Session Summary USAID-USICD Disability Consultation
- 1. 1 USAID - USICD DISABILITY CONSULTATION ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATION Session Summary Purpose: USAID and U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD) invited experts in international development and inclusive education from a variety of organizations to provide insight into best practices in inclusive education for learners with disabilities, the latest evidence on promising interventions and research in the area of inclusive education, and recommendations for educational programming for learners with disabilities in inclusive education. Targeted questions (see Annex 1) helped frame the consultation pertaining to learners with disabilities in an international development context. Responses were collected from 22 individuals at the in-person consultation at the Washington Learning Center on October 27, 2015 as well as 4 individuals who contributed to the online consultation conducted via Google Forms. The list of participants is included beginning on page 4 of this report. Recommendations Broad recommendations for USAID education investments included the following: ● USAID should ensure that calls for proposals are disability inclusive. ● Disability-specific data should be collected where possible and disaggregated to the maximum extent possible according to age, disability, gender and other relevant factors. ● USAID should work across sectors to advance education and inclusion goals, especially for youth populations. ● Long-term investments should be made into the education workforce that are supportive of inclusive education (e.g. hiring and training people with disabilities to become teachers, effectively training existing and pre-service teachers in inclusive practices,etc.) ● Effective change in a national education system for children and youth with disabilities can only be accomplished through a whole of school, community, and government approach to inclusive development. Measurement Suggested indicators by which USAID could measure success within inclusive education efforts: ● Measures of empowerment of people with disabilities to make their own choices and decisions. ● Capturing baseline incidence rate of disability indicating how many people with disability live in the population, have graduated from secondary school, participate in the labor force,etc. as a first step towards target-setting. ● Percentage of enrollment and percentage of retention and age of children with disabilities at the end of the primary cycle. ● Measurements of attitudinal changes within the community. ● Beneficiaries for all education projects disaggregated by disability (where possible to collect this data). ● Going beyond reporting numbers and percentages of learners with disabilities to include learning outcomes of students with disabilities. ● Measuring the availability of curricula materials accessible to learners with disabilities.
- 2. 2 Below is information from the consultation compiled into four categories - 1) websites and reports highlighting evidence in inclusive education programming, 2) needed areas of research,3) cross-cutting recommendations, and 4) recommendations for the three goal areas within USAID Education Programming. 1. Latest or mostregularly cited evidence in inclusive education programming: ○ Equal Right, Equal Opportunity - Inclusive Education for Learners with Disabilities by Global Campaign for Education ○ Interaction Working Group (relating to USAID solicitation review for inclusive programming) ○ Towards a Disability Inclusive Education - background paper for the Oslo Summit on Education for Development ○ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Articles 24 and 27 refer to Education and Work and employment ○ AHEAD.org - a professional association committed to the full participation of persons with disabilities in postsecondary education ○ Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Vocational Training: A PracticalGuide by the International Labour Office ○ Supported Employment - a guide highlighting best practices for a customer driven approach in including people with disabilities in employment ○ HEART - DFID’s topic guide and website on inclusive education ○ Send ALL My Friends to School - Evaluation of activities promoting the transition process from home to school for children with disabilities ○ EmployAbility: A resource guide on disability for employers in Asia and the Pacific (written by Debra Perry,an expert on labor inclusion for people with disabilities) ○ Disability and Poverty: A Survey of World Bank Poverty Assessments and Implications (Daniel Mont was involved with this Survey and is an expert in the field) 2. Necessary and relevant areas ofresearch: ● How to determine the numbers of children with disabilities in schools and communities in the contexts within which we work in international development? ● How to better educate parents and communities about disabilities and inclusive education? ● What disability-focused interventions are happening in Early Childhood Education? ● How to motivate teachers to establish inclusive classrooms? ● How to improve pre/in-service teacher training for inclusive practices? ● What assistive technologies or equipment (e.g. pediatric wheelchairs) can support disability inclusion efforts in education? ● Are countries using Individualized Education Programs and Plans; if so, how are they using them and how can this process be enhanced? ● What are the inclusive education interventions that most benefit individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities? ● Why are people with disabilities not participating in government run programs specifically targeting people with disabilities?
