TIES Inclusive Education Roadmap

In Step 4, you will

• Step 4A: Develop 3-year SMARTIE goals to build a meaningful, sustainable inclusive system of education
• Step 4B: Develop an annual plan that builds toward achieving each 3-year goal

Overview

Inclusive education systems change is complex but the IER breaks it down into doable steps. In Steps 1 through 3, a lot has been accomplished. The groundwork has been laid for a successful systems change plan by

• deepening the EILT's commitment to inclusive education for all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities
• putting in place structure and processes for the EILT to be effective
• reflecting on the organization's vision and mission and questioning if they apply to all students
• reviewing the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) data to understand where students are currently being educated
• reaching out to some of the key constituent groups to share their direction and the why of inclusion
• learning about the evidence-based practices in inclusive education and reflecting on these EBP in the current system
• identifying current initiatives to provide leverage for facilitating inclusive change.

Step 4 focuses on writing 3-year SMARTIE goals (e.g., In three years, what meaningful outcomes do you want to have achieved?) and the first year's action plan for each goal (e.g., Specifically, what activities will be implemented in the first year to make progress towards achieving the 3-year goal?) Having 3-year goals means the organization has a longer commitment about what it wants to achieve while also acknowledging that meaningful change takes time. Developing an annual action plan for each goal means the organization is systematically making the changes that achieve the goal. They do this by integrating changes across the Implementation Drivers. Research has shown that Implementation Drivers enable teams to make change more effectively and efficiently, maintain that change over time, and scale up across the entire system (Fixsen et al., 2005).