St. Charles Parish Public Schools, Louisiana

The St. Charles district is a Strategy II site and is completing its second year of technical assistance activities with EMSTAC. The Director of Special Education identified inclusion as the primary topic for initial EMSTAC support. The director of special education and the Linking Agent A (an IDEA liaison in the Office of Special Education) received LA training. The Linking Agent works directly for the director of special education and is responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and support of initiatives for special education in the district.

The Linking Agent has been focusing on implementation efforts on expanding inclusive practices within the two initial schools to include the pre-school program and other special education classes that were not included in the first year of implementation, such as severe-profound or non-categorical classes. Approximately 40% of the teachers in the two schools are involved in the initiative at this time. The Linking Agent and the principal would like to scale up next year, but need to identify training opportunities to ensure positive and effective outcomes. Further, the Linking Agent has begun efforts to include grade 4 students with disabilities in the general education classroom in another elementary school.

To foster an inclusive environment in the schools, a co-teaching model for inclusion has been adopted. The Linking Agent has been instrumental in facilitating week-long in-service programs on co-teaching and inclusion, using professional development days for workshops, and providing workshops for teachers to collaborate and plan appropriately.

In addition to improving inclusive practices, St. Charles Parish is working with the Pre-referral Assessment Model (PAM) to reduce the number of referrals of minority youth to special education. Other goals and initiatives include access to and implementation of technology, early intervention, and literacy.

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