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In addition to these certified teachers, CHCCS employs 41 Inclusion Assistants, <br />providing at least 2 Inclusion Assistants to every school in the district, a significant <br />resource for exceptional children that is not available in OCS. These assistants are <br />available to spend time assisting individual students who are mainstreamed in heterogenous <br />classes when their help is needed. In CHCC5 Inclusion assistants took the place of the old <br />1:1 model from many years ago. The funding for the 1:1's was channeled into the new <br />positions which could serve the entire EC population in a given school rather than just one <br />student. <br />CHCCS OCS <br />Inclusion Assistants 41 0 <br />Students with disabilities, must, by law, have individualized educational programs <br />written for them to document the particular ways that teachers and counselors plan to work <br />with each student to support his or her learning. It is important to note that the processes <br />and documentation required to establish IEPs (individual educational programs) for students <br />with exceptionalities is time consuming, especially if they are done carefully and well. <br />CHCCS employs a half time program facilitator in each elementary and middle school to <br />support this work, and 1 full time facilitator in each high school. Additionally CHCC5 funds <br />one 504 facilitator in each high school, specialists who coordinate particular <br />accommodations that need to be made for students who may have some special needs but <br />are not connected to one of the special education categories. <br />CHCCS OCS <br />Program Facilitators .5 for each elementary and .5 program facilitator for <br />middle school, 1 for each entire district. <br />high school, one central <br />office person <br />In the absence of program facilitators and 504 coordinators, OCS teachers and <br />student support teams must develop IEPs for each exceptional student. These student <br />support teams play a significant role in the identification of exceptional children and in <br />planning for the particular attention they require. Depending on the particular needs of the <br />child, a team may be comprised of classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, school <br />counselors, school administrators, school safety officers, special educators, or social <br />workers. The work of a team involves a 6 -8 week process during which a case manager is <br />selected and interventions are planned. This process is required for every child before any <br />referral for evaluation to an exceptional category is initiated. This past October, every <br />OCS school sent a team for a two day training program that CHCCS schools had focused on <br />three years ago. There is interesting data to suggest that during these past three years, <br />the operation of these Student Support Teams in CHCCS has helped to diminish the number <br />of children identified as exceptional in that district from 13% to the current level of 11 %. <br />Each district employs one specialist for students who are visually impaired and one <br />specialist for students who are hearing impaired. CHCCS employs a half -time Braillist. <br />CHCC5 /OCS Final Report 69 <br />