Special Education Program Analysis

Special Education is an umbrella title for an educational department that focuses on the rehabilitation of students and providing services for students who require extra academic support to be successful in the current school setting but are also in need of learning life skills that will help them to be successful later. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines special education as “classes or instruction designed for students with special educational needs” (Merriam-webster.com, 2017). To assist students with disabilities, the United States government continues to use the current reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 which is currently known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of December 2015

These programs are Behavior Life and Social Training (BLAST) and Why We Try (WWT). BLAST is the program title for the elementary level and WWT is for the middle and high school levels. The purpose of these programs is to teach the students appropriate social and coping skills that will help them eventually be successful in the general education classroom and later in life (Steelman, 2017). Typically, a placement in these classrooms signifies the student’s last chance at learning appropriate classroom behavior and safety before being sent to an alternative educational placement, but this placement is not a punishment focus for the student (WWT-BLAST Manual, 2017). Within each BLAST classroom there is a time away (break room) area. When a student is in crisis, the time away area is used; in this area, the student can take time out to calm down and then discuss the crisis incident. While in this room (area), the student is constantly monitored by trained staff during the

Students with EBD are typically the largest group among all disabilities who receive education in an alternative learning environment (U.S. Department of Education, 2016) and all students with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) as part of the IDEA regulations (Kuo, 2017). Currently, the GNETS program is a large program that services 4,500 students with behavioral disorders; once a student has been placed into this program, a team works to get the student established with the instructional services that follow the Common Core State Standards, research-based behavioral interventions, IEP goals and objectives, and progress monitoring (Georgia Department of Education, 2016). The purpose of a placement for an EBD student in this program is to “prevent children from requiring residential or other more restrictive placements” and support the local school systems’ services (GNETS Rules and Regulations, 2015, p.1). Furthermore, the GNETS programs use the Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) approach to create a learning environment where students feel safe, trusted, respected and empowered (Kuo, 2017). Per the data reports for the GNETS programs, the Georgia Department of Education has been able to show that this program has helped students to improve their behavior so that they may be able