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.