Brightonville School for the Arts is a middle school housed in a 100-year old building that is also home to an elementary school. Using this school as a setting, this case raises a series of important questions of how best to offer resource room/specialized instruction for students with special needs, such as: Should these services be delivered within a classroom or a separate location? How do small schools that share service providers ensure that services are delivered appropriately? And how do special education and general education teachers coordinate schedules and curricula in order to maximize achievement for all students?

Discussion Questions

1. Should supplemental instruction for special education students be delivered within the classroom or in a separate location?
2. How do small schools who share service providers with other schools ensure that services are delivered at an appropriate time in an appropriate space?
3. Why is no common planning time provided for teachers who service special education students?  Why do teachers who service elementary and middle school students only receive one planning period per day as compared to middle school teachers who receive two planning periods per day?
4. Are middle school students who receive mandated special education services also entitled to receive physical education, art, and other special classes?  How will their schedules accommodate both their classes and services?
5. Should the group size students who require individualized intensive reading and math instruction be determined by the resource room teacher?  Since the related service providers are allowed to determine and justify group size for each student, shouldn’t resource room teacher be given the same flexibility?

Amy Kopchains

TNLI Affiliate
New York City

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