Special‑education report: district cites modest CAASPP gains, pilot math intervention shows early classroom improvements
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Summary
Special Education Director Dr. Carla Curry reported incremental CAASPP gains for students with IEPs, said 63% of tested students improved year‑to‑year, and highlighted a math 'small test of change' (individualized instruction paired with co‑teaching) that produced promising preliminary outcomes at San Marcos and Santa Barbara high schools.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District’s special education department presented progress and early outcomes on March 24, citing multiple measures of student growth and steps to expand family engagement.
Dr. Carla Curry, the district’s director of special education, told the board that while standardized proficiency for students with IEPs remains low by state measures, several indicators show growth: CAASPP/CAST English language arts proficiency for students with IEPs rose from about 14% in 2022 to 18% most recently, and district testing showed 63% of the 532 students who took the CAASPP improved their score from the prior year.
Why it matters: trustees and staff emphasized that standardized tests are only one measure for students with disabilities and that IEP progress monitoring and multiple classroom measures are central to evaluating growth. The presentation combined quantitative indicators with classroom pilots designed to better align specialized instruction and general‑education coursework.
Pilot math intervention: Dr. Curry described a small test of change that redesigned an individualized instruction (II) course into a focused math‑I intervention paired with co‑taught math sections. Christine Denton, a San Marcos High School teacher, described classroom methods — small‑group explicit instruction, preteaching, co‑teaching and paper‑and‑pencil options — and reported strong attendance‑to‑outcome links. At San Marcos, students who attended consistently tended to pass; at Santa Barbara High School, 15 of 20 students in the II math‑I course were passing at the term‑3 progress report. Staff said the results are preliminary and final outcomes will be presented at the end of the school year.
Family engagement and survey: the district introduced a 16‑question family participation survey for IEP meetings launched in October; participation stands at about 23% with a 50% response goal. Staff described plans to increase completion rates with training, electronic links and targeted outreach; survey results showed high satisfaction on most items but identified two areas for improvement (about 25% of respondents did not feel comfortable disagreeing at an IEP meeting; only about 37% of students attend their own IEP meetings).
Board concerns and follow‑up: trustees asked for measures that better reflect individual growth (IEP goal completion rates and progress reports per grading period) and for benchmarking against high‑performing districts. Dr. Curry said teams use multiple measures (IEP goals, IXL growth, classroom performance) and pledged to return in June with end‑of‑year outcomes, including counts of students meeting IEP goals.
Representative quotes:"When students become eligible for an IEP, they're typically 1, 2, sometimes 3 years below grade level," Dr. Carla Curry, Special Education Director.
"We made the II class into a math intervention with preteaching and co‑teaching, and students who attended consistently were passing," Christine Denton, San Marcos High School.
What’s next: staff said they would expand math interventions into junior high next year, continue the family survey outreach to reach 50% participation, and return to the board in June with final pilot results and counts of IEP‑goal attainment.
