EACH LEARNER Honoring
How to Develop Individualized Learning Plans for All Students
EACH LEARNER Honoring
How to Develop
Individualized Learning Plans for All
Students
Copyright © 2025 by Solution Tree Press
Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher. This book, in whole or in part, may not be included in a large language model, used to train AI, or uploaded into any AI system.
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband, Glen, and my amazing adult children, Josie, Garrett, and Kylie, for their unwavering support and encouragement. I love you more than words. To my mom, who taught me to look at the soul of each human, I hope you are proud. To my dad, who taught me to stand up and speak my piece, you were always my biggest fan. I want to thank my big brothers for helping shape who I am today, always supporting me, and knowing my heart. Thank you to the friends and colleagues who have encouraged and challenged me during my career to continue to learn and grow.
I am deeply grateful for the collaborative spirit of the Solution Tree team members, especially Amy Rubenstein and Madonna Evans. Your keen eyes and insightful feedback helped make this the best book it can be. Your ongoing encouragement and Solution Tree’s supportive process helped me fully realize that my work is valuable and worthy.
Finally, I want to express my gratitude to the unique learners with whom I’ve come into contact over the years as a teacher and as a human. From students on my caseload to adults in my circle, I have seen and heard about learners for whom school was not a place of acceptance or encouragement, but instead quite the opposite. This had lasting impacts on those individuals as young learners and as adults as well. It is to each of these unique learners, and the unique learners in each of us, that I dedicate this book.
Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:
Lindsey Bingley
Literacy and Numeracy Lead
Foothills Academy Society Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Paige Dannelley Chair, Division of Education Spring Hill College Mobile, Alabama
Jolie Morgan Instructional Coach
Dallas Center-Grimes Community High School Grimes, Iowa
Sheryl Walters
Senior School Assistant Principal Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Denise Wilcox Superintendent Beach Park District 3 Beach Park, Illinois
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download the free reproducibles in this book.
About the Author
Keely Keller, an educator, leader, and writer based in Big Lake, Minnesota, brings a wealth of experience and passion to her role as Director of Professional Programs at K12 Coalition, an organization that partners with districts and leaders across the United States to enhance teaching, learning, and professional practices to positively impact learners. With a deep-rooted commitment to enhancing educational outcomes, Keely works to create critical partnerships, innovative programs, and useful resources designed to empower teachers and leaders across America.
Her journey in education spans from impactful roles in special education teaching and leadership to coaching behavior analysts and instructing future special educators working toward licensure. Keely’s career trajectory was shaped by her love for fostering professional growth among educators. Recognizing her knack for curriculum development and professional learning, she has actualized numerous initiatives, ranging from facilitating transformative book studies for colleagues to creating comprehensive online learning programs. Her work equips educators to implement evidence-based strategies, reflect on their teaching practices, and ultimately enhance student learning experiences. In every aspect of her career, Keely exemplifies lifelong learning and a profound commitment to advancing education. Her story is about a relentless pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning focused on the hope that each student gets what they need to learn and succeed.
Keely has presented at state and national educational conferences such as ASCD and the Association for Middle Level Education on crucial topics such
as teacher burnout, personalized learning, microteaching, and new teacher induction. She is the author of a variety of resources, including the ebooks New Teacher Retention: Impacts, Challenges, and Solutions and Self-Care for Educators.
Keely holds a bachelor of science in special education from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and a master of arts in education from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is certified in three special education categories and holds both a director of special education and a principal license from the University of Minnesota.
Visit Keely’s website, keller-learning.com, to learn more about her work.
To book Keely Keller for professional development, contact pd@ SolutionTree.com.
Introduction
And it’s those who start with “why” that have the ability to inspire those around them, or
find others who inspire them.
—Simon Sinek
As educators, we often think of our why as core to our purpose. As a former special education teacher and special education administrator, I can attest to the fact that the why often gets lost in the shuffle. The purpose can get muddy, especially when considering factors such as achievement gaps, learners with trauma or mental health conditions, overworked staff with little time for selfcare, and upset parents and family members. Then, there’s societal pressure to educate each learner perfectly, and political pressure to do it in a certain way. Add in devastating factors like a pandemic and ongoing global conflicts and the odds against us really accumulate.
It can begin to feel impossible—and so, I decided to write this book as a tool to help support educators by focusing on one individual student at a time. In doing so, you can be a more successful teacher and positively impact the current and future lives of your learners. The goal is to support each learner as they develop and grow so they can fulfill their own purpose. This begins by recognizing each learner as a unique individual.
Many in the education field are focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion and addressing opportunity gaps and learning loss in the wake of ongoing
challenges. While necessary, this conversation can inadvertently take the focus off important educational goals for each learner. We must return our focus to the individual if we are to provide equity in education. Depending on who you ask, equity can have more than one definition. I once saw a panel of educational authors at a conference discuss different definitions of equity and why definitions and common language are important to collaborative problem solving. School leadership and culture author and coach Ken Williams’s (2022) definition sticks with me because it directly aligns with what special educators try to do every day: “Equity is giving every student what they need, when they need it, with urgency.”
The emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in special education typically sounds something like, “How do we best educate this student (the student with the disability) so they can learn and grow with their peers, feel safe and accepted at school, fulfill their purpose, engage as a responsible citizen, and live a happy life?” In special education, the answer is to individualize their educational programming. However, it is my belief that every learner—not just those in special education—has the right to an individualized, equitable education.
Many of the practices I outline in this book derive from the field of special education. As you’ll read, these approaches are universally applicable and any teacher with any student can and should use them. Good teaching is good teaching, and it is my sincere hope that the strategies and processes I present in the book enhance learning for all learners regardless of their background or abilities.
About This Book
This book is written primarily for K–12 classroom teachers. However, anyone responsible for facilitating a learner’s education, such as educational leaders, microschool creators, and parents or families who homeschool or want to advocate for their children’s education, will gain valuable information from reading it. In this book, you will learn how to use what you know, quite specifically, about each learner to improve their chances of success through a process I adapted from the field of special education. If you use this process for each learner, you begin addressing the question of equity because the plan includes educational programming designed around that one learner’s needs (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2012). The process has five components I explain in detail across each of this book’s five chapters.
° Special education method 1: Gather information about the learner—Imagine you are sitting across from a primary-aged
learner who is new to the school, has moved away from his mother, struggles to manage his impulses, and cannot read. You have no other information about this learner. What do you do? You gather information to better understand the learner in front of you through practices such as records review, family interviews, phone calls to past teachers, and so on. You take the opportunity to discover the learner’s uniqueness and then use the information to benefit them. The first step of this process, outlined in chapter 1, will help you see each learner as a unique individual with varying strengths, interests, challenges, and experiences who deserves an equitable education based on their unique needs.
