Special Programs Newsletter
GCCISD Special Education and Intervention Department
Spring is Here!
January started with Dyslexia screening for all first graders. With the new NWEA MAPS screener, we changed our process and really drilled down with each class and student. As s district, we are currently examining our phonics program. We have implemented mCLass for intervention for our Kinder through second grade students from now to the end of the year. Our goal is to see growth in our students, and we hope to start next school year with our Kinder students on the mClass program.
Our evaluation team has worked hard to ensure we are meeting timelines and testing students as quickly as possible. The evaluation team worked one Saturday a month as well as two days during Christmas and Spring Break to help keep up with the campus and district demand for testing. As of April 10, 879 referrals have been received in the Assessment office which does not include the Child Find evaluations. Remember that all Dyslexia referrals now come through Special Education so everyone in the state has seen an influx of referrals. Autism identification and diagnosis has also contributed to an increase in referrals and services in Goose Creek and across the state of Texas.
We are excited that our ECSE 4 year olds will be at the Early Learning Campuses next school year. Each Early Learning Campus will have two 4 year old programs. These campuses are Hopper, Liles, Pumphrey, and San Jacinto. We are working to include our ECSE students as much as possible into the wonderful experiences at the Early Learning Academies. If you have not seen these facilities, it is worth a trip to one of the Early Learning campuses to see the unique learning experiences our students are experiencing. The Early Learning Academies are working to include our ECSE students into their classrooms.
Our ECSE teachers trained with Fueling Brains Behavior team this school year which proved to be very beneficial. This training provided a deeper understanding of Fueling Brains curriculum and behavior strategies and allowed our teachers to see how to respond to our students when they exhibit behavior in the classroom. The data showed growth in all of our classrooms with extensive growth at our 4 year old programs that were housed at the Early Learning sites. For the 2023/2024 school year, we will have one 3 year old program at Hopper, and the other two will be at Bowie and Ashbel Smith.
A few other program changes will include two SILC classes at Stephen F. Austin and FOCUS at Alamo.
The GCCISD Job Fair was held this past Saturday and we were able to find a few Special Education teachers to join our team. We are still looking for Special Education teachers in Goose Creek. If you know someone looking and they have a Special Education certification, please reach out to Mrs. Ritter or myself and we can get their information to the campuses that have openings. We also attended job fairs over the last few weeks at SHSU, University of Houston, SFA, UHCL, Texas State, and Texas A&M to try and recruit prospective candidates.
Planning for ESY- Extended School Year Services, has started and will coincide with Compensatory Services and other Special Education services offered this summer. Mr. Juarez has been working on notifying teachers for ESY and Compensatory Services. All Special Education Summer School programs will be at Bowie this summer. Mr. Juarez is the contact person for questions related to ESY.
ESY/Compensatory Dates
- Week 1 and 2- June 12-June 22 (M-TH)
- Week 3 and 4- July 10-July 20 (M-TH)
Our Dyslexia Specialist and Special Education Instructional Specialist have been busy supporting campuses and collaborating with Curriculum and Instruction this school year. As we move into 2023/2024, we look forward to collaborating with our Bi-lingual Department on curriculum and services for our students.
Whatever your role is in the Special Programs Department, we know that you are working hard to meet the needs of our students. Our teachers have taken on multiple roles and duties this school year to make up for vacancies and we thank you. We are coming up on the hardest part of the school year, and we need everyone to finish strong. Your hard work is appreciated and noticed. Thank you for all you do for GCCISD students and staff.
Audiological Round- Up
Saturday, Apr 29, 2023, 09:00 PM
ESC Building on Alexander
Deaf Ed News
- One of our students received a scholarship for Lee college and another Deaf Ed student received a $40,000 scholarship to RIT- Rochester Institute for Technology.
Saturday Special Education Testing
Saturday, Apr 29, 2023, 08:00 AM
North Alexander Drive, Baytown, TX, USA
News from GCCISD Behavior Coordinators
Tool-time Moment in Behavior and FOCUS
Thank you Behavior and FOCUS teaching teams (teachers and paraprofessionals), for your grit, resilience, and tenacity! Our students need your presence and interventions to achieve academic, behavior, and social success.
As we embark on Spring, testing season, and prepare for the 4th nine weeks; we have some simple reminders.
Please adhere to the following reminders:
Please email your coordinator with a current roster of your students with the following information:
Name with student ID number
Current grade and grade next school year 2023 - 2024.
Home campus and Program campus (this year and next year).
Current program
Indicate if your student does or doesn’t have a completed Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) in esped.
Review student Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) and make sure it is current with updated data. Please contact your coordinator if you have additional questions.
Please ensure all goals and objectives Progress Logs are updated in eSped.
If you have any questions please contact the Behavior Special Education Coordinators, Dr. Terrie Davis and Alicia White.
Again, you are vital to the success of the Behavior and FOCUS programs. We appreciate you!
Thank you,
Alicia White, M.Ed and Terrie Davis, Ed.D