• Growing enrollment and larger class sizes
• Attendance 

Key Challenge #3: Attendance

Students at Marley Glen School often have high absenteeism because of their complex medical needs. We work with families to ensure that our students and their families feel valued and can explain their needs. It is important that our families have community resources. In those cases where a student’s health necessitates frequent absences, the staff will work closely with the family and the Home and Hospital teaching staff in an effort to minimize any skill loss experienced by the student. (Indicators 1, 2, 10)

• Communication
• Independence Level 

Key Challenge #1: Communication

Many of the children attending Marley Glen School are profoundly impacted by educational disabilities, and are non-verbal and/or have a limited ability to verbally express their needs and wants. Students have difficulties with expressive and receptive language, which affects their communication skills in all areas of life. To support them, we teach students skills to communicate and interact socially with the outside world. Our team’s collaborative approach uses augmentative communication devices to discern and provide each student’s preferred communication device. Our students gain proficiency in a communication system that works best for them because they use the same communication system across all environments. (Indicator 1 and 2)

Key Challenge #2: Increasing Independence 

The goals for all of our students are independent living skills and career readiness. Through partnerships in the community, students have opportunities to generalize the skills that they have gained. As a PBIS school, Marley Glen School applies a tiered approach to program for positive behaviors. The PBIS committee fosters schoolwide safety, student independence, and positive behavior. To help support our students in increasing positive behaviors, all school staff are trained to incorporate positive behavioral strategies throughout the day. Our school focuses on implementing proactive and preventative interventions to meet the diverse needs of all learners. Marley Glen School staff includes a full-time social worker, crisis interventionist, and behavioral paraeducator who are responsible for reporting data on behavior goals, conducting functional behavioral assessments, assisting in the implementation of behavior intervention plans, and coaching staff in following behavioral protocols. (Indicators 2, 16)

• Parent involvement
• Access to community social programs
• Access to transportation