Monroe High School Models Inclusive Education

Last month, Monroe High School welcomed representatives from OSPI's Inclusionary Practices Professional Development Project, the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), and the University of Washington Haring Center for Inclusive Education to see first-hand how inclusionary practices are successfully being implemented in a school.

With the goal of having all students, regardless of their abilities, participate academically and socially with their peers in general education classrooms, inclusionary practices are when targeted services, support and accommodations are provided to students who need them within general education classrooms. This allows students to learn, interact with peers, and engage in core curriculum without being pulled out of class for support services.

Summarizing their day at MHS, representatives from UW's Haring Center for Inclusive Education said the following:

"We had an inspiring day visiting classrooms and engaging in thoughtful discussion with MHS educators. Principal Brett Wille, is also the former principal of Hidden River MS, both in the Monroe School District. Brett is joined by a dedicated leadership team who are demonstrating leadership first-hand to build capacity and sustainability within the district.

MHS is in the early phases of their inclusive journey, but in just one year's time they have made strategic changes to positively impact inclusive education. It is truly impressive what they have collectively accomplished in a short time.

To begin, they leveraged what is working well and built on strengths of strong teacher leaders, and Professional Learning Community (PLC) practices. Then made strategic key changes around co-teaching, co-planning, refining the master schedule to be more inclusive and continuing to focus on defining what are the essential skills/standards for students. MHS's continuous growth plans include response to intervention through universal design for learning (UDL), equitable grading practices, growing co-teaching partnerships, and inclusive Individual Education Plans (IEPs), to name a few.

In the early stages, it is a daunting task to prioritize where to begin. Both distributive leadership and teacher ownership of student learning is making those priorities more evident. When first meeting Brett, he spoke of the moral imperative of this work, (inclusive and equitable education for all) that all really needed to mean ALL students.

MHS is a leading example for embracing this moral imperative and engaging in the work and productive struggle. We are already excited to visit again."