University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

MEDIA RELEASE

CHIME’s Elementary School Receives Honors
as an Inclusive Model for Rest of the World

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Dec. 12, 2007) — An international civil rights organization for people with disabilities has awarded the CHIME Institute’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School, which has extensive ties to Cal State Northridge, with its highest honor, saying the school serves as a model for inclusive education for the rest of the world.

Specifically, the school has been given the inaugural "Breakthroughs in Inclusive Education" award from The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (TASH), formerly known as the Association for the Severely Handicapped, for demonstrating an "understanding that the education for all students, regardless of disability, should be grounded in the general education curriculum" in which the students are in the same classrooms.

TASH executive director Barbara R. Trader said the honor was being given for "the excellence" the school has accomplished in "living up to the promise and tenets of inclusive education."

"We believe that [the school] represents a model of practice for others to emulate," she said.

CHIME’s executive director of charter schools and Schwarzenegger principal Julie Fabrocini, a part-time education instructor at CSUN, said the teachers, staff, students and parents at the school were honored by the award.

"Receiving the TASH Breakthroughs in Inclusive Education Award means so much to us," Fabrocini said. "The work in this community that is done by teachers, families, staff and most of all children is based on the idea that children can’t learn what they need to from each other unless they are together.

"To have our work validated by an organization like TASH means that inclusive education is not just the right thing to do for all kids, but that it is the best academic opportunity for children with and without disabilities as well," she said. "Shared resources, shared expertise to promote learning and a shared value for and understanding of diversity are the mission of our school and the message we share with TASH in sending to the community at large."

The CHIME Institute’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School, located in Woodland Hills, and its sister campus, CHIME Charter Middle School in Chatsworth, are independent charter schools that provide free public education through affiliation with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The schools serve as demonstration and teacher-training sites for CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education. Two years ago, the elementary school was named "Charter School of the Year" by the California Charter School Association.

The inclusion programs at both schools, which operate under the auspices of the CHIME Institute located at Cal State Northridge in the Eisner College of Education, use a co-teaching model between general and special education teachers that not only meets the learning needs of the students with disabilities, but provides for richer and more active learning experiences for typically developing and gifted students.

The institute has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a national model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for schools across the country. It is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education.

The CHIME Institute also offers an infant/toddler program and a preschool/kindergarten inclusion program which are located at CSUN.

TASH is an international membership organization that has advocated for the full inclusion and human rights of individuals with significant disabilities for 32 years. It has more than 30 chapters with members in 34 countries and territories. Its members are concerned with human dignity, civil rights, education and independence for all individuals with disabilities.

Sponsored by TASH and Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co., the "Breakthroughs in Inclusive Education Awards" are designed to honor important and courageous contributions of individuals and school districts in advancing inclusive education and equitable opportunities for students K-12, particularly those with the most significant disabilities and support needs.