TeachTown in California

Our CA standards-based, adapted core curriculum, along with our supporting interventions, challenge your students with the appropriate level of rigor while promoting independence, employability and community access to succeed in a post-secondary setting.

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TeachTown’s Role in the Alternate Pathway to a Diploma in CA

Placing equity and inclusion at the forefront of education, the Alternate Pathway to a Diploma sets our most complex learners in California up to experience academic AND personal success:

  • Access to higher education opportunities
  • Increased independence and self confidence
  • Meaningful employment opportunities

The tools we offer at TeachTown provide schools in California with a measurable, whole child education for students with moderate to severe disabilities from early childhood through the transition years.

TeachTown’s enCORE ensures:

  • Alignment to California State Standards
  • Evidence-based instruction for K-12 students
  • An advanced blended learning model with data-driven, personalized learning pathways to drive measurable student outcomes
  • 36 units of 9-12 instruction across academic domains (ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies), in addition to Current Events, Skills Review, Transition Skills, and a new ESY curriculum each year
  • A rich offering of socially and developmentally appropriate literature across genres, plus text-based content (companion texts) in ELA, Science, and Social Studies
  • Reporting that provides insight into student progress across metrics (state standards, growth, IEP tracking & more)

TeachTown Testimonial

California Coursework

We believe every student deserves access to the general education core curriculum that complies with state standards. From PreK through high school, TeachTown creates an inclusive and equitable experience for your students by paralleling the same literature and coursework their peers are using in the general education classrooms. With our adapted curriculum, the delivery of instruction adjusts to best accommodate students with moderate to severe disabilities, without actually modifying course curriculum standards.

Here is an example of our high school coursework supports the Alternate Pathway.

enCORE Slide for CA

Alignment to The Science of Reading

With a primary focus in California pointing to literacy and reading comprehension among students, the 5 tenets of the Science of Reading have been systematically embedded into the ELA domain of enCORE, from Kindergarten through the transition years:

  • Phonemic awareness
  • Phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Text comprehension

As literacy scores fall throughout the country, California reading guidance supports the Science of Reading for district implementation.  enCORE K-12 is structured to promote literacy and inspire confident readers among California students.

View the Outline of The Science of Reading Components in enCORE

Equity, Inclusion and Access

enCORE provides equitable, inclusive access to the general education curriculum with a K-12 standards-aligned and evidence-based adapted core curriculum.

enCORE boasts an expansive adapted reading library based on classic children’s literature, including titles such as The Three Little Pigs, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows, Malala, White Fang, Roberto Clemente, Frida Kahlo, Beowulf, My Bondage and My Freedom, The Odyssey, and many more.

Additionally, enCORE offers:

  • Complete teacher guides
  • Accompanying student workbooks
  • Additional classroom materials – like math and science manipulatives!

Trailblazing Student Growth in California: enCORE in Action

Data from over 76 districts indicates impressive student growth, with a nearly 70% student growth rate between pre- and post-test scores in elementary, middle, and high school.

enCORE targets the California Content Standards via socially and developmentally-appropriate, research-based instruction. Offering a strategic blend of hands-on, teacher-led instruction and technology-facilitated lessons, every single unit and lesson segment in enCORE is structured to flow through a gradual release of responsibility, guiding students from exposure to mastery.

Supporting personalized instruction and automated data collection aligned to your students’ IEPs and skill levels, California special educators can run reports in enCORE at any time to analyze student progress, monitor growth toward IEP goals, assess mastery of specific learning objectives and more.

Take a look at real data from your own California peers below.

Program Usage in California

Student Performcance on Sight Word Spelling

Monthly Lessons Mastered by District

Monthly Lessons Mastered by District

Professional Development

Like you, we are deeply committed to the academic and personal success of our students with moderate to severe disabilities. We support California special educators every step of the way with ongoing professional development, including:

  • On-site training
  • Professional development online courses, like ABA Pro
  • Virtual Coaching
  • Office hours
  • On-demand webinars
  • Dedicated client success manager

FAQs

TeachTown is the umbrella name for all of our programs. Depending on what your district has purchased for you, you will have access to one or more programs from our suite. The complete list of programs includes:

  • enCORE K-12
  • Basics
  • Social Skills
  • Meta-Play
  • Transition to Adulthood
  • Health and Wellness
  • BE SAFE
  • SLP Assist

enCORE is an award-winning K-12 standards-based, adapted core curriculum for students with moderate to severe disabilities. It includes leveled, differentiated content across English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies and includes content to fill all instructional time in these areas. enCORE incorporates traditional lesson plans as well as technology-based instruction to provide equity and accessibility to all students.