° Special education method 2: Analyze data for patterns, outliers, and key insights—Imagine you’ve gathered bits and pieces of information on the new learner I’ve just described. As you review the data, you recognize patterns of strengths and challenges that will help you individualize for the learner. You also notice you share a common interest with the learner, and you have a few ideas to create feelings of success for the learner right away. Chapter 2 guides you to look closely at the information you’ve gathered using the “Relative Strengths and Challenges Chart” (page 64) to create an individual profile of the learner’s strengths and needs.
° Special education method 3: Plan for the unique learner—Take a moment to envision forward progress for your new learner. After gathering and analyzing the information, the learner’s strengths stand out and you can reframe challenges as goals. You recognize the importance of using what you know to take the next right instructional steps toward that student’s success. The information you gather in the first two chapters will carry you into chapter 3, where you will begin to use what you’ve learned about the individual to create a plan. Using the “Individualized Learning Plan Template” (page 65), you’ll see the importance of the information you’ve gathered and analyzed as you discover how to set goals for learners, teach them to use their strengths to mitigate their challenges, plan standards-based lessons, and use flexible grouping to individualize instruction.
° Special education method 4: Implement individualization with intention and fidelity—Visualize your new learner and you working together on a goal you’ve identified and documented as a part of
his learning plan. As a good teacher, you provide instruction every day for the same length of time, you accommodate according to the learner’s needs, and you consistently offer feedback to propel the learner toward his goal. Chapter 4 provides the information you need to implement Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) and shines a light on implementation imperatives such as intention and fidelity. This chapter also provides information about key individualization practices such as explicit instruction, adaptations, and feedback.
° Special education method 5: Monitor and adjust the Individualized Learning Plan—Picture your new learner as he charts his own progress and smiles at the realization that he has met his first goal. As you think about the instruction you are providing and his weekly assessment scores, you realize he’s doing it! You are doing it! You’ll share this news with his family and revise his learning plan to focus on a new goal. Chapter 5 provides the tools to monitor progress, reflect on your instruction, and adjust ILPs with learner charting and celebrations of success.
What’s in This Book
Each chapter features the following sections to support your learning about the five methods.
Unique Learner Profile: These sections feature a vignette to help you visualize the unique learner and further understand the concepts you will find in the chapter. Note that while the vignettes are based on real experiences, names have been changed to protect student privacy.
From the Field . . . : These sections feature methods from the field of special education reimagined to use the uniqueness of each learner to plan, implement, and adjust their ILPs. Each From the Field . . . method includes aligned research, individualization practices, and tools for easy implementation.
. . . To the Learning Space: These sections feature individual, smallgroup, and whole-group strategies to facilitate learning focused on the success of each learner.
Reproducible tools: At the end of each chapter, you’ll find a collection of easy-to-use documents, templates, resources, and other reproducible
tools designed to help you individualize your approach for each student based on their uniqueness.
You can use the text and tools to apply the entire process, or you can implement just the strategies that are most helpful for your students. You may also want to use this book and its process with a book study group or your collaborative team.
In this book, you will discover why each learner, with or without disabilities, should have an ILP to ensure a more equitable education. In the field of special education, students with a disability who qualify for services have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), which is a legally binding document outlining present levels of performance, goals, objectives, services, accommodations, and so on. The IEP includes key information to drive the education of the learner based on what the learner needs individually.
An ILP is a more flexible, informal way to consider similar information for every learner to plan for and implement an education that is more tailored to their strengths, needs, and interests. ILPs can be used in general education classrooms with all students. They do not hold the legal weight of IEPs, but they do help focus the teacher, the learner, and the family on the individual’s needs based on data. An ILP can be used in tandem with an IEP, but an IEP must always take precedence and be followed as written.
You will also learn about High-Leverage Practices (HLPs) from the field of special education, which will allow you to use the uniqueness of each learner to plan, implement, and adjust ILPs. The HLPs are categorized into four domains: collaboration, data-driven planning, instruction in behavior and academics, and intensify and intervene as needed (Council for Exceptional Children, n.d.e).
In 2017, professor of special education James McLeskey and a team of writers with the CEEDAR Center and the Council for Exceptional Children published High-Leverage Practices in Special Education to ensure that HLPs were fully reflective of all educators and students, especially those with disabilities (McLeskey et al., 2017b). The Office of Special Education Programs with the U.S. Department of Education, in collaboration with other departments, organizations, and authors, disseminated the information through a variety of methods.
Special education scholars Terese C. Aceves and Michael J. Kennedy (2024) revised and updated the HLPs in High-Leverage Practices for Students With Disabilities to ensure the understanding that these practices are for all teachers and effective for all students. This revised version outlines pillar practices within
each domain, which are the most important HLPs for teachers to master and implement. They also identify embedded practices, which are implementation based and key to the use of pillar practices. You can find a list of HLPs from the revised edition of High-Leverage Practices for Students With Disabilities in the appendix (page 175).
I acknowledge the processes outlined in this book can be time consuming and I understand your concerns, as there is never enough time in the day for teachers and leaders. It’s important to remember, though, that positive change doesn’t happen overnight. While the individualization practices in this book take time, the results will be lasting and impactful for your students and you. I encourage you to set your own pace, start small, and celebrate any step toward individualization!
You can use the tools provided in this book to better understand each unique learner and their needs. By doing so, you will be able to plan, implement, and adjust instruction for the learner and provide the keys to their success in school and in life. Thus, you achieve your collective why or purpose as teachers, parents, community members, and school leaders. It is my sincere hope that you find a new way to ensure every learner is seen as a unique individual and develop strategies to make sure each learner gets “what they need, when they need it, with urgency” (Williams, 2022). Thank you for being a teacher, an educator, and a supporter!
Special Education Method 1
Gather Information About the Learner
As you begin chapter 1, you’ll read about Tristen’s purpose and the impact of educators using what they know about a unique learner to individualize that learner’s education. You will learn about the importance of gathering information on your learners to inform your instructional decisions. With adapted methods from the field of special education including file reviews, assessments and observations, and outreach to key team members, you will discover effective methods for gathering relevant data on each unique learner. You’ll also discover activities you can implement in your professional practice, such as setting up quick wins for individual learners, an interactive social game for small groups, and a classic activity for whole groups. It’s time to focus on the uniqueness of each learner.
Unique Learner Profile: Tristen’s Purpose
Tristen was a learner with Down syndrome who wanted to work at the local zoo when he grew up. While some might scoff at this, Tristen’s family buckled down to support his growth and development alongside teachers, paraprofessionals, coaches, and others in the school system to help him reach his purpose—to help him fulfill his why. They did this while keeping Tristen’s eventual workplace in mind, leaning into his
goals, wishes, and desires. Tristen’s team celebrated his uniqueness, putting him at the center. The team used existing structures in special education, general education, and extracurricular activities and created new practices specifically designed to teach, support, and assist him in transferring his skills from the classroom to other environments.
