District Commits to High School  Youth with IEPs

Post date: Oct 25, 2012 6:33:15 PM

Waukegan CUSD 60 is continuously improving their support systems for high school (HS) youth with IEPs.  Investments include Tier 3 coaching support and a District Leadership Team focused on improving Tier 2/Tier 3 supports for older youth.  In January 2012, 30 staff were trained in RENEW including administrators, teachers, and clinicians with nine of them providing facilitation of the RENEW process for individual students.  By June, the district had 11 HS youth with IEPs receiving full RENEW plans and another 17 youth (5 with IEPs) enrolled in a classroom-based intervention that included the mapping component of RENEW.  For the 11 youth with full RENEW plans, gains included an overall 69% reduction in out of school suspensions.  Preliminary results for the 17 youth in the classroom intervention are promising, including improved grades and reductions in discipline referrals.  During 2012-13, the district is offering one class at each campus, doubling the number of youth who will have access.  RENEW is also being used to help transition HS youth back to the general education setting from more restrictive placements.