Association of Washington School Principals
Volume 3 – 2020-21
Inclusionary Practices Project
Introduction
Welcome to AWSP’s special Inclusionary Practices Project magazine report! We have had an amazing two years of building relationships and partnerships and designing deep learning opportunities to bring to each and every one of you. Thanks to a generous grant from OSPI, AWSP has been able to co-design professional learning with nationally and internationally known experts in the field of Inclusion, and it is all free and accessible at any time, on your schedule.
AWSP’s Inclusionary Practices Project centered around the School Leader Paradigm of “culture, systems, and learning” by measuring educators’ understanding of what inclusion and inclusionary practices are and by building professional learning to expand on one common definition. We lead school leaders and teams through:
- The “What” behind special education: historical/civil rights issues and Universal Design for Learning
- The “Why” behind shifting mindsets and implementing collaborative integration of student autonomy
- The “How” to build the infrastructure and lead for inclusion.
AWSP focused this project around the research that school principals hold the keys to successful integration of systems-wide culture shifts within their school building. Through professional learning delivery, our goal was — and is — to build a common language around what inclusion and inclusionary practices are and how to implement new practices into daily school culture, systems, and learning and provide purposeful and meaningful education to each and every student. As a result of our professional learning offerings, we increased access and learning in the work by 38% across the state. Over the last two years, AWSP provided inclusion and inclusionary practices professional learning in all nine ESD regions.
This includes:
- 174 Districts
- 650 Schools
- Over 1,000 educators (ESD/Central Office/Schools/Principals/APs in Washington state and Internationally)
The next stories and sections in this magazine highlight all the amazing inclusionary practices content we’ve delivered over the past couple years.
We encountered many breakthroughs and celebrations. Some were small and truly impactful; others were much bigger and broader. When we think of these bigger moments, these rise to the top:
- Adding cycles of inquiry cohort learning to our professional learning service model.
- Providing deeper, more intentional collaboration with statewide partners, particularly with the AESD.
- Delivering all IPP professional learning content to our online learning platform, allowing us to continue engaging with school leaders/teams around inclusion and inclusionary practices and increase our reach.
Information on all of our inclusionary practices learning opportunities have been included within these pages and we hope you take the opportunity to engage, or revisit, the recorded courses, podcasts, events, presentations, and other valuable resources we have been able to share to assist you and your school team to begin, or build upon, your inclusion praxis.
It has been an honor to stand alongside and learn with all of you on how to transform a typical school context into an inclusive space where each and every child has access to a purposeful and quality education, from Pre-K to high school and beyond. As year one and two are coming to a close, we are busy designing years three and four of the next phase of the project, and cannot wait to unveil our future opportunities.
The next stories and sections in this magazine highlight all the amazing inclusionary practices content we’ve delivered over the past couple years. ◼
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Association of Washington School Principals
Washington Principal | Volume 3 – 2020-21