Tristen received special education services through an IEP. As mentioned in the introduction, an IEP is a legally binding document that includes a variety of information about a student and their educational needs. Further, IEP goal pages start with the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP), which summarizes assessment information, parental insights, and other data. According to the IRIS Center (n.d.b), “The PLAAFP statement serves as the foundation from which all other components of the IEP will be built.” PLAAFP statements must include four key pieces of information: (1)the learner’s needs, (2) the impact of the disability on progress in general education settings, (3) current data, and (4) alignment to goals or services (IRIS Center, n.d.b). Tristen’s IEP was no different. His goals and objectives were based on the data summarized in the PLAAFP, which were unique to him. His team needed to know where Tristen was (present level) and where he was heading (standards, long-term goals, and so on).
Tristen was also a general education student. This is true of every student with or without a disability. His parents wanted him to be with his peers as much as possible, and his team members agreed. Keeping Tristen in the least restrictive environment served him best and aligned with special education law. He was included in general education classes, school programs, field trips, and much more. He rode the bus in the morning, ate lunch with his classmates daily, and stayed after school on occasion for activity nights, athletic competitions, and theater performances. Because Tristen spent so much time with his classmates, his peers became his friends and allies, even showing interest in his goal of future employment at the zoo. Tristen’s peers knew him well enough to offer supportive strategies for him to use in the classroom when he was struggling. They also celebrated successes with him!
Tristen had major accomplishments outside the classroom too. His athletic triumphs on both the tennis court and the track made his team members and family proud. Coaches and paraprofessionals worked together to provide Tristen with the support he needed to participate fully in both sports. With some preteaching, practice, and reinforcement, Tristen was able to check himself in at tennis tournaments, read the brackets, and keep score in his head. He was a faithful cheerleader to his teammates and gave the most enthusiastic high fives.
While Tristen did have a paraprofessional with him at all events and practices to assist with timekeeping and social interaction, Tristen was the student-athlete.
Tristen’s team was dedicated to his success—so much so that they created new practices based on his needs. When Tristen’s tennis coach indicated Tristen was forgetting his uniform on match days, the team worked with the family to create a video model for Tristen. His coach provided a checklist of items needed. The case manager shared the list with the family, whose older son volunteered to create the video with his brother. In three quick minutes at the breakfast table, Tristen not only saw himself starring in the production but also gathering all the items he needed to bring to school on match day, placing each in his backpack, and using his checklist along the way. His parents had him watch the video daily and then gather each item using the checklist to practice. They provided prompts as needed and reinforcement with specific praise when he completed the task successfully. Within a week, Tristen was referencing his checklist, gathering all the items he needed, and putting them in his backpack, all without prompting.
This method of teaching and reinforcing adaptive behaviors happened all the time. When Tristen was in middle school, his entire grade held a garage sale right before winter break to raise money for charity. Every student in the grade had a role to play, and Tristen was responsible for the stuffed animal table. He was chosen for this job for several reasons. He was particularly good with young kids. He knew more about animals than most kids his age and adults too. He could name them, describe them, tell where they lived and what they ate, and could even impersonate some of them. He would be able to share facts about each stuffed animal with the buyer.
At this table, every stuffed animal was one dollar. Tristen had recently learned how to count coins up to $1.00 and how to count change back using onedollar, five-dollar, and ten-dollar bills, but he needed more practice. This was the perfect opportunity for him to complete the skill repeatedly with his classmates’ support and for a worthy cause. He was perfect for the job, especially since he wanted to work in the ticket booth at the zoo in the summer.
From the Field…
The examples from Tristen’s story highlight just some of the ways his team and family used his uniqueness to plan his learning. What if you could do something similar for every learner? You can, by using the five methods I’ve adapted from the field of special education. Let’s look at the first, most important method, where you get to know your learner
as deeply as possible as quickly as possible. Not only will you better understand your students as you begin to develop their ILP in chapter 2 (page 41), but you will also build a relationship with each learner, which is monumental.
Gathering Information About the Learner
The purpose of gathering information about each learner is to ensure you deeply understand their strengths, challenges, unique learning factors, goals, and interests. No two learners are exactly alike. Picture any learner; maybe it’s a friend from high school, or one of the students in your class, or maybe it’s a parent with whom you’ve interacted who doesn’t trust the school system. Is it safe to assume that this unique individual has a learning profile that is different from others? Different from yours?
Consider the factors in the following list as starting points. I’m not expecting you to find all this information, just to consider a variety of factors that can contribute to a learner’s uniqueness. I’m sure you can imagine how any one of the following examples could greatly impact the uniqueness of the learner.
° Birth and early health: For example, did the individual have any notable health challenges during infancy or early childhood?
° Language and culture: For example, what language was spoken in the home?
° Developmental milestones: For example, when did the individual learn to talk?
° Impacts of trauma: For example, has the individual been exposed to violence?
° Family support: For example, what skills and knowledge did the family have to support learning?
° Familial challenges: For example, what changes to the family dynamics has the individual experienced?
° Community resources: For example, has the family been able to access community resources as needed?
° Access to shelter: For example, where and with whom does the individual live?
° Belonging: For example, how is the individual treated by peers in school?
° Safety: For example, what boundaries were set by parents and guardians for the individual?
° Cognitive abilities: For example, what are the individual’s thinking strengths?
° Physical abilities: For example, what challenges does the individual face regarding fine or gross motor activities?
° Interests: For example, what does the individual do with their free time away from school?
° Educational access: For example, what was the individual’s pattern of school attendance?
The list of factors that contribute to uniqueness could go on and on. As many factors as there are, there are a million more combinations of factors to create the unique learner. Each learner is not only a unique person, but they are also a whole person. Everyone deserves to be seen in a way that considers their circumstances, strengths, challenges, goals, feelings, interests, and so on.
In the field of special education, evaluation teams are required to do a comprehensive evaluation when determining eligibility for special education services. This includes consideration of many areas. For example, the Arc Minnesota (n.d.) website suggests the following areas to consider for an evaluation of special needs.
° General health, vision, and hearing: Evaluators gather screening data from the health office and combine with information from parents or guardians to document the learner’s health (such as number of trips to the nurse’s office, vision screening results, medical diagnosis, and so on).
° Intellectual ability: Evaluators give a cognitive assessment to determine the learner’s IQ and identify areas of cognitive strengths and challenges.
° Social skills: Skills inventories are helpful to identify skills a learner has mastered and those where they may need explicit instruction and practice.
° Emotions: Observation data can be helpful in identifying a learner’s ability to regulate their emotions or identifying the need for accommodations.
° Academic skills: A records review and achievement tests can provide information on the learner’s present levels of performance in areas like reading, writing, and mathematics.
° Communication: Standardized assessments provide information on the learner’s abilities to communicate, considering both expressive and receptive communication and more.
° Everyday living skills: Life-skills checklists and observations help determine whether a learner has mastered a skill they will need to function independently.
° Motor skills: Observations often provide information about the student’s ability to use their arms, legs, and fingers.
° Use of and need for any technology: This includes pencil grips, listening devices, switches, electronic devices, and so on.
° Functional behavior: A functional behavioral assessment provides a hypothesis about the reason for a behavior and other information like antecedents and consequences useful for developing an intervention or behavior plan.
