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Montgomery County details "Unique Learning Needs" plan, reports gains in ELL and behavior supports
Summary
Director of instruction Ashley Forbes summarized Goal 2 (Unique Learning Needs), reporting student exits from ELL services, growth-target gains, district behavior-team training and plans to expand dyslexia screening and IEP supports across schools.
Ashley Forbes, director of instruction and curriculum for middle school, presented the district's Goal 2 work on Unique Learning Needs (ULN) at the Oct. 25 work session and described both recent accomplishments and planned actions.
"ULN stands for unique learning needs," Forbes said, and the district—s vision is to "work in partnership with all stakeholders to ensure that every student's individual needs are met in their least restrictive environment through quality education plans to achieve their fullest potential." Forbes outlined five groups covered by ULN: English language learners; students with 504 plans; students with behavior-support plans; students screened for dyslexia characteristics; and students with individualized education programs.
Forbes reported specific measures of progress in 2024–25: 305 students exited English language services and 432 met growth targets, and the district trained over 200 administrators, academic coaches, teachers and educational assistants in a seven-step approach to language-rich classrooms. On behavior supports, Forbes said the district established a fully trained district behavior team, implemented collaborative behavior-team meetings at elementary and middle schools and trained more than 200 employees in behavior techniques.
Planned actions for 2025–26 include continuing professional development, rolling collaborative behavior teams out to the high school level, maintaining consistency of structures and procedures across grade levels, ongoing dyslexia screening events at the learning center for the community, and expanding instructional supports so students receive both high-quality core instruction and high-quality interventions that match their IEPs.
Forbes said the district uses a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), aiming to meet 80–90% of student needs in Tier 1, with increasing intensity for Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. She said that instructionally appropriate individualized education plans (IEPs) training helped the district surpass its least-restrictive-environment target on the annual performance report for the 2024–25 school year.
Ending: Forbes closed by reiterating the goal to foster student growth through learning experiences and interventions tailored to unique student needs and invited questions from the board; no formal action was taken during the study session.
