 Department Overview
Student Support programs provide the bridge between learning and the mental, physical, emotional, and social health factors that determine educational achievement and life success. With specifically defined responsibilities, school psychologists, counselors, social workers, nurses, alcohol and drug abuse prevention specialists, and teacher consultants are employed to address these barriers to learning. The office is also responsible for attendance and truancy policy and practice, student records, district crisis response planning, student intervention team management, special education referrals, homebound instruction, Section 504 Accommodation Plans, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Plans. Student Support Administration and staff are also actively engaged in a variety of formal school-community collaborations.
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
KUSD’s
collaborative model of student services delivery provides established
mechanisms in which counselors, psychologists, and social workers integrate
services among each other and within the total school environment.
Communication is formally established (monthly staff mtgs.) by
administration, and the provision of services is coordinated, comprehensive,
and integrated (Student Intervention Teams).
Teachers are active and equal members of problem-solving processes and
share responsibility for students needing support services in order to
succeed in school. In conjunction
with developmental guidance and AODA prevention curricular delivery,
therefore, a continuum of services that address prevention, intervention, and
follow-up is consistently provided.
Student
Support Staff:
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Safe and Drug Free Schools Manager
- Student Asst. in Life Counselors
- AODA Prevention Specialist
- School Nurses
- Homebound Instruction Teacher Consultant
- Homebound Instructors
- ADHD-504 Consultant
- Attendance Officer
Related Staff Outputs (2005-06):
1365
Individual Psychological Evaluations – 1052 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Ed Plans – 87 Student 504 Accommodation Plans – 94 Homebound Evaluations –
103 Private/Parochial School Consultations
Student to Staff Ratios:
Student
Support (counselors and social workers) ratios have not kept pace with
increasing student enrollments. In order to support a well-designed student
support infrastructure, professional
associations and DPI guidelines recommend a 250:1 student to staffing ratio.
Our current status:
Elementaries
339:1
Middle Schools
331:1
High
Schools 343:1
Benefits or Impact on Student Learning
During the 2005-06 school year,
the Department of Special Education underwent a DPI Focus Monitoring Review, due
to the discrepancy in reading achievement of 8th 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 School 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 5% of the IDEA budget must be
designated to assist general education with implementing these strategies,
and/or providing resources for interventions.
This at a time when the amount of the IDEA funds allocated to Districts throughout the
state has decreased 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. The 2006 Special Education Parent and Adult
Student Surveys detail 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.
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