° Concerns related to a specific disability: This information is usually in the form of a statement that explains how the learner’s disability impacts them.
° Transition skills: This type of assessment usually begins in the ninth grade and focuses on everyday living skills important for life as an adult.
The evaluation team decides together which areas it must assess, creates the assessment plan, gets permission from the parent or guardian, and works together to complete the assessments listed in the plan. Then, the team completes an evaluation report. This report comprehensively reviews all evaluation processes, data, and eligibility criteria as they relate to the learner. As summarized in the Minnesota Department of Education’s (2024) “Evaluation Report Model Form Guidance,” the following topics should be part of a complete report.
° Reason for evaluation (areas of concern)
° Summary of all evaluated areas
° Eligibility determination
° Testing conditions
° Present levels of academic and functional performance
* Formal and informal assessments of the student
* Student performance data, including classroom performance and progress on IEP goals
* Work samples
* Curriculum-based measurements
* Classroom observation data
* Observed student behaviors relevant to the areas of concern
* How the student’s current performance in a daily school routine or setting impacts their educational functioning
° Educational needs, additions, and modifications
* The educational needs of the student (based on a review of all the data collected as part of the evaluation)
* The skills or behaviors the student needs to improve to participate and progress in the general curriculum
° Additional assessments and documentation
* The items specifically required based on the eligibility criteria, secondary transition information, functional behavior assessment, and team override
Ensuring a comprehensive assessment is important in the field of special education because it allows for a more complete picture of the unique, whole learner. This is done by gathering information and assessment data from a variety of areas in several ways. When this information is connected and analyzed, it provides the team with additional information from which to further tailor the learner’s education. Comprehensive evaluations provide valuable and specific data for the learning facilitator, case manager, or teacher to use in planning, implementing, or adjusting the learner’s IEP and other future educational planning.
You can work toward a more comprehensive picture of each learner using the processes and strategies outlined in this chapter. It is important to note, parents, guardians, and families are not always keen to share private information with teachers or schools. Take the time to explain the reason for your inquiries and reassure them that you are working hard to help their child get what they need, when they need it. Explain that any information they can share or provide helps you get a fuller picture of the unique learner you both care for deeply. It helps you help their child be more successful. If, in the end, the parents or guardians choose not to participate, check in with them on a regular basis to share positives and explain progress. Even without information from the family, you can still use what you know about the learner to individualize for them, so carry on and keep examples of success to share with parents and guardians as you continue to build trust over time.
As you gather information, I encourage you to first examine each piece of information like you would a single piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Does it look like other pieces of information? Is it an outlier? Are you able to connect any pieces? Like a puzzle, the connections you make about a learner will help you see the whole picture. Their uniqueness will be revealed, and you will see them with additional clarity. The Learning Policy Institute (n.d.) shares the following statement on their Whole Child Education web page: “Decades of research have demonstrated the need for education strategies that recognize the connections between children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development, as well as their physical and mental health.” Through this information, you can better understand the whole child and use their uniqueness to help them reach their purpose.
Focusing on the Whole Child
Providing a whole child education begins with the creation of a positive and safe learning space for your students. As an educator, it’s imperative that your classroom prioritizes belonging and welcomes all. Students thrive when they feel included. Beyond safety and inclusiveness, these spaces must also inspire learning that is engaging, challenging, and meaningful, ensuring that every learner can grow and succeed (Learning Policy Institute, n.d.). Positive learning environments—both in and out of school—play a crucial role in shaping educational and life outcomes.
It doesn’t stop there, though. You can use evidence-based strategies to positively impact each learner by developing a relationship-centered learning environment. Relationships are based on making connections between unique individuals. In a relationship-centered learning environment, students have the opportunity to get to know each other and you. By taking time to do this, your learners will begin to care about each other, possibly leading to friendship, active peer support in the classroom, and a host of many other positive impacts. This won’t happen unless you are intentional about engaging learners in relationship-building activities and creating social learning opportunities. While peer-to-peer relationships are an integral component in a whole child learning environment, the relationship between the learner and the teacher is as important. The learner must get to know you, and you must get to know the learner. It is in these relationships that you will see each learner’s uniqueness.
Another evidence-based method for educating the whole child is the development of curriculum, instruction, and assessment that deeply engages students in learning. What does this look like in practice? Instead of teaching directly from
the seventh-grade life science textbook, for example, you could choose one phenomenon to study deeply as you provide focused instruction and practice on the life science methods, models, and key concepts outlined in the text. These transferable takeaways and the deep learning around the phenomenon can be assessed through a project with format choices based on learner strengths and interests. The learner can collaboratively create the rubric with you, complete their project with the rubric as a guide, self-assess, and own their unique learning.
It should be noted that there are several research models concerning the whole child, but it isn’t about which model is right or best. It’s about keeping the learner at the center, getting to know each learner deeply, and supporting each learner using everything you know about them. The Learning Policy Institute (n.d.) provides guiding principles for equitable whole child design. Figure 1.1 shows how the five guiding principles support the learner’s healthy development, learning, and thriving. Healthy Development, Learning, and Thriving
Integrated Support Systems
Development of Skills, Habits, and Mindsets
Rich Learning Experiences and Knowledge Development
Positive Developmental Relationships
Environments Filled With Safety and Belonging
Source: Learning Policy Institute, n.d.
Figure 1.1: Guiding principles for equitable whole child design.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (2024) whole school, whole community, whole child (WSCC) model is similar. It is centered on a healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged learner, surrounded by a variety of community and school practices and supports.
Both models are learner centered. The WSCC model goes a bit further, including a focus on the community as a valued support system for schools and connecting health and academic achievement. What do these two models have in common with this book? They name factors or components that work in tandem to ensure the learner gets what they need. Additionally, both whole child models and the process in this book put learners at the center—exactly where they belong.
As you get to know each learner as a whole and unique individual, start by considering their past experiences. Your learners’ experiences before entering your classroom may vary significantly in areas critical to learning and development. Table 1.1 lists factors critical to learning and development and provides examples of how they can show up in school settings. While you may not always be aware of specific circumstances, whether by parent choice or privacy laws, it is important to understand that factors like environment, mental health, and so on, still contribute to each learner’s uniqueness.
Table 1.1: Factors Critical to Different Areas of Learning and Development
Factor
Environment
Community
Relationships
Mental Health
Social and Emotional Development
Identity Development
Example
The home your learner lives in has recently tested positive for mold. You notice them struggling to pay attention and falling asleep in class and refer them to the school nurse.
Your student lives in a food desert without access to grocery stores. You make sure they get signed up for breakfast at school.
One of your quiet students who struggles to make friends spends quite a bit of time with their grandfather. You ask the grandfather to come in and volunteer in your classroom.
Your student has a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. You work with building leaders to draft a 504 plan with accommodations for test anxiety.
One of your learners is an only child who has not attended daycare or preschool prior to entering kindergarten. You provide additional support in social situations until they learn age-appropriate social skills.
