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Elliott Institute

2506 Foothill Blvd. • La Crescenta 91214 • (818) 236-3603

California State Certified Nonpublic K-12 School

Dr. Alicia A. Elliott, Director

2007-2008 SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT CARD (SARC)

Director's Message

Elliott Institute was established in 1992 to provide intensive language-based education for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders and emerged from a need expressed by parents for a program combining language and behavior programming. Elliott Institute employs state-of- the- art positive behavior techniques to enable learners to reach their individual maximum potential in language, cognitive and academic areas.

The staff is comprised of Moderate to Severe credentialed Special Education teachers, highly trained Lead Assistants, Instructional Assistants and behaviorists schooled specifically in the disorders of autism. Auxiliary staff consists of Director of Education to oversee classroom curriculum and the Cognitive Enhancement Program of Art and Music, licensed Speech/Language Pathologists, licensed Speech/Language Pathology Assistants, and Director of Behavior Program, specially trained and credentialed in Applied Behavior Analysis for classroom application of Discrete Trial Training. Elliott Institute has also implemented a Transition Program for youth aged14 and above for developing the skills needed for community access and functional living skills.

Volunteers are brought in from the local high school for a “buddy” program as well as staffs' or families' children volunteers during holiday breaks to enhance the program and to allow siblings a chance to work with their disabled brother or sister in a positive atmosphere.

Elliott Institute's Partners with Parents program brings in speakers that offer insights into home management and future expectations for their child with autism. Elliott Institute staff works closely with parents to preserve the family unit and encourage carryover of skills to the home setting.

Staff at Elliott Institute is highly committed to the education of this population. Some have worked as long as 10 years at Elliott and provide consistency and dedication to the most severely involved youngsters with this disorder. As the founder and Director of Elliott Institute, with 30+ years working with this fascinating disorder, I count on the staff members who, as exemplary individuals, are truly committed to the improvement of this disorder.

—Dr. Alicia A. Elliott, Director

Our mission at Elliott Institute is to create stimulating, respectful and dedicated treatment through leading edge methodologies and technology with the purpose of returning each child to lead a productive life in their own families and communities. We provide highly competent and professional language, behavior and academic intervention services both in classroom and clinical treatment settings. We offer highly professional intervention to children with autism, communication disorders and other behavioral challenges focusing on the child's individual strengths.

School/Clinic Profile

Elliott Institute is situated on the edge of the cities of La Crescenta and La Canada, centrally located on Foothill Boulevard in the foothills at the crest of Los Angeles, often referred to as the “balcony” of Los Angeles County. The Institute serves a maximum of 36 students from Kindergarten through High School in an old Colonial style home setting. It is intended to be small so as to offer maximum attention to the most severely involved children with autism. The intention is to attend to each child individually, as dictated by regulations and to create an environment that fosters the development of each child from individual to group interaction. The demographics of the school population are varied and represent a cross section of Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire and Desert communities. Elliott Institute is situated on the edge of the cities of La Crescenta and La Canada, centrally located on Foothill Blvd. in the foothills at the crest of Los Angeles, often referred to as the balcony of Los Angeles County. The Institute serves a maximum of 36 students from Kindergarten through High School in an old Colonial style home setting. It is intended to be small so as to offer maximum attention to the most severely involved children with autism. The intention is to attend to each child individually, as dictated by regulations and to create an environment that fosters the development of each child from individual to group interaction. The demographics of the school population are varied and represent a cross section of Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire and Desert communities.

Discipline and Climate for Learning

Elliott Institute is committed to ensuring that all pupils have the right to participate fully in the educational process. Students are to be free from discriminatory attitudes, practices, events or activities that hinder a pupil's ability to have an equal opportunity to receive an appropriate education. The parent/legal guardian has the right to appeal school site decisions that affect their students' due process rights with the Director of Human Resources.

It is recognized that, pursuant to Education Code 48900.5, the Director of the school or the Director's designee, may suspend a student from the school for reasons stated in Section 48900, for no more than five consecutive school days. However, it should be noted that this has never been a cause for concern at the Institute due to the recognition of the severity of the students' disabilities and their need for consistent and positive programming to overcome most severe behavior issues. Staff strives to have high expectations for achievement of educational goals, including each student's Behavior Plan and consistently provides a safe and nurturing but disciplined environment for all students to thrive in a positive manner. Communication with parents is critical and accomplished through phone calls, daily journals, parent conferences as needed and classroom newsletters for maintaining a positive climate for learning.

School Attendance

Elliott Institute receives Non-Public School funds from contracted districts for the education of the students that are served by Elliott. Attendance is critical to the attainment of Individual Educational objectives and as such student attendance is carefully monitored. The overall statistic for attendance by the pupils at Elliott for last year is 96%.

