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Schools in the News - Bethlehem Central School District, NY
Bethlehem Central School District, NY Implements Student-Centric
Learning Environments… Assistive Technologies Help Pave the Way!
Educators at Bethlehem Central School District,
NY are thinking outside the box to develop new ways for their students
to succeed far beyond the classroom. Today teachers deliver required
curriculum instruction through accessible formats using assistive
technology, funded through ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. These technology accommodations help to build literacy skills for
students with disabilities and have inspired teachers to create new
digital learning environments.
 Eileen
Pasquini, Assistive Technology Specialist, says the standard way of
teaching doesn’t work for students with disabilities. She trains special
and general education teachers to infuse assistive technologies into
their instruction. Students with disabilities receive assignments in
accessible formats and use helpful reading and writing tools to read
eBooks with audio text-to-speech and improve grammar, vocabulary and
spelling.
In 2009, Eileen attended a Don Johnston Learning Summit with Rita Levay,
her Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Laura Heffernan, an
elementary school principal, and Kathleen Johnston, chairperson for
students with disabilities. “We saw great potential in using assistive
technologies,” said Eileen. “We learned how to build an assistive
technology infrastructure to serve a broad range of student needs. Mrs.
Heffernan recognized how assistive technology could play a key role to
move students from level 2’s and 3’s to 4’s on standardized testing.”
The group arrived back to their school district inspired to talk with
department leaders about these tools and to move forward on student
improvement plans.
Technology Delivers Instruction
Bethlehem purchased unlimited site licenses of reading and writing
accommodations Co:Writer, Read:OutLoud and Write:OutLoud. They installed
the software on their network. “Purchasing unlimited licenses helped me
jump through 10 hurdles,” said Eileen. “It saved me time on
installation and paperwork. No matter how good technology is, if it’s
not part of daily instruction, students don’t get the real benefit.”
Eileen’s first task was to help teachers take a global look at how they
delivered instruction. They reviewed their teaching approaches and
discussed UDL (Universal Design for Learning) strategies of how students
learn best. The team began to notice changes in students in general
inclusion settings after special and general education teachers got
together to use Co:Writer, the word prediction writing accommodation.
This writing tool stood out to Eileen as an ‘easy-to-use’ technology
that could have immediate impact on students’ vocabulary and spelling.
“Teachers loved the Word Bank,” she said. “They saw how Co:Writer could
unblock common writing barriers that students with learning challenges
face.”
 Watch this short video of Mrs. McCurdy, an elementary teacher at
Bethlehem Central and her 4th grade student, as they demonstrate how
assistive technology tools have made a difference in Ryland’s daily
writing skills.
Another student, Conner, a cooperative, but frustrated third grader, also labored when he
wrote. He had difficulty taking tests and organizing his thoughts. His
handwriting was illegible. His teachers couldn’t read what he wrote.
“Using Co:Writer, Conner is an entirely different student, ” said
Eileen, “and quite productive.” His grandparents embraced using the
software at home too. Now, he writes his own papers and exchanges notes
with his teachers using the tool.
Next, teachers tried Read:OutLoud, an accessible text reader, with high
school students who used the software to read eBooks and access the
Internet. They hear digital content read aloud to experience a
multi-sensory (audio and visual) learning environment and use built-in
reading comprehension templates to do research, collect facts and write
notes. Each student collected information, saved their important details
in an outline, bookmarked websites and cited their findings with a
bibliography tool, all in one software tool.
One to One Pilot Project
 Director, Rita Levay wanted to keep the energy going with teachers. She
sees definite changes among teachers who are using assistive technology
to modify instruction. She implemented a one-to-one computer pilot in
the elementary, middle and high schools to emphasize professional
development. Today, through her leadership, the district has created
several information sessions and workshops for teachers to learn how
assistive technology can be used for instruction, intervention and
remediation.
Take-Home Software Enables Anytime Learning in Family Workshops
For the local community, Bethlehem established a 3-part family workshop
to support students who are at risk of failing. Teachers and specialists
work with families to address students’ literacy and behavioral issues.
Through the workshop, a school to home connection was built. Each
participating family receives the assistive technology software to use
at home through ‘take-home rights’ included in the unlimited license.
Families can request the software through the district website and
hundreds of families have signed up.
Tyson, a 5th grader, who attended the workshop had writing challenges
and had shut down during the learning day. He now writes stories using
Co:Writer and has become more active. His teachers and parents noted his
renewed excitement to complete assignments on time using the assistive
technology tools.
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