Your student recently lost contact with both biological parents and since that time, their behavior at home and school has deteriorated. You spend five minutes before class each day checking in with them to proactively address challenges.
Academic Development A student in your classroom has a learning disability called dysgraphia and they struggle to express themselves in writing. You work with the technology team to find assistive technology tools that will help them.
Cognitive Development One of your learners was not talked to or read to as a child and lacks expressive and receptive vocabulary skills. You begin preteaching vocabulary words before lessons.
Source: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, 2020.
Many of these same concepts are also represented in the list of factors that could impact an individual’s learning profile from earlier in this section. That’s because the factors that make up the whole individual must be considered when planning for their learning. These are the factors that make each learner unique, and within that uniqueness are clues to how you can help students learn, develop, and succeed.
Individualizing Practices
With a better understanding in place of the kinds of information that can help you understand each learner, it’s time to dig in and actually get to know each learner through three methods I’ve reimagined from the special education field. Doing so helps you find each learner’s uniqueness and plan, implement, and adjust their ILP. To deepen your understanding of each learner, challenge yourself to get to know them as soon as possible using the individualization practices described in the following sections. Use the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible tool (page 30) at the end of this chapter to gather information along the way.
Reviewing Learner Files
Special educators complete a file review to begin developing an understanding of a learner’s needs or as part of a reevaluation. This typically begins with a review of the cumulative file. While the term cumulative may indicate an abundance of information, sometimes a cumulative file “may be nothing more than a profile card with personal identification data, standardized test scores, and report cards” (Wright, n.d.). According to the U.S. Department of Education (n.d.), educational records “are directly related to a student and . . . maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for or on behalf of the agency or institution.” An educational record can include the following.
° Date and place of birth, parents or guardian addresses, and where parents can be contacted in emergencies
° Grades, test scores, courses taken, academic specializations and activities, and official letters regarding a student’s status in school
° Special education records
° Disciplinary records
° Medical and health records that the school creates or collects and maintains
° Documentation of attendance, schools attended, courses taken, awards conferred, and degrees earned
° Personal information such as a student’s identification code, Social Security number, picture, or other information that would make it easy to identify or locate a student
This information includes data that may be in a file but not necessarily information you would collect in your notes, such as social security numbers. Educational records can vary in format, such as handwritten or printed pages, digital media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm, and microfiche. It is important to note here that the information you add to the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” I provide are “desk drawer”—for your own records—and not official education records as long as you do not share them with others or keep them for longer than one year. As an educator, you must know and follow all data privacy laws and student file procedures where you work. Nothing suggested in this book should supersede that level of confidentiality.
Schools may house more than one type of file: cumulative, confidential, discipline, attendance, and so on. A cumulative file sometimes indicates the existence of other confidential files. A confidential file should exist if the student was ever assessed for special education eligibility or a 504 plan. You will want to include this file in your review as it is usually a treasure trove of information on the unique learner, with documents such as the following.
° Written evaluation reports
° Due-process paperwork like notices of team meetings or progress reporting
° Records of independent evaluations
° Medical records
° Vision and hearing test results
° Eligibility-committee meetings summaries
° Team meeting notes
° Individualized Education Plans
° 504 plans
° Correspondences or communication log between school and home
When the case manager completes a comprehensive file review, they are better able to plan appropriately for the student.
You can do the same type of file review on learners who are new to you at the start of each school year or as new students are added midyear. Before you begin, investigate the process at your school and follow all required procedures. Ensure you can legally access the file or get parent or guardian permission as required by law and the procedures in your district, organization, or building. Take the time to learn more about the laws that surround data privacy. Take precautions to protect the confidentiality of the learner and the family. For example, as you complete file reviews, be mindful of the sensitive nature of the information you are reading or notes you are taking. Take steps to ensure no one else has access to the file, even for a brief period. Consider using a file folder for paper documents with student information and avoid leaving student information on your computer screen when you are not using it.
When deciding how and when to do a file review on each learner, it’s best to schedule time to review the file of each of your new learners as soon as possible. While it would be wonderful to have all this information about each of your unique learners before the school year starts, it’s not realistic. Instead, choose two students from your list to get to know through file reviews each day. I recommend starting with students who may have special needs or complex family situations, but you may choose a learner you notice struggling as the year begins. It doesn’t matter with whom you begin; it does matter that you complete this activity with each learner. Remember to complete file reviews for new learners who join your classroom after the official start of school as well.
Begin with a blank copy of the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible at the end of this chapter (page 30). You will use one reproducible per learner. Spend some time getting to know each learner by reading their school files— one file at a time—taking notes and gathering information. Each piece will be valuable for both the process outlined in this book and for you as the student’s learning facilitator. Fill in as much information as you can. As you review files, leave sections blank if you are unable to find specific information in the file review. Gathering most of the information on the document will still give you a better picture of the learner. If you find you need that specific piece of information later, consider asking colleagues who taught the learner before you or a parent or guardian. While this activity is a big lift, especially as the school year starts, the information you gather will be invaluable throughout the year as you use each learner’s uniqueness to plan specifically for them.
Observing, Assessing, Reassessing
In addition to interviewing families and learners, special educators observe students who are being evaluated for special education eligibility and sometimes those who receive special education services. The typical purpose of the observation is to document the learner’s strengths and challenges in the classroom and how a disability might impact learning. Gathering this information is important so the team can choose accommodations and instructional methods that use the learner’s strengths to mitigate their weaknesses. It helps the learner be more successful.
In the field of special education, observers use distinct types of observations for varied reasons. Some observers might complete a checklist with task categories and items like those shown in figure 1.2 to choose goals for the student’s IEP.
Checktheobservedbehaviorforthefollowing. When assigned a task, the student
Initiates task without need for teacher’s verbal encouragement
Requests help to start the task
Actively refuses to do task despite teacher’s encouragement
While working on a task, the student
Works independently
Performs assigned task without complaints
Needs teacher’s verbal encouragement to keep working
Source: National Association of Special Education Teachers, n.d.
Figure 1.2: Student observation checklist.
A special education teacher may complete observations using an ABC Chart. The University of Kansas Department of Special Education (n.d.) explains that,
An ABC Chart is a direct observation tool that can be used to collect information about the events that are occurring within a student’s environment. “A” refers to the antecedent, or the event or activity that immediately precedes a problem behavior. The “B” refers to observed behavior, and “C” refers to the consequence, or the event that immediately follows a response.
This information is valuable as it can help the team develop a hypothesis about the function of the behavior. Doing so further informs the teaching of replacement behaviors as well as the crafting of a positive behavior intervention plan to support the learner.
Just as special educators observe students, you can do the same with the learners in your classroom. During an open house or back-to-school night—before school even begins—you have an opportunity to watch and wonder about the unique individuals who are joining your class. In the first few days of school, you will have several chances to see how each student responds to structured and unstructured environments. Your first lessons provide another opportunity to notice how each student engages in learning. There is much to learn about your unique learners through observation. Observing learners can do the following.
