Working Together to Keep Our Most Challenged Students in Traditional Schools

By Michael Kaufman Ph.d, Special Education Advisor

Special Education Articles

With an alarming increase in Autism and other disabilities in the United States, as well as evolving curricula that increasingly focuses on individualized learning, parents are looking at private specialized schools as viable options to help students with learning challenges and behavioral issues.

In an environment in which students benefit from catered instruction in much smaller classes, it is the hope of public school officials that these children can be put on a path to high school graduation and college so they can learn a valuable profession.

Decisions to send students outside the school district are not taken lightly; most school districts only consider it when there are no other options. This demographic is tiny, representing only 100,000 students among the 60 million now enrolled in America’s public schools. Tuition and transportation costs are expensive for these placements, and there is the stigma that each student must bear among his or her friends for being “sent out.”

Just as public schools continue to evolve, so do private specialized schools.

My company – Specialized Education Services Inc. (SESI) – now operates 48 schools in 12 states; most of which are in partnerships with local public school districts. There is a common misperception that we take special-needs students from the public schools and then try to keep them in separate schools for as long as possible.

Rather, it is the direct opposite. The focus of specialized schools should be to work as closely as possible with the public schools, even encouraging the students to participate in after-school clubs and sport teams with their friends at their local public school.

Why? Because at SESI and at other similar specialized schools, our goal is to have special-needs students return to their mainstream classrooms as quickly as possible. Often, we are working with students who are up to seven years behind their grade level. So, through intensive learning, we need to accomplish more in a few weeks than most public school district would accomplish in a few months.

We use our limited time with the students to identify the real issues, work with their families, outside professionals and the school district to devise workable solutions and then return these kids to their sending schools – hopefully within a year or two.

Toward this lofty goal, we always try to open our schools in the same neighborhoods where our students have attended public schools. We have schools in the center of such cities as Pittsburgh, Washington D.C. and Baltimore to ensure the kids remain in the community fabric, which is a key strategy to easing their transition back into the public schools.

Moreover, in 12 of the schools that SESI operates, our teachers are actually placed in public school classrooms. In schools in Maryland and Connecticut, SESI students spend class time with our teachers during the day to learn the core curriculum, such as math and science, but then mingle with friends for lunch, recess, gym and all other aspects of the school day. Such an arrangement is a win-win, as tuition costs are considerably lower and students have an easier time transitioning from SESI back to the regular school cycle.

To help special-needs students as much as possible, we need to build a solid bridge between public schools and specialized schools, creating a true public-private partnership across the U.S.

A key component is the in-district partnership, where our specialists can work hand-in-hand with teachers and administrators in the public school, sharing best practices and working together to enhance the students’ overall educational experience.

As the students are our shared priority, this can never be about pointing fingers or focusing on who is responsible for perceived failures. Each side has their own experts and assets that need to be leveraged for the best interest of the child. And there needs to be dedicated professionals on all sides who truly enjoy working with these students and collaborating with fellow professionals.

Educators often say that every student has the potential to make contributions to society, no matter what disabilities they face. But they cannot be expected to succeed when they are simply handed off as someone else’s problem.

It’s become trite, but, yes, it does take a village to serve our most challenged students. And that begins with the entire education team pulling together to ensure at-risk kids stay within the mainstream for as long as possible.

Specialized Education Services Inc. (SESI) is one of the nation’s premier and fastest growing providers of specialized education for children with learning, language and social challenges. It operates 48 schools in 11 states and the District of Columbia. You can learn more about Specialized Education Services Inc. (SESI) at: www.sesi-schools.com.