Special Services

In-class support involves adapting and modifying the general education curriculum within the child’s general education classroom. These services are provided from one to five  times per week depending on the child’s needs. The in-class support special education teacher collaborates with the regular education teacher so that students may participate successfully in the mainstream curriculum.         

The resource- pull-out program provides services to classified students in a small group special education classroom in the subject areas of Reading, Language Arts and Math. The groups range in size from six to nine students. The New Jersey Learning Standards are implemented through a combination of general education texts and supplemental curriculum choices. Each student’s IEP goals and objectives are given focus within the realm of the curriculum.

The Learning and/or Language Disabilities (LLD) Classes are self-contained, small-group classes for students with moderate to severe learning disabilities or cognitive deficits. The New Jersey Learning  Standards are presented to all students through individualized and specialized instructional strategies with an emphasis on multi-sensory instruction. Students requiring this degree of support benefit from individualized and small-group instruction, and specialized instructional materials, which are selected to correlate to the continuum of The New Jersey Learning Standards, and are aligned with the academic performance level of the individual students. The classes are staffed by certified Special Education Teachers, with support provided by the related services providers, Child Study Team members, and trained paraprofessionals. A class-wide positive behavior support system is an integral part of the program, and the development of social skills and interpersonal skills is addressed. Individual consideration is given to each student for maximum participation in the regular education environment as deemed appropriate for academic or social enhancement. 

Multilingual language learners are a diverse group of students, with different language, academic, and social-emotional needs. MLL refers to a student who is 5 or older and who is learning English as a second language. Scholars who speak the same language or have similar levels of language proficiency and may need very different kinds of support to succeed in the classroom.

English as a second language (ESL) is an approach in which students who are not native English speakers are mainly taught in English. It focuses on language skills rather than content.

A home language survey is by far the most common means and tool to determine who might or might not be an English learner (EL). It is intended as a means for determining who should be assessed. The purpose is not to decide who is and is not an EL.

We assess the English proficiency level of our scholars in all four areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The purpose of the assessments is threefold:
 

• Identifying a student's need for EL services
• Establishing an EL's English proficiency level
• Determining the number of ELs in a district and their English language and learning needs
   

Screening tests that are specifically designed for identifying Els are available. We use the WIDA assessments such as WIDA MODEL (an interim assessment to predict student performance on ACCESS for ELLs) throughout the year, WIDA Screener Online, and WIDA Access.