° Help you get to know them and build a relationship
° Make learners feel safe and secure
° Give you information about what and how to teach
° Help you respond to the learner
° Help you gather evidence about progress toward goals
° Give you information about student strengths
° Provide examples of what the learner can and cannot do that you can share with the parents, guardians, and team members
Before you begin observing a learner, make yourself aware of any biases, experiences, or influences that may impact your observation. Keep an open, curious mind about what you see and hear from the learner (Jablon, n.d.). When you are observing, focus on what the learner is doing or saying and document what you see and hear. Write down what you notice. Try to be specific.
° How do they interact with peers?
° Can they initiate and complete tasks?
° What do they do well?
° What seems more challenging for them?
° What do you wonder about the learner?
Note your observations in the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible (page 30) you’ve created for each student, but don’t stop there. It’s important to keep observing the learner in your classroom throughout the year.
The more you observe each learner, the more you will know about them. The more you know about them, the more you can use their uniqueness to individualize their learning.
While observations are one form of assessment, there are other forms that special educators use for a variety of purposes with their students. They give assessments to determine eligibility, monitor progress, check for understanding, and even discharge learners from special education services. A special educator works with an assessment team to plan, implement, summarize, and share the results of an evaluation, which includes a variety of assessment types, some required and others added based on the learner.
Special education teachers also use curriculum-based measurements to monitor progress on a learner’s IEP goals. Curriculum-based measurement “uses repeated measures from the student’s curriculum to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and instructional changes to lead to more effective teaching methods and improved student achievement” (Rogers, n.d.). During a lesson, they use formative assessment to check for understanding, which guides their instruction. If a student has met their goals and objectives and the team believes they no longer have a need for services, team members develop, complete, and summarize a reevaluation plan for the IEP and assessment team. This can serve as evidence that a learner no longer needs services. Special educators use information from assessments to guide their work with each learner each day.
Assessments can also provide you with data to help you better know your learner. As the school year begins, have each of your students complete the required screening assessments based on your school’s assessment cycle. Pay close attention to how each of your learners scores on the screenings. What does the score tell you? How does the learner’s score compare to their peers, the norms of the screener, or the learner’s grade level? Compare reassessment or rescreening data to previous scores. Look for declines over long breaks from instruction as well as growth year over year. Align the data to the information you have from the file review for a more complete picture of the learner’s unique learning profile. Keep an eye out for patterns or trends, as these can point out areas of relative strengths and challenges. These data can help you plan instruction and you should take them into account when creating or adjusting an ILP.
Screening information is important because you can use it to consider the next steps. That said, screening information should never be the single piece of data used to make educational or instructional decisions. It is just a snapshot of the learner’s skills on the day of the screener, and sometimes, learners just have
a difficult day. Consider the learner’s day up until the point of the screener and any other factors that may have impacted the score. Did the learner eat breakfast? Did mom drop the learner off because they missed the bus? Was the screener given at the end of the day? Was it given right after recess? Take note of any observations from the proctor who gave the screener too. The point here is one piece of information on a learner, like a screening score, is just that—one piece.
Now, if the scores from the screener, your file review, outreach, and your instincts line up, you may have a reason to dig in further to learn more about the learner around the challenge the screener identified. This may take the form of a diagnostic assessment. A diagnostic assessment provides more specific information about the learner’s strengths and challenges as it relates to an area of concern. For example, consider a third grader who is struggling to comprehend texts at grade level. Without a diagnostic look at the learner’s language and literacy skills, it could be hard to know the root of the comprehension challenge. Does the learner lack the necessary vocabulary to understand at the sentence level? What strategies does the learner actively use as they read? Can the learner read fluently?
By asking these types of questions and answering them with a diagnostic assessment, you can get a much clearer picture of the challenge. This picture allows you to see the fine details that can further inform teaching and learning for that student. The increased clarity can allow for more focused interventions, accommodations better matched to learner strengths, and instruction built from what the learner has already mastered.
If warranted, based on the data you’ve collected thus far, work with the appropriate staff members to complete diagnostic assessments or do them yourself if possible. Ask your instructional leaders if you need further advice or information on diagnostics. While sometimes complex, diagnostic assessment can help you choose interventions or adjust instruction as needed.
As you continue to refine your understanding of each learner’s uniqueness, you may begin to think about how you could and should use the information you are gathering to inform their ILP or their educational experience.
Reaching Out to Key Team Members, Students, and Families
When I was a special educator, I introduced myself to the parents and guardians of each learner on my caseload before the school year began. I used two formats to increase the likelihood they would receive the information: a phone call and a letter. Now, special education teachers are communicating through
text, email, phone, and video. These communications can take many forms and have many purposes, as illustrated here.
° Morning text: “Jo had a happy morning, showing little anxiety as she entered the school.” This information is helpful to the case manager or any others who interact with the student throughout the day.
° Video conference: “Thank you for the quick team huddle around a new recess plan for Byron.” Video conferencing allows team members to meet quickly in the middle of the day, which may allow for quicker adjustments and responsiveness for the learner.
° Email: “Juan studied hard for his mathematics quiz, and he received a score of 94 percent. Way to go, Juan!” Sharing positive news with family members lets them know you care about their child. This is a relationship-based strategy for building and maintaining relationships with both the learner and the parent or guardian.
° Phone: “I wanted to take a moment to discuss the home and family questionnaire you returned to me this week. Thank you for completing that. I just have a couple of follow-up questions.” While this technique builds relationships, it also allows the special education team members an opportunity to gather more information, drilling further down on specifics from someone who knows the learner the best.
Special educators do these things because collaborating to support student learning and secure needed services is effective. It has been identified as an HLP by the Council for Exceptional Children and CEEDAR Center:
Teachers collaborate with families about individual children’s needs, goals, programs, and progress over time and ensure families are informed about their rights. . . . Teachers should respectfully and effectively communicate considering the background, socioeconomic status, language, culture, and priorities of the family. Teachers advocate for resources to help students meet instructional, behavioral, social, and transition goals. (McLesky et al., 2017b, p. 7)
You can also use these strategies to reach out and connect with people who know the learner best for quick insights that could take months to discover on your own. Call, email, write, or text parents and guardians to introduce yourself as soon as possible. Keep trying until you make contact. Ask them to tell you about their child and encourage them to share their hopes for the school
year. Inquire about what has and has not worked in the past. Tell them a little about yourself and try to find something in common to build trust with these especially important people. These individuals know the most about the learner. They know the learner’s interests, motivations, strengths, challenges, and support system. They typically have unparalleled historical information that could be quite useful to you as you commit to individualization based on the learner’s uniqueness.
One way to gather more information is to create your own inventory for parents, guardians, or key family members. This allows you to personalize the form and the questions you are asking. You can also use the “Home and Family Questionnaire” reproducible (page 33) at the end of this chapter. While sending an inventory or questionnaire is a great first step, be sure to also schedule an opportunity to review it together so you can ask follow-up or clarifying questions.
