PTA Special Education Committee: Special Education Flexible Service Delivery Model Specialized Academic Instruction (“SAI”) Michael Keller, Ed.D., Director, Special Education Spring 2014

Agenda  What Do High Performing School Districts Do Well in Special Education Programming?  Federal and State movement towards Results Driven Accountability  State Performance Plan Targets- Least Restrictive Environment  What outcomes do you want for your child?  It’s a Service, not a Place:  Specialized Academic Instruction (“SAI”)  Other models  Irvine Unified  Travis Unified  Redondo Beach Unified

Effective Practices in High Performing Districts  Inclusion and access to the core curriculum  Collaboration between special education and general education teachers  Continuous assessment and use of Response to Instruction (RtI)  Targeted Professional Development (Huberman, M; Navo, M.; Parrish, T, 2012 in Journal of Special Education Leadership)

California State Performance Plan (Indicator 5)  Least Restrictive Environment Targets:  76% or more of students will be removed from regular class less than 21 percent of the day  No more than 9% will be removed from regular class more than 60 % of the day; and  No more than 3.8% are served in public or private separate schools, residential placements, or homebound placements

Least Restrictive Environment  Indicators of inclusion: Percent of time in General Education (June 2013 CASEMIS): Time in General Education Percent of Students SPP Targets Difference > 80%~61% (n= 636)76% (n=790)+154 < 40%~20% (n= 208)9% (n=93)-115 Public/Private Separate Schools; Residential Placements, or Home/Hospital Placements ~1% (n=8)<3.9% (n=40)32

What outcomes do you want from your child’s educational experience?

How are we making program shifts as a District?  Special Education Advisory Group (SEA-G)  Broad-based professional stakeholder group  Many perspectives on what works and what does not work in special education modeling and service delivery  We are comprehensively  Assessing needs  Establishing goals  Designing an implementation plan  Amplifying results

Where are we now?  SEA-G Key Questions:  How do we effectively meet the needs of students with disabilities across the spectrum of mild to severe?  How aligned are systems across LAUSD (between schools and vertically from elementary, middle, and high school) in the areas of:  Pre-Referral Process (e.g., RtI; SST)  Special education service delivery: Collaboration, RSP, SDC, etc.  What are the district’s areas of need and what is working well in our special education program design?

SEA-G Discussion Outcomes StrengthsNeeds Regional ABA/Autism Programs Consultation from NPA (Autism Partnership) Collaboration between SLP and CDC Preschool Cross-level Student Opportunities Adult Transition Program and Preschool Program District and Site Administrative Support Collaboration at LAHS Feedback, both Qualitative and Quantitative System around program evaluation Staffing/vacancies Professional Development: para-educator training, sped teachers, SLPs, School Psychologists Collaboration between general education/special education General Education professional development on Special Education ABA training for all Professional Modeling for IAs Gen-ed buy-in on collaboration model at LAHS Right student in right intervention Mental health supports Alignment of programs/services

Los Alamitos Unified School District: Two Key Prongs Stodden, R Special Education: A Service, Not a Place. The Special Edge.

Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI)- CDE, 2011  Instructional delivery model (service), not a “program”  Linked to measures of inclusion (% of time in general program)  Districts are obligated to offer full continuum of special education services, defined at the local level  Flexible service delivery model:  Collaborative Models:  Consultation/collaboration in the general education classroom  Co-teaching model  School-wide intervention model  Core with supplemental special education support model  Intensive core program supervised by qualified specialist  Intensive special education support in one or more areas

What might the shift look like in LAUSD?  Preschool  Expand options to current SDC model  Keep Regional Autism/ABA program  K-5  Change the language of RSP/SDC “placement designations”  New terms for flexible service delivery:  SAI  Collaborative-Inclusion  Learning Center  Co-Teaching  7-12  Co-Teaching  Increase collaboration and co-teaching opportunities  Increase opportunities for support in “a-g” college prep course sequence  Meaningful vocational, independent living activities that link to Adult Transition Program  Adult Transition Program (ATP)  Linkage to premier transition programming across Orange County  Community college opportunities