Spectrum News 1: South Gate school implements co-teaching model for students with disabilities

May 8, 2025

Original article found here.
BY TAYLOR TORREGANO
MAY 7, 2025

LOS ANGELES — With the dismantling of the Department of Education, educators fear funding for special education students will be heavily affected.

Studies show this group is already falling alarmingly behind across California.

What You Need To Know

Aspire Firestone Academy in South Gate is blazing a new trail, implementing a co-teaching inclusion model that staff say is having significant results
Janie Portillo’s favorite part of school is learning, writing and reading, but most of all, she says she loves her teachers and when she walks in her classroom, she says, “It fills me with — I’m brave, I’m strong, I can do this”
The co-teaching inclusion model at Aspire Firestone Academy that integrates special education students with general education students like Liam Diaz
The students with disabilities need special attention from time to time, but the teachers say they seamlessly integrate that into their lessons, depending on the need

Aspire Firestone Academy in South Gate is blazing a new trail to change that, implementing a co-teaching inclusion model that staff say has significant results.

Janie Portillo’s favorite part of school is learning, writing, and reading, but most of all, she says she loves her teachers, and when she walks into her classroom, she says, “It fills me with — I’m brave, I’m strong, I can do this.”

Even though Janie is considered an IEP student, which stands for individualized education program and means she has a disability and specific educational needs, she isn’t treated any differently than the general education students she shares a classroom with.

It’s the co-teaching inclusion model at Aspire Firestone Academy that integrates special education students with general education students like Liam Diaz.

Principal Marnie Kislinger shows three groups of students learning in a 4th-grade math class, divided only by their understanding of yesterday’s lesson.

“In some ways, we’re paving a new way, but there’s actually a lot of research out there that supports that having inclusive models where students with IEPs and without IEPs are in the same classroom, learning from a general education teacher and a special education teacher, really helps everyone, and that’s with both academics and with their social, emotional learning,” Kislinger explained.

Students with disabilities occasionally need special attention, but the teachers say they seamlessly integrate that into their lessons, depending on the need.

Kislinger says this has nearly eliminated the math performance gap between students with IEPs and their general education peers, which is virtually unheard of across California.

The 2024 to 2025 California School Dashboard showed that students with disabilities are 124 points below the standard. They’re falling so behind, educators are calling it a crisis, which is why Marnie says this integrated model is so groundbreaking.

“Every student in this classroom has access to grade-level content,” she said. “So they continue to grow and that gap can actually decrease, and we see students with IEPs and without IEPs achieving at super high levels and not a big gap between them.”

It creates an environment for students like Janie and Liam to learn math and reading and how to be good humans.

“It’s a way to show that we’re all the same,” Diaz added.

Mastering the concept of triangles, equilaterals, and trapezoids, but also self-awareness, as the two do their morning affirmations.

“I am lovable, I am important, I can do this. I will never give up. My mistakes help me learn. I will listen to my heart. I love and respect myself, me llama respecto yo,” the students chant.

Aspire Firestone Academy is a public charter school that does not require tuition. For more information about the school and to enroll, click here.