Knox County Schools looks to improve special education programming

Knox County Schools Assistant Superintendent of Student Success Dr. Andrew Brown gave an update on special education related matters at Tuesday's school board work session. (Screenshot) 

Knox County Schools educators and administrators have been ramping up efforts in recent months to strengthen special education programming across the district, Assistant Superintendent of Student Success Dr. Andrew Brown told school board members at Tuesday’s Knox County Schools Board of Education work session meeting.

According to Brown, the district has trained several administrators over the summer on managing pre-school programs in their schools and “basic special education procedures.” He added that about 50 teachers in the district also received training from experts at the University of North Carolina on how to effectively teach students with autism.

“We also followed [that] up by training our autism coaches in the district for in-depth training on how to coach teachers around working with students with autism,” he said.

In addition, Brown told the board that the district recently added three new members to its Special Education Council to help guide initiatives related to special education programming. He said the district also expanded its monthly parent newsletter on special education-related matters, as well as outreach efforts to follow up with families on post-graduation outcomes.

“Our department is currently making about 500 phone calls to parents of recent graduates to see how things are going, if they’ve transitioned well into adulthood and what things we might’ve done to help them in that transition,” he said, adding that the district is “constantly looking” for ways to improve in those areas.

Brown noted that the district has made significant progress in efforts to get more students with disabilities placed in general ed classrooms. He said nearly 80 percent of students with special needs are currently spending time in “less restrictive environments,” surpassing their goal of 77 percent this year.

Brown added that Knox County Schools administrators will soon formulate a 3–5-year strategic plan to “improve achievement for students with disabilities across the district” more moving forward, following an ongoing analysis of special education programming in the system.

“We want to move more students into the general education setting, and we just want to improve special education supports so we can keep students in their home schools,” he said.