Addressing Schools to Watch® domains of developmental responsiveness and social equity in middle grades through Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools

Abstract

Middle schools are increasingly diverse places where students see and interact with peers different from themselves. However, students with and without intellectual disability (ID) have few opportunities to interact—they are together infrequently within extracurricular settings and the classroom. As such, students with ID are on the margins of the social fabric of the school, and middle schools are challenged to create a positive school experience for all students. This article focuses on how Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (UCS) can advance developmental responsiveness and social equity in the middle grades through schoolwide social inclusion of students with ID. Data from a multi-year national evaluation provides evidence that UCS can support middle schools to create a positive school experience for all students that aligns with Association for Middle Level Education’s essential attributes of education for young adolescents (i.e., responsive, challenging, empowering, equitable, engaging), addresses the developmental and social needs and interests of young adolescents, and meets benchmarks for high-performing schools set forth by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform’s Schools to Watch (STW) Program®. STW Program criteria establish a framework for schools to commit to an environment that prioritizes what is best for the developing adolescent, including adolescents with ID.

Keywords:

• developmental responsiveness
• intellectual disability
• social equity, 
• social inclusion, Special Olympics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ School staff serving as Unified Club advisors responded on a 5-point scale ranging from “Always” (1) to “Never” (5).

² Middle school students without ID responded on a 3-point scale from “No Impact” (1) to “Big Impact” (3).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Holly E. Jacobs

Holly E. Jacobs, MA, is the Director of Program Evaluation at the Center for Social Development and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. E-mail: [email protected]

Betty Edwards

Betty Edwards, EdD, is Chair of the National Education Leaders Network with Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools. E-mail: [email protected]

Shirley A. Wright

Shirley A. Wright, MA, is a past Executive Director of the Indiana Middle Level Education Association (IMLEA) and current IMLEA Schools to Watch Consultant. E-mail: [email protected]

Anmol Gupta

Anmol Gupta, BA, is a Research Coordinator in the Psychology Department at Stanford University and a former Research Assistant at the Center for Social Development and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. E-mail: [email protected]