TIES Inclusive Education Roadmap

In Step 3, you will

• Step 3A: Identify who will conduct the Initiative Inventory
• Step 3B: Complete the Initiative Inventory
• Step 3C: Analyze the results of the Initiative Inventory with the whole Equitable Inclusive Leadership Team (EILT)
• Step 3D: Identify which organizational initiatives align with inclusive education priorities

Overview

Initiative fatigue is real. Educators are unlikely to buy into new practices if they view them as just another thing that will be gone in a year or two when everything will "go back to the way it was." The intent is to change what is seen as routine so all students access and benefit from high-quality instruction in general education. Developing an inclusive system often overlaps with initiatives that the state, district, or school is currently engaged in. Identifying this overlap is a positive! Not only can recognizing and building off any overlap reduce initiative fatigue, but it can also accelerate implementation momentum (SISEP, 2017).

The purpose of the Initiative Inventory is to align and integrate current priorities and activities in the organization with the priorities identified in Step 2 (The RISE). Through the inventory, current initiatives that are or could be related to increasing inclusive school community practices or policies are identified. These might be initiatives that focus on general education students without identified disabilities; general education students with identified disabilities, including significant cognitive disabilities; or a combination of both. The use of general education first language is intentional so that the team considers every student as a general education student. This makes it easier to analyze initiatives that currently do not support students with significant cognitive disabilities, but could. For example, a district literacy initiative that originally did not include students with significant cognitive disabilities, but could be adapted to include them in the literacy instruction.

The information and data collected in the Initiative Inventory can be used by the organization to consider the inclusive priorities identified with the RISE to expand the focus of current work, guide decision-making to make room for new work, and assist with the alignment of efforts within and across levels of the organization.