BRENHAM ISD SPECIAL ED DIRECTOR REPORTS IMPROVEMENTS IN PROGRAM
Brenham ISD officials say the district’s special education program has seen “significant growth” since last year, when it was marked as needing considerable improvement to the program.
Special Education Services Director Christine Johnson gave a report on Monday to the Brenham School Board about how the district has developed the program from the 2019-20 school year to improve its standing in statewide indicators.
The district’s Results Driven Accountability (RDA) numbers from 2019-20 put Brenham ISD as one of 23 school districts in the state with a Determination Level 4 – Needs Substantial Intervention, the lowest level indicated in the report. The RDA for the 2020-21 school year, received in October, placed it as one of 183 districts with a ranking of Level 2 – Needs Assistance.
Out of 1,204 districts in the state that received a determination level for 2020-21, 957 were listed as Level 1 – Meets Requirements. Fifty-one were ranked at Level 3 – Needs Intervention, and 13 were graded at Level 4.
Johnson also showed data for special education students that take part in a general education setting. The state requires 70 to 100 percent of students to be in general education classes for 80 percent of the day, but allows up to 10 percent of students to spend less than 40 percent of their day in a general education classroom.
According to Johnson, for special education students that spend at least 80 percent of the day in a regular class setting, the district has improved from a Performance Level 3 ranking of 36.5 percent of students in 2019 to a Performance Level 0 rating of 80.27 percent, per data run last week for the current school year. For students in a regular class less than 40 percent of the day, the district has gone up from a Performance Level 3 ranking of 26.3 percent to a Performance Level 1 score of 13.9 percent.
Johnson said the district has been working to support all stakeholders, including teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators and parents. This past summer, exercises were held on collaborative partners and case management, as well as Positive Approach to Student Success (PASS) training for teachers and administrators. Training opportunities on topics like specially designed instruction, inclusion strategies and effective co-teaching will continue through the current school year into the summer and the start of next school year. The district is also working on providing accommodations and modifications for special education teachers, and is holding regular meetings with department chairs, professional learning communities (PLCs) and administrators.
Johnson said the district has a plan in place and will continue to take steps toward better performance level indicators in the coming years.
After an executive session, the board approved administrative contracts for principals, assistant principals and directors. Teacher contracts will be addressed at the board’s meeting in April.
Special education has become to broad a term! Special education is for special needs children! Now just because you learn at a slower pace you shouldn’t need special education! Just because these great teachers don’t have the time to teach them ! It’s easier to teach children that get it! Rather than the one that needs a little more! Hmm! Teaching was never meant to be easy!
Thank you BISD teachers for speaking up. We need your input You are there and know what’s going on, we don’t. Parents without special needs children have no idea how crucial ARD protocol is for those students and their families. Only when those making the decisions are held accountable can the students become successful. Keep speaking up and letting the general population know what is going on in our schools.
Wow. What a joke. Not good at all
These numbers are a bunch of smoke and mirrors just to get the district out of hot water. All the district did was take the SPED population and plop them into general Ed classes and basically expect teachers, “on-level” students and the SPED population to deal with it and figure it out. I’m in the classroom and teach regular and honors classes. The gap that this move has created in our schools, both with behavior issues and academic progress, is absurd and I’m not sure any amount of so-called “training” is going to close that gap due to the manner in which the district went about this drastic move and change. Not good for students and not good for teachers. The way this was handled and rolled out to the district will cause good teachers to leave this district and the profession all together. You got the numbers where you need them but there are real students and teachers behind those numbers and they are suffering – everyday.
I am here. On campus. Every day. There has been absolutely 0 regular training and support for teachers and staff regarding the District’s push for inclusivity. None. There was a seminar LAST YEAR, but no ongoing support or training. COMMUNITY, WAKE UP. SCHOOL BOARD, WAKE UP. YOU ARE BEING LIED TO!!! Teachers, staff, and students are drowning at our schools in the ineptitude of our administration. Demand action and accountability!
This is NOT acceptable! You can not pass false information to the board.
And to think it’s acceptable that this is ok! BISD also serves the residents at the state school. The only facility that serves school age children. BISD is receiving extra funding for these residents. Can we not do better? I think the Special Ed Directors credentials need to be reviewed.
But the whole gammit of BISD is below standards. Tax paying citizens need to ask why.
Unlike the current administration the previous director was putting inclusive practices into place one campus and one student at a time. It’s really sad that the district is only making changes to have the numbers needed for TEA. You should make changes based on what is best for students, period. Inclusive practices were being put into place as well as training without having outside “experts” come in and tell everyone where the students were going to go without having input from the ARD committee. That is both unethical and illegal. Maybe parents should ask whether they were asked or told about the changes and ask are their child’s needs being met and academic progress made. I don’t believe half of the information here. Training…ha…hasn’t happened and not being sustained. Those susposed experts also said there would be support in the classrooms…ask the teachers if there’s enough support. When teachers and students aren’t supported for students with special needs then the only people that suffer are the students.