Assessment
RUSD is lucky enough to have a staff of creative and knowledgeable teachers who employ a variety of different interventions to support struggling students, as well as a learning center model which provides students in the regular education program with access to extra academic support when necessary. When students fail to progress adequately despite these extra interventions, the school will convene a Student Study Team made up of the the school principal, the student’s teachers, the student’s parents, and the school support staff, such as the psychologist and the Learning Center teacher. The purpose of this meeting is to brainstorm further interventions that might support the student. As part of this meeting, the team will consider whether the student needs additional support, and possibly modified educational standards, as part of the Special Education program.
In order to qualify for Special Education, students must undergo a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment which examines the possible causes for their academic difficulties. Students are not generally assessed until general education support services and interventions have been shown not to result in academic improvement. The assessments, conducted by the school psychologist, the school’s resource specialist, and possibly by the district Speech and Language Pathologist, aim to profile the student’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, consider social or emotional reasons for academic difficulties, and provide a standardized measure of the student’s current level of academic achievement. This information will be used to develop interventions that will support their continued academic growth, and also to determine whether they meet the (link to article) eligibility requirements for Special Education under state and federal law. Assessments typically require 4 to 10 hours of one-on-one work with the psychologist and learning center teacher. At the end of the assessment process, a meeting is held with the student’s parents and all relevant school staff to discuss the findings.
In order to qualify for Special Education, students must undergo a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment which examines the possible causes for their academic difficulties. Students are not generally assessed until general education support services and interventions have been shown not to result in academic improvement. The assessments, conducted by the school psychologist, the school’s resource specialist, and possibly by the district Speech and Language Pathologist, aim to profile the student’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, consider social or emotional reasons for academic difficulties, and provide a standardized measure of the student’s current level of academic achievement. This information will be used to develop interventions that will support their continued academic growth, and also to determine whether they meet the (link to article) eligibility requirements for Special Education under state and federal law. Assessments typically require 4 to 10 hours of one-on-one work with the psychologist and learning center teacher. At the end of the assessment process, a meeting is held with the student’s parents and all relevant school staff to discuss the findings.