Special Education

Students in the Alternative Academics (AA) setting receive modified academic instruction in a structured, consistent, small group setting, accessing the TEKS through pre-requisite skills. Alternative Academic services are designed to provide students with cognitive disabilities a curriculum that encompasses functional and academic skills for communication, social, vocational and independent living skills to support post-secondary school goals.

ECSE provide special education and related services for eligible children with disabilities ages 3-5. ECSE refers to the services provided by the district, not to the place where they are provided. Eligible children may receive ECSE services in a variety of settings such as pre-kindergarten and self-contained classrooms or in community settings such as Head Start and pre-school.

Learn more about Early Learning

Extended School Year (ESY) services are available, through CCISD, to all children with disabilities. By definition, they extend beyond the normal school year and are consistent with the child's individualized education program (IEP) at no cost to the child.

ESY services are provided according to the student’s educational needs and do not prevent other public agencies in continuing to provide care and treatment even when those services are similar to those in the child's IEP. No child will be denied ESY services because he/she receives care and treatment services from other agencies.

The Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committee decides whether a child needs extended school year services on a case-by-case basis. If needed, each school district must make sure that services are available as necessary to provide free appropriate public education. If the district does not propose ESY services for discussion at the annual review of a child's individualized education program, the parents may request that the ARD committee discuss the possibility of providing them.

The ARD committee will use formal and/or informal evaluations provided by CCISD or the parents to decide whether ESY services are needed. For a child enrolling in the school district during the school year, information from the previous school as well as information collected during the current year may be used to make that determination.

What is severe or substantial regression?
Severe or substantial regression means that the child has been, or will be, unable to maintain one or more acquired critical skills if he/she is not using ESY services. Sometimes, students may experience severe and substantial regression in their development after the school year ends. The ARD committee must identify the critical areas addressed in the child’s current IEP in which the child has exhibited, or may be expected to exhibit, this type of regression that cannot be recovered within a reasonable amount of time.

What is the definition of a critical skill?

A skill is critical when the loss of that skill results, or is reasonably expected to result, in any of the following occurrences during the first eight weeks of the next regular school year:

• Placement in a more restrictive instructional arrangement;
• Significant loss of acquired skills necessary for the child to appropriately progress in the general curriculum;
• Significant loss of self-sufficiency in self-help skill areas shown by an increase in the number of direct service staff and/or amount of time required to provide special education or related services;
• Loss of access to community-based independent living skills instruction or an independent living environment provided by non-educational sources as a result of regression in skills; or
• Loss of access to on-the-job training or productive employment as a result of regression in skills

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge (Adopted by the International Dyslexia Association Board of Directors, November 12, 2002). 

In Texas, we have a guiding document known as The Dyslexia Handbook.  Additional information can be found at the TEA website.  

In Clear Creek ISD, all of our dyslexia and dysgraphia evaluations are conducted as an IDEA evaluation, meaning that we seek fully informed parental consent, which contains proper prior written notice and is accompanied by the notice of procedural safeguards for a Full Individual Initial Evaluation (FIIE) under the IDEA. For all initial evaluations, parents are also provided a copy of the Guide to ARD Process.  If you have concerns about your student, please contact your campus administrator. 

Learn more about Dyslexia and Related Disorders

The Galveston-Brazoria Cooperative for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (GBCDHH) is a cooperative of nine school districts: Alvin, Clear Creek, Dickinson, Friendswood, Galveston, Hitchcock, Pearland, Santa Fe, and Texas City.

The Cooperative provides a continuum of services for students with a variety of needs related to a student's hearing loss, which are determined by the ARD Committee.

Learn more about the GBCDHH

General Education Homebound Services

Students served on homebound services or hospital bedside basis are expected to be confined for a minimum of four weeks (not necessarily consecutive weeks) as documented by a physician licensed to practice in the United States.  

Special Education Homebound Services

CCISD offers this instructional arrangement/setting in order to provide special education and related services to students who are served at home or in the hospital. 
 
