

Special Education and ELL
January 2024
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year and Welcome Back to a New Year!
As we head into the second half of our school year, January provides a natural "re-start". Our rest during the holidays brings forth a renewed sense of academic purpose as we seek to accomplish the goals we have set earlier this year. We enter this New Year fully focussed and prepared for the next round of benchmarking in our district-wide assessments. This month students in Grades 1-9 will be taking iReady in both ELA and Math. We will use these additional data points to measure our progress thus far, and continue to reach further with our gains as we plan for the remaining months. Please be on the look-out for these scores, as they will assist you in understanding your child(s) current progress in relationship to grade level expectations. Students should always be encouraged to do their best, and take these assessments seriously so that the results are deemed valid.
Our English Language Learners will begin with the State Wide ACCESS testing. As a reminder students will be tested on Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing.
Our schedule is as follows:
Kindergarten- January 4th and 5th
Grade 1: January 9th and 11th
Grade 2: January 30th and February 1st
Grade 3: January 31st and February 2nd
WMS: January 17 and 19th
WJSHS: January 23-26th
We will be holding our 4th SEPAC meeting of the year. The link is listed below along with the dates for the remainder of the year. Although these meetings are scheduled virtually, if the consensus would prefer in-person meetings, I am happy to oblige.
Additionally, you are going to find many resources that have been linked within this newsletter that you may find helpful to keep you informed or provide you with any useful materials on topics that may be of interest. These will be updated monthly.
I'd like to thank you all tremendously for making me feel so welcome. Thank you in advance for your partnership and ongoing commitment to your children(s) education. I have very much enjoyed getting to know you all!
Together In Education,
Dr. Ginger Coleman
NO SCHOOL January 15, 2024-MLK Day
SEPAC
Please join us for our monthly SEPAC virtual meetings. I am attaching a form HERE, and dependent upon interest, in person will be an option also, so please fill out your preference.
Meetings will take place on Thursdays and start at 6:00 p.m. as follows:
January 18th
February 15th
March 14th
April 11th
May 9th
June 6th (Last meeting)
ATTENDANCE MATTERS
The NEW IEP Project from DESE
Resource Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Planning for Ages 14-22, Chapter 688 Parent Guide
Special Education Resources
Parents Notice of Procedural Safeguards-English
Parents Notice of Procedural Safeguards-Spanish
MA English Learner Blueprint
Title I Parent Events for the SY 23-24
Title 1 services provide our school district with funding to provide many important aspects of schools. Did you know that our curriculum, materials and even a few staff are provided to support our students through these funds? It also allows our school community to come together for these FUN Family Nights. Hope to See you there!