The TeachTown Resource Center is a great place to explore when you’re just getting started with TeachTown or whenever you need a quick refresher on one of your solutions. It’s also where you’ll be among the first to know about important curriculum updates and newly released features. We release new professional learning content year round, so be sure to check in frequently to see the latest videos.
The benefits of providing an equitable and inclusive education for students with moderate to severe disabilities cannot be underscored enough. While outcomes are (and should always be) top of mind, ensuring access to high-quality educational opportunities is not just about the results – it’s required by federal law. Providing students with an adapted curriculum that aligns with special education laws is one way to guarantee compliance. In this blog, we’ll provide special educators with guidance on which key components of an adapted curriculum will ensure the educational rights of all students with disabilities are being met.
Do you ever get into a groove during a planning period only to realize you have less than 3 minutes to transition what you’re doing before all of your students rush back through your door? Panic sets in when your much needed prep time comes to an end and a quick feeling of overwhelm takes over. Been there? Life is full of transitions though, isn't it? We find ourselves sailing through different stages, like a ship coursing through the changing tides. For students with moderate to severe disabilities, navigating these transition times can often feel like setting sail into uncharted waters. But, with the right tools and strategies, we can help empower our students to navigate transition times with ease.
TeachTown Benchmark Assessments include 190 assessments (average 10-15 items each) across ELA, Math, & Early Learning skills. They have been designed to help you monitor your students’ progress on an individual skill over time and show growth. As such, we recommend teachers administer benchmark assessments 3 times per school year: beginning of year, middle of year, and end of year. All benchmark assessments are available in 3 formats: as printable PDFs, teacher-facilitated technology lessons, & student-led technology lessons. Each individual assessment includes 3 different forms (A, B, C) to ensure test validity as students retest on a skill over time.
TeachTown, a leading provider of special education curriculum software for students with moderate to severe disabilities, proudly underscores the effectiveness of its standards-based, adapted curriculum, enCORE. In a rigorous 6-month study of enCORE Elementary in a K-5 self-contained classroom, students gained, retained, and generalized targeted ELA and Math skills.
Great news for special education administrators! The back to school sprint just got a little easier with 3 brand new data management features within the TeachTown learning platform: Bulk export, Duplicates and Merging. Special education administrators can now utilize bulk import and export of student and teacher lists, identify potential duplicates, and merge when appropriate to do so. These new tech tools support mass updates for licensing and rostering (and give you back hours of your time).
It’s common for people to use the phrases Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Discrete Trial Training interchangeably. Yet, those of us who work in ABA know that while there is a relationship between the two, they are not the same thing. For example, you may say school and classroom interchangeably in conversation, yet most recognize that there is a clear difference. The school is the main structure, and the classroom is a segment of the school. Make sense? Discrete Trial Training, often called DTT, is just one piece that falls under the broader picture of Applied Behavior Analysis. Let’s take a closer look.
We are grateful to partner with you to deliver high-quality, individualized education for your most complex learners. TeachTown is committed to providing the best-in-class special education solutions for your students with moderate to severe disabilities and the special education teams who serve them. We are focused exclusively on you! To further support the invaluable work you do every day, we have made significant curriculum and platform investments over the past year and a half, including a near 400% increase in our engineering & technical teams. Additionally, we have made several strategic enhancements to our curriculum based on the voices that matter most – special education teachers and leaders. You now have access to a K-12 adapted core curriculum, lesson flexibility, standards-based reporting, breaking news resources, an in-app onboarding explorer, a new professional development program, and much more. In this first annual product newsletter, we share the key developments of the 2022-2023 school year and preview a few exciting things on the horizon. Let’s dive in!
For many individuals with autism spectrum disorder, communication and social interaction may present a challenge. If a teacher were to approach a typically developing student and say, “Hey, Sally! How was your weekend?” - Sally may make eye contact with this teacher and say, “Great! How was yours?” For many students with autism, this interaction looks different. If the same teacher said the same phrase to a student with autism, “Hey Sally! How is your day going?,” the particular student may look toward the ground, or cover their ears, or reply back in a repetitive sequence. Social skills can be learned, however. Prosocial behaviors can be taught by a variety of professionals using a multitude of techniques, including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), to students with autism.
We are excited to announce our brand new standards-based report available to all current enCORE K-12 users. This new report option gives teachers and administrators the ability to demonstrate and analyze progress on lessons associated with state and/or national standards. IEP compliance just got a lot easier!