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Special-education task force lays out barriers and recommendations; board ties next steps to hiring and committee work
Summary
The district's special-education task force reported widespread barriers — including inconsistent interventions, unclear IEP goal-writing and insufficient collaboration — and recommended professional development, clearer flowcharts and structural supports. Board noted implementation depends on hiring a director and future committee work.
The Berkeley School District 87 Board of Education heard a final report from its special-education task force on April 27 that identified multiple barriers across grade levels and proposed a set of practical interventions.
The task force summary described recurring issues at the primary, intermediate and middle-school levels: over-identification and residency checks, lack of research-based tiered interventions, gaps in progress reporting and unclear pathways for writing measurable IEP goals. The presenter said staff surveys and school-level reviews showed inconsistent application of special-education practices and a need for clearer processes.
Proposed solutions included creating an intervention flowchart, clearer exemplars for IEP-goal writing, expanded professional development for general-education and special-education teachers (including de-escalation training), resources for reading and math interventions, and a staffing matrix to clarify minutes and placements. The director said some short-term steps would be deployed while longer-term work would be led by the incoming director of special services and the special-education committee.
As the presenter summarized the task force’s recommendations, trustees were told the task force phase is complete and district leadership will begin implementation discussions once administrative appointments are finalized.
The board expressed support for the recommendations and recognized follow-up will include hiring a director of special services and convening the special-education committee to operationalize the report’s solutions.
