Accommodating the Pandemic

• In Event: Pedagogy of the Pandemic: What Teachers' Experiences Reveal About Educational (In)Equity and (In)Justice During COVID

Abstract

Purposes
Providing state mandated educational accommodations to students with diverse educational needs is one of the many challenging components of teaching generally. With the emergence of COVID-19 and the transition to remote learning, the ways in which those mandated accommodations are understood and provided has changed. This study examines the ways in which K-12 educators have dealt with the challenge of providing both Special Education (SPED) and English Language Learner (ELL) accommodations to their students during online schooling. ELL and SPED are not equated in this study. Similarities in the adaptation of state mandated accommodations to an on-line format, however, were similar.

Theoretical Framework
This study is grounded in the teacher practical knowledge literature that frames teachers as generators of important professional knowledge (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2010; 2015; Clandinin, Caine, & Lessard, 2018; Clandinin, 2019; Craig, 2018; Elbaz, 2018; Rosiek & Clandinin, 2016). This framework is used to surface and examine general education teachers thought about meeting the needs of ELL and SPED learners when using remote teaching formats.

Data Sources
The larger study of which this project is a part involved over 100 interviews with teachers from all over the world. These interviews were conducted using Zoom video meeting software and transcribed using Zoom and Otter.ai transcriptions software. The data set was analyzed to identify teachers’ responses to questions about mandated accommodations to diverse learners. Follow up interviews were conducted with select participants.

Method of Inquiry
This study coded the interviews for the way teachers shared information about making accommodations for students with behavior plans and for English language learners. Accommodations provided by general education instructors were prioritized. These were analyzed for patterns in how students’ needs were or were not met as well as how teachers shared ideas and collaboratively organized to make effective accommodations.

Results
Preliminary results indicate that accommodations were not a priority for some teachers because their focus was on maintaining the general wellbeing of all students. Furthermore, many accommodations that teachers normally provide (i.e. seating, tactile options) become impossible or irrelevant in a digital format. Other accommodation methods remain important but are very difficult to deliver via remote teaching technologies, such as phonics teaching. Conversely, the online learning format made some accommodations more possible and such innovative accommodations were more likely to happen when teachers were working together explicitly on these issues.

Scholarly Significance
Early analysis indicates there are many unique challenges and benefits to online schooling. Educators will need to re-think what accommodations look like in the virtual classroom. This study finds that collaboration amongst educational teams is essential to the effectiveness of fulfilling accommodation imperatives. This has implications for teacher professional development scholarship and policy, recommending a greater emphasis on teacher collaboration and teacher driven innovation. It also suggests that in this moment of health crisis, sharing of insights between scholars focused on serving special education and scholars focused on supporting English language learner students about how to make the most of remote teaching technology may be of significant value.

Author

• Nicholette DeRosia, University of Oregon