Inclusive Schools annual report: district highlights higher inclusion rates, peer tutoring and post‑graduation outcomes

Erin Anderson, the district’s director of special education, presented the Inclusive Schools Resolution annual report and walked trustees through metrics and programmatic efforts meant to expand equitable access for students with disabilities.

Anderson described a "continuum of services" approach that expands supports where needed and reported that roughly 75% of preschool‑age students with IEPs are in classrooms supported by early‑childhood teachers with additional services or co‑teaching models. For K–12 she said about 65% of students with IEPs spend 80% or more of their day with general‑education peers; a middle grouping spends 40%–79% of the day in general‑education settings. Anderson also noted the district serves about 2,500 students with IEPs and that approximately 8% of those students are working with the Dynamic Learning Map core (a reporting classification that requires instruction from a licensed special‑education teacher).

The report highlighted district successes: peer‑tutoring programs (more than 150 peer tutors in secondary programs), Unified Champion Schools at three sites, and a high‑school graduate survey showing encouraging post‑school outcomes. Anderson said, referencing older data, that among a cohort of graduates with IEPs, 25% reported enrollment in higher education and 81% reported being in higher education or competitively employed; she said the district ranked highly in the state on those measures. Board members thanked staff and requested additional year‑over‑year breakdowns on behavior‑unit placements and clearer definitions of special‑education classifications for future reports.

No formal action was requested; the board praised the work and asked staff to continue refining metrics and to provide follow‑up data where feasible.