What happened as a result of ISD?

How would it work in my school?

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How did the school acquire resources to provide professional development?

Comprehensive School Reform Grant

Deb estimated that implementing ISD would require a nearly 25% increase in funding over the district and state professional development, ESL and special education funds. Principal Hoffman applied for and received a Comprehensive School Reform Grant in 1998 to supplement school resources. The CSR grant added $61,941 to the Franklin budget - a 22% gain in professional development and special education resources.

The CSR money paid for:

A Limited English Proficiency (LEP) course at Franklin designed and taught by Margaret Hawkins, an expert on ESL, literacy and elementary schooling
Resources for teachers to attend the LEP course, workshops and site visits
Resources for teachers redesign the Franklin curriculum and for action research projects to test ISD in classrooms
Instructional materials for LEP workshops, curriculum design, and Hmong and Spanish classroom resources
An additional Bilingual Resource Specialist (BRS) position
Resources for substitutes while teachers participated in workshops and site visits

Developing the CSR grant helped Franklin teachers and leaders to coordinate their previously fragmented resources. The LEP course and professional and curriculum development programs helped teachers to integrate ESL practices into their teaching, thus reframing the work of ESL and special education staff.

Title I waiver

The federal Title I program is designed to help disadvantaged students succeed in school. Title I money comes with guidelines to specify how services are to be delivered - usually in the form of pullout programs.

In 1998, The US Department of Education authorized a Title I waiver to allow schools to reshape service delivery. Principal Hoffman succeeded in obtaining one of the first Title 1 waivers in Wisconsin. She argued that current service delivery segregated students at Franklin could not help but serving children needs in segregated learning environments. The Title 1 waiver allowed Franklin to integrate special education service delivery into classroom teaching practices.