Students in inclusive settings attend all core classes with general education students. Inclusion teachers co-teach with the core academic teachers and help develop strategies and techniques for working with students with disabilities in the regular classroom setting. Every district must also serve troubled students, including some with disciplinary problems. Unique approaches are abundant. The El Paso Independent School District maintains a juvenile justice alternative education program in its Raymond Telles Academy.
Students study a core curriculum at their own pace.
The academy offers guidance counseling to students and requires parents to review their child's academic progress and set a graduation plan. The district also features special programs serving pregnant teens, students in the juvenile probation system and students with psychological disorders. Schedule changes One way to serve students at a lower cost is to stagger student schedules. The United Independent School District in Laredo used 50 fewer buses and 30 fewer drivers than would have been required if local schools all started at the same time. Additional savings resulted from placing new schools in neighborhoods convenient to parents and students, reducing the percentage of students needing daily bus rides from 51 percent to 31 percent.