Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) supports an integrated education model in which general educators and special educators work together to educate the range of student learners in the schools. Building administrators, principals, METCO director, and coordinators of student services, work collaboratively to benefit all students. When special education topics for professional development are offered, general education teachers and teams of general and special education teachers are encouraged to attend. Similarly, special educators are encouraged to attend content area professional development. Regularly scheduled grade-level teams, including special educators, meet weekly. These team meetings provide the opportunity to discuss topics including but not limited to: individual students, learning styles, student work, curriculum, instruction, and assessment, with the benefit of the general and special education knowledge base and collaboration.

Teachers are encouraged to incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into lesson planning, instruction and assessment. Such teaching is designed to accommodate all students by considering the full range of their learning needs in the development phase of: the school environment, curriculum, instruction, and evaluation. This approach provides meaningful learning opportunities for all students linked to the curriculum frameworks. Assistive technology is integrated into classroom and pullout environments to provide access and enhance student performance.

The district embraces a philosophy of inclusion, which provides individualized programs to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment with appropriate supports. Special educators provide direct services to students within the general education classroom whenever possible to meet student learning needs. Collaborative and out-of-district special education placements represent less than one half of one percent of the student population. Generally, programs and services are crafted from the many services and trained professionals available within the district to create a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Where services can be combined and delivered appropriately and effectively within cohorts, this is done to maintain efficiency and provide social/academic environments matched to student needs. Co-treatment options are also considered where appropriate for these same reasons.

Regardless of the disability category or the intensity of the disability, all in-district students spend some part of their day in the mainstream. This makes it extremely difficult to label programs, as the LPS program as seen in its most basic form is thoughtful inclusion. Students are only removed from general education classrooms when appropriate programs cannot be delivered by providing appropriate supports and services within the general education classroom.

Cooperative teaching between general and special educators, tutors and classroom aides, supports inclusion. The district does not have full day, sub-separate programs or classrooms where students spend their days with like disabled peers. The district does not have sub-separate settings where students who have, for example, autism or language based disabilities, receive all their academic instruction. Instead, the district has the overarching program of inclusion and programs that support inclusion. These support programs include a language based setting, learning centers, behavior support, and related services.

The language-based program includes a cohort of students who receive language arts, social conversational skills, and math instruction in this small group setting for two to three hours per day. This cohort is severely language impaired, requires intensive language and communication intervention, and modification of curriculum and methodology to access the curriculum. As appropriate, the district occasionally includes students with other disability profiles in this program when the learning needs are compatible with the instruction and class composition.

Learning centers provide individual or small group instruction to students who require extra support, modified content, modified performance criteria or modified instruction to develop functional skills and to progress in the general education curriculum. Special educators oversee learning centers with the assistance of tutors. Students may spend as little as forty-five minutes per week out of the mainstream classroom in this setting. More heavily involved students may spend several periods per day in this setting receiving individual intensive remediation and skills training. Other students may work in small groups in a structured math program or on social skills several times per week. The areas addressed in the learning center can be generally categorized as academic, organizational, and social skills. Students with disabilities that impact these areas are supported as they access the center on a daily or weekly basis.

To support appropriate and productive student behavior, the Lincoln Campus uses a Levels Program that customizes support for students in the mainstream. Special educators with behavioral expertise oversee this program. It utilizes a system of individual contracts, which increase and decrease levels of student independence based upon specific, agreed upon criteria. This program maximizes student independence and the amount of time the student can productively be included in the mainstream, while providing very structured support when needed. Parents are an integral part of the development and implementation of the Levels Program for their child.

The Hanscom Campus uses similar behavior assessment and intervention techniques tailored to individual needs. Positive behavioral supports are clearly articulated and reviewed regularly by the school team.

District-wide, in-house, inclusion, behavior, and applied behavior analysis specialists consult to all the schools. They assist teachers, other school personnel, and parents to analyze patterns of behavior, implement interventions that provide positive behavioral supports, and monitor the effectiveness of the interventions. Similarly, these professionals support the development of specialized academic and functional programs.

Some students’ educational programs require related services. District faculty includes the following related service providers: speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, social workers, and school psychologists. These individuals allow the district to use an interdisciplinary team approach that provides an unusually high quality process for the evaluation and identification of students eligible for special education. These individuals also provide consultation to teachers and direct service to students in both the mainstream and pullout model settings, depending on student need. Students work individually or in small groups on skills impacted by disabilities that require specialized instruction provided by the professionals licensed in these areas.

The district also cultivates relationships with other specialists who serve as consultants to the schools on an ongoing or as needed basis. They provide consultation, training, and direct service.

Services are recommended to students in special education based on individual needs, drawing from a menu of the services described above. The district evolves and develops new programs in response to new needs within the district. A comprehensive program is devised for each student incorporating the services appropriate to address his/her specific learning profile. Therefore, it is quite possible, in fact likely, to have students who fall within the same disability category receiving different services. This is because the individual needs of the student, rather than any particular diagnosis, is the defining factor when developing the Individualized Education Program.