Mary Beth Lynn SpEd 506 School Profile 8/26/12 National Teachers Academy School Profile National Teachers

Academy (also known as NTA) is located at 55 West Cermak Road in Chicago, Illinois. It is situated between the Chinatown and Bronzeville neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago. National Teachers Academy was founded in 2002 and currently schools approximately 550 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. NTA is part of Chicago Public Schools but is operated by the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). It is a teacher training academy, in which highly skilled mentor teachers work with resident teachers with the purpose of preparing them to be successful educators in other high needs schools within Chicago city limits. Of National Teachers Academys 550 students, approximately 98 percent are low-income and 95 percent are African-American, with the second largest demographic being Hispanic at 2.5 percent. The Special Education population is quite high at approximately 15 percent of the total population, which only accounts for students who have Individualized Education Programs (IEP), and does not take into account students with 504 plans or those who receive medical accommodations/modifications. Per National Teachers Academys mission, it is committed to developing its students to become life long learners and critical thinkers. Through its rigorous, culturally relevant curriculum, it offers various means for student success targeting high school, college, and career readiness. Valuing strategic data-driven decision-making and shared leadership, NTA strives to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all diverse learners via differentiating instruction across all curricula.

National Teachers Academy takes its role in education very seriously, in that it focuses on the whole-child versus academics alone. NTA teachers, administrators, students, and families embrace the community and are strongly rooted in the neighborhood. Although it initially suffered a great deal in terms of leadership and teacher turnover, NTA has shown great academic strides and unprecedented test scores over the past four years since awarded and taken over by AUSL. Much of the success is due to the stimulating and individualized instruction provided to the students, even despite the large class sizes. Kara Britz, NTA Case Manager, and Melissa Hausser, Self-Contained Special Education teacher at NTA, both provided some insight on the philosophy and processes that ensure all students receive an exceptional education at National Teachers Academy, especially considering the fact that NTA acquired eighty new students from Price Elementary School, which was closed in 2011 due to declining attendance and low student performance. In order to ensure that each student obtains an equally remarkable education, National Teachers Academy utilizes Doug Lemovs Signature Strategies, of which Melissa Hausser favors No Opt Out, Wait Time, and the Behavior Management Cycle (BMC). She believes that No Opt Out helps all students, especially those who cant or dont participate in class due to a learning or behavioral disability. She also believes in Wait Time, because for students who have learning disabilities, it is crucial that they receive the extended time in order to process the question and answer. Lastly, the BMC is an instrumental component of NTAs success, and for students who have learning or behavior disabilities, it is increasingly important that they receive increased warnings and/or steps in the BMC than students who do not struggle with disabilities.

However, Kara Britz explained that all NTA students and parents are held accountable whether they receive special education services or not. She clarified that students with disabilities typically create Behavior Contracts (alongside the IEP) with their teachers in order to alleviate any undue attention that could potentially result from the disability or behavior. As far as parents go, they are expectantly the greatest advocates for their children, but in some cases, they need to be pushed and held accountable as well. At NTA, teachers and administrators take whatever means possible to guarantee the students receive all necessities at home. In addition, Both Kara and Melissa, and all other members of the Special Education Team at NTA, are highly supportive of the General Education teachers and work within the AUSL network to ensure steps are being taken to enhance the educational experience, such as collaboration, co-teaching between Special Education and General Education teachers, and the utilization of all resources available throughout the network, not just the resources or people at NTA. For example, the Response to Intervention (RTI) process is a long, tedious one for all parties involved, but it is ultimately up to the teachers to recognize if and when a student needs RTI, collect a substantial amount of data, and support the student throughout the process, so that he or she may receive the additional assistance. In the case of the new NTA students, there were no existing RTI records, so the teachers of those students had to start over in order to aid the students in getting special education services as quickly as possible. Overall, I was very impressed with everything I learned about NTA as a whole and more specifically the Special Education Department. I am honored to be a part of such an amazing team of educators and the surrounding learning community.

I was very pleased by the fact that the special education philosophy was similar across grade levels and positions. The overarching theme was that all students should be taught in the least restrictive environment (LRE) and within the general education classroom whenever possible, which I too believe it the best way for students to learn. The support of all teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, classroom aids, and other staff members is undoubtedly present and existent for the main purpose of providing NTA students with the best possible education, and thus ensuring their success throughout the years.