What Inclusive Preschool Services Look Like ~ 808

Melissa McCullough:
When I first started in education as a school social worker, I worked in a program and that’s all they did. The administrator there—I still talk to him to this day—was a mentor to me, and I watched him make it work. He had this unwavering desire and will to make it work. I remember sitting in IEP meetings where the school psychologist and I would determine eligibility for a student. We’d talk about placement, lay out all the accommodations, modifications, and services the child would need. Then we’d talk about placement and say, “Okay, we’re going to do it. We can make it work. No big deal.”

Tim Villegas:
Hello and welcome to Season Eight, Episode Eight of the Think Inclusive Podcast presented by MCIE. I’m your host, Tim Villegas. This podcast features conversations and commentary with thought leaders in inclusive education and community advocacy. Think Inclusive exists to build bridges between parents, educators, and disability rights advocates to promote inclusion for all students. That’s right, y’all—All means all. To find out more about who we are and what we do, go to thinkinclusive.us and check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Tim Villegas:
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Tim Villegas:
Today on the podcast, we talk with Melissa McCullough, Director of Early Childhood for the East Moline School District in Illinois. We discuss what a truly inclusive preschool program looks like and what they are doing to move past the outdated model of providing specialized services in separate places. Melissa followed up with me just a few days ago and said she was happy to report that her program is starting the 21–22 school year with zero students in self-contained settings. Get ready for a fascinating conversation. Stick around—after the break, our interview with Melissa McCullough.

Tim Villegas:
Inclusive education is hard work. For schools and districts that want to be more inclusive but don’t know where to start, it can seem impossible. MCIE can help. We’ve been partnering with educational systems across the United States and the world for three decades and know how to build systemic inclusive school practices, transform educational services, increase the rate of placement of learners with disabilities in general education, reduce removals and suspensions, and improve outcomes for all students across all school settings. To schedule a free initial consultation and find out how we can help, contact us at mcie@mcie.org or visit http://www.mcie.org/.

Tim Villegas:
Well, today on the podcast, I would like to welcome Melissa McCullough, who is the Director of Early Childhood for the East Moline School District in Illinois. Hello, Melissa, how are you doing?

Melissa McCullough:
I’m great. How are you guys? Thanks for having me. It’s so exciting.

Tim Villegas:
Excellent. We’re excited too. To get us started, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and the district that you work in?

Melissa McCullough:
Okay. I’m the Director of Early Childhood for the East Moline School District. We’re located in the Quad Cities in Illinois, if anyone’s familiar with that area. Our district is a pre-K through eight district. We serve children from early childhood through eighth grade, and then we feed into a high school. We have about 2,700 students in our entire district. Our early childhood program serves about 200 kids. Some noteworthy things about our district: about 20 to 23% of our students are English language learners. We have a 99% low-income rate in our district, so we have a lot of children from diverse backgrounds. Our special education population makes up about 16% of our district. As far as early childhood goes, like I said, we serve about 200 students in our program.

Tim Villegas:
The reason why we wanted you on the podcast was we heard about how you started the journey for your preschool program to become fully inclusive. I’d love for you to tell us how that got started in your district for preschool and what that looks like.

Melissa McCullough:
Sure. Before I came to the East Moline School District, our programming was pretty all or nothing. We had separate classrooms where the special education children were housed, and those supports were provided all day in that classroom. The other classrooms were just general education early childhood classrooms. So we had that all-or-nothing approach to special education. In our state, preschool programming is funded through Preschool for All, through the State Board of Education. In 2017, we had to recompete for that grant, and during that time, they were really pushing for districts to become more inclusive.

They wanted us to provide more blended programming options for students and to consider the least restrictive environment, because that’s what we should’ve been doing anyway. At that point, we hadn’t made that jump. When we wrote the grant to become more inclusive, it was a good catalyst for us to say, “This is the time to do it.” If we didn’t build our program to look this way, we might not be funded. That was when we made the switch to become more inclusive.

Before that, I had a lot of background in early childhood inclusion. Starting my career as a school social worker in another district, that’s all I knew when I came out of college. When I got my master’s in social work, I worked for a district where everyone was fully included—no separate schools, no separate classrooms. That plays a big part in mindset, attitudes, and beliefs. For me, it was important to bring that perception to this district. So the grant process was the catalyst, and I had that clear vision. At that time, I wasn’t the administrator of the program, but I wanted to weave that background knowledge into my approach and work with parents, students, and teachers to make sure that mindset trickled down to everyone else.

Melissa McCullough:
The other thing that was really important back then—around 2017, 2018—was our special education numbers. In our state, that’s called Indicator Six for compliance. Our data showed we were over-identifying students in more restrictive environments. Anytime you’re over the state average, you have to create an improvement plan, or your funding is affected because you’re not providing enough inclusive opportunities. Before we made the switch, we were invited every year to rewrite this plan to show how we’d improve compliance. That Indicator Six data was crucial because it helped me get administrators and our superintendent to listen. Once you tie it to funding or there’s a non-compliance finding, people start paying attention.

