Scho ool Committ tee Special E Education Su ummary S Submitted By - PDF document

Scho ool Committ tee Special E Education Su ummary S Submitted By y: Laura Spe ear Ildefonso Arellano March 15 , 2017 The V Vision of the e Special Edu ucation Dep artment inc ludes…  Ensur ring equitab le resources s and suppor rts in all scho ools  Servi cing student ts in the Lea st Restrictiv e Environme ent (LRE)  Creat ting Special Education p rogram stra nds that can n be located in one scho ol, reducing g transitions  Conti inuing to ass sess the effe ectiveness of f special edu ucation prog gramming an nd supportin ng impro ovements as s needed

Special Ed ducation Dep partment Or rganizationa al Overview Laura Spear Director Ildefonso Arellano Assistant Director Depa artment Out of District Team Evaluati on Related Service Heads/ /Program Coordinators Coordinators s Providers Coord dinators Corinne Nye (DH at Sp peech and Language Lisa Michalak Kate DeLisi (FH HS) F FHS) Pathologists (28) Amy Karidoyan nes Andrew w Benedetti Occupational Penny Smith (Cameron & Bar bieri (Phoenix Coordinator Therapists (8) 2 ‐ way) at FHS) Barbara Maglio one Susan Sto otzky (DH at Ph hysical Therapist (1) (Walsh & Potte er) Dun nning) Patt ti Aiello Natalia Kierul (Fu ller & Adaptive Physical Brophy) Ed ducation Teacher (1) (DH at t BLOCKS) BCBA/ABA Team Nancy Shor (Board Certified (McCarthy) Be ehavior Analysts) (9) Teacher of the Ronnie Kessle er Vis sually Impaired (TVI) (Stapleton & Wil lson) (1) Mary Ann Gibb ons (Hemenway, Bar rbieri & King) Cristina Micha ud (BLOCKS)

Special E Education St udent Summ mary  A As of March 8 8, 2017, ther re are 2038 students (22 2.6%) in Fram mingham re ceiving spec cial e ducation ser rvices and 25 52 of those students are e in out ‐ of ‐ d district place ments (we a are currently y o nly financial lly responsib ble for 245 o of those stud dents).  B elow is a co mparison of f the special education n numbers at t the beginnin ng of the sch ool year and d as s of March 8 8, 2017.  O Our percenta age has sligh tly decrease ed over the p past 3 years. . o March h, 2015 ‐ 23.7 7% o March h, 2016 ‐ 23% % o March h, 2017 ‐ 22.6 6%

In Di strict Primary y Disability P ercentage ( March, 2017 ) ) Sensory/Dea af Blind Specific Learni S ng 0.1% Senso ory/Hard of Hea aring Health 12.2% 0.4% 8.6% Multiple D Disab. 1.0% % Autism m 8.4% % Ph ysical 0 .1% Em motional 6.5% Neurological N 23.2% Visio on 0.2 % Comm munication 24.2% 2 Intellectua l Dev. De elay 2.3% 12.8% % Out of Dis strict Primary y Disability Pe ercentage (M March, 2017) ) ) Spe ecific Learnin g Vision 0.8% 0.8% Sensory y/Hard of Hea aring H Health Multiple Dis sab. 8.4 4% 2.9% 2 2.9% Au utism 23 3.0% Physic al 0.0% Ne eurological Emotional E 11.3% 31.8% Sensory D Deaf/Blind 2.1 % Co ommunication n Intellectual 3.8% 10.0% Dev. D Delay 2.1% %

Referral Data Comparison Referral Data The data below reflects special education referrals during the first 4 months of the school year for the last three years. Special education referrals may include a related service evaluation (e.g., PT, OT, Speech, etc.), pyscho ‐ educational testing, or a combination of both. Percentage of Initial Special Education Referrals 14 12 10 8 December 2014 6 December 2015 4 December 2016 2 0 2017 ‐ 2018 Specialized Program Locations Over the past four years, great strides have been made in reducing the transitions for our specialized programs and creating stands that can be housed in one school location from K ‐ 5. Multiple Disabilities Program Barbieri K ‐ 5 Language and Learning Disabilities (LLD) Program McCarthy K ‐ 5 Emotional Disability (ED) Program Stapleton K ‐ 5 Autism (ASD) Program Dunning K ‐ 5 Developmental Delay (DD) Program Hemenway K ‐ 2 Barbieri 3 ‐ 5 Collapsing of The NECC Partnership Classroom at Dunning for the 2017 ‐ 2018 School Year  Framingham started the NECC Partnership Classroom in August, 2011. At the time, it was mutually beneficial for us programmatically and financially.  Circuit Breaker funding was very low and it was a cost savings to bring the NECC Partnership classroom to Framingham so that the students could remain in the least restrictive environment.  At the time, we had a full classroom of seven and at its’ peak two years ago, we had nine students in the classroom.  After looking at the cost projections for next year, along with having a reduced cohort of students now since some are going to be sixth graders, the NECC Partnership Classroom is no longer benefiting us from a financial standpoint.  The NECC Partnership Classroom has had a lasting positive impact on the internal Autism classrooms that we have at Dunning. The collaboration has only enhanced our own programming.

