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I am glad to have you join our team and our movement to improve the quality of education for ALL students, but specifically for students with low incidence disabilities.
Our school does not exist by chance… and it serves an extremely important purpose that can revolutionize our education system at the district and national levels. Not long ago, I and other educators in the district became invested in improving the quality of education for students with low incidence disabilities, and thus advocated passionately for equitable facilities, resources, and instructional services.
Allow me to tell you a story…
Back in 2012, I attended a State of the Schools meeting with our then district leaders. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the plans to provide ALL students in DCPS with equitable services. As a first year Principal, I listened to the message closely. As the discourse continued, I realized that the plan the district was describing was meant to ensure that all schools received the same resources (equality), which meant that the school I led at the time, Mamie D. Lee School, would not get what we needed (equity).
This was my first school as Principal, an old structure built in the early 70s, around the time that PL 94-142, The Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 became federal law.
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Mamie D. Lee was possibly a state of the art building back in the 70s, but by 2012, it was completely inadequate for serving students with intellectual and physical disabilities. On the outside, the building was sunken in the ground, so 1st floor classrooms and spaces had little natural sunlight, the windows were barred, and every classroom had an exit door, which was great in the event of an emergency, but also very unsafe on regular days… students eloped occasionally. The building was not ADA compliant, the hallways were dark, the technology was dated, we lacked appropriate instructional resources, we had an abundance of rodents, and regular break-ins. My first school resembled a forgotten institution.
So, after the State of the Schools address, I contacted our Chancellor and explained that many of the things that schools would receive were not appropriate for my students, and not what we needed. I began by explaining that my students needed an accessible and compliant learning space that could maximize their independence, that my teachers needed evidence-based resources, high quality professional development, etc., etc. Then, I waited…
In June 2012, then DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson decided to build RTEC. The decision was part of a district-wide effort to “shift resources from maintaining under-enrolled schools to focus on improving academic programs”. The school opened in 2015 with 108 students. It was an exciting and new experience for all... parents, students, and staff.
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RTEC is the only city-wide Special Education Center in the district, serving students ages 7-22, who are on a certificate of achievement track.
While in August 2015 we celebrated the opening of a state-of-the-art school for students with intellectual disabilities and medical complexities, I quickly realized that the master plan for the new school lacked something essential, a solid instructional program, supported by evidence- based instructional practices, and designed to meet the specific needs of our teachers and student population.
Thus, for the past three years RTEC leaders and I have engaged our staff and district leaders in developing an instructional model designed specifically for serving students with profound disabilities, that has adequate curricular resources, empowering professional development, and objective measures of success for staff and student performance. This initiative is work in progress. And so, the movement continues…. I take great pride in getting this school built, but I did not do it alone… and developing a robust instructional model for our students will take all of our efforts.
In the past 3 years, we have accomplished much as a team. We have developed an instructional framework for providing accessible, attainable, and rigorous instruction for our students. We have also developed tiered objectives and assessments to measure the individual progress of each student.Thus, we provide our students with access the core general education curriculum standards, with significant modifications, and measure their progress towards mastery. We embrace the notion that ALL students will be successful at our school.
Our instructional program enables our students to successfully achieve their highest level of performance and independence. We prepare students in the elementary through high school grade bands to excel on the Multi State Alternate Assessment by teaching core content standards for ELA and Mathematics.
Transition programing at River Terrace Education Campus consists of two strands: transitions classes and the Workforce Development Center, focused on preparing students for the workplace. Both strands are built upon the Taxonomy for Transitions Programing consisting of student-focused planning, family involvement, student development, program structure, and interagency collaboration.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, our goal is to continue to prepare robust scope and sequence documents, and formative/summative assessments for every single course we offer. We also, want to continue to create systems and routines that support the social and emotional needs for the students.
You can help me write the ending to this story…
Dr. Aimeé Cepeda
Principal
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