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CURRICULUM
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 Clearway School's curriculum is aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and prepares students for MCAS testing while still balancing the individual needs of students as outlined in their IEP's. Clearway employs a team approach to curriculum planning. Teachers meet weekly with the Curriculum Director to plan and adapt the curriculum to meet each student's needs. The Speech and Language Pathologist is also present in many academic classes to support students with writing and language processing issues and consults with teachers around these issues.
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Students take their 4 "core" (math, English, history, and science) or "academic" classes in the morning and then end their day with "elective" classes that typically meet one or two periods per week. Throughout the day key tenets are integrated:
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Technological support
- Language-based classrooms
- Use of one common writing program (EmPOWER) throughout the school day
- Focus on organization and executive functioning
- Progressive approach that gradually increases academic demands and moves students towards independence
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SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
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Students who receive speech and language services will be assigned to small groups to work with the Speech and Language Pathologist. These groups focus on language development, processing speed and short term memory, and our five-step pragmatic language curriculum that addresses the nonverbal and verbal aspects of communicative exchanges. Many students receive speech and language instruction in small groups and within their core or "academic" classes.
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ORTON-GILLINGHAM PROGRAM
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Clearway provides individual and small group instruction in a systematic, multi-sensory approach to decoding and encoding. Clearway's certified Orton-Gillingham instructors not only lead instruction but also consult with Clearway teachers and families to ensure that strategies learned from Orton-Gillingham instruction are employed within classrooms and at home.
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TRANSITION PLANNING CURRICULUM
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The Clearway School transition planning curriculum was developed to meet the needs of the students from an introductory level through postgraduate status. The goal of this program is to assist students and their families to identify a student's vision, develop reasonable benchmarks that will allow a student to get closer to that vision, and ultimately prepare students to transition into the next educational setting and/or the world of work.
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Vocation
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The entire vocational planning process is diagnostic in nature to develop the most appropriate vocational program for each student. While students enter the program with different skills and needs, it is the ultimate goal for each participating student to be successful in a work-study job in the community. Vocational exploration is offered prior to a work-study position and provides an introduction to the world of work including tours of various work environments. Work-study allows students to have a work experience closely supervised by our Transition Counselor and an on-site supervisor.
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Post-Graduate Transition Planning
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The Transition Planning Class provides our seniors with the opportunity to identify and research appropriate college and post-graduate programs. Over the course of the year students make guided visits to representative samples of 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, transitional programs and job-training programs. Students will also receive assistance with identifying the appropriate adult resources available to help with their transition out of high school.
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Transition Back to Public Schools
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Clearway School believes strongly in supporting students in the least restrictive environment. Some of our students who enter Clearway during middle school or early high school have the goal of returning back to public school. Clearway supports students in working toward this goal. Students may develop individual goals that will better prepare them for a return to public school. When key benchmarks have been achieved, students may transition back to public school with a part-time schedule. Clearway provides on-going coordination and support to local school systems as our students take part in classes/extracurricular activities at their public school. Clearway staff may accompany students to their local public school when they first return there part-time.
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SOCIAL GROUP
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Placement into social groups is based on diagnosis or identified need. Social groups typically meet once per week and are not therapeutic in nature. Some students meet with the school counselor in an activity-based group, which focuses on social and peer interactions, how to make and keep friends, and tolerance of peers. Other students take part in discussion-based groups that focus on mindfulness or adolescent issues including managing transitions, disability awareness, and decision-making.
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EDUCATIONAL COUNSELOR
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The goal of the tutorial program at Clearway School is to ensure the improvement of each student’s school functioning. Each student at Clearway School is assigned an Educational Counselor (one of our faculty) who is the immediate link between home, Clearway, and the sending school system. In order to ensure a solid foundation within the school, the Educational Counselor (“tutor”) meets weekly with the student (“tute”) to evaluate progress, discuss issues, and identify goals. This usually includes examination of the student’s check sheets from the previous week, review of any incidents or events, and setting goals for the upcoming week.
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ELECTIVES
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Clearway believes it is critical to re-engage our students so that they can explore their many interests and talents. We provide numerous electives related to art (music, performing, and fine), physical activities, and applied academics. Many Clearway electives take part in the community including service learning, woodworking/ karate, ceramics, and golf. You can view the full list of electives for the or Fall of 2011 and Spring of 2012.
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