Co-Teaching Without SDI: LRE, Small Groups, and Failing Algebra Scores
Mr. Okafor co-teaches ninth-grade Algebra I with Ms. Leung. Tasha's IEP specifies 45 minutes per day of specially designed instruction in a co-taught setting, plus tests read aloud and use of a calculator. In practice, Mr. Okafor spends most of the period making copies and managing behavior, and Ms. Leung delivers the same lecture to all 28 students. Tasha's unit test scores have fallen from 72% to 51% to 44%. When Mr. Okafor asks to pull Tasha and two other students to the back table during independent practice, the principal says that would violate least restrictive environment and tells him to keep the co-taught model unchanged. The IEP team meets in three weeks. Mr. Okafor has 12 years of experience but does not hold algebra certification.
1. Is the principal correct that pulling Tasha and two peers to a back table would violate LRE? What is the actual compliance problem in this classroom?
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The principal is wrong, and the more serious problem is that the IEP is not being implemented.
- Least restrictive environment concerns placement in the general education environment to the maximum extent appropriate, with supplementary aids and services. Working with a small group at a back table in the same classroom is flexible grouping, not a change of placement, and it is exactly the kind of supplementary support the law expects the team to consider.
- The real exposure is different: the IEP calls for 45 minutes per day of specially designed instruction in a co-taught setting. If Mr. Okafor is making copies and managing behavior while Ms. Leung lectures all 28 students, the SDI is not being delivered. Material failure to implement an IEP is a compliance problem and may support compensatory services.
- Changing the model or the minutes would require an IEP team meeting, prior written notice, and parental involvement; the principal cannot unilaterally redesign services.
- A defensible fix is to restructure the period into a short whole-group lesson followed by station or rotation time, with Mr. Okafor teaching a small group using the SDI strategies while Ms. Leung runs independent practice. The teacher should propose this in writing with progress data attached.
2. What in this class would count as specially designed instruction, what would not, and who may deliver it?
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SDI is instruction that is different, not support that is adjacent.
- In this class, SDI would include explicit strategy instruction for multi-step equations, pre-teaching vocabulary and prerequisite skills before the whole-group lesson, scaffolded worked examples, error analysis of Tasha's own work, concrete-representational-abstract sequencing, and frequent checks for understanding with immediate correction.
- Not SDI: reading the test aloud and allowing a calculator (these are accommodations already listed), making copies, supervising behavior, or simply standing near Tasha. Proximity is not a service, and presence is not instruction.
- Who delivers: specially designed instruction is delivered by a certified special educator. A paraprofessional may support, reinforce, and supervise under the teacher's direction but cannot be the sole provider of the SDI minutes.
- Documentation: the 45 minutes per day should be scheduled, and the teacher should keep a simple service log plus weekly probes so the team can determine whether the instruction is happening and whether it is working.
3. What should Mr. Okafor bring to the IEP meeting in three weeks, and what decisions should the team be prepared to make?
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The meeting should be driven by data and a specific question, not a general sense that things are going badly.
- Bring a graph of weekly probes against the annual goal, the unit test trend (72 → 51 → 44), work samples, and a service log showing what instruction was actually delivered. That distinguishes 'the student is not learning' from 'the service is not being provided.'
- Questions for the team: Is the goal still appropriate? Does Tasha need more intensive SDI, a different instructional approach, or a different setting? Were the accommodations used with fidelity? Has attendance, health, or medication changed?
- If the SDI was not delivered as written, the team should discuss compensatory services and correct the schedule. If it was delivered and she is still not progressing, the team should revise the goal and increase intensity rather than wait for the annual review.
- Qualifications are a separate issue worth raising: the district must ensure the person delivering the math SDI holds the certification the state requires for that assignment. The team should confirm with the director rather than assume.
- End with prior written notice documenting any change and the reasons for it.