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Ventura Unified expands co‑teaching; officials link program to double‑digit gains for students with disabilities
Summary
District staff told the board they have grown co‑teaching from a handful of sections to 65 sections this year—about 455 enrollments—and linked the expansion to sizable test‑score and graduation gains for students with disabilities. Trustees asked about cost, monitoring and continuity through math progressions.
Ventura Unified trustees heard a progress report on the district’s inclusion and co‑teaching initiative and were told the program has grown substantially in two years.
District staff said the secondary co‑teaching rollout expanded to “65 with 455” enrollments this year, meaning roughly 455 class enrollments now include a general‑education teacher and a special‑education teacher in the same room. Staff said the model has been implemented beyond English and math into science, history and elective courses to expand access across the curriculum and to give students with IEPs more access to grade‑level instruction.
“Many of the courses that are available—electives, CTE pathways, even physical education—we wanted to make sure those were inclusive as well,” said Neil, a member of the district inclusion team. He said families and the SEAT committee repeatedly asked for elective access and the district responded by adding co‑teacher sections where classrooms and schedules permitted.
Staff described how the change was resourced: by reallocating existing special‑education staffing and adding a modest districtwide increase of about 4.2 FTE at the secondary level. “There was an add‑on allocation of 4.2 FTE across all secondary sites,” a staff member told trustees, and much of the implementation used underenrolled special‑education sections and existing staff to create co‑teacher assignments rather than hiring hundreds of new teachers.
Board members pressed for details about fiscal impact and student monitoring. One trustee asked whether co‑teaching resulted in a net cost increase; staff answered that much of the staffing came from efficiencies in master scheduling and that the $325,000 generator and other bonds are separate facilities costs. On monitoring, staff said course pass rates and DNF tracking are used to assess student success and that they review IEP goal progress on a quarterly basis.
Superintendent Dr. Antonio Castro and other leaders emphasized academic outcomes. They told the board the district has seen “sizable” gains on the California School Dashboard among students with disabilities—some sites reported increases in the 30–50 percentage‑point range on particular measures. Those improvements, leaders said, appear correlated with the broader rollout of co‑teaching and other inclusive practices.
Trustees urged caution and attention to continuity: several asked how the district will ensure students who need supplemental specialized instruction (SAI) can still access it as they move through grade levels, and how the district will continue co‑teacher supports through math sequences so students do not lose access to upper‑level courses. Staff said they are planning master‑schedule changes in the spring and will monitor DNF and IEP goal data closely, and that additional coursework (for example, Math 2 supports) is on the planning horizon.
The presentation concluded with requests from trustees for regular updates and for disaggregated DNF and IEP‑goal tracking to be shared with the board so trustees can assess whether the staffing model is producing sustained gains for the targeted student groups. Staff said they will follow up with the requested metrics.
