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Dearborn special education staff report positive state site visit, highlight co-teaching and inclusion work
Summary
The district told the board a Michigan Department of Education site visit praised Dearborn’s co-teaching, MTSS and inclusion practices and invited the district to present its work at state meetings.
Mike Casale, executive director of special populations, gave the board a recap of a least restrictive environment (LRE) site visit the Michigan Department of Education conducted in the 2024–25 school year.
Casale said state Office of Special Education staff visited Fortson High School and Whitmore Bowles Elementary along with representatives from Wayne County RESA to review local practices for educating students with disabilities alongside their peers.
He told the board the review was framed as a site visit to “see what’s going well or how we can help and support to improve.” Casale said reviewers praised the district’s full implementation of a co-teaching model (a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the same classroom), the district’s multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), and practices that promote inclusion of students with significant disabilities. After the visits, Dearborn was asked to present at the state board meeting in April and to share its model at state conferences.
Casale said Dearborn has a special-education indicator report that includes compliance and results components. He told trustees that for four consecutive years the district has received a “meets requirement” rating on that report, and that, based on district data, the district met the requirement for special-education students graduating with a high-school diploma for the first time in 2023. When a trustee asked for a graduation-rate figure, Casale said it was “about in the mid seventies” and offered to provide a specific number.
Casale credited coordinated teams — administrators, coordinators, paraprofessionals, social workers, speech pathologists and community partners including the district’s special-education PTA — for the work. He noted the district has increased social-worker staffing substantially since 2016.
He also outlined ongoing priorities: enhancing specially designed instruction (SDI), refining tiered behavioral assessment and supports, expanding professional development for co-teaching, and developing community partnerships that provide transition and employment opportunities for students aged 18–26. Casale cited Project SEARCH as an example of a community-based transition program and described a recent case where a district intern obtained full-time employment through the program.
Casale closed by saying the district will continue to refine systems and professional development to close achievement gaps and improve outcomes for students with disabilities.
