The strength of the educational system in this community is the relentless and continuous pursuit of improvement by our faculty. This is true in all areas, but especially in the special education department. As a district, we are committed to identifying and improving in areas where we believe we could do better. Our goal is simple: adequate academic growth for all students.

One year ago, we determined that we needed input from outside experts to provide us direction and research to inform our planning for our program that serves children with mild to moderate special needs. In this area the annual growth of this group of students was less than we expected. While we had many ideas and directions to look we felt that our effort would be best guided by an outside organization with expertise in this area. We contracted with the Center for Evaluation Services at Bowling Green State University for this evaluation. We felt confident in them as they had worked in our district before and are well known nationally for their research.

The researchers spent several days across a two week period in our schools, our classrooms, and our records. After numerous classroom visits and teacher interviews as well as analysis of the curriculum we identified key areas of focus as a result of their study:

First, we have a well-organized, quality Special Education Program. Some of the specific attributes of which were noted as strengths include: positive classroom climate, strong academic focus and awareness of individual student goals and objectives from the teachers. Additionally, we have dedicated well-prepared Special Education staff members who demonstrate numerous strengths. The research study concluded that with some fine-tuning we can easily enhance an already strong program.

Our work to address the areas identified for improvement began last spring with the adoption of a new reading program. Teachers and other staff members have taken advantage of many professional development opportunities which occurred over the summer and early fall, to ensure that we continue to look for ways in which to strengthen our product. This fall we have also established a special education planning team made up of parents, special education teachers, regular education teachers, and administrators. Their task will be to take the report from the BGSU evaluation and develop and action plan to grow our strengths and to address our needs.

We recently received a rating from the State of Ohio of Excellent with Distinction. The rating speaks to not only the high levels of achievement of our students but also the academic growth of our students. We are proud of the success of our staff and students however; we will not rest on past achievement, we will continue to work to uncover the path for every student to experience success. It is a lifelong journey for our staff members, our students and our community.

Shirley

Hamilton