BTECH Instructional Support Services
Vision
Our vision is to afford all students an equal opportunity to succeed through high-quality, evidence-based practices and we will do so by connecting and communicating with families, students, and school teams. Together, in collaboration with students, we will focus on the positive attributes of students and recognize the individual strengths and achievements of our students while promoting their future successes.
Mission
The mission of the ISS Department at the Business Technology is to identify students who meet the Federal and State criteria for a disability requiring specialized instruction and/or accommodations through an Individualized Educational Plan or 504 Accommodation Plan. It is our mission to provide services in the least restrictive environment that will empower access to our students to become active members of society based on their individual strengths and abilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive setting of dedicated multi-disciplinary teams while involving parents and community members to help meet the academic, emotional, and social needs of all our students in a safe and positive environment.
The Special Education Continuum at BTECH
BTECH provides a rigorous and comprehensive program for all students with disabilities. The ISS Department offers a range of quality instructional supports and services designed to meet the individual needs of students while providing meaningful access, participation, and progress in the general curriculum. The ISS Department works to ensure that our students become adaptable life-long learners and responsible, ethical citizens, with the ability to make informed decisions in a changing global society. We do this by providing a curriculum that is rich with real-world application and practical learning.
We provide Integrated Co-Teaching and Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS) as well as related services to afford students with disabilities enriched opportunities to thrive in an educational environment that actively promotes continuous academic, social, and personal growth.
Integrated Co- Teaching
This program delivers specially designed instruction to a group of students through the support of a special education teacher in the regular education classroom setting for the core academic areas of Mathematics, Science, English, and Social Studies. Co-teaching teams employ a variety of instructional practices designed to increase students’ access and exposure to the general education curriculum and may encompass team, parallel, alternative, and station teaching models. In addition, students in the Integrated Co-teaching Program are provided the opportunity to meet with their special education teachers on a daily or alternate day basis for the purposes of previewing and reinforcing those critical academic concepts addressed in the general education setting
Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS)
This program option is provided on an alternate-day basis at a staffing ratio of 5:1 (i.e. a maximum of five students to one teacher). Teachers provide students with the assistance they require to benefit from regular education instruction and assist students in meeting their IEP annual goals. Students receiving this program option may be grouped with students who require a daily resource room as described above. This service is provided in the form of direct pull-out special education support on alternate days.
Declassification
Across the United States of America (U.S.), students who receive special education services continue to do so throughout their educational careers without ever being considered for declassification and/or declassified from their recommended programs. Many of these students are confined to special education even when data suggests that they should not be. When warranted, special education services are indeed helpful. When unwarranted, students suffer, as does our educational system and nation. Simply stated, it is inappropriate for a student to remain in a particular special educational setting if they have the ability or have proven that they should move along the special education continuum or discontinue services.
Declassification will be presented as an option to those students who have made such significant progress that the Committee on Special Education has recommended that they no longer continue to require direct special education support. However, such students may be approved for declassification support services for one additional year to aid in their transition from special education to full-time regular education. Declassification Support Services typically encompass periodic (quarterly) indirect consultation sessions provided by a special education teacher or related service provider. Students receiving this level of support often continue to receive their program modifications and testing accommodations, during their “declassification year.”