Students served on homebound services or hospital bedside basis are expected to be confined for a minimum of four weeks (not necessarily consecutive weeks) as documented by a physician licensed to practice in the United States. The student's ARD committee shall determine the amount of services to be provided in accordance with federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. 
 
Home instruction may also be used for services to infants and toddlers (birth through age 2) and young children (ages 3-5) if the child's Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) committee or ARD committee decide it is appropriate. 

The PASS program provides educational services within general education settings to students who have difficulty managing their behaviors. The focus of the PASS program is to teach social skills that replace inappropriate behaviors and motivate students to implement positive social skills while learning in the general education classroom. Collaboration between the general education teachers, PASS staff and administration is an integral part of a successful PASS program.

Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination based upon disability. 

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a non-discrimination statute enacted by the United States Congress.  The purpose of the Act is to prohibit discrimination and it applies to all programs and entities that receive federal funding. However, school districts do not receive federal money specifically for this Act. This Act was amended in 1990 to substitute “individual with disabilities” for “handicapped.” Thus, Section 504 is an anti-discrimination, civil rights statute that requires the needs of students with disabilities to be met as adequately as the needs of the non-disabled are met. Specifically, § 504 of this act applies to students in public schools to ensure that students with disabilities have educational opportunities and benefits equal to students without disabilities.

Section 504 states that: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 706(8) of this title, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...." [29 U.S.C. §794(a), 34 C.F.R. §104.4(a)]. 

If you have concerns about your student, please contact your campus administrator. 

Learn more about Section 504 

Social Development services are designed to meet the needs of students with significant emotional and behavioral disabilities. A consistent and highly structured environment is necessary to provide an adequate framework for this service design. The focus of the program is to address the student’s school behavior by teaching pro-social, behavioral and academic skills the student has not previously mastered.

Structured Learning Labs are intensive educational program for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental disorders that require highly structured and individualized intervention for the development of functional communication skills and socially appropriate behaviors. CCISD offers three different programs under the umbrella of SLL.

Structured Learning Lab SLL- Adaptive Behavior (AB) 

The purpose of SLL-AB is to provide an intensive educational program for students in Kindergarten-8th grade in need of a highly structured environment focusing on social communication, social and behavioral instruction, and socially appropriate behaviors. 

Structured Learning Lab (SLL) - Learning to Learn (LtoL) 

The purpose of SLL-LtoL is to provide a highly structured, predictable environment for early elementary students with disabilities who require a more restrictive setting to meet their specific communication, social and behavioral needs. Students in SLL-LtoL require intensive instruction to increase functional communication and social skills while working to address problematic behavior interfering in the learning of the student and/or others. 

Structured Learning Lab SLL - Social Communication (SC) 

The purpose of SLL-SC is to provide specific social skills instruction in areas such as turn taking, social initiation, etc. Students in this setting require explicit social skills training and practice to meet significant deficits in communication, social, behavioral, and interaction excesses and/or deficits. 

CCISD offers a campus-based 18+ service model and a community-based model. While both service models are results driven, the community based model reflects best practices and is the true research-based model. Most students beginning 18+ services in the campus-based model will typically be referred to the community-based model when, in collaboration with the student and family. Following is a description of the campus-based and community-based models: 

Helping Each Adult Reach Transition Services (HEARTS) 

HEARTS is provided for any adult student who has completed state credits and assessment but did not meet graduation criteria for employment, employability skills, or agency connection.   HEARTS is a non-traditional service model where students receive transition services both on campus and in the community. Students do not follow the bell schedule at their campus nor do they attend elective or other courses for required credit. The goal is to move services from the campus into the community. Students receive instruction directly in the community-based environment where they will be using their skills as an adult upon completion of high school.   

Adult Community Education Services (ACES) 

ACES represents the best practice, research based model for 18+ services. The focus of ACES is on instruction completely in the community as directed by the student’s adult schedule, post-secondary goals, sustainability, and transition-based IEP goals.