Special Education
Quality
of Services Provided:
1.
Describe the services, including:
a.
Purpose
The purpose of the Arp ISD Special Education Program is
to provide the least restrictive and appropriate education to all students
being served through our special education department and/or related
services. Our program provides student
with disabilities an education that is based on each child’s individual needs,
enabling them to be successful. Arp
students are provided with a program in accordance with all federal laws and
regulations, state statues, rules of the State Board of Education and
Commissioner of Education.
Arp ISD is a member of the Arp / Troup Special Services
Cooperative. The purpose of the Co-op
is to provide each district with certified personnel and services that enable
the districts to meet the individual needs of the students. The Co-op also assists each district in the
child find system of locating, identifying, evaluating and serving students who
may be in need of special services with their district boundaries.
b.
Continuum of services and other placements such as AEPs, JJAEPs,
non-public facilities, and residential care facilities
The district participates in a Coop AEP with Troup
schools.
c.
Current year funds:
d.
Number
of students being served: The total number of special education students
served by Arp ISD is 98.
e.
Appropriate staff certification
All special education professional personnel are licensed
and/or appropriately certified by the state of Texas.
f.
Professional staff development to support this program
Staff development for Arp ISD is conducted at least once
a month and throughout the school year by district personnel, shared services
personnel, Region VII ESC, or contracted presenters. Training for the past year for staff included:
g.
Curriculum and instruction
Our district provides a continuum of services, and the
instructional program is aligned with TEKS through the utilization (CLASS)
Comprehensive Learner Adapted Scope and Sequence to ensure individualized skill
mastery at the appropriate levels for individual students. These are supported by an inclusion program,
tutorial classroom, content mastery, and other needed related services. Students participate in the general
education curriculum through the support services of both paraprofessional and
certified/licensed special education personnel.
h.
Coordination with other programs
Special Education is an integral part of the Arp
Independent School District and the community.
Students with disabilities are not excluded from any program in the
district. Collaboration with programs
within the district such as gifted and talented, vocational education, chapter
programs and dyslexia occur routinely.
In addition, collaboration and coordination with community agencies such
as Early Childhood Intervention and Mental Health and Mental Retardation occur
throughout the school year. Special
Education personnel are also included in district wide and campus team
meetings. The district supplies each of
the special education teachers with a minimum of one multimedia computer with
Internet and Intranet access.
2.
Describe the strategies and service options the district has in place
to support students encountering learning difficulties prior to referral for
special education consideration.
When students at Arp ISD encounter difficulties in the
regular classroom, teachers respond using the SOS (Save Our Students)
policy. SOS allows teachers to notify
parents and students are given slight modifications to determine
effectiveness. If SOS (Save Our
Students) intervention is insufficient progress is made the student is referred
to the STAR (Student At Risk) committee for further needs assessments, testing,
remediation, tutorials, 504 referrals, dyslexia screening, and counseling
services assist students before referral to the special education program.
3.
Describe the process the
district uses to conduct the comprehensive needs assessment for special
education. Include how the plan of
action was developed and how activities identified in the plan are tied to the
district/campus improvement plan, including initiatives developed from the OSEP
comprehensive analysis process (CAP).
Arp ISD staff has
attended the Comprehensive Analysis Process (CAP) training, planning, and
implementation provided by Region VII, the district, the Co-op, and special
education teachers. As indicated in the
video, a CAP Action Plan was developed on the district level. This action plan was integrated into the
district and campus decision-making process, and targeted goals are reflected
in the plan. Data is collected and
reviewed at least annually on a campus and district basis. Identified needs are addressed in the
planning and budgeting process. Special
education personnel serve on improvement committees.
4.
Describe the district’s
efforts to support general and special education teachers implementing
individual education plans (IEPs) of students qualifying for special education services.
Arp ISD is a member
of a Shared Services Arrangement (SSA) that provides support through staff
development, related services such as speech therapy, physical therapy,
occupational therapy, psychological services, special education counseling, and
other related services. The special
education staff supports students in the general classroom through inclusion
settings. Special education
paraprofessionals provide support for both general education teachers and
special education teachers. Adaptive
equipment, assistive technology, and other special instructional equipment,
materials and/or resources are provided both by the SSA and the campus special
education staff.
5.
Describe the district’s
efforts to involve students receiving special education services in the general
curriculum.
Arp ISD advocates
access to the least restrictive environment (LRE) for each child with a
disability. Mainstreaming occurs on
every campus. Full inclusion, content
mastery and resource rooms are among the options offered by the district. The extent, in which a student participates
in their LRE, is determined by his/her IEP.
The ARD committee then makes programming/placement decisions based the
competencies and needs of the student.
The general and special education teachers, parents, and the campus
administrator, attend the ARD meetings.
The committee decides at what level each individual student can
successfully participate in the general curriculum.
6.
Provide examples of the
district’s efforts to involve parents of students receiving special education
services in decision-making activities affecting curriculum, programs,
resolution of concerns or problems, material selection, and staff
development. Briefly describe the
results of these efforts.
