Toby J. Karten Announces INCLUSION & CCSS SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS & STAFF

Inclusion & CCSS Supports for Students & Staff, written by longtime special education teacher and widely published author Toby J. Karten, is now available for purchase at the Learning Sciences bookstore.

An ardent advocate for inclusion strategies that increase classroom neurodiversity, Karten believes that when learners with disabilities are successfully placed into the general school population, all students benefit. "We know that students learn better in cooperative learning situations," she says. "Students who learn alongside children with disabilities are more accepting during school years and into adulthood. They don't view a difference as a deficit if they've been in a classroom atmosphere where everyone is embraced."

To create thriving, neurodiverse classrooms, however, schools must be able to connect academic standards, including Common Core State Standards (CCCS), with effective, classroom-tested inclusion strategies. Teachers, in turn, need opportunities to develop expertise on those strategies.

Karten developed the ADMIRE model to give educators these indispensable standards-aligned inclusion strategies. The acronym stands for assess and activate, then decide and delineate, model and monitor, instruct and involve, reflect and revise, and engage and enrich. Each step, covered in detail in her book, provides teachers in inclusive classrooms with evidence-based strategies to help all students meet learning goals.

It is also critical to build student autonomy, according to Karten, and that is another key point in her book. "The person who does most of the work is the person who learns the most. Teachers are the ones who set up the lessons and goals, review the journals, and monitor progress, but in certain ways they need to be more like facilitators. They need to set things up so students do the work."

Karten's full interview is now online. She has also contributed an article to Learning Sciences International's Teach to Reach blog. She appears at numerous conferences and educational events each year, supporting inclusive education initiatives. Karten will also be presenting a free webinar on inclusion strategies on Wednesday, October 28 at 3 p.m. EDT. Anyone interested in attending the webinar may register online.

Learning Sciences International, a leading provider of educational research and web-based and on-site solutions for professional development and performance management in education, supports schools and educational initiatives in 11 countries, 3 provinces in Canada, and 40 states in the United States of America. Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, the company currently serves 427 school districts; 5,575 school buildings; 311,000 teachers; and more than 4 million students in the United States.

For more information on the book or to request an interview with Toby J. Karten, please email pub(at)learningsciences(dot)com.

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