ACPS has commissioned an evaluation of the services it provides to students with disabilities (SWD). The report and executive summary are now available and you can view both on the ACPS website.
In November, we’ll be providing avenues for collecting your comment on ACPS’ proposed response to the evaluation through in-person forums and an online survey.
The SWD Evaluation Report provides ACPS with critical insights into areas of ACPS programming and services for students with disabilities.
The report finds that “ACPS has a solid foundation on which to build”; however, without “…focus, a strong vision from the superintendent and enacted by the senior leadership staff, an appropriate allocation of resources, mandated professional development, and clear, non-negotiable, accountability measures…” the division’s services for students with disabilities will stagnate. Information from the report will be used to chart a purposeful course over the next three years for realizing success for students with disabilities and ensuring that every student succeeds.
The evaluation of services to students with disabilities was conducted to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of programs and services for students with disabilities, and their families, to inform the division and relevant stakeholders in areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement. Key stakeholder groups have been represented throughout the process ranging from the development of the guiding research questions and Request for Proposals (RFP) process to the ongoing work of developing an action plan in response to the findings of the report.
Evaluation work began during the summer of 2017 in collaboration with a competitively selected external evaluator, Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG). PCG will present the report findings at the October 25 School Board meeting. In the weeks that follow, ACPS will present the draft action plan crafted collaboratively by 36 stakeholders (teachers, school administrators, division administrators, and parent/Special Education Advisory Committee representative) in response to the report’s findings and recommendations.
ACPS will collect public comments through a series of in-person forums on November 13 and 14 and through an online survey that will run November 9 – 20. An action plan is expected to be presented to the Board at the December 20 meeting.