The number of students living with disabilities being educated in a comprehensive environment is increasing. However, their general academic performance remains less than desirable. The most operational way to boost these students' overall academic performance is by improving teaching practices. Also, for these students to achieve the quality outcome, research-based instructions receptive to the unique need of these disabled students is crucial. The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) established High Leverage Practices (HLP) to develop practical and research-based practices that specialized instructors should implement. Blended learning is one of the HLP areas critical for special education teachers to comprehend. The paper will focus on an annotated bibliography of the blended rotational learning model, analyze the information presented, and identify the existing literature's holes.
Annotated Bibliography
Riccomini, P. J., Morano, S., & Hughes, C. A. (2017). Big ideas in special education: Specially designed instruction, high-leverage practices, explicit instruction, intensive instruction, and blended learning. Teaching Exceptional Children , 50 (1), 20-27.
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The authors analyzed the blended learning model in addressing the unique needs of a child with a disability. The article specified the instructions students living with disabilities should be given. According to the article, blended learning enables students with disabilities to access the general curriculum and meet the individualized education program's objectives and goals. In conducting the research, the authors analyzed a class containing 24 learners, with eight being disabled. From the study, the blended learning model is valuable as it depends upon the identification of students' unique learning needs. Typically, the delivery of effective instructions serves as a foundational aspect of the HLP as it presents the majority of instructions delivered to students with disabilities.
Billingsley, B., Bettini, E., & Jones, N. D. (2019). Supporting special education teacher induction through high-leverage practices and rotation blended learning model . Remedial and Special Education , 40 (6), 365-379.
The authors found out that the blended learning model is specifically designed to improve student learning and enhance knowledge comprehension. They considered how the station-rotation blended learning model provided a framework for special education teachers to utilize in developing learning plans for students with disabilities. The authors deduced that by structuring instructional conditions around HLPs, schools could send more articulate messages about practical instructions. Their research is based on the conceptual foundation of sense-making theory, thus easing specialized teachers' efforts in making sense of their roles. Billingsley et al. provided an insight into how a rotational blended learning model can help educate students with special needs.
Hughes, C. A., Morris, J. R., Therrien, W. J., & Benson, S. K. (2017). Explicit instruction: Historical and contemporary contexts. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice on rotational learning , 32 (3), 140-148.
Hughes et al. (2017) studied how blended learning can foster knowledge among students with disabilities. From the article, blended has been increasingly mentioned as a useful and valuable area of HLP. The station-rotation blended learning model has become a protuberant and the most discussed topic in special education. The authors analyzed the historical perspective of blended rotational learning to provide specialized learning among students with disabilities. The researchers found that the blended learning model activates students' prior knowledge by enabling them to access what is more critical during learning. The researchers also found out that the blended learning model helped special education teachers prioritize what is crucial for students with special needs to learn.
McLeskey, J., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M. T., Maheady, L., & Lewis, T. J. (2019). What are high-leverage practices for special education teachers, and why are they essential in blended learning?. Remedial and Special Education , 40 (6), 331-337.
The authors identified some of the important HLP practices for special education teachers. According to the report, the station rotation blended learning model plays a vital role in improving disabled students' overall educational performance. However, the performance of these students largely depends on how special education teachers deliver the instructions. The authors attempted to provide a rationale and an account of the significant changes occurring in teacher preparation programs, which are designed to improve professionalism of beginning teachers. The researchers further explored a set of HLP practices approved by the Council of Exceptional Child that would foster the overall performance of students with disabilities. Purposely, the research aimed to delineate the core curriculum for special education teachers in readiness for the occurring changes in teachers' education.
Firestone, A. R., Aramburo, C. M., & Cruz, R. A. (2021). Special educators'educators' knowledge of high-leverage practices: Construction of a pedagogical content knowledge measure. Studies in Educational Evaluation- Station-Rotation Blended Learning , 70 , 100986.