Provide any documents in the parent or guardian’s first language and an interpreter when necessary. Thank them for helping you support their child. Communicate the importance of a learning team, which includes them. Ask if there are other important adults from the family or community they would like to include in meetings or communications. If parents or guardians want you to communicate with those individuals, be sure to get a signed release of information form. By taking the time to ask about their child, you start to build a learning relationship with the family and obtain important and unique information about your learner. Both are imperative to success.
Beyond the family, take time to touch base with any teachers or staff members you noted during the file review who may have information or insight on your learner. In fact, collaborating with professionals to increase student success is High-Leverage Practice 1 (McLeskey et al., 2017b). This might include last year’s teacher, an educational assistant who worked directly with the student, a coach, or even the school nurse. Ask them to tell you about the learner’s strengths, challenges, and interests, as well as what worked best to engage the learner. How did they use the learner’s strengths to mitigate challenges? How did they build a relationship? What suggestions do they have? And, of course, what makes the learner unique?
While this may go without saying in a book about individualization based on uniqueness, it’s so important, at every age, to give the learner a voice in their education. You can do this by creating a fun, engaging student interview. Make sure to use student-friendly language in your questions. Schedule time with each learner to interview them. Ask them about their family, home, and, of
course, pets. Inquire about their favorite people, places, and things. Consider questions like these:
° What is your favorite activity outside of school?
° What is your favorite activity at school?
° Who lives with you?
° What do you want to be when you grow up?
° What are you good at?
° What can be hard for you?
° What do you think makes you unique?
° What else do you want me to know about you?
Ask follow-up questions when you need more information for planning purposes. Thank the learner for sharing their uniqueness with you.
Summarize outreach and student interviews on the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible you created for each learner during the file review process. Once you’ve summarized, take five minutes to review how much you already know about the unique learner who was quite new to you only hours, days, or weeks ago. Also, pause to recognize the relational impact your communications with both the family and the learner could have over the next year—and even longer. That’s powerful stuff!
. . . To the Learning Space
To deepen and celebrate your understanding of each unique individual in your learning space, implement the strategies provided in the following sections. Make notes as you facilitate the activities, observe the learner, and discuss their uniqueness with them so you can incorporate the information in planning, future instruction, or learning activities throughout the year. Use the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible (page 30) as you gather even more information.
Individual Strategy: Quick Wins
There are so many reasons to consider each learner unique, including their motivations. Some learners are motivated day in and day out, while others need some support and encouragement. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2017), if you use learner strengths and interests to develop and implement ILPs, student motivation will increase. Beyond student strengths, incorporating a real-life component or connection to learner interests can go
a long way to motivate them. According to the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Usable Knowledge, 2016), “A learner’s intrinsic motivation will increase when provided learning and tasks that are authentic and connected to the learner’s real life.”
Strengths and interests are motivating, and so is success. To front-load successes for individual learners, identify two quick wins you can help facilitate related to their uniqueness. Document your ideas on the “Learner Uniqueness Notes” reproducible (page 30) and share your ideas with the learner’s team for support or collaboration. The following are two examples.
1. Consider the learner’s strengths and use that information to assign the learner a job they will be successful performing in the learning environment.
2. Ask the learner to share information about one of their interests through a show-and-tell activity with the class.
Small-Group Strategy: Beach Ball Buzz
Small groups present an opportunity to focus attention on fewer students, further increasing the get-to-know-you factor, and in a relationship-based learning environment, that’s imperative. When possible, add social and emotional learning activities for a bigger impact. As explained by teacher and well-known author Larry Ferlazzo (2021), “Small-group instruction that intentionally incorporates social experiences and conversational turn-taking can have an exponential benefit on children’s learning and on their larger school experiences.”
Label each section of a beach ball with age and developmentally appropriate get-to-know-you questions or sentence starters using a permanent marker. Have the small-group members stand in a circle and throw the beach ball to each other. When a learner catches the ball, ask them to read the question from the section closest to their thumb and respond. Be sure that each learner has multiple opportunities to share. Example sentence starters include the following.
° I live with . . .
° If I could go anywhere, it would be . . .
° My favorite person is . . .
° In my free time, I like to . . .
° My full name is . . .
Whole-Class Strategy: All About Me
From the whole child to the whole class, it’s key to appreciate learners’ experiences, assets, and backgrounds as you work to create a clear picture of each
student. Remember, these factors, experiences, variability, and so on are what make each learner who they are. By celebrating each learner’s uniqueness, you can foster identity-safe environments that support students in many ways. As education researchers Laura E. Hernández and Linda Darling-Hammond (2022) explain, “Identity-safe classrooms cultivate a community of care, enabling educators and youth to build productive attachments that allow young people to be seen, valued, and known” (p. vi). Now, that is taking the whole child into account in a relationship-based and learner-centered way!
The classic strategy All About Me is a fantastic method for you to discover more about your learners and who they are as unique individuals. The following activities provide an opportunity for you to further identify learner uniqueness in an age and developmentally appropriate way. They are also wonderful to share with family members.
° Primary: Ask learners to draw a picture of their home, their family, and their pets, of course. Conference individually with each learner and ask them to share what they’ve created.
° Elementary: Block out time for your learners to do an All About Me collage poster and let them share out. Make the posters locker-sized for daily identity confirmation.
° Middle: Provide an All About Me graphic organizer or ask learners to create one using technology. Ask class members to share at least one thing each day for a week from their All About Me organizer in a fastpaced round-robin style.
° High: Create an All About Me yearbook page template and share it with each learner to complete. Compile the pages into a book and share one learner spotlight each period.
° Accommodation idea: Provide sentence starters for English learners and learners who may struggle with writing and (or) fine motor skills.
Conclusion
In this chapter, you explored the idea of learner wholeness and uniqueness and how knowing each student deeply can help you individualize to ensure they get what they need when they need it. By gathering information on each learner from a variety of sources, you’ll begin to see the uniqueness of your own students. You are ready to review files, observe, and reach out to family and colleagues as well as consider relevant assessment data. As you reflect on
this chapter, consider how you could integrate Learner Uniqueness Notes into your practice. Small changes, like using social games with small groups, can lead to significant discoveries of uniqueness.
Chapter 2 will provide valuable information on how to analyze the data you’ve collected for patterns, outliers, and key insights as you take the next step in getting to know each learner deeply. Each step you take brings you closer to helping your learners meet their purpose through individualization. You can transform learning environments into a space where every learner is seen as whole and is placed at the center, celebrating their uniqueness—and that, my friend, is a win.