- 3. 3 ● What are the costs and cost effectiveness of various inclusive education models? ● What are the best practices for teaching children with multiple disabilities? ● What are some of the physical barriers to accessing education? 3. Cross-cutting Recommendations: ● We must remember that developing countries are still developing. We cannot expect countries to leap through the 40 years of education and workforce progress more developed countries have made - there needs to be an iterative approach to assessing progress. ● Children with disabilities can be included if their environment molds to them rather than the child molding to the environment. ● Agency-level data should be disaggregated for disability. ● Policy briefs should be developed that specifically outline best approaches in education and workforce development for persons with disabilities. ● Establish mentorship group for transition periods primary to secondary, secondary to tertiary as part of activity interventions. ● Include persons with disabilities during all phases of program design and implementation - “Nothing about us without Us”. ● Develop more disability-focused indicators. ● Put out a call for evidence, resources and data from partners’ own projects. ● Mandatory inclusion of disability-related component in RFPs and RFAs. ● Inclusive programs are great but it’s also important that children are able to socialize with their own peer groups as much as possible. 4. Goal Area Recommendations for Inclusive Education: Learning/Reading Recommendations: ● Consider using sign language in all education programming - bilingualism with sign language benefits all learners, not just Deaf and Hard of Hearing learners. ● Interventions are needed for both learners with disabilities and at the system level with teachers,community members and leaders. ● Interventions should be done as early as possible, even within the home or during Pre-K. ● Projects should be 5 years in duration for maximum effect. ● Ensure school systems are trained to allow for children with disabilities to have a smooth path of transition from primary to secondary and onward. ● Train and hire teachers with disabilities and/or ensure teachers are trained adequately for the type of student with disability with whom they will work (ie: fluency in Braille, sign language, knowledge of instruction methods for autism, etc). ● Beware of ‘charitable’ individuals: a child who is asked to describe an image to a blind/low vision learner will enhance their perception, linguistic skills and ability to describe but how is this action a measure of success for the learner with disability? Same goes for teaching a Deaf/Hard of Hearing learner how to speak - the learner might learn how to pronounce words but how is speaking a measure of comprehension.
- 4. 4 Workforce Development Recommendations: ● Target underrepresented and underserved domestic populations for workforce programming (refer to Department of Education models for transition of youth from secondary to tertiary/higher education). ● Transition youth into workforce readiness programs where there is demand rather than limiting people with disabilities to specific sectors. Crisis & Conflict Recommendations: ● Find disability champions, help them tell their story so other parents who have children with disabilities will be able to find each other and provide support to one another in crisis. ● Provide psychosocial support to teachers and students. ● Listen to families and promote working with existing NGOs and aid agencies to integrate disability programming in what they are already doing. ● Including allowing people with disabilities to participate in planning for emergencies. ● Dedicate a number of funds geared specifically for inclusive education in emergencies. ● Expand teachers’ ability to teach learners with disabilities using ICT. ● Needs of children with disabilities should be taken into account at all stages of a post emergency needs assessment. ● Utilize the INEE and EENET websites for good inclusive education programs during crisis and conflict. Participant Information Name Email Organization Michael Gamel- McCormick mgm@aucd.org AUCD Corinne Vinopol corinne@idrt.com Institute for Disabilities Research and Training (IDRT) Patricia Morrissey patmor@aol.com US International Council on Disabilities Koli Banik kbanik@usaid.gov USAID/AFR George Jesien geojesien@gmail.com Jennae Bulat jbulat@rti.org RTI International Carol Grigsby grigsbyglobal@verizon.net Women Thrive Worldwide Melissa Herzig melissa.herzig@gallaudet.edu Gallaudet University- VL2 Science of Learning Center Yolande Miller- Grandvaux ymiller-grandvaux@usaid.gov USAID /E3/ED Jerome Mindes jmindes@air.org American Institutes for Research Ted Mauro ted@ed101.org ED101
- 5. 5 Lorena Davalos davalos.lorena@dol.gov US Department of Labor Ethel Moreno Moreno.Ethel@DOL.GOV US Department of Labor Isabel Hodge ihodge@usicd.org US International Council on Disabilities Donna Waghorn waghornconsulting@gmail.com CBM Mark Engman Mengman@unicefusa.org US Fund for UNICEF Leah Maxson lmaxson@usaid.gov USAID/DCHA/EI Chris Camillo camillo.christine@dol.gov US Department of Labor Christine Veverka cveverka@usaid.gov USAID/E3/ED Nina Weisenhorn nweisenhorn@usaid.gov USAID/E3/ED Josh Josa jjosa@usaid.gov USAID/E3/ED Rebecca Rhodes rrhodes@usaid.gov USAID/E3/ED Online Consultation Participants Nafisa N.baboo@light-for-the- world.org Light for the World Anise Waljee anise.waljee@googlemail.com Julia McGeown julia.mcgeown@hi-uk.org Handicap International Catherine Howgego c-howgego@dfid.gov.uk DFID Leonardo Hosh Lhosh@worldvision.org World Vision
- 6. 6 Annex 1: Targeted Questions to Frame the Consultation 1. What is the latest or most regularly cited evidence in inclusive education programming? 2. What are the most necessary and relevant areas of research? 3. Are there some best practices for inclusion when educating learners with disabilities in crisis and conflict settings, e.g. refugee settings? 4. When USAID is planning and designing a program, what are some key factors it should incorporate to ensure the successfulinclusion of learners with disabilities? 5. What are some age-related inclusion issues USAID should take into account when planning and designing education programs? How do you prepare a learner with a disability and his or her family to take part in the inclusive educational program? When a child has been in a separate school? When a child has been at home? 6. How do you prepare teachers,with limited or no exposure to learners of different types of disabilities to successfully include such learners in ‘regular’ educational settings? 7. What kind of resources and materials should you have on-hand to facilitate the participation of learners with disabilities in a regular educational setting? 8. How should we measure the level of success related to inclusion in our projects?