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Parma City expands ACES autism and behavior-support classrooms at Parma Park; district pilots OLAF/OLAW assessment framework
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Summary
Administrators reported growth of the district's ACES autism program and behavior-support classrooms at Parma Park and described work using the Ohio Learning and Adulthood Framework (OLAF/OLAW) to identify skill gaps and craft IEP goals.
Parma City School District administrators on April 10 told the board that the district's ACES separate-facility special-education program at Parma Park has expanded to six autism classrooms and two new behavior-support classrooms, keeping 43 students in-district rather than outplacing them.
Ally B (identified as special education supervisor at Parma Park during the presentation) said ACES started with two classrooms in its first year and has grown to meet local needs. She described a district effort to apply for participation in the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) learning framework — referred to in the meeting as the Ohio Learning and Adulthood Framework (OLAW/OLAF) — to create a common reference for skill development, benchmark instructional practices and align employability and life skills assessments.
Ally B said the team conducting the OLAF testing includes parents, the parent mentor, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and social-education supervisors. The district expects to submit pilot feedback to OCALI in May and said the framework will inform individualized education program (IEP) goal development and instruction for early learners.
Administrators also said the district uses ARIS and Unique Learning System benchmark assessments as part of its instructional programming for students with significant needs and that the local ACES continuum now serves a range of learners who previously would have been placed out of district.
Why it matters: Keeping students in-district can reduce disruption to families and enable closer coordination of services; adopting OCALI-aligned frameworks is intended to standardize assessment and goal-setting for students with significant special-education needs.