Learner Uniqueness Notes
Learner’s preferred name:
Learner’s full name:
Learner’s date and place of birth:
Learner’s interests:
Important people identified by the learner:
Parent or guardian names:
Parent or guardian contact information:
Historical Key Assessment Information (Formal and Informal)
Intellectual ability:
Academic skills:
Health, vision, and hearing screenings: Social-emotional-behavioral skills and challenges:
Academic skills (grades, test scores, courses taken, and so on):
Life skills and functional behavior:
Gross and fine motor skills: Technology needs:
Screenings: Transition skills: page 1 of 3
Communication skills:
Attendance patterns:
Disciplinary patterns:
Other:
Evaluations completed for special education, 504, or other plans:
Additional services:
Environmental considerations (home, classroom, and so on):
Staff members who have served the student in the past:
Miscellaneous information from file review:
This Year’s Key Assessment Information
Qualitative Assessment Data
Quantitative Assessment Data
Work sample descriptions: Screenings:
Observation summaries:
Assessment notes:
Mental health screening:
Diagnostics:
Standardized tests:
Summative assessment data:
Social and behavior skill summary: Other:
Community and extracurricular involvement: Other:
Information gathered from home and family questionnaire
• Goals
• Concerns
• What works?
• What hasn’t?
Information gathered from past staff members
• Strengths
• Challenges
• What worked?
• What didn’t?
Patterns and connections:
Long-term learning needs:
Short-term learning needs:
Based on the information you’ve gathered, identify two quick wins you can help facilitate for the learner to front-load successes for motivation.
Example win: Because the student is quite nervous about remembering his locker combination, I will provide additional practice opportunities and extra time for the first few weeks of school. I will also work with him to record his locker combination in a few different locations, just in case.
Win 1: Win 2:
Home and Family Questionnaire
Dear ,
Because you know your child best and can share how they are unique, please complete this form and return it to your child’s learning facilitator so they can get to know your child more deeply. This will help them plan for your child and individualize their educational programming based on your child’s uniqueness. Once the learning facilitator receives the form, they will contact you to set up a time to review it. Thank you for partnering with us for your child’s learning.
Date of form completion
Name Relationship to child
Parents or Guardians
Name:
Contact information:
Name:
Contact information:
Name:
Contact information
Name:
Contact information:
Learner Household and Family Members
With whom does the learner currently live? (List all people in the household.)
Name Age Relationship to learner
Primary Language or Dialect Spoken in the Home
Learner’s Information
Name
How did your child get their name? (optional)
Grade
Date of Birth
Culture and Community
As you think about your family’s cultural background and heritage (language, traditions), what would you like school staff to know about your child that might make a difference in assessing their learning and behavior and planning their education?
If your child has or currently does face school challenges, do you feel the challenges could be because of a cultural or racial misunderstanding? If so, please explain.
If your child has or currently does face school challenges, do you think the challenges could be related to language barriers? If so, explain.
School
List current and past schools attended.
Has your child had any previous placements in a special education program? If yes, explain. page 2 of 7
Learner Strengths
Tell us how your child is amazing!
Learner Preferences
Share how your child likes to learn or learns best.
Learner Interests
Tell us about your child’s interests!
Learner Struggles
Share what can be a struggle for your child.
Learner’s Goals
Tell us what your child wants to learn or achieve.
Important People Identified by the Learner
Share who your child thinks is important in their life.
Important People Identified by the Parent or Guardian
Share who you think is important in your child’s life.
Recent Life or Family Changes, Trauma, and Other Considerations
Sometimes, changes or challenges in a child’s life impact their ability to perform well at school or behave appropriately. Please share any such challenges that may be impactful and that you feel comfortable sharing.
Academic Factors
Tell us where your child shines when it comes to learning, past school experiences, and academics.
Share what has been more challenging for your child when it comes to learning, past school experiences, and academics. page 4 of 7
Social-Emotional-Behavioral Factors
Tell us where your child shines when it comes to socializing with peers, managing their emotions, and behaving in a positive social manner.
Share what has been more challenging for your child when it comes to peers, emotions, and behaviors.
Developmental, Medical, or Psychological Factors
Share information about the child’s prenatal, birth, and childhood developmental milestones or medical challenges. Please indicate any medical or psychological diagnoses and present status.
Developmental challenges:
• Was your child using words or speaking by age two? (If not, when? Or is your child nonverbal?)
• Were the developmental stages such as walking, sitting, and so on for your child within the normal ranges? If not, explain.
• How did your child play and interact with others their age before the age of five?
• How does your child get along with peers now?
Medications
List each medication your child is on and describe the intended purpose. Please include any side effects your child experiences.
Family History
Does anyone in your family have a history of medical or physical problems that may have impacted your child? Please explain.
Has anyone in your immediate or extended family had academic or education problems? If yes, explain.
Outside Assessment Information
Please share information from outside organizations or experts who have assessed your child.
Parent or Guardian Educational Concerns and Goals for Learner
Share the educational concerns and goals you have for your child.
Parent or Guardian Learning Support
Please describe what you or others in your family do to help your child with their school responsibilities and learning.
Describe family routines with homework. Specifically, how long does your child spend on homework and who provides help and support when it is needed?
What sort of disciplinary strategies do you use with your child?
Describe how your family gets along and completes tasks.
Additional Comments
Please add anything else you would like us to know.
Thank you for completing this form and providing valuable information about your child.
EACH LEARNER Honoring
How to Develop Individualized Learning Plans for All Students
No one student is the same as another, and a onemethod-fits-all style of teaching risks leaving some students stranded and frustrated in their learning efforts. Students’ individual interests, strengths, and ambitions inform their learning experiences and gift them in different ways. In Honoring Each Learner: How to Develop Individualized Learning Plans for All Students, Keely Keller proposes a five-step process, inspired by methods used in special education, by which K–12 teachers can bring an individualized focus to their teaching. In this way, they can acknowledge each student’s challenges and goals and develop plans to address them. With strategies, tools, and templates to craft and implement Individualized Learning Plans, teachers will create an educational environment where all students realize their personal strengths and best employ those strengths when facing learning challenges.
Readers
will:
• Develop deeper awareness of students’ unique learning strengths and challenges
• Design and implement learning plans that address individual students’ goals and needs
• Understand how to apply high-leverage practices from the field of special education in all classrooms
• Encourage and enhance students’ progress, adapting plans to meet new targets of growth
• Foster an equitable learning environment where all students are actively supported
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download the free reproducibles in this book.
“Honoring Each Learner provides theory, data, and practical suggestions to support educators as they examine individual student needs. The planning strategies provided are evidence-based, high-level practices that can be used with all students. The book includes many easy-to-use reproducibles to support teachers as they gather and assess data, structure lessons, and strategize how to modify, adapt, or accommodate for each individual student.”
—MARTHA KAUFELDT
Coauthor, Best
Practices
at Tier 1
“This is the ‘cookbook’ you need to help each of your students. Find motivation in the unique learner profiles that begin each chapter. Use the end-of-chapter reproducibles to organize your planning. Then, select from the immensely practical, high-leverage practices Keller provides—and you’ll find you have the right ‘recipe’ for each learner.”
—JANE
A. G. KISE
Consultant; Author, Doable Differentiation
SolutionTree.com