Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions: A Commonsense Approach for School Leaders

Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions offers a set of bold, new ideas for dramatically raising the achievement of students with mild to moderate disabilities and students experiencing serious academic, social and emotional, and behavioral difficulties.

Despite much effort and caring on the part of educators, a new approach to supporting struggling students is critically needed so they can master grade-level skills and complete college, argues author Nathan Levenson. Combining research with evidence from his own implementation work in more than a hundred districts, Levenson makes the case for a wholesale rethinking of how interventions are delivered summarized by six essential "shifts." Designed to be practical and draw on the talents of existing staff, Levenson's shifts are paired with concrete advice and lessons learned from the field to improve special education and general education interventions such as Response to Intervention and Multi-Tiered Student Supports.

Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions serves as both a call to action and a critical guide for administrators looking for more effective, affordable ways to close the achievement gap.

Author: Nathan Levenson
Publisher: Harvard Education PR
Published: 05/12/2020
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781682534793


Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2021

About the Author
Nathan Levenson is the managing director of the District Management Group in Boston. Levenson began his career in the private sector, starting as a strategic planning management consultant, owner of a midsized manufacturer of highly engineered machinery, and a turnaround consultant helping struggling firms. A passion for public education led to a career switch that included six years as a school board member; assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Harvard, Massachusetts; and superintendent of the Arlington, Massachusetts, public schools.

Levenson was hired as a change agent in Arlington during a turbulent time in a divided community. He oversaw all academic and operational aspects of a district with nine schools and a budget of over $50 million. Levenson's leadership led to wide-scale changes in academic programs by accelerating the move to standards-based education and teacher developed common formative assessments in reading, math, writing, and social studies.

He helped create and champion an intensive reading program that reduced the number of students reading below grade level by two-thirds and revamped special education services, leading to a 24 percent improvement in academic achievement in English and math. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy identified Arlington High as a best-practice school for reducing the special education achievement gap by more than that of nearly all other public schools in the state (a 66 percent reduction in the achievement gap). Much of this effort focused on cost effectively improving MTSS and special education services.

As a strong believer in the importance of developing staff, Levenson implemented a new system for hiring teachers and brought an emphasis on creating teamwork between administrators and teams of teachers, despite an environment that had prized isolation and turf conflict. Collaboration was based on the work of Richard DuFour's professional learning community and Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Levenson created a less hierarchal climate within schools and departments, resulting in the creation of fifty teacher leadership roles and true distributed leadership.

Putting the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" into action, the Arlington Public Schools built partnerships with local nonprofits to provide--at little or no cost--psychiatric counselors, social workers, family counseling, a diversion program, drug and alcohol counseling, and a communitywide coalition to help keep students safe from substance abuse and stress.

As managing director of the District Management Group, Levenson assists school districts across the country in raising achievement during times of declining resources. His work in special education is on the leading edge of thinking and practice, and his support of districts with strategic planning, resource allocation, cost-effective teaching and learning strategies, and human capital development is also at the forefront of the nation's school reform efforts.

He has overseen a number of national and statewide studies on special education including an analysis of special education costs and outcomes from fourteen hundred districts nationally and a study of best practices and related staffing for struggling students in all districts in Massachusetts. One such study was profiled in a Wall Street Journal editorial and led to a private discussion of his work with education secretary Arne Duncan and a number of follow-up discussions with his senior team. Levenson has been an adviser to state departments of education, has contributed to think tanks, and is a regular speaker on the topic of improving special education and services for struggling students.

His work has been profiled in the District Management Journal and in The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy's best practices in special education report, and chronicled in Stretching the School Dollar, published by the Harvard Education Press. He has published research for the American Enterprise Institute, Center for American Progress, The Fordham Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Levenson received a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, and is a graduate of the Broad Foundation Superintendents Academy.