Appendix A: Definitions Low-income student: Refers to students who are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. High incidence disability: Refers to the combined group of children who are identified as having a specific learning disability, communication impairment, or other health impairment. Low incidence disability: Refers to the combined group of students with neurological impairments, multiple disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments. Out-of-district placement: Refers to an educational placement in either a private special education school or a special education collaborative program. For more detailed information on Massachusetts private special education schools see: . For more detailed information on Massachusetts special education collaborative programs see: . Educational placement: Based on terms used by the U.S. Department of Education for reporting the Least Restrictive Environment, educational placements for students with disabilities are identified as follows: Full Inclusion: Placements where students spend 80 percent or more of the day in classrooms with their non-disabled peers. Partial Inclusion: Placements where students spend 40-79 percent of the day in classrooms with their non-disabled peers. Substantially Separate: Placements where students spend less than 40 percent of the day in classrooms with their non-disabled peers. Career and Technical Education Programs: There are four types of Career and Technical Education Programs in the Commonwealth: Regional Vocational and Technical Schools: In this category we combined two broad types of schools. The first broad group is regional vocational and technical schools, where the entire student body participates in some form of CTE and where students are drawn from several surrounding communities. The second broad group included in this category was county and statewide agricultural schools, which look very much like the regional vocational and technical schools, but with a greater focus on agriculture, horticulture, and environmental science. Altogether, 29 schools were included in this category. City Vocational and Technical Schools: There were five city vocational and technical schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As with their regional counterparts, all students in these schools participated in some form of CTE. However, the students here originated solely from the specific city in which the given school was located, rather than drawing from several municipalities. These
schools existed in five major cities in the Commonwealth: Boston, Holyoke, Lynn, Springfield, and Worcester. Circuit Breaker: A fund established by the Commonwealth to reimburse districts for higher costs associated with educating students with significant needs. For more information on the circuit breaker, please visit: .
Appendix C: Table of Recommendations from the Three Special Education Reports Written by Thomas Hehir & Associates, Organized by the Three Focus Areas for Intervention Full reports can be found at: Identification (Child Find) Least Restrictive Environment (Placement) Access Report 1: Intervene in districts that evidence highly disproportionate levels of enrollment of low-income students in special education (pp. 13-14, 20-21, 33) Report 1: Monitor and intervene in districts in which there is inordinate use of substantially separate settings for students with disabilities (pp. 25-28, 33) Report 1: Interventions in districts should focus on requiring better practices in general education (pp. 33-35) Report 1: Promote adoption of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model in kindergarten through grade three to promote early literacy development (pp. 34-35) Report 1 and 3: Promote the adoption of principles of Universal Design for Learning (pp. 34-35) Report 2: Identify high performing vocational schools that have been successful in educating diverse populations of students with disabilities (pp. 11-13) Report 1: Encourage school districts that identify large numbers of students with disabilities to examine their practices for special education determination (pp. 12-15, 35) Report 1 and 3: Promote universally designed behavior supports and improve general education approaches to discipline and behavior (Report 1 pp. 34-35; Report 3 pp. Report 2: Ensure equal access to vocational education (pp. 7, 13-14) Report 3: Work with the Legislature to restructure the Circuit Breaker to directly support the expenses related to children with complex needs (pp. 43-46, 55) Report 2: Consider expanding the capacity for providing high quality vocational education in areas where there is high demand (pp. 11-14) Report 3: Improve high school options for students with disabilities (pp. 25-28, 50-53) Report 3: Establish a stronger system to promote interagency coordination and to resolve interagency disputes (pp. 35-39, 53-54) Report 3: Create increased opportunities for private schools and public schools to collaborate to support students in a more