NPS:Special Education

General documents related to Special Education

SPED Study Links and Documents

NPS contracted with a group to do a study of special education. Their final report is due in January.

Web site of group doing the a study of special education: http://districtandcommunitypartners.org/

RFP issued for the study:
http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/purchasing/bids/fy10/10-30-RFP-SPED-Conslt(2).pdf

Glossary of Special Education Terms Used in Newton

Please add to this section and write definitions.

• Inclusion
• Integrated classes
• Inclusion Facilitator
• Team
• Aide
• Behavior Therapist
• BCBA
• Out of district placement
• Cost share
• Co-taught classrooms
• Stabilization program
• Neighborhood Inclusion
• Learning Center
• IEP
• 504 plan
• Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)
• Integrated program
• Language development classes (REACH)
• Office of student services
• Early Childhood Program
• Ed Center

Report on trends in Special Education

Report on trends in Special Education by Judy Levin-Charns

See also comments on the 6/28/2010 meeting

Community Advisory Group Report on School Costs

See: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/_documentsFY09/CAG_School_Cost_Structure_Report_04_14_09.pdf

This detailed report includes a long section on Special Education.

They looked at:

1. The efficacy and fiscal sustainability of the Neighborhood Inclusion model;
2. The lack of agreed-upon metrics to measure outcomes of programs and services;
3. The absence of a consistent and easily understandable summary of special education costs and revenues (presented in a way that allows easy analysis of growth trends, etc.);
4. A lack of transparency about the special education programs and services provided within Newton Public Schools;
5. A lack of public understanding about special education generally – what it is, the diversity of the special needs population and profiles, the legal mandates under which services are provided, and the individualized nature of each student’s educational plan.

And they identified three areas of cost growth:

1. Aides
2. Transportation costs
3. Out of district tuitions
4. Contracted services

This section (bold emphasis added) discusses the idea of city wide classes. Despite the concerns raised in this report, this approach was adopted in the FY 11 budget and will be implemented this year (2010 - 2011). AFAIK, any analysis of integrated classrooms was not made public.

"In January 2008, the Newton Public Schools modeled the cost of creating substantially separate classrooms in each elementary school to determine if clustering children within their schools would reduce costs (by reducing the number of aides). The modeling showed that in 13 of the 14 elementary schools, clustering students into a substantially separate classroom would have been approximately $582,000 more expensive. The analysis did not model the costs of clustering the students across the City or by villages as this “would not only pose a further regression for any inclusive practice, but would add transportation costs.” (As noted above, special education transportation costs grew at a CAGR of 10% from 2004-2008.) Note, too, that space constraints may make the creation of substantially separate classrooms infeasible.

Substantially separate classrooms may also not be desirable or appropriate from an academic standpoint. Because each child’s needs are unique and can vary widely (even within a “common” or “like” disability), there may not be an appropriate grouping at a certain grade level to support substantially separate classrooms that would meet the students’ academic needs. The Newton Public Schools are working on modeling and documenting the viability of more integrated classrooms. The Citizen Advisory Group applauds this effort and encourages the Newton Public Schools to make its analysis available to the public."

State Reports on SPED in Newton

• State 6 year review of Newton's special education programs:
  

This is an excellent guide to what the school system is supposed to do. It also lists where they are close but deficient.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/pqa/review/cpr/reports/2007/0207.doc
Here is the response to the items cited as partially implemented:
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/central_admin/documents/NEWTONCAPReviewCoverLetterandApprovalFormFINAL_001.pdf

• State's Three year mid-cycle review
  

DESE Review of Submitted Reports and Status Sheet

Follow up on three year review
2010 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Mid-cycle Report

Student Services Reports

The student services report is part of the Fiscal and Operations report found here:
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/_documentsFY11/fiscal_&_operational_report_12_13_10.pdf

Student Services/Special Education
The current status of key areas of the Student Services budget is summarized in Appendix A. The deficit for all Student Services accounts is currently -$673,977, an increase of $187,020 since last month with increases in all areas of spending. Over half of the increase in the deficit is due to Special Education transportation; 23 additional students require transport service versus last month. Aide accounts are projected to be over budget by $396,223 due to a higher than expected number of new students on Individualized Education Programs. The deficit for all salaries is $9,163 higher than last month.

The deficit in out-of-district tuition of $130,009 is $21,132 higher than last month due to two additional placements in November; the number of students placed outside the district is currently 171. Circuit Breaker funds were used to credit out-of-district tuition in November in the amount of $1,360,750 including $868,895 from remaining FY10 funds and $491,855 from Quarter 1 of FY11. The forecast for contracted services has increased by $48,632 since last month; an annual deficit of $157, 413 is projected. The contracted services increase is due to additional needs for home based assessments and direct ABA services provided by outside contractors. All aspects of the Student Services budget are reviewed weekly and in some cases daily so that the estimates of full cost for the fiscal year can be as accurate as possible. The Early Childhood Program is currently serving 217 students, one more than last year at this time. Evaluation of preschool student needs is ongoing with 46 students currently receiving evaluation services. Central High School continues to enroll 14 students, the same number as reported in November.

Out of District Placements Graphs

The charts show the growth of out of district placements in the past three years.

In particular, the fraction of "cost share" placements is growing faster than out of district as a whole and faster than Newton placements. "Cost share" placement represent cases where the parents were unable to secure a Free and Appropriate Public Education.

School Committee Minutes related to Special Education

Comments and links from the most recent meeting are below.

Notes from past meetings are here

Three main points related to Special Education at the June 28 meeting. Minutes and meetings summaries are not posted yet.

1 - A new Autism focused school "Integrated Learning Academy - Newton" was approved to open on Oak St. It was a formality for the school committee but Paul Stein did an inspection and reviewed their plan and gave the OK. They still have to get approval from the state, which may happen before September. See their statement of philosophy here: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/_documentsFY10/private_school_approval_ilan_06_28_10.pdf

2 - Judy LC gave a presentation on SPED trends. See her report here: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/_documentsFY10/sped_trends_06_28_10.pdf
One point not mentioned in the meeting: If ASD growth and Specific Learning Disorder reduction continues at current rates, ASD will become the most common diagnosis for SPED in Newton in less than 10 years.

3 - The personnel report lists lots of SPED Aide leaving. See: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee/_documentsFY10/personnel_report_06_28_2010.pdf

Links to NPS and PAC Web Sites

Newton Parent Advisory Committee Web Site: http://www.newtonpac.org

PAC Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newtonpac/

Main Newton Special Education Page: http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/studentservices

The Newton Partnership: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/newtonpartnership

Special Education Programs and Services

Links from NPS Web site:
Main Special Education Page
Stabilization Programs
Guide to All Programs
Co-Taught Neighborhood Classroms

We could add a page here for each school. It can include comments by parents on special education, lists of programs and services etc.

History of special education in Newton

Anyone with history, please add it here or leave it on the discussion page.

More? add your own and comment

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