 

Through interactive content, visuals, illustration and storytelling, our adapted core curriculum enCORE represents the diversity and multiculturalism of the population of students it serves. Bonus – student engagement and knowledge retention skyrockets as a result!

 

enCORE’s advanced blended learning model includes hands-on, teacher-led lessons and technology-facilitated, individualized student-led lessons. Our teacher guides, student workbooks, adapted reading library and hands-on manipulatives and materials bring ease and efficiency to the lives of teachers.

enCORE Elementary is designed to serve students in grades K-5. This curriculum includes 36 units of instruction (18 units for K-2, and 18 units for 3-5) across ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Each unit contains a fiction and associated nonfiction book that anchors the instruction across all four domains. Lessons are completely scripted and differentiated with 3 levels of support for all students.

enCORE Middle School serves students in grades 6-8 and includes 27 units of instruction. Each unit contains an adapted chapter book and two corresponding companion texts. Science content covers Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science. Social Studies includes U.S. History, World History, Civics, and Government.

enCORE High School launched in 2022 for students in grades 9-12 and all lessons include high school-appropriate coursework, an expanded adapted library, and opportunities to work on transition skills.

Yes. According to the Science of Reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension, are all necessary components of becoming a skilled reader – which is why each of these are systematically embedded into the ELA domain of enCORE, from kindergarten through the transition years.

Phonemic awareness: enCORE Elementary includes age-appropriate phonemic awareness activities to support students learning to identify & manipulate individual sounds in words. Includes rhyming skills and follows a developmental progression.

Phonics: Each unit of enCORE K-12 contains phonics instruction, beginning with single sound-letter correspondence, short vowels, diagraphs, initial and final blends, common inflections and silent ‘e,’ progressing to vowel teams, vowel digraphs, r- controlled vowels, word patterns, and the most common prefixes and suffixes, and moving toward decoding and spelling.

Fluency: Repeated readings are embedded in the enCORE implementation guide within every unit, giving students the opportunity to read the literature (with or without icons), from the e-Reader OR have the e-Reader read to them.

Vocabulary: Every unit of enCORE K-12 focuses on vocabulary that is embedded within that unit’s literature, with vocabulary words embedded in the text multiple times so that students have multiple opportunities to engage with the words and develop deeper semantic knowledge.

Text Comprehension: Every segment in enCORE begins with anchored instruction to help students connect information in the text to their daily lives or to build background knowledge prior to reading. Each book, companion text, and/or chapter incorporates multiple comprehension activities to address text comprehension standards.

To learn more about The Science of Reading component in the enCORE curriculum, click here.

TeachTown is committed to providing equitable, inclusive access to a standards-aligned adapted curriculum for students with moderate to severe disabilities, including students who are assisted to the Alternate pathway to a Diploma. In regards to these students, TeachTown interprets California Education Code Section 51225.31 to mean that students who are eligible for the alternate pathway are required to demonstrate knowledge of state standards with modified access. Modified access to state standards aligns to the scope and sequence found within the adapted core curriculum, enCORE, at Level 3.

TeachTown recognizes that not all students with disabilities will access enCORE Level 3. For students with more significant disabilities who require the support of Level 1 and/or Level 2 differentiation, TeachTown recommends district partners determine the requisites for successful completion of the Alternate Pathway.

  • Serves K-12 students with moderate to severe disabilities
  • License flexibility to support continuity of service
  • Standards-first design
  • Evidenced-based curriculum, including ABA & the Science of Reading
  • Robust data, machine learning
  • Comprehensive lesson plans
  • Adapted reading library supports generalization; socially and developmentally appropriate
  • Physical goods package options
  • enCORE Events, ESY included with purchase
  • One-stop shop; supports multiple integrations
  • Comprehensive support services

To learn more about TeachTown, schedule a consultation and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly.

Real TeachTown Feedback From Your California Peers

Unlock the power of firsthand experiences as you dive into real feedback from your California peers.

User Experience Session with Fresno COE

User Experience Session with San Francisco Unified School District

Our results speak for themselves!

Our special education curriculum software has been nationally recognized for driving growth in students with moderate to severe disabilities.

2023-EIE-winner

Ed Tech Awards

Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence

2002 winner ex excellence in equity

2021 winner tech & learning

Don’t Just Take Our Word For It – See For Yourself!

Browse TeachTown’s suite of special education solutions and see firsthand why thousands of special educators rely on TeachTown to measurably improve students’ academic, behavioral, and adaptive skills – from Pre-K through the transition years.