Attendance is taken daily by assigned classroom teachers on standard Registers of Daily Attendance. The Registers are validated by Business Administration against Front Office Sign-in sheets. At the end of the month, when Business Administration has verified daily attendance, the classroom teachers sign the registers. Invoices for billing are then issued to each district for payment.

Students who are absent for more than three days must follow Master Contract regulations for reentry to school. Each district has different regulations regarding total days of absence. Parents are asked to call in and notify staff if a student will be late due to doctors or other professional appointments or personal behavior problems at home. This is not an uncommon circumstance for the student population at Elliott and a degree of flexibility is allowed here. They are generally allotted an hour to one and half hour leeway for these circumstances. If the student is out for more than ½ a day, parents are asked to write a note for the office and the student is posted as “tardy” on the register

Class Size

Elliott Institute maintains a pupil-to-staff ratio of 2:1 during the 2007-2008 school year. One-to-one assistants are provided as dictated by individual IEPs and ISAs. The average class size is 6-8 students. Class size is deliberately limited because of severity of behaviors in each classroom.

Minimum Days and Instructional Minutes

During the regular 2006-2007 school year, Elliott Institute provided 180 days of instruction, 20-30 days of Extended School Year (depending on grade level of student) and 10 minimum days. Minimum days were used for in-service training in a variety of topics, Back to School Lunch, Thanksgiving Family Feast and Parent-Teacher Conferences. School was in session a minimum of 360 minutes for all grade levels. All instructional time is based on Basic Core Curriculum and includes Independent Living Skill time, outside time and lunch time.

School Facilities and Safety

Elliott Institute's setting is an old Colonial style house with an adjacent building that used to be a “Mom and Pop” grocery store from the 1940's. Both buildings have been brought up to current codes and safety standards. In addition, two new classrooms have been added to the back patio area and the parking lot has been increased. Plans for a new “Sensory and gross Motor Skills Yard” are underway to be completed by September. This yard is intended to be appropriate for adolescents as well as younger children and will also provide necessary Sensory input activities so seriously needed by this population. There are outside eating areas for students as well as handicapped ramps for wheelchair and physical disability access.

Safety of students and staff is a primary concern. Staff continually monitors students outside at breaks, during lunch and any outside activity. There are multiple gates with notices to secure the gates after opening to ensure the safety of our students. Visits from Districts and parents or other community members are welcome but advance notification is requested where possible. Anyone on the site is asked to sign in at the front reception area and obtain a visitor's pass. A record is kept of parent approved names for individual student's drop-off or pick-up. Students are not released to anyone unknown to the staff until verification is received from parents.

Elliott Institute maintains a School Site Safety Plan which is monitored by the Human Resources Administrator. This plan requires a review of safety every three months of the entire facility, both inside and outside to determine areas or objects of potential harm to students, staff or visitors. Concerns or revisions are shared immediately with staff and corrections are made by appropriate personnel. Key elements of the plan include child abuse reporting procedures, teacher notification of dangerous pupil's procedures, disaster response procedures, procedures for safe egress and ingress from school, sexual harassment policy and dress code policy. The school is in compliance with the laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous materials and state earthquake standards. Fire and earthquake drills are conducted monthly and logged accordingly. Lockdown drills are reviewed for staff quarterly.

Cleaning Process

Elliott Institute provides a clean environment for students, staff and community visitors. Basic cleaning is performed on a nightly basis by a contracted company. Sanitation is maintained daily by staff and Building Management.

Maintenance and Repair

Elliott Institute retains a full time Building and Grounds Manager on staff to follow through on work requests and emergency repairs that do not require outside contracting. Areas that are checked regularly, often weekly are the front and side yards, classrooms, and outside and inside maintenance or upkeep such as bathrooms, lunch areas etc.

School Leadership

Elliott Institute is overseen by Dr. Alicia A. Elliott along with the Director of Behavior Services, Director of Education, Director of School Operations and Director of Business Services and Human Resources. Classroom teachers maintain the leadership in their classrooms with major support from Administration.

Curriculum

Curriculum for Elliott Institute students is written and maintained according to the State Board of Education adopted framework and the core curriculum standards promoted by the Glendale Unified School District. A collaborative effort with primary classroom staff is maintained throughout the year as each new IEP is written. In addition to State Standards, Elliott Institute also uses The Basics, Moderate to Severe Basic Skills Curriculum Frameworks used by GUSD is also used as the SELP approved curriculum. Staff and in-service meetings are held regularly and on minimum days to keep staff informed about curriculum changes and to participate in round-table discussions and decision-making as it pertains to the curriculum.

