The ACCESS Special Education Teacher provides intensive, specially designed instruction to students with significant academic, cognitive, language, social-emotional, behavioral, and adaptive learning needs within a substantially separate classroom. The teacher creates a highly structured, supportive, and inclusive learning environment that promotes student independence while providing individualized instruction aligned with each student's IEP, learning profile, and Massachusetts curriculum frameworks.
The ACCESS teacher works collaboratively with related service providers, general education teachers, families, and school staff to ensure students develop academically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and functionally while maximizing opportunities for meaningful inclusion.
Essential Responsibilities
Specially Designed Instruction
- Provide explicit, systematic, evidence-based instruction across all academic content areas.
- Design and deliver individualized lessons aligned to IEP goals and student learning profiles.
- Modify curriculum, assignments, and assessments while maintaining access to grade-level standards whenever appropriate.
- Implement multisensory phonics based instruction with fidelity.
- Provide repeated practice, reteaching, scaffolding, and multiple opportunities for skill mastery.
- Differentiate instruction based on student readiness, cognitive profile, communication needs, and learning style.
- Embed executive functioning instruction throughout the day.
IEP Implementation
- Implement all accommodations, modifications, goals, benchmarks, and service delivery outlined within each student's IEP.
- Collect ongoing data to monitor progress toward IEP goals.
- Use progress monitoring data to adjust instruction and interventions.
- Prepare progress reports and participate in annual and reevaluation meetings.
- Collaborate with the Special Education Team Chair regarding student progress and programming decisions.
Social-Emotional & Behavioral Programming
- Embed social-emotional learning throughout daily instruction.
- Teach self-regulation, coping strategies, executive functioning, and problem-solving skills.
- Implement individualized behavior intervention plans (BIPs) and positive behavior supports.
- Utilize proactive classroom management strategies.
- Teach replacement behaviors and reinforce positive behaviors.
- Schedule and facilitate individualized regulation breaks as needed.
Communication & Social Skills
- Embed communication instruction throughout all classroom activities.
- Teach:
- Conversation skills
- Peer interactions
- Social problem solving
- Self-advocacy
- Perspective taking
- Functional communication
- Collaborate with Speech-Language Pathologists to generalize communication goals across settings.
Functional & Adaptive Skills
Provide direct instruction in:
- Daily living skills
- Functional academics
- Organization
- Independence
- Classroom routines
- Community readiness (as appropriate)
- Adaptive behavior skills
Classroom Environment
Maintain a classroom that includes:
- Structured daily routines
- Predictable schedules
- Visual supports
- Calm sensory-friendly spaces
- Positive behavior systems
- Individual workstations
- Small-group instructional areas
- Flexible seating and regulation tools
- High expectations paired with individualized supports
Inclusion Programming
Collaborate with general education teachers to support meaningful inclusion opportunities when appropriate.
Collaboration
Work collaboratively with:
- General education teachers
- Special Education ESPs
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Occupational Therapists
- BCBA
- School Adjustment Counselor
- Physical Therapist (when appropriate)
- School Psychologist
- Families
- District specialists
Participate in:
- Team meetings
- IEP meetings
- Consultation meetings
- Problem-solving meetings
- Transition planning
- Professional development
Assessment & Data Collection
- Conduct ongoing formative assessments.
- Collect daily academic, behavioral, communication, and functional skill data.
- Monitor student growth using curriculum-based measures.
- Analyze student performance to inform instructional decisions.
- Maintain accurate documentation of student progress.
Family Communication
- Maintain regular communication with families.
- Share student progress, successes, and areas for continued growth.
- Collaborate with caregivers to support skill generalization across home and school environments.
Qualifications
- Massachusetts licensure in Moderate Disabilities (PreK–8 or 5–12); Severe Disabilities licensure preferred.
- Training in Wilson Reading System and/or Orton-Gillingham (preferred).
- Experience working with students with complex learning, behavioral, communication, and social-emotional needs.
- Knowledge of evidence-based instructional practices for students with disabilities.
- Strong collaboration, organization, and communication skills.