TAUNTON ー Superintendent John Cabral and Director of Special Education Amy Moynihan are pleased to announce that the Taunton Public Schools has received a positive report from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) regarding the district’s Special Education Determination Report.
The report, which was received Monday, Nov. 14, is part of DESE’s annual evaluation identifying school districts that are deemed to have specific needs for technical assistance or intervention in the area of special education. The report evaluates districts (referred to as Local Education Agencies, or LEAs) using a multi-step rubric and gives schools a “determination percentage” based on their score.
Five areas were considered as part of the rubric, which are given scores of 1-4. The areas, as well as Taunton Public Schools’ scores for each, include:
- Five-Year Cohort Graduation rates for students with disabilities (score multiplied by 1.5): TPS scored 4.5 out of a possible 6
- Annual Dropout Rate for students with disabilities.TPS scored 2 out of a possible 4
- Public School Monitoring special education compliance data. TPS scored 1 out of a possible 4
- Problem Resolution System special education complaint data. TPS scored 4 out of a possible 4
- Special Education State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report – Compliance Indicators. TPS scored 4 out of a possible 4
- Special Education State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report – Performance Indicators (score multiplied by 2). TPS scored 6 out of a possible 8
- Data and findings of Significant Disproportionality. TPS scored 4 out of a possible 4
The highest score a district can earn is 34. A score of 75-100% of that total is deemed as Meets Requirements, a score of 65-74.9% is deemed as Needs Assistance, and a score of 0-64.9% is deemed as Needs Intervention. Districts found to have a substantial failure to comply with a condition of eligibility are deemed as Needs Substantial Intervention.
In total, the Taunton Public Schools scored 25.5 out of a possible 34 on the rubric, or 75%, thus earning the Meets Requirements designation. This means that DESE has concluded that no targeted technical assistance or intervention in the area of special education is required.
Of note, the district earned the maximum score in three of the seven categories.
“We were thrilled that this report from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education concluded that our district does not require assistance or intervention in the area of special education, and it serves to reaffirm our goal of ensuring that all students have fair and equitable access to the resources and offerings our district provides,” Superintendent Cabral said. “That being said, the report shows us areas where we can certainly improve, and we will continue to use data such as this to refine our approach and target our instruction to make sure we are reaching every student as best as possible and providing a learning environment for all that is conducive to growth and success.”
The Taunton Public Schools would like to acknowledge all of the special education staff members who work tirelessly on behalf of the students of the district.
For a complete breakdown of each category in the rubric and how scores are calculated, see DESE’s “Determinations of Need for Special Education Technical Assistance or Intervention” website here.
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