Accountability
Because all MSD students have specialized instruction, support, and services documented on an Individual Education Program (IEP), MSD follows guidance from the Maryland State Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs within the U.S. Department of Education. MSD’s administrative teams, in collaboration with teachers and related service providers, regularly review student progress and engagement data in a recursive process to ensure not only the continuous provision of FAPE but also the identification of any new student-specific needs that may have arisen from the sudden and extended closure of schools due to COVID-19, as well as the full return to in-person instruction. This process provides ongoing monitoring, communication, and documentation of student progress and services delivered.
School administrators work collaboratively in multi-disciplinary teams to use similar recursive evaluative processes to assess teacher and para-educator effectiveness in alignment with student progress. This information informs assessment decisions, curriculum and instruction modifications, and differentiation for more complex learners.
In addition, MSD’s Pandemic Response Team, including Chief of Educational Programs Officers from both campuses, regularly review data from student learning, attendance, programs, as well as community surveys to identify and assess challenges, desires, and necessary changes to inform and guide future planning.