Educational Program
The school day is from 8:30am to 3:00pm, with one day of early dismissal at 2:15pm per week for teachers’ professional development. The school year consists of 180 days of instruction. Classroom assignments are based on age, grade, academic level, and social functioning to ensure that students feel comfortable yet challenged in their studies. Each classroom is staffed by a special education credentialed teacher and teacher associate, allowing for an average student-teacher ratio of six students to one adult. Raskob prides itself on staffing outstanding, talented and qualified teachers who are all highly trained in diagnostic and prescriptive teaching. All teachers are required to possess a California Level I or II Mild/Moderate Education Specialist credential, and some possess a Masters in Special Education or related field; middle school teachers also have training and experience in their content area. In addition, a variety of experienced instructors teach enrichment classes including art, music, and physical education.
While Raskob’s curriculum follows the California State content standards and frameworks, age appropriate material is modified to accommodate diverse learning styles. A multi-sensory approach within the small group setting enables students to master grade level material in spite of academic deficits. Recognizing diverse learning styles, Raskob’s curriculum integrates the kinesthetic, auditory and visual modalities. Raskob carefully tailors its program to meet the needs of each student. Highly structured and appropriately paced materials provide students with ample opportunity to grasp, review and master concepts.
Raskob does not adhere to one particular methodology as staff understands that each student’s strengths and challenges best inform instructional intervention. Raskob’s reading curriculum is centered around a variety of approaches including direct instruction based on the Orton-Gillingham principles including the Wilson Reading System and the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program. Raskob has chosen research-based math programs that have a simple format, hands-on practice and plenty of structure and review. In addition, History/Social Studies and Science are important parts of the curriculum and explicit instruction in organizational and study skills is integrated into all disciplines. Students at all levels are provided daily social skills training to encourage self-awareness, self-regulation and overall well-being as well as physical education classes. At all levels, Raskob students receive a quality education as well as intensive remediation.
Elementary Program
At the elementary level, classes are self-contained. Spending most of the instructional day with their classroom teacher, students are able to address their academic goals with minimal distraction and transition. Students do however, travel as a class to participate in physical education, art and music enrichment classes. Progress is reported quarterly using a simple grading system and narrative reports.
Middle School Program
The middle school, which includes 6th, 7th and 8th grades, is a comprehensive academic program. Students are grouped by ability in core academic subjects like reading, writing, and math for learning potential. For these core curriculum classes, students are grouped into mini clusters for highly individualized instruction, whereas in Science and Social Studies group instruction is employed. This type of thoughtful scheduling has proven to be very effective as it lends itself to more hands on and in depth learning opportunities. In addition to core academic classes, middle school students participate in advisory/homeroom where social skills are explicitly addressed, as well as daily physical education classes and weekly arts and music seminars. Grades are based upon performance, skills acquisition, and project-based assessment within a modified curriculum, and progress is reported quarterly using a simple grading system and narrative reports.