Student Achievement Services

The Student Achievement Services (S.A.S.) department provides special education services to students who qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), Colorado Department of Education and Cherry Creek School District guidelines. Specific guidelines mandate qualifications relating to a student's ability to access reasonable education benefit from universal and/or targeted interventions. The S.A.S. staff serves all grade levels and teams, but focuses primarily on students with identified needs.

Liberty Middle School will provide a continuum of services for students with identified disabilities, including, but not limited to, accommodations and modifications to the general education instruction and curriculum, team teaching, consultative programming, and specific classes designed to target specific skills in the areas of reading, writing and math. Instruction outside of the general education classroom is provided according to student need. Student needs are addressed and reviewed through the creation and implementation of an Individual Education Plan (IEP), or documentation through a Response to Intervention Plan (RtI). Teachers, counselors, mental health specialists, parents and the student are all a part of the collaborative team that creates these plans.

Specific services may also include:

• Mental Health Support – including support and interventions from a school psychologist and/or a social worker.
• Speech-Language – including support and interventions with a Speech-Language Pathologist in the areas of language development, articulation, voice and fluency. Services can take place in the general education classroom, a small group setting, or through consultative programming.
• Occupational/Physical Therapist Support – OT/PT support is provided to students as needed and provided for in the IEP.
• Integrated Learning Center (ILC) – providing services to students with significant developmental and/or cognitive delays.
• Social Emotional Learning – providing services to students with emotional disabilities through check in / check out, consultative services, social-emotional skills training classes, and support within the general education classroom.

Student Achievement Services will:

• Utilize systems to continuously monitor each student's academic progress.
• Analyze and utilize assessment data to plan for the instructional needs of each student.
• Use a variety of research-based and culturally relevant interventions with varying levels of intensity and focus.
• Provide a comprehensive system to prevent and intervene in the area of students' unique socialemotional and physical health needs.
• Hold high academic expectations and standards in all classes.
• Provide differentiated classrooms and instruction to support ALL learners.
• Provide additional levels of support for students who require intensive and/or specialized services.
• Create an atmosphere where parents and community are invited and welcome partners in the instruction of their students.
• Provide high-level of instruction in a variety of modalities in ALL classes.
• Create opportunities for students to take risks in a nurturing and supportive environment.
• Utilize technology to help create 21st Century Learners.
• Utilize Colorado Academic Standards when addressing planning, assessment, and IEP goal development when appropriate.