Kim Davis is the special education teacher who was interviewed. Currently, she is acting as the Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher at Kelso Elementary School. As an RSP teacher, some of her responsibilities include developing educational plans including IEPS to enable the organization meets the individual needs, especially for the exceptional students. Apart from developing an educational plan, she also evaluates students, to understand some of their needs and coming up with programs and services which will ensure efficient instruction and effectiveness in the implementation of the supporting initiatives. Also, she is offering skills and knowledge in areas of math, algebra, art, and math. Kelso Elementary school offer learning services to students from different ages and grade levels. Mrs. Davis also works with students between 9 and 12 years who are the 4 th to 6 th grade during the interview. Apart from offering coordinating services to students in this grade, she offers instructions to K-3 rd grades she is also involved in the implementation of integrated instructional programs including teaching the students how to write effective and meaningful goals and objectives for the current and future career (Slavin, 2018) .
Currently, Kelso Elementary School is using Special Education Information System (SEIS) which offer various services including centralized online management system of IEPs and records for students in various categories. Using the system, it is possible for teachers and service providers to edit EPIs form, so that they can be able to address the various needs of the students (Spring, 2018) . Their systems are currently managed and maintained by CEDR systems, and they ensure there is reduce repetition in the evaluation of students needs. As a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher the system ensures she does not repeat information when undertaking data entry, hence saving a huge amount of time that can be spent with the students undertaking various activities (Slavin, 2018) . At Kelso Elementary School, Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers are provided with a huge amount of data to enable them to offer services to the students based on the modern trends. Some of the information collected for use by teachers in the institution includes Brigance Assessment Revised, Image Learning Assessment where assessment is computerized for efficiency and effectiveness in data analysis. Other forms of data collected for data use include Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement, student work samples from different grade levels and iReady Assessment Scores which is currently undertaken using a computer system (Slavin, 2018) . Lastly, the institution uses Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Standardized Test to offer students with automated essay scores where the results from different states are compared to understand different attributes in Special Education programs. The assessment is used as the end of year standard test hence, it helps teachers understand whether students are achieving their goals and objectives or not.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Mrs. Davis, Kelso Elementary School is currently using different programs in early screening and identification. Some of the systems include iReady and imagine learning scores to assess the K-13 student in areas such as literacy, mathematics, and language competence. Also, Kelso Elementary School uses information assessment programs to help assess different needs of students. Other programs include District assessments programs that help understand some of the areas that teachers need to concentrate on. Lastly, for the student’s performance in class, Kelso Elementary School use reports from teachers.
In the last few years, Resource Specialist Program (RSP) has experienced major changes not only regarding technology but also regarding policies (Spring, 2018) . However, one of the most important legal mandates that Mrs. Davis believes every general education teacher should be aware of regarding services for the student with special needs is every student in the institution is entitled to full access to general education curriculum regardless of their levels of ability or their demographic area. The legal mandate is in relation with William’s case where students who were attending special education schools from areas where with low economic status were not offered access to the similar textbooks as compared to a student in neighboring schools who are from higher economic status. Therefore, she believes that there is a need to match the policy with resources so that Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers do not find it difficult to work based on this legal mandate.
According to Mrs. Davis, medication is an important topic when it comes students in special education. Therefore, some of the most important insights for a general education teacher in relation to medication are ensuring parents are aware of some of the medications being administered to the students and ensure them all adequate information relating to when the medicines are supposed to be administered to the students and understand the reason the medicine was prescribed. Also, Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers need to make the parent understand some of the side effects of the medicines prescribed to their students; so that the students well being can be enhanced at both school and home (Slavin, 2018) . While implementing UDL in her teaching practice or when collaborating with other teachers, her experience entailed understanding that each student has his or her rate of learning, different ways of learning and understanding, hence there is a need to ensure special attention is given to every student in order to have each student need to be addressed, as a way of ensuring they can achieve their objectives and goals. There are different skills that a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher needs to possess so that they can offer quality services to the students. Some of the skills according to Mrs. Davis include working with core curriculum and understand how and where to access content materials relating to this sector. Also, she indicated that Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers need to have adequate skills in evaluation and interpretation of assessment results, so that they can be able to make decisions based on the results (Slavin, 2018) . Additionally, Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers need to h ave skill in evaluation and development of effective strategies and techniques for use in delivery of services are needed. Lastly, RSP teachers should possess adequate skills in conducting ongoing student evaluation so that they can support students in achieving their educational goals and objectives.
To maintain discipline and order among the students, there are different rules and procedures that Mrs. Davis has established in the entire grade, on top of the school policies on students’ behavior. Some of the measures she highlighted during the interview include ensuring students understand that there are specific rules and procedures which apply to them. This is achieved by establishing clear communication and implementation of the rules and procedures, and this includes making the student aware of the activities or the programs that they should undertake on a daily basis. Students with special needs require varied approaches when it comes to discipline; hence we use student individual-centered approach in dealing with discipline related cases (Spring, 2018) . The approach entails involving students in the development and implementation of rules and procedures.
According to Mrs. Davis, Kelso Elementary School has been experiencing a drastic rise in the number of special education students. The growth in this number has been highly impacted by the quality of services being offered in the institution, and ability to help the student achieve both academic and medical goals and objectives. Currently, the school has approximately 33 Resource Specialist Program (RSP) students and about 25 Special Day Class (SDC) students who are distributed in different levels on campus. She continued to say that, “Each student in the two groups has different needs, hence creating the need to come up with a special program to help address the needs of all the students.” Being one of the largest elementary school schools in the community, Kelso Elementary School has approximately 600 general education students. The general education students on the campus have played an important role in ensuring special education students achieve their goals and objectives by offer significant support to the two groups.
For effectiveness in SPED programs, Mrs. Davis believes that it is important to have all the stakeholders on board. County Office of Education is one of the bodies mandated in ensuring effectiveness in special education at the district level. Some of the ways County Office of Education support SPED students in Oregon district include offering funding to create an appropriate environment for the students with special needs. For example, County Office of Education support students by ensures this group of student is mainstreamed in regular classes. Also, it has established policies which ensure the classes are created in the way they can support both special education students and general students so that all students can feel equal (Slavin, 2018) . Secondly, the interviewee indicated that County Office of Education supports education for special needs students by offering their Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers with information through district assessment programs. Information from these country funded programs help Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers work as a team in ensuring high-quality services are offered to the special needs students regardless of the economic status, gender or needs.
Looking at her classroom, Universal Design of Learning (UDL) has been used to offer ways of customizing how learning information is displayed in the classroom (Slavin, 2018) . Also, a UDL offers alternative for visual information in the classroom, and this has been achieved through UDL Guidelines 2.0 which is being used currently in different states.
References
Slavin R. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory & Practice . Boston MA: Pearson Publication
Spring, J. (2018). American Education . New York: Routledge Publishers