Besides all those factors, for me, it was just the right thing to do. That’s all I knew coming from a school social work background.

Tim Villegas:
Right. When you talk about it being the right thing to do, tell us why specifically preschool is the right place. Why is it so important for students with and without disabilities to be educated side by side?

Melissa McCullough:
It’s the perfect opportunity to build an inclusive mindset, to build perceptions and acceptance among everyone in the program—and in life. It’s not just about inclusion in preschool; it’s about inclusion everywhere. These little sponges are paying attention to everything—their teachers, how students are treated. Someone once told me the reason we do it in preschool is because this might be the only time in a child’s educational career they’re included. Later, their schedule or trajectory might already be set, and they may always be in a self-contained or life skills program. So if not now, when?

I don’t fully agree with that anymore, but it made sense at the time. I do believe we have to start in preschool. We should start even before preschool, but we only control what happens when they come to us. So why not start now, when their brains and bodies are ready? It’s the foundation for the rest of their years.

Tim Villegas:
Were there situations where families came in and realized, “Oh, this is an inclusive school, which means my child will be included with everyone else”? Maybe they expected a special program or class. How did you navigate those conversations?

Melissa McCullough:
I have a good example. When we shifted to being more inclusive, one administrator worried about families who might not want their typically developing child in a classroom with children with disabilities. So at registration, I set up a table. When parents came through, I showed them and talked through a flyer—an inclusion brochure from our State Board of Education. It explained the reasons why and how inclusion looks in early childhood.

I told parents, “In the past, this is what our special education programming looked like. But this year, we’re doing something different. We’re including all students, and this is how it will look for your child.” I didn’t have one parent say, “I don’t like that.” The only parent who questioned it was the parent of a child who was still going to be in a self-contained classroom. He said, “That’s great, but what about my child?” That was a good reminder to encourage advocacy and IEP meetings. All the other parents thought it was awesome.

Tim Villegas:
So what does inclusion look like in preschool?

Melissa McCullough:
I can give you a picture. In Illinois, we have to stay under certain ratios. In a blended environment, we can serve 20 children, with 70% without an IEP and up to 30% with an IEP. That determines the class makeup.

In our district, we’ve tried 20 students, but that was difficult for some teachers. Now we aim for about 18 students per classroom, with one teacher and one to two paraprofessionals. We make sure there’s enough support so all students have what they need.

Our teachers are all dually certified—they have early childhood and special education endorsements. They wear both hats: general ed and special ed teacher. They write the IEPs, monitor goals, and provide differentiated instruction.

If a student might traditionally need a one-to-one paraprofessional, we try to provide extra hands in the room instead of assigning one person. That way, students don’t become too dependent on a single adult.

Another important piece is related services. They push into the classroom. Services like speech, OT, PT, and behavior support happen in the general ed or blended classroom. That was a big shift because some providers were used to a pull-out model. Now, most services are provided in the classroom.

We have two speech-language pathologists, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, a school psychologist, a school social worker, and a behavior interventionist—all working within the classroom. They might occasionally pull a student for a short time, but most support happens in the classroom.

This shift helped us realize that therapy can happen anywhere—not just in a therapy room. Speech and language skills can be worked on while walking down the hall or during gross motor time. It’s really changed our mindset.

Tim Villegas:
Besides the collaboration time set aside for staff, are there other kinds of professional development you give teachers and paraprofessionals to facilitate inclusion?

Melissa McCullough:
Yes. That was a big factor we had to plan for before inclusion started. We frontloaded a lot of professional development. Before we ripped the band-aid off, I planted seeds about inclusion. People would roll their eyes, but I kept bringing in resources and speakers so they could hear it from someone other than me.

We partnered with state resources, brought in speakers, and did trainings like CARA’s Kit for adapting environments. We trained on writing IEPs, maneuvering the general ed environment, and surveyed staff to meet their needs.

We did PD on structured teaching, transdisciplinary play-based assessment, and even sessions for parents on the power of play. We brought in Paula Kluth, did work on Conscious Discipline, and focused on mindset and attitudes. We still dedicate time each year to district initiatives and early childhood inclusion.

Tim Villegas:
Did all of this come from your training? Did you have a mentor helping you through this change process? Where did this come from—did you just wake up one day and say, “I know how to do this”?

