Connecticut’s
“Best Practices”
The State Department of Education believes that implementation of these practices will encourage all students to value themselves as capable individuals who make successful transitions to further education and employment. As a result, students will become self-sufficient, productive and contributing members of society, and will be able to make informed personal choices and function successfully as family members, workers, learners, citizens, friends and consumers.
1. Deliver support services, based on early diagnoses of learning problems, and early intervention strategies accommodating different learning styles in the general classroom, which result in fewer students unnecessarily being identified as requiring special education services;
2. Align special education programs and services with all state, federal and local reform efforts, to ensure involvement in all school improvement activities;
3. Support full participation of all students in state- and district-wide assessment activities designed to assess the degree to which basic skills are mastered;
4. Support full participation of all students in state- and district-wide assessment activities designed to assess the degree to which basic skills are mastered;
5. Identify and support activities that will enhance and promote a school climate conducive to positive development for all children, including children with disabilities;
6. Provide training to all educators that prepares them to teach children with varying abilities, interests and learning styles, and that enables them to, with the use of supplementary aids and services, modify curriculum, deliver individually designed instruction and implement effective instructional practices in the least restrictive environment;
7. Provide training to all educators that prepares them to teach children with varying abilities, interests and learning styles, and that enables them to, with the use of supplementary aids and services, modify curriculum, deliver individually designed instruction and implement effective instructional practices in the least restrictive environment;
8. Provide sufficient allocation and efficient use of resources to enable quality instruction, which results in improved student outcomes and focuses on activities with clear educational benefit;
9. Involve parents of students with disabilities in planning and assessing all aspects of the student’s educational program;
10. Develop a collaborative approach to service delivery, which includes parental involvement, use of community-based resources, school- and community-based learning experiences and pupil services and supports (such as psychology, guidance, counseling, social work, speech/language and health services);
11. Provide a continuum of teaching and learning options and settings that fosters high expectations, continuing improvement and challenging curriculum for all students and that prepares students for eventual entry into higher education and the workplace; and
12. Identify student needs and the implementation of student and teacher accountability measures to assess growth and the impact of services.