosed learning disability at the local public school while my principal stayed and substitute taught in my classes. I was 22 years old, and I had NO IDEA how to support this student. Reading the written ISP following the meeting, I still needed help. I asked my mentor teacher for help. She gave me some general ideas to get started, such as reduce the math homework, give extra time to complete tests and assignments, and seat the student at the front of the classroom. (And yes, this was in 2001, a time that was before personalized PD on Twitter, before Facebook teacher groups, and before PLNs that met on Voxer.)
Fast forward a few years. My first Catholic school closed due to decreasing enrollment. This school consolidated with a nearby Catholic school. My principal was hired to be the principal at this newly consolidated, and thanks be to God, he hired me to teach at the newly consolidated Catholic school. This school was larger, with 2 classes per grade level. For the first time, I had a partner teacher. For the first time, I had the support of a building-wide learning consultant. There was still NO Care Team and still NO resource department. The number of students who had a diagnosed learning disability increased. The number of students who had an ADD/ADHD diagnosis also increased. The learning consultant in the building was actually a person to whom we sent our students when we didn't know what to do, like for testing and for behavioral outbursts. I was still teaching to "the middle" but had started attending workshops and reading books about how to respectfully challenge my higher-achieving students and how to support my struggling students.
Fast forward a few more years. My teaching job at my Catholic school was eliminated due to decreasing enrollment. I signed a teaching contract at the largest Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and taught a 5th grade class with 31 students. That year, there were four 5th grade classes with at least 30 students in each class. There was a Care Team, a full resource department, a full-time counselor at the school, and multiple teacher aides who pushed into classrooms. Of the approximately 900 students in the school, there were over 200 "student learning plans" to assist students with diagnosed disabilities and to assist other students who may not have a diagnosis but who struggled. This was the first time that I heard, "Being average is not a disability." The number of students who I taught who had a diagnosis increased dramatically. I learned SO MUCH about teaching all students in my two years at this school. I became a much better teacher, and I met my husband, who was also a teacher in the school.
Fast forward to me teaching in another Catholic school much closer to the city. This was the first Catholic school in which I taught where many of my students were not Catholic. There was NO learning consultant or resource teacher or resource department, although we most definitely would have thrived with one. Instead, the teachers met after school for a few hours each Wednesday as a Care Team. Together, we wrote "Student Learning Profiles" for over half of the students in our Catholic school who had learning difficulties. I led a year-long professional development book study on differentiated instruction. I taught a few students who may have been diagnosed as having ASD if their parents would have supported the school's Care Team's united efforts. I became a MUCH better teacher, learning to differentiate and support all of my students' learning needs. I won an archdiocesan teaching award. I earned my Master's in Catholic school leadership, discerned God's plan and will in my life, and decided to leave this beloved school to take a principal position an hour away at a Catholic school in an area with much different demographics.
Before I started as principal of my new school, I attended NCEA in St. Louis, my hometown. I had been slowly building my PLN on Twitter, and my personalized PD now included reading everything that other Catholic school educators tweeted, including articles and resources regarding Exceptional Learners in Catholic schools. I started following Beth Foraker (@inclusionchick) on Twitter, and I read every single thing that she tweeted. Beth is the President of the National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion. And after attending the Inclusion Summit the night before NCEA began, I fully fell in love with the mission of full inclusion in Catholic schools for students with disabilities.
In my year as principal, I talked with many parents, both of students currently enrolled and of students not yet enrolled. I stayed to work in my office on Wednesday evenings so I could be present to talk with parents of PSR students. It broke my heart to hear reasons from parents as to why they felt they could not enroll in our Catholic school, or any other Catholic school. The reasons included: they felt the Catholic school classroom could not teach their child/ren who had a learning diagnosis, ADD/ADHD diagnosis, or another medical diagnosis. I was heartbroken. Exceptional Learners should be able to be enrolled in any Catholic school. This is my goal, as Catholic education should be for everyone in the full-time day school. Here are my suggestions for Catholic schools to make this possible:
Suggestions for Catholic Schools
1. Start With One - As Dr. Raul Escarpio (@CatholicEd4All) says, Catholic schools just need to start with one. #StartWithOne and say YES to one family, one student.
2. Put Support Programs in Place - This includes putting support plans in place for students who are already enrolled, including those students who may not have a learning disability. About 8-10% of our students enrolled in Catholic schools have exceptional needs. We need to have the support system in place so that they can learn.
3. Provide Ongoing PD - Catholic schools can use their Title II funds to provide necessary and ONGOING professional development for their faculty and staff to ensure that all students learn. This includes training our faculty and staffs on how to educate students who have a learning diagnosis AND ESPECIALLY students who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
In conclusion, I am on fire in supporting and living the mission of making Catholic education possible for all students. In my future principal position, I want to say YES to (at least) one family and one student. It is a matter of justice and love.
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