The Board of Education heard both an overview of district special education programs and a report on the district’s response to pending state reading mandates at its December 6 meeting.

Director of Pupil Services Deborah Petersen and Supervisors of Special Education Sonia Raquel and Maureen Hall shared the overview with the school board.

As shared at the meeting, current special education programs include the Integrated Preschool Program, the Program for Adaptive Learning (PAL), the Social Emotional Adjustment Learning (SEAL) program, the Reaching Independence through Structured Education (RISE) program, the Tools for Living program, the Supportive Alternative Individualized Learning (SAIL) program, and the Newtown Community Partnership (NCP) program.

Petersen reminded the school board members of a 2019 Special Education Self Study that resulted in action steps in the areas of specialized reading programs and certified staff, confidentiality, professional development and training, staffing, the Planning and Placement Team (PPT) and the Individualized Education Program (IEP) processes, and leadership and accountability.

Later, Petersen spoke about evaluations and referrals and compared recent years and the number of evaluations and referrals per year.

The 2021-22 school year, Petersen shared, was “one of the most normal years that we’ve had since we came back from the pandemic.”

“What we have seen specifically with last year ... is we have learned through our child find obligations who to appropriately evaluate,” said Petersen, referring to a difference in the number of evaluations to the number of students identified through the process as needing specialized learning. In more recent years, there was less of a difference between the two numbers.

Different Measures Of Success

Petersen also reflected that the district measures success in different ways for its students. As of December 5, 2022, there are 677 students in the district who require specialized instruction.

“The look of success for our students who have IEPs is very different,” Petersen said, adding that goals can be “scaffolded” for students and those goals are written for yearly progress.

Since the pandemic, Petersen shared that Newtown’s special education students have “made growth.”

Regarding reading, Petersen said, “We did make gains, which is fantastic.” Gains in math were also noted across the district, following the pandemic.

Progress after the pandemic, Petersen reflected, is “a testament to our teachers and our staff.”

Board of Education members asked a range of questions after the presentation, and Petersen shared the district’s special education department is “open to talking to any parent.”

Later in the meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti and Director of Teaching and Learning Kara DiBartolo shared how the district is preparing to respond to state reading mandates during a presentation on pre-kindergarten to third grade reading.

DiBartolo said that the “science of reading research has been conducted over the last five decades.”

“We must teach in a manner that affirms children’s experiences, language, and knowledge,” said DiBartolo, adding that learning to read is complex and it takes many specific steps to train the brain to read.

Implementing State Mandate

According to the presentation, a public act passed by the state legislature of June 2021 resulted in the requirement for the Center for Literacy Research and Reading Success at the Connecticut State Department of Education, with the Reading Leadership Implementation Council reviewing and approving reading curricula/programs that must be implemented by all state public school districts for the 2023-24 school year.

Uberti shared that last school year districts were told more information would be “forthcoming.” Then, more specific information was shared in late September of this year, when the state released six programs that had been approved for use by public school districts. Since the approved programs were released, the district has been working to evaluate the programs for a best fit for Newtown.

According to Uberti, school districts also had an opportunity to apply for waivers before December 16, but as of the school board’s December 6 meeting no waiver documents had been released.

After evaluation and consideration of the district’s current practices and the curricula/programs approved by the state, Uberti recommended that it is in the best interest of students, teachers, and parents to move forward with the selection of a new reading resource.

A district “core review team” is working on reviewing the approved programs, according to DiBartolo.

“Our goal is to identify two programs for further consideration,” DiBartolo said.

Once two programs are identified, DiBartolo said those will become pilot programs for the district and parents will be engaged in the process of further evaluation.

According to both Uberti and DiBartolo “the hope” is for the school board to be informed of which two programs will be chosen to pilot by early January.

Following the presentation, Board of Education Chair Deborra Zukowski said, “It sounds like our programs will be even stronger.”

Education Editor Eliza Van can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.