Student Achievement and Testing

An assortment of measures are used within Elliott Institute to measure individual progress on their Individual Education Plan and to assist in the development of new objectives annually. Assessments consist of Speech and Language tests such as Receptive One Word and Expressive One Word vocabulary tests and Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills. Using these and other basic measures of skill acquisition, objectives are carefully designed to fill in gaps of knowledge, build functional academics and appropriate communication abilities.95% of Elliott students meet 98% of their objectives that were written by Elliott. The objectives that are not met are carefully documented as to a need to be rewritten, modified or discontinued because of lack of pre-requisite skill. These are usually objectives written by another agency that a new student enters with or are written by outside providers. Classroom assessment utilizes The Brigance Inventory of Early Development. Elliott Institute is a CAPA (California Alternate Performance Assessment) level program as a special education program for the moderate to severe disability of autism. The CAPA is administered once a year. We have also administered the newly required Fitness-Gram. There are two trained assessors on staff. Other State tests such as the STAR are currently not appropriate for any of our students.

Transition Program

VITAL, which stands for Vocational Independence Training and Life-Skills, focuses on developing independent living, vocational, and pre-vocational skills. The students learn these skills in school as well as perform and maintain them in the community through many community based activities. The students at Elliott also participate in school-based jobs such as running the School Snack Shop or helping in the office with clerical work. These jobs prepare students for real life work out in the community, as well as instilling in them a sense of pride and responsibility. We also work toward connecting them with real positions in the community when students have reached the necessary skill level.

Teacher Evaluation and Professional Development

Professional development is critical for Elliott Institute staff who is working with extremely involved individuals with autism. Administration maintains high standards for the teaching staff and cutting edge research and technology is continuously brought into the classroom. In-services are provided to disseminate current research in medical and clinical fields that might advance the progress of just one child in the program. Current research articles are provided at least once a month that illuminate the bridge between behavior, communication and education and allow for insight into some of the clinical management techniques or skills needed in an educational setting for this complex disorder. Teachers meet bi-weekly to exchange ideas and update curriculum issues. The teachers meet with their individual classroom staff once a week to maintain data on objectives, exchange ideas and troubleshoot classroom issues that can't be addressed daily. Elliott Institute also has two pupil free days for teaching staff to participate in different activities such as off-site visitations to local public school classes, curriculum development, teaching strategies and methodologies and cutting-edge techniques that can be brought back to our classrooms. High expectations are held for all students in the program and it is through continual professional development that the teachers can uphold these high expectations of each individual student in the program. Teachers' performance is evaluated annually by the school director and together performance goals are determined and their continued education and commitment to the disability itself is noted. Teachers are allowed to comment on their evaluation and their insight is valued. All staff, in addition to teachers receive annual performance reviews.

Teacher Assignment

Elliott Institute recruits and employs highly qualified teachers who also show the temperament and initiative to work with this very difficult population. Elliott Institute currently has three certificated teachers who meet all current credential requirements in accordance with the State of California guidelines Elliott Institute currently employs three Special Education Teachers for the classrooms and a Transition Teacher. The credentials held are: Clear Specialist Instruction Credential in Special Education; Authorized field: Severely Handicapped (Pre-K - 12). Two Teachers hold Preliminary Level I Education Specialist Instruction Credential; Authorized Field Moderate/Severe Disabilities, and one holds a Preliminary Internship Permit; Authorization: Moderate/Severe Disabilities.

Substitute Teachers

Substitute teachers for Elliott Institute must hold a bachelor's degree and have successfully passed the California Basic Educational Skills Test. Substitute teachers are in-house personnel already on Elliott staff to allow for consistency in the management of students' educational and behavioral goals. On rare occasions when a substitute is not available for an absent teacher, credentialed administrators will fulfill the role of substitute teacher.

Textbooks and Instructional Materials

Elliott Institute has ordered or has received a complete set of textbooks, grades K-12, in each core subject area at each grade level, as adopted by the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education, Foothill SELPA. (See attached invoice). All textbooks are in adequate supply and in fair to excellent condition. 100% of K-9th grade students in each core subject area possess the necessary textbooks and instructional materials. While the school does not have its own library, students have regular access to La Crescenta's Public Library, in addition to a mini-library in each classroom and in the Teacher Resource room. Students also have access to computers within their classrooms and in the speech and behavior services offices. Students receive computer-assisted instruction on a regular schedule.

Teacher & Administrative Salaries

Teacher and Administrative Salaries for Elliott Institute comprise 12.5% of the total budget. The average teacher and administrative salaries equal approximately $228,384.00 annually.