After the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), educators had to re-think how to best teach students with disabilities. IDEA ensures students with disabilities have access to general education curriculum and classes, while NCLB requires states, districts, and schools to disaggregate their data for all student subgroups to make adequate yearly progress (AYP). The laws increased accessibility and accountability for special education, and underscored the need for cross-departmental collaboration in schools.

In Birmingham Public Schools, there are 7,900 K–12 students, including 906 in special education. Traditionally, special education was isolated—it offered different curriculum for the remediation of skills, was physically set apart from general education, and was measured by its own standards. In an effort to break down barriers between special and general education, and to deliver high-quality curriculum, instruction, and assessment for all students, Birmingham Public Schools developed a strategy called Together for Kids.

Establishing a Common Vision
The district-wide adoption of a common reading curriculum served as the initial catalyst for enhanced collaboration between general and special education. Moving from a district-created curriculum that varied from school-to-school to a comprehensive, scientifically based curriculum that addressed the needs of all learners had a profound effect on student achievement. An increased number of special education students were able to integrate with their general education peers, which ignited teacher dialogue between departments.

To further cross-department conversation, the curriculum director gathered twenty enthusiastic special and general education teachers, school psychologists, principals, and administrators representing all schools in the district to form Together for Kids in 2005. The committee's first task was to craft a thoughtful vision statement: "Our goal is a slow, progressive enhancement of our ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data to guide our decision making about student achievement." The beauty of this vision statement is that it was established cross-departmentally based on a shared belief that all educators shoulder the responsibility of educating all students. It represented a change in culture.

Goal-setting
The Together for Kids committee agreed to gather for a half-day meeting once a month and address one major project per year that would benefit all students. After some lively discussion and deliberation, the group settled on its first goal: the selection of an assessment to best estimate kindergarten students' literacy risk. It's imperative to differentiate kindergarten students with reading deficiencies from those with cognitive or developmental issues who may qualify for special education—tailoring instruction and intervention for all students promotes reading success. Research indicates that at-risk students who are identified early and receive additional instruction can accelerate their reading skills and bridge the literacy gap.

Collaborating
Not surprisingly, members of the Together for Kids committee had differing opinions regarding assessment—what was needed, what was easy to implement, and what would benefit teachers and, ultimately, students. It was like two different countries speaking two different languages coming together, figuring out how to communicate with each other for the first time.

Some were firm believers in administering a widely used assessment to all kindergartners, while others wanted to use screening instruments and assessments that accompanied the new curriculum. The two groups needed to develop a common vocabulary on assessments to attain the goal of implementing a district-wide screening for at-risk kindergartners.

To compromise, Together for Kids decided to administer a well-known assessment in four schools, and the assessment that accompanied the curriculum in four schools for one year. At end of the current school year, Together for Kids will evaluate the information culled from both sets of assessments, solicit feedback from general and special education teachers, and make a unified recommendation on an assessment for district-wide implementation next year. Although the assessment pilot is not a true scientific approach, it does signify the strides that Together for Kids has made strengthening cross-departmental relationships for the benefit of all students.

Future Planning
While the Together for Kids committee is staying true to its focus on one significant issue per year, the team mentality at regular group meetings has sparked discussion on next year's goal: how to provide small-group, intense reading intervention to at-risk Kindergartners that will be identified by the district's chosen assessment. Other topics include delving into additional core subjects and establishing protocols for increased cross-departmental collaboration.

Seven years ago, the Birmingham Public Schools' special education department established the following core set of beliefs:

• All students have a right to be educated in their home school
• Children should be with same-age peers
• Everyone shares the responsibility to support a child
• Parents know their children best
• All members from a community learn from one another
• Potential is unlimited
• Curriculum must be meaningful and differentiated for all students
• Fostering independence dignifies the individual
• Social skills can only be learned with social opportunities
• All students are contributing members of the community
• All behavior expectations should be age appropriate
• Diversity is valued and celebrated
• Fears can be overcome

This belief system has always served as a guide for the special education department, but now it's truly embraced district-wide because of the Together for Kids initiative. Lowering the wall between the general and special education departments at Birmingham Public Schools is a model for how teamwork can shape a district, and the ongoing collaboration will continue to benefit all students.