Special Education

Program Overview

Kenosha Unified School District #1 is a school district of 22,119 students served at 34 public school sites, and three charter schools. The District offers twenty-three K-5 or Pre K-5 sites, six middle school sites and six 9-12 grade secondary school sites. The majority of students in special education are served cross-categorically at their neighborhood school and services are provided based upon the level of need demonstrated and documented on the Individual Education Plan (IEP). Although special education teachers and classes are progressively being reclassified as cross-categorical in schools, attempts are made to provide a range of specific learning disability, cognitive disability and emotional /behavioral disturbance certified teachers or multiply certified teachers in each school. Separate programs continue to exist for students with severe cognitive disabilities, early childhood special education needs, severe emotional/behavioral disturbance, hearing impairment and blindness.

Special education and related services are structured around the identified needs and services required by a student’s IEP. All services received by students must be within the context of a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment as identified in the student’s IEP. The services by the district allows flexibility, in that services are provided in a categorical setting in some instances, while at other times, those services may be provided to students in a multi-categorical setting based on the needs of an individual student. A continuum of least to most restrictive educational settings are available to special education students.

Strategic Alignment

Special Education and Student Support priorities fall under Strategic Plan Strategies 4, 5, 6, and 7, identifying the necessity of promoting ethical and responsible behaviors on the part of students, as well as the district’s need to work effectively with students impacted by social influences that interfere with their ability to achieve. Embracing our diverse student population, including students with disabilities, as well as using the most effective instructional strategies to enhance proficiency levels, are also clearly detailed in this guiding document. A variety of Belief and Parameter statements also reflect Student Support operational definitions, i.e. “supportive environments are essential for learning”, “collaboration essential for organizational success”, operate safe schools conducive to learning”, and “we will not tolerate behavior that demeans…”.

Program Focus

All schools within the KUSD#1 boundaries have special education services.  As per the December, 2005 headcount there were 3,093 students enrolled in special educaiton.   The following information is a breakdown of the enrollment for specific disability categories:

• Autism – 122
• Cognitively Disabled – 250
• Deaf/Blind – 0
• Emotional Behavioral Disability – 319
• Hearing Impaired – 48
• Orthopedically Impaired – 60
• Other Health Impaired – 231
• Significant Developmental Delay – 79
• Specific Learning Disability – 1149
• Speech or Language Impaired – 815
• Traumatic Brain Injury – 7
• Visually Impaired – 13

Special Education services are provided for students beginning at the age of three and up through the age of 21yrs.11mos. Parochial/private schools students also are eligible to receive services. The incident of special education students in our schools is approximately 14%.  This is in line with the national and state incident rates.

Students who are classified as special education students, for the most part, attend the neighborhood boundary school where they reside.  There are 6 self-contained classrooms for elementary students with emotional/behavioral disturbances who need to be self-contained throughout the district. All middle school and high schools have the capacity to self-contain students at the neighborhood school.  There are 3 sites, one at each level, for the Hearing Impaired population. There is one school site for the students with blindness or visually impaired.  There are 6 elementary sites for the CDS students at the elementary level, 4 at the middle school and 6 at the high school level.  All other students attend their neighborhood schools and receive services through full inclusion with support for learning, resource room support, consultation, or self-contained models. 

Following is a breakdown of the staff required to meet the needs of these students:

• Special Education Teachers                      230
• Speech/language Therapists                        40
• Special Health Care Nurses                           3     
• Physical Therapists                                        4
• Occupational Therapists –                             8.8
• Specially Designed Physical Education        4.5
• Program Support Teachers                          16
• Assistive Technology Teachers                     4
• Transition/Work Experience Teachers          4
• Early Childhood (3/4)                                  20.5
• Early Childhood (ECK)                               11

Staff to Student Ratios:

Special Education:

Elementary – 9:1       Middle – 11:1       High Schools – 16:1

Special education support staff ratios are as follows:

Physical Therapy – 25:1

Occupational Therapy – 45:1

Speech/Language Therapy – 42:1

The support staff ratios reflect a higher ratio than recommended by DPI for Occupational Therapy and Speech/Language Therapy.  Additional staff has not been added to these areas due to the need to use additional FTE’s for special education teaching positions. 

Benefits or Impact on Student Learning

This year the Department of Special Education underwent a DPI Focus Monitoring Review, due to the discrepancy in reading achievement of 8^th grade special education students when compared to the general education population.  Test data, in addition to a site review by DPI in December, has led to the development and implementation of an Improvement Plan to raise test scores and special education students’ reading achievement.  The professional development and activities sited in the Improvement Plan continue to be the focus for the department.

In August of 2005, it was determined that Kenosha Unified Schools District had a disproportionate number of minority students in Special Education.  This finding has led to a number of activities to empower general education to provide remedial interventions for students prior to referral for special education.  An amount equivalent to 15% of the IDEA budget must be designated to assist general education with implementing these strategies, and/or providing resources for interventions.

For the first time, the amount of the IDEA funds allocated to Districts throughout the state will decrease by 1% for the 2006-07 school year.

Increasing accountability demands require demonstrating progress for students who are economically disadvantaged, from racial and ethnic minority groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency.

Meeting these challenges requires rethinking student support programs, resources, and personnel.  The student support office is embarking on a bold plan that measures specific outcomes to help determine effectiveness in addressing barriers to learning, e.g. attendance, truancy, serious disciplinary infractions, bullying, harassment, AOD violations, etc.  Steps are in place to develop these outcome measures, including the provision of a system of allocating counselors – social workers based on enrollments, poverty status, achievement levels, and the # of students with severe emotional/behavioral disabilities in particular schools.  Additionally, the Student Intervention Team process is in “full-swing” in all district buildings, pointing the district toward a more comprehensive and coordinated system of facilitating interventions for children experiencing a wide variety of academic –social – emotional problems.  Finally, attached are the 2006 Special Education Parent and Adult Student Surveys detailing a high degree of satisfaction on the part of parents and students with KUSD special education services.

With 809 students exiting special education programs over the past year, the district has maintained consistency in the number of children with disabilities.  We also note improvement in attendance rates over the past three years.  However, student outcomes involving graduation rates, serious disciplinary violation, out of school suspensions – expulsions (particularly for children with disabilities), and overrepresentation in special education placements of African-American students in programs for Emotional Behavioral Disturbance warrant significant attention.

Additionally, the level of youth suicide, both locally and nationally, demands the provision of more intensive counselor – social worker student support, along with curricula, crisis response plans, and the development of additional community connections to strategically focus on best practice suicide prevention and intervention activities.

Glossary of Special Education and Legal Terms

IEP Language for Translation to Spanish