The authors’ research focused on special education teachers' knowledge of station-rotation blended learning. According to the article, station-rotation blended learning is essential for positive student outcomes. Further, students living with disabilities need more systematically designed blended learning models. Therefore, special education teachers need to develop a model that would help students with disabilities attain measurable and attainable goals. The authors posit that instructional content should be logically sequenced to make learning less complicated and exceptional. The researchers' meta-analyses found out that blended rotational learning plays a significant role in ensuring that the students with disabilities deepen their learning.
McLeskey, J., Council for Exceptional Children, & Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform. (2017). High-leverage practices in special education . Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
The authors conducted several research studies on high-level instructional practices. From their various analyses, it is evident that blended learning plays a significant role in fostering students’ performance. Special education teachers develop concepts and skills by teaching students what to do or think while enacting strategies and solving problems. Station-rotation blended learning is utilized by teachers when students are learning new concepts and skills. According to the authors, the blended learning model enables teachers to use research-based principles to address different forms of knowledge, increase content coverage, and enhance student engagement.
Training Outline and Explanation
New teachers should understand that teaching students with disabilities is a recursive, flexible, and strategic process. Educating these students requires pedagogical and content knowledge to develop a learning design that boosts their overall performance. For students with disabilities, the station-rotation blended learning model is essential in reducing individualized instructions' complexity. The model allows a student to rotate through various learning activities, enabling teachers to work with a sizable group of students at a time. There is no single right approach in developing the station-rotation blended learning model since schools have different resources and infrastructure.
The blended learning model works well with the student with special needs. Blended learning enables the students to collaborate with others and facilitates sensory-based practices. This learning model enables students to develop independence since it allows them to undertake new activities autonomously. In creating a particular learning model, learning goals must be the foundation upon which the model is built. This development strategy correctly positions the station-rotation blended learning model to accomplish the school’s educational objective.
In developing the model, teachers can place a student with disabilities in a station or a group with other students. These students can provide additional support while the teacher works individually with another student with special needs. The fact that the model ensures that teachers work with small groups of students is welcomed since most teachers have been attempting to adapt to ever-increasing classroom sizes. Sizable groups enable teachers to address the different students’ individual needs collected by the adaptive learning model. Indeed, the blended learning model expands students' flexibility and unique capabilities and improves their overall performance.
Analysis of Literature
The research studies analyzed broadly discussed how blended learning can benefit education students with disabilities. The only limitation in most studies analyzed is the number of students that participated in the study. Most studies chose few students to participate in the research, limiting the research results. The other limitation common across most of these studies analyzed was the students' struggles while participating in the blended learning environment. As a result of these limitations, new research that would extend the analysis to include several students would produce more reliable results.
References
Billingsley, B., Bettini, E., & Jones, N. D. (2019). Supporting special education teacher induction through high-leverage practices and rotation blended learning model . Remedial and Special Education , 40 (6), 365-379. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0741932518816826
Firestone, A. R., Aramburo, C. M., & Cruz, R. A. (2021). Special educators'educators' knowledge of high-leverage practices: Construction of a pedagogical content knowledge measure. Studies in Educational Evaluation- Station-Rotation Blended Learning , 70 , 100986. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/doi/abs/S0191491X21000122
Hughes, C. A., Morris, J. R., Therrien, W. J., & Benson, S. K. (2017). Explicit instruction: Historical and contemporary contexts. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice on rotational learning , 32 (3), 140-148. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ldrp.12142
McLeskey, J., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M. T., Maheady, L., & Lewis, T. J. (2019). What are high-leverage practices for special education teachers, and why are they essential in blended learning?. Remedial and Special Education , 40 (6), 331-337. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0741932518773477
McLeskey, J., Council for Exceptional Children, & Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform. (2017). High-leverage practices in special education . Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children. https://systemimprovement.org/uploads/files/CEC-HLP-Web.pdf
Riccomini, P. J., Morano, S., & Hughes, C. A. (2017). Big ideas in special education: Specially designed instruction, high-leverage practices, explicit instruction, intensive instruction, and blended learning. Teaching Exceptional Children , 50 (1), 20-27. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040059917724412
