On January 28, the Board of Education proposed a program review focusing on the Princeton Public Schools Special Education program. The program review will begin this March and conclude in the fall of next year.

The program offers a wide scope of services to the many students it assists and is specialized according to the students’ Individualized Education Programs or 504 plans. The IEP covers students who qualify for special education, while the 504 covers those who don’t but still need some accommodations.

“[Special education services] could look like a teacher in a classroom, it could look like an assistant, it could look like occupational therapy, physical therapy. It could be a lot of things depending on what the needs of the child are,” said Ginny Bryant, co-president of the Special Education Parent Teacher Organization.

The Special Education Program does not only serve K-12 students but extends from ages three to twenty-one, meaning it encompasses pre-school to beyond high school. It offers both services, which focus on speech and/or motor skills, and supports, which help with student learning. Different plans offer different services and support, because the IEP is particular to each student and provides specialized instruction while the 504 provides modifications and accommodations of the curriculum.

Julie Cho, co-president of the Special Education PTO shared,“[In] our district as well as many [other districts], one out of five students receive some form of special education, services or programming. [There] are many other students who have extra support or something else that leans on the program.”

For different perspectives on its programs, PPS works with other districts to find beneficial solutions. As a part of a network of districts among several states, PPS convenes with representatives from other high-performing districts for program evaluation and feedback.

This review somewhat differs from the cycles of reviewing/evaluating that the other programs go through. It does not cover a strict discipline such as the math or science programs due to the variety of students this program affects and it also grew out of discussions between the special education PTO and administrators and teachers. Although this review is also part of a cycle, PPS is changing its approach by also inviting consultants from an outside firm to assist in the process.

The firm that the Board selected for this review, the Public Consulting Group (PCG) offers its operational improvement services across the nation. Their education department is dedicated to helping districts create more efficient learning programs to give students the resources they need to succeed and assist with technology and financial solutions. PPS has already come into contact with representatives from the firm, many of whom have backgrounds in teaching and experience with special education.

Along with special education experience and expertise in finance, the Board was also looking for a firm that shared a similar ideology for the review.

“We were particularly interested in a group of people who were going to be partnering with us to look at our system as a whole, as opposed to...just the special education segment of what we do because...it's all about the continuum of services that we're providing for all kids. And one of the nice things about this company is that they really had that philosophy,” said Steve Cochrane, superintendent of the PPS district.

The review will be monitored through quantitative and qualitative reports. Quantitative data would include percentages of students enrolled in higher-level courses and graduation rates while qualitative data accounts for classroom walk-throughs and evaluations.

The review will weigh the thoughts of the representative from the selected review firm, and focus on student input as well. Currently, the review plans to include focus groups with students as well as parents and receive student feedback through surveys and conversations.

“I think the student voice is important. And this whole program is of course to support the student experience and their outcome … so we really look forward to hearing their perspective. … They have sort of the biggest lens to look through [so] we're definitely interested in having students weigh in on their experience,” Cho said.

Cho felt this review also had an importance beyond just realizing what could be done differently, especially in moving our community forward.

“The whole goal of this is to really celebrate what we do well, and then see how we can come together as all stakeholders to make improvements so that the students' experiences every day, and the effectiveness of the programs are at the highest level that they can be,” said Cho. “In a way, reviewing these kinds of programs … is an effort for constant improvement, but also, it serves our district's mission of equity, of making sure that every student is known and gets what they need.”