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Special Education
Current Initiatives
1. Compliance with Minnesota Department of Education district adherence to due process standard is always a priority with the District 16 special education Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process Committee (CIMP). It is the goal of the committee to have individual special education case manager paperwork related to due process at the highest levels. Our case facilitator works with individual teachers and with small groups of special educators on due process rules to assure a high level of compliance with Minnesota Department of Education due process.
2. The need to monitor and continually work to improve the graduation rate of children in need of special education is high at both the district and state levels. District 16 strives to keep the graduation rate of our children in need of special education service above the 95% level. Some of the projects the district has used to improve the graduation rate of students in need of special education include: development of a system to evaluate the transition needs of our students, development of classes to teach real life transition skills to children with emotional and behavioral disabilities, adoption of a life skills based curriculum for children identified as developmental cognitively disabled, adding social skills classes for those in need of this service, and the development of a Minnesota Department of Education certified work based learning program.
3. The number of children identified on the autism spectrum that are in need of special education services has been on the rise in District 16 over the past few years. District 16 has been working with staff to insure that they understand how to program appropriately for these children by providing in-service education to staff concerned with: sensory stimulation, social skill development, visual schedules, social stories, and other techniques to help students with Autism Spectrum Disorder to participate successfully in the general education environment. An autism consultant has been hired to coordinate programming for these children within all buildings.
4. District 16 has recently tried to program for students with the most severe handicapping conditions in the district instead of looking to other school districts for programs to service these children’s needs. One advantage to our children and their families is that they have a neighborhood school to attend with their peers instead of having to attend school at another district. We will continue to look to develop additional programming for our most severely disabled students in the future.
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