The Arp ISD staff
works closely with parents. The parents
are always notified of ARD meetings and are encouraged to participate in the
decisions concerning their child.
Parents of children with
disabilities serve both on the School Board and the District Improvement
Committee. Parent information is
readily available through the student handbook, pamphlets, and the Arp Website
in the areas of parent rights, services available, and other needs. Our special education parents are also aware
and encouraged to utilize the procedures (found in the student handbook) for
filing complaints and conflict resolution with issues that deal strictly with
general education.
7.
Describe the district’s
process to evaluate its compliance with federal and state requirements for
special education programs and services.
How often is this process implemented?
Self-evaluation is an ongoing and constant process for
the special education program in Arp ISD.
Evaluations are implemented by district personnel and SSA staff in order
to abide by the federal and state requirements. The SSA staff produces memos for all member-district special
education staff to update compliance issues.
In addition, staff development is provided at the beginning of each
school year as well as periodically throughout the year to raise awareness of
new policies and updates. There are
also ongoing evaluations of the CAP matrix, PIEMS data, assessments, and
monitored classroom instruction for IEP implementation. All staff are involved so that compliance is
a group effort and each assumes responsibility.
Our administrative personnel and special education staff strive to stay updated on new mandates and changes in the law through workshops, conferences, TEA updates, legal digests, newsletters, journals and through networking with other districts.
8.
Describe the methods and measures the district uses to evaluate the
process of students with disabilities receiving special education services.
Every classroom teacher has high expectations for
inclusion students and conducts ongoing evaluations, both formally and
informally, based on the student’s IEP. Observation, checking for understanding
as part of the lesson cycle, computerized tests, and teacher made tests are
utilized often. Multiple assessments
are used for evaluation of progress of students with disabilities. All students in core courses are pre-tested
by the classroom teacher to determine their level of achievement in course
content. Subsequent testing is conducted to assure that the student is
progressing according to the goals in the IEP.
CLASS (Comprehensive Learner Adapted Scope &
Sequence) criterion referenced assessments are used with all students once a
year. Student progress is evaluated and
documented every three weeks for progress reports and every six weeks with report
cards. All students within the special
education program receive reports of progress or report cards at the same time
that non-handicapped students receive these reports. Additionally, IEP reports are mailed to their homes every six
weeks.
Teachers also submit progress data at the annual ARD
meeting on each special education student.
Students instructed in the general curriculum might take teacher-made
tests.
Performance on the TAAS or alternative assessment is also
documentation used to measure the performance level of students with disabilities.
The documentation is based on ARD recommendation. Results of these measures are shared with faculty, parents and
students. In addition, teachers keep a
student folder in which samples of the child’s work and/or portfolio are
contained.
9.
What specific results do you have that students with disabilities are
making progress?
All of the student’s IEP objectives follow an
increasingly higher level of skill based on the competencies of the
student. Report card and progress
reports indicated student improvement and success. Students are becoming successful in transitioning into inclusive
settings, as demonstrated by less restrictive instructional arrangements.
Students are re-evaluated every three years with formal
achievement instruments. These assessments
provide significant documentation of academic progress in both content and
skills areas. The end results, students
with disabilities are graduating and being successful in employment situations. Some of our students with disabilities are
even going on to further their education.
10.
Describe other forms of
district support for special education program that have not already been
mentioned, for example, administrative leadership, additional funding,
facilities, or services.
Special education students are serviced in the Career and
Technology Education (CATE) program, GT program, Athletic program, Fine Arts program, and Advanced Placement
program. The district has provided all
classrooms with tier-one access to the Internet through the SUPERNet (Schools
United to Provide Enhanced Resources Network) Consortium and multiple labs and
computers in each classroom. Special
education resource rooms have Internet and Intranet connectivity. Local funds are used to assist in servicing
the special education classrooms with the latest technologies through which
students may access Web-based tutorials that monitor student progress in
reading, language arts, math, consumer skills, research, and job skills. The SkillsTutor! allows login and student management, reporting,
and acceleration.
Multiple grants have afforded the special education
resource rooms with multiple computers, adaptive technologies, and job skills
and character education curriculum.
11.
Briefly describe any significant factors at the district level that may
impact performance of students who are served by the special education program.
During the past few years, the district’s philosophy
concerning special education has changed significantly. Accountability for improved performance and
success for all students have come about due to changes in the state’s
accountability system. Arp ISD staff
has begun to take a deeper look into the curriculum, methods, strategies, and
research-based practices to improve achievement for all students including
special education students. A great
emphasis has been put on the programs and interventions we have in place to
support all students.
The move on the elementary campus from total containment
to a resource arrangement has helped bring about a supportive staffing
situation. The teachers are provided
support within the classroom, which is necessary to enable all students with
their varied needs to benefit from their instructional program. The program has been enhanced with a
principal holding special education background experience.