By ABBY LUBY

The goals for special education students are just like the goals for all students, but reaching them requires innovation. To that end, members of the district's Special Education Task Force recommended use of a co-teaching method at a meeting of the Bedford Central Board of Education on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

Assistant superintendent of special education and pupil services Linda Schluter said she has been researching and in some instances putting into practice the model the district thinks can work for special ed students.

Fourteen teachers and administrators joined Ms. Schluter in the discussion.

"We will share with you the key elements of the work we've done going forward for students with disabilities," said Ms. Schluter about the work the task force has done in the last two years. "We want all students to meet very rigorous standards and graduation standards by 2013, and also in the intermediary years."

Ms. Schluter said the focus of the task force was to gather research-based data on the best practices for delivering services to students with disabilities. A pilot program of the co-teaching model has been integrated into the regular school program for the past year. "This approach is 'being used with reportedly very good results, creating an integrated, dynamic class, which blurs the lines between regular and special education," said Ms. Schluter.

The goal to develop a program to meet students' needs as opposed to having students fit the program is a large focus of the task force's work, she said. "We will hear about the special education vision that they are taking here in the district," Ms. Schluter said.

Since the No Child Left Behind Act became law in 2001, teachers and administrators have struggled to meet a 2006 deadline to better educate students throughout the United States, and to better prepare students for statewide exams. All learning-disabled students are mandated to take the same exams given to all middle and high school students.

"We have a host of fabulous programs in our district, but many of the programs in the middle school and the high school are being taught by special educators and not core subject teachers," said Ms. Schluter.

Core subjects include English, science, math, social studies, language, and arts.

Ms. Schluter reported that the results of a middle school and high school student survey for the co-teaching model was overwhelmingly positive to having two teachers in the classroom. ( I am sure the teacher's union loves this idea too !!!-jpg)

"We also asked for parent responses," said Ms. Schluter. "We only got 10 back, and of those, there was a unanimous strong agreement that having two teachers in a classroom benefited their children, particularly those in the core subjects."

Fox Lane High School assistant principal Robin Schamberg said that last summer the group met to discuss addressing the individual needs of all students while still meeting New York State standards. The committee intends to continually evaluate and decide how they are performing on a yearly basis and if the district is meeting individual needs.

The Therapeutic Learning Center will require one psychologist, while the co-teach models will include 20 regular education teachers, six full time at Fox Lane Middle School and 14 full time at Fox Lane High School.

During the year, members of the team will meet with the teacher and develop the program. They would use SAT test assessment to track performance. Co-teaching models will build children's schools to achieve greater academic success.