Session Information
04 ONLINE 24 A, Designing a “School of Tomorrow”: Inclusive Teaching Practices as a Pioneering Strategy to Combat Educational Inequality
Symposium
MeetingID: 878 1412 7956 Code: 97rhXz
Contribution
This study explored the efficacy of a Research Practice Partnership (RPP) aiming to promote inclusion in an urban, highly-diverse, high-need elementary school. Lessons have been constructed and implemented by educators as part of the RPP, spanning a 6-month period. In total, 128 students across four classrooms participated in a survey to examine their friendship ties in three time points. We conducted t-tests to compare network density at T1 and T3 for each class and separable temporal exponential random graph models (STERGMs) to explore tie formation from T1 to T3. Results showed that the number of friendship ties increased significantly from T1 to T3 for all students and students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) were significantly more likely to send new friendship ties. These findings are particularly significant for educational practice. The RPP in this high need elementary school was established in order to promote inclusion for all students, including those with SEND, as the participating teachers reported numerous challenges with social exclusion and isolation of many students in their classrooms. From day 1 of the RPP, teachers and researchers worked together on an equal footing to address these challenges. It was decided to implement lesson plans to promote friendships among students, and in that way, help promote inclusion and cultivate an accepting and kind classroom community. However, we are not claiming that all gains were the direct result of the RPP as we did not have a control group. Understanding the mechanisms of tie formation (Mamas et al., 2020) in individual classrooms can help educators transform and enhance inclusion for all students, particularly those with designated disabilities. Our findings, along with the body of research that came before, make the case that teachers should take steps to foster tie formation for all students, thereby facilitating tie formation for students with disabilities. As Small (2009) contended, “people are more likely to form ties when they have opportunities to interact, when they do so frequently, when they are focused on some activity, when they are not competitive, and when they have reason to cooperate” (p. 15). The lessons that were constructed and implemented as part of the RPP, were informed by the baseline data to identify students who were at higher risk of exclusion, and provided a lot of opportunities for interactions and new friendship connections.
References
Mamas, C., Bjorklund Jr, P., Daly, A. J., & Moukarzel, S. (2020). Friendship and support networks among students with disabilities in middle school. International Journal of Educational Research, 103, 101608. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101608 Small, M. L., & Adler, L. (2019). The Role of Space in the Formation of Social Ties. Annual Review of Sociology, 45, 111-123. Doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022707.
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