Melissa McCullough:
No. As I said, when I first started in education as a school social worker, I worked in a program where inclusion was the norm. The administrator there—I still talk to him to this day—was a mentor to me. I watched him make it work. He had an unwavering desire and will to make it work. I remember sitting in IEP meetings where the school psychologist and I would determine eligibility for a student. We’d talk about placement, lay out all the accommodations, modifications, and services the child would need. Then we’d talk about placement and say, “Okay, we’re going to do it. We can make it work. No big deal.”

Melissa McCullough:
That’s what started it. I also have three boys who are hearing impaired. It’s what I would want for my own kids. Wearing the parent hat helps me know what it’s like to be on the other side of the table. I’m passionate about this because it’s the right thing to do, and we should have been doing it all along. I don’t know why it’s taken so long to catch on.

Tim Villegas:
Is there any reason that another preschool program in Illinois—or anywhere in the United States—can’t do what you’re doing?

Melissa McCullough:
No, I don’t think there is. But you have to have the right approach, buy-in, and supports in place so staff know they can do it. If you don’t have someone at the helm who says, “That’s okay—we’re going to make it work. We’ll do whatever it takes,” it’s tough. You need a leader with passion and the skill set to do it in a way that isn’t forceful—put the vision out there and then step back.

It’s amazing. Before, it felt like my “thing.” People would say, “Here she goes again—she’s talking about inclusion.” Now I can step back, and others step up, saying, “Why wouldn’t we do this?”

Melissa McCullough:
It’s happening often now. Our evaluation team will say, “In the past, I would have said this child needs a separate classroom or school because they need intense support. But how can we say that if they’ve never been in an educational setting? Aren’t we supposed to try the least restrictive environment first, collect data, and then decide?” Now, it’s not me saying it all the time. They’ve figured out that this works and it’s the right thing to do.

Tim Villegas:
Let’s talk about barriers. From preschool into K–12—or K–8 in your situation—what are the biggest barriers to inclusive education?

Melissa McCullough:
Attitudes, beliefs, and mindset. You have to have hard conversations with staff and figure out everyone’s core values and how they feel about this service delivery. Supports are also a barrier. If you can’t equip people with what they need—professional development, adaptive seating, supplemental curriculum—effectiveness suffers.

Administrative support is crucial. In our district, once we started talking about funding, our superintendent listened and said, “We really do need to make some change here.” You need all the stakeholders aligned that it’s going to work.

Melissa McCullough:
To help shift staff mindset and beliefs, we took a road trip to another school that has done inclusion well for years. I used professional development funds, and instead of a workshop, we drove a few hours to a school near Chicago, stayed overnight, and observed in classrooms. Staff took pictures, got ideas and strategies, and watched inclusion in action. They needed to see it and hear it from someone else.

When we came back, we presented to the entire staff because we couldn’t take everyone. We created a slide deck, showed pictures, and highlighted great interventions we saw. Then we asked: What can we start with now? What materials do we need to purchase? I wanted them to have ownership—see it in action, reflect on what’s missing, and create their own plan.

Melissa McCullough:
After that visit, I started to see an incremental shift in mindset. At first, some said, “Our kids are different. They didn’t have the same needs. Our students need more English language supports.” They needed to see it from a different lens, come back, put it into practice, and then see that our kids benefited from the same types of things. They’re all our kids. That’s the theme people understand now—it’s not “their kids” or “my kids.” They’re all our kids.

Tim Villegas:
Anything else you want to talk about?

Melissa McCullough:
Yes—can I give a little plug for Early Choices?

Tim Villegas:
Absolutely. Yes.

Melissa McCullough:
If you’re in Illinois and haven’t partnered with https://www.eclre.org/, they are a fantastic resource. They’ll help you, come to your program, provide professional development, and be a like-minded team you can bounce ideas off of. They’re amazing. I can’t say enough good things about them.

Tim Villegas:
We love Early Choices. Melissa, we’re so thankful to talk with you and hear everything you’re doing at East Moline. We hope this inspires other districts and anyone listening that an inclusive preschool program is within reach. It’s about mindset, resources, and commitment. We appreciate your time and wish you all the best.

Melissa McCullough:
Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity.

Tim Villegas:
That will do it for this episode of the Think Inclusive Podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, the Anchor app, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Have a question or comment? Email us at podcast@thinkinclusive.us—we love to know you’re listening.

Thank you to patrons Pamela P, Veronica E, Kathleen T, Mark C, and Sarah C for their continued support. Just for our patrons, Melissa shared the cutest video and image of one of the students in her program—you have to see it! Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/thinkinclusivepodcast.

This podcast is a production of MCIE, where we envision a society where neighborhood schools welcome all learners and create the foundation for inclusive communities. Learn more at http://www.mcie.org/.

We’ll be back in two weeks with Wyatt Oroke, 2020’s Maryland Teacher of the Year, to get his thoughts on what makes an inclusive classroom. On the blog, check out “15 Ways for Students to Participate in General Education Using Technology.”