Program Review and Professional Development ‐ Grant Funded  For the first time this year, we were instructed to use a small portion (2%) of the 240 Federal Special Education Grant to improve student outcomes for special education students at Level 3 schools. Our focus this year has been at Fuller where a consultant has been working with a team at Fuller to review our Inclusion Program, assess the effectiveness of the program and ultimately create an action plan, including professional development that can begin implementation next year.  The 274 Special Education Professional Development Grant has a continued focus on Social Emotional Learning. This year, the grant is supporting the following: o The Phoenix Program at the high school is in the third year of having focused professional development and coaching from Dr. Ross Greene’s group on the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model, formally known as Collaborative Problem Solving. o The Emotional Disabilities (ED) programs at Stapleton and Cameron are participating in CPS professional development for both special education and non ‐ special education staff. o The remaining funds from this grant are supporting initiatives from the Department of Health and Wellness, under Judy Styer’s direction, including professional development on Restorative Justice and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Program Development for the 2017 ‐ 2018 School Year  We are excited to announce that we will be starting a middle school Multiple Disabilities Program at Cameron Middle School. (This program development was delayed one year due to us not having a large enough cohort of students to quantify starting a classroom.) o Currently we only have a multiple disabilities program for students at BLOCKS and at Barbieri, Grades 1 ‐ 5. o The program will start with three 6 th grade students next year who will be coming from the Barbieri classroom. o The average tuition cost per student at an out of district placement, including wheel chair transportation is $100,000. o The District would be paying $300,000 per year for these 3 students. Over the course of their middle school years (3 years) the district would be paying a total of $900,000, minus circuit breaker funding that we are reimbursed from the state. o By creating a program with some upfront costs for supplies, equipment and staffing, we will have a financial savings ensuring that the students remain in the least restrictive environment within their school communities.

Unit T and Futur re Professio nal Develop pment   There are e approxima ately 175 spe ecial educati ion paraprof fessionals (a assistant tea chers and ai ides) and an additiona al 90 staff w ho are a par rt of the Unit t T group, in ncluding lang guage aides, classroom a aides, intervent tionist aides , interventio onist teache rs and librar ry assistants .   After col laboration w with Diane M Modest and F FTA represen ntatives, a s hort survey was develop ped and sen t out to all l Unit T mem mbers in Janu uary.  We recen  ntly met to r review the s urvey result s and will be e determinin ng the next s steps in brin ging the preferred d topics to th he staff next t year.

MAP Growth Data Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is an online assessment that is aligned to the Common Core standards. MAP assessments are used to measure each student’s progress or growth in school for Reading and Mathematics. All Middle Schools administered MAP for 6 th and 7 th grades. Only Fuller Middle School administered MAP for eighth grade. While our middle school special ed. students had observable growth at all grade levels, 6 th and 7 th grade special education students did not make the projected growth for the Winter 2017. Eighth grade special education students exceeded their growth projections during the Winter assessment from 2.0 to 4.9. Middle School MAP Data Special Education Student Growth Summary 220 210 Fall 2016 200 Winter 2017 190 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 The tables below show the percentage of general education and special education students who met their growth projections during the Fall and Winter assessments. 6th Grade MAP Percentage of Student Growth Met 50% MATH READING 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% Fall to Fall Growth 20% Fall to Winter Growth 15% 10% 5% 0% General Education Special Education General Education Special Education

7th Grade MAP Percentage of Student Growth Met 70% MATH READING 60% 50% 40% 30% Fall to Fall Growth Fall to Winter Growth 20% 10% 0% General Special Education General Special Education Education Education 8th Grade MAP Pecentage of Student Growth Met 70% MATH READING 60% 50% 40% Fall to Fall Growth 30% Fall to Winter Growth 20% 10% 0% General Special Education General Special Education Education Education *Only Fuller Middle School administered MAP for eighth grade.