Placement and Location of Services

DCPS offers numerous services for students ages three through twenty-two with disabilities who have been found eligible to receive special education services. There are different settings where these services can be provided. All students with disabilities must be provided with an educational environment that meets the needs found in their IEP and, to the maximum extent appropriate, ensure that the child will be educated with children without disabilities. This is also known as the child’s “least restrictive environment (LRE).”

Most DCPS students with disabilities can be served in a general education classroom, a resource room, or a self-contained classroom. A student may not be removed from an age-appropriate classroom solely because of needed modifications in the general education curriculum. Separate day schools and residential schools are for students with the highest level of need.

IEP teams decide the student's level of services to access the curriculum. Students with disabilities spend as much time as possible in general education with non-disabled peers, as agreed by their IEP Team. Within each child’s IEP, special education and related services and accommodations are listed and provide clear ways to make the general education curriculum accessible for them.

Inside of General Education

Outside of General Education: Resource Room

Outside of General Education: Self-Contained

Separate Day School

Residential Schools

More Restrictive Environment

Consultation

In the consultation model, general education teachers talk with special education teachers to plan lessons that match what's written in students' IEP goals.
Other helpers who provide related services also talk with general education teachers about ways to change lessons and help students learn better.
After that, the general education teachers teaches the lesson.

Co-Teaching

Co-teaching is a way to give specialized instruction to students who need them, especially in general education classes.
Here's how it works: Two or more teachers, where at least one is a special education teacher, work together to teach students in a class.
This helps all students learn better because they get help from both teachers, who know different things.This practice helps all students learn better by having two teachers work together to teach the subject in a way that combines different ideas and methods.

Sometimes, a student needs more help than what is given in their general education classroom. If a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) says they need extra support outside regular classes, it might mean spending instructional time in a separate classroom.

Deciding Where Students Learn

DCPS has different options for where students with disabilities can learn. They make sure to have a range of choices to meet the needs of all kids with disabilities. The team that works on a student's IEP, including parents, looks at tests, observations, and different ways of teaching. They decide if the student should stay in regular classes with support or learn somewhere else.

If a student's IEP says they need less than 20 hours per week of special teaching outside regular classes, they might go to a special room for some lessons. But if they need 20 hours per week or more of special teaching outside regular classes, they might go to a separate classroom for specialized designed instruction. This happens when their disability is more serious and makes it hard for them to learn and make appropriate progress in the regular lessons, even with changes.

Resource Classrom

In DCPS, a resource classroom is a classroom or instructional space where students get extra help in specific subjects mentioned in their IEP, like Math, Writing, Reading, or Transition.
These classrooms give students with disabilities the supportive help they need, so they can access the same lessons and curriculum as students in regular classes.
The lessons students learn in a resource classroom are typically more focused and supported. They cover things like extra English and Math lessons, and also skills for what comes after schooling, like planning for the future and managing tasks.

Self-Contained Academic Classrooms

Self-contained Academic Classrooms are classes where students with special education needs receive instruction in a space with fewer students and special educators to help. Typically these spaces have teachers and providers to provide additional support during instruction.
In these classes, students receive instruction that is connected to the important things all students should learn. The way they're taught is made to fit what they need to appropriately progress.
The curriculum or how they receive instruction is changed or made different, so they can learn the same material or lessons their classmates are learning, in a way that works for them.
They also take tests like other students, but with changes so they can demonstrate their progress.
For older students, these classes help them follow a plan to finish school with a high school achievement certificate or a high school diploma.

High school students in full-time special education classrooms can earn a regular high school diploma or a high school achievement certificate. The student and the IEP team) need to decide which one is better. This decision is made during an IEP meeting, starting when the student goes to ninth grade or when they're 14 years old. This is discussed during the annual IEP meeting.

Where Services Happen

DCPS makes every effort to provide special education services in the school that your child is attending or your neighborhood/home school. DCPS may need to assign your child to a new location of service with every reasonable effort that it is closest to your child's home and can implement the IEP with fidelity.