2010-11-13 LPS - Student Services Staffing & Financial Assessment

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39 6. Systems and Criteria The Lexington Public Schools have hired talented and passionate special education staff and (de facto) ask them to work very independently. Decision making, rules of operation, and broad guidelines are left, primarily, to each individual’s professional judgment. The primary finding concerning district wide special education systems and criteria is that there are few, if any. During our interviews teacher and therapists energetically discussed “how things worked in their building” and commented how different it was from other schools. The variations within buildings were also quite significant. ê¿òÛ´·¹·¾·´·¬§½®·¬»®·¿°»»½¸¿²¼´¿²¹«¿¹»¿²¼ÑÌ All therapists use a wide range of nationally normed test instruments. They use broad-based comprehensive assessments with more detailed specialized tests as well. While these tests produce numeric scores, interviews indicate that professional judgment, not the scores, determine eligibility, grouping, and frequency of service. Each therapist applies their personal judgment. No clear exit criteria seem to exist. ê¾òÌ»¬·²¬®«³»²¬º±®·²·¬·¿´®»º»®®¿´ Lexington has an abundance of testing instruments: A sample of 48 IEPs revealed 138 unique tests administered to these students. Of the 138 different tests administered to the 48 students, 105 were given to only one or two students. This wide range of tests makes creating standard criteria difficult. There does not appear to be any standardization in how students are tested. The students sampled were given anywhere between 1 and 16 tests to determine eligibility for an IEP. This raises the question, “Does the district have a common set of criteria?” 41 of the 48 students received 5 or more tests. The District Management Council 7 Harcourt Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 - Tel:1877-DMC-3500 | Fax:617-491-5266 |www.dmcouncil.org