Executive Summary
LifeWorks At Village Park
Mr. Steven E Detweiler, Director 75 Unity Dr Fairless Hills, PA 19030-2500
Document Generated On April 8, 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1
Description of the School
2
School's Purpose
3
Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement
5
Additional Information
6
Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning.
The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis.
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Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
Description of the School
Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves?
LifeWorks at Village Park (LWVP) is located in Fairless Hills, PA and is a part of the Universal Health Services network of schools. LWVP encompasses over 11,000 square feet in a building that once served as an elementary school within the Pennsbury School District. LWVP first opened in 2013 and has grown to allow fifteen staff to educate 50 students, with a capacity of 60 students, from the Pennsbury, Bristol Township, Bensalem, Neshaminy, Morrisville, School Lane Charter, and Upper Darby school districts. The school provides a small, therapeutic environment to students who struggle with special needs, such as Other Health Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, and/or Specific Learning Disabilities. Students attend on a daