DEFINITION OF TERMS

Educational Support Services
Includes all available services, exclusive of regular classroom teaching, designed to enhance the pupil’s learning. These services include:
Occupational Therapy • Health Services
Pre-first • Basic Skills Instruction (Math and/or Reading)
I & RS • Gifted/Talented Programming
Corrective Reading • Special Education
Speech/Language • English as a Second Language (ESL)
School Counseling • Physical Therapy Assistive Technology

At Risk Students
“At Risk” students are those children who fall into one or more of the following categories:
They experience unusually stressful emotional/social situations, i.e. divorce,
separation, death in the family.
They have a diagnosed medical condition.
They move into the district and experience transitioning difficulties.
They have a history of truancy.
They have been a victim of violence or witness to violence.
They demonstrate significant academic delays.
They demonstrate atypical social/emotional behavior.
Any other condition that may interfere with academic success.

I & RS (Intervention and Referral Services)
A committee composed of building instructional and support staff, including
district support personnel, under the leadership of the building principal/assistant principal.
The committee provides an appropriate forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of instructional strategies designed to address the instructional needs of students experiencing difficulty.
The committee, in consultation with the classroom teacher, determines which instructional strategies should be implemented in the classroom, and which additional school level support services may be most beneficial to students.
The committee supports the teacher in his/her efforts to provide an appropriate program in the least restrictive learning environment.

Action Plan
Intervention Action plans are only developed as an outcome of the I & RS process.
Developed by member(s) of the I & RS, in collaboration with the referring classroom teacher, to address the unique learning/behavioral needs of a student who is not meeting specific curricular and/or behavioral expectations.
Strategies are documented in a written action plan and are data driven.  They are signed by the action person, classroom teacher and the principal. Although parent consent is not required to initiate the plan, parent signature is strongly recommended.
Action Plans are designed to be short-term support for students. These plans are to be reviewed at least once each marking period at I & RS.

504 Plans
Section 504 is an Act, which prohibits discrimination against persons with a
handicap in any program receiving Federal financial assistance. The Act
defines a person with a handicap as anyone who:
Has a mental or physical impairment which substantially limits one
or more major life activities (major life activities include
activities such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks,
walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working.
Has a record of such an impairment; or
Is regarded as having such impairment.

Modifications
Modifications are strategies utilized by teachers that go above and beyond what is regularly implemented in the classroom. Modifications may include, but are not limited to, extended time for tests, shortened homework assignments, reduction of written work, and tests being read aloud.