Developing Inclusive Educators: Analyzing the Effectiveness of a Short-Term Technical Assistance Model for Best Practices

This study examined the effectiveness of professional development for inclusive education and best practices through a short-term technical assistance (TA) model across 15 schools. The professional development was structured to enhance school professionals’ knowledge about inclusion as a concept, as well as best practices in inclusive education. Topics included the use of accommodations and modifications, differentiation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), building an inclusive school culture, and co-teaching. Pre- and post-test measures were utilized to measure participants’ growth in the knowledge of these topics. Descriptive statistics and dependent t-tests were utilized to analyze data across all topic areas. The findings indicate that short-term TA models of professional development prove beneficial for improving attitudes and beliefs in inclusive education for content knowledge and building an inclusive school culture. Short-term TA did not yield statistically significant increases for classroom strategies or implementation, suggesting that more intensive professional development models need to be incorporated as a wider professional development plan for using best practices in inclusive education by school professionals.