Novi Times

The South Lyon Community Schools district has placed a spotlight on a co-taught first-grade classroom at Hardy Elementary that has made tremendous strides both academically and socially. 

The district's board of education welcomed teachers Andrea Stevens, a general education teacher, and Ashley Bentz, a special education teacher, to talk about their joint classroom during its May 16 meeting.

"When I graduated, I wanted to work at Hardy because I think all of the kids have such an amazing opportunity to learn alongside one another," Bentz told the board.  "And I really want to look at how do we do that and how do we do it better and how do we change it with how litigation is changing, how special ed law is changing and how do we really meet everybody where they're at and truly individualize for them? And I think this is a great step in that direction, and I hope we can continue to find ways to make this happen."

There are a mix of students in the combined classroom. Of the 20 students, five are on a modified curriculum with individual IEPs, five others are general education students with IEPs, three have behavior plants, and four have ELD services. An inclusion student occasionally joins the class, and all students are “working collaboratively together and learning in a pretty cool environment,” according to Bentz.

Stevens also commented on the collaboration in the classroom, saying “our goal was that you won't be able to pick out who the five (modified curriculum students) are or what anyone's needs are in the classroom, because they are all collaboratively learning throughout the entire day in all activities, all subject areas together throughout the whole day.” 

Bentz told the board she has seen all students grow in confidence and academic interest this year, especially the five special education students who she had in a special ed classroom last year. She added that those students are all much more confident in their work, and aren’t afraid to try new things. She gave one example of a young girl who hated having to write in class last year, and now absolutely loves it and shares her work with the class. The teachers said that the students in their class bond with each other and have a high level of understanding, looking past all of their differences. 

The responses from the parent input survey were also very positive. Parents said their kids were more outgoing and got along better with all of their peers. They also enjoyed the instructional model of the classroom because it gave them greater access and communication with the educators and adults that were with their kids everyday, many saying they hoped the co-taught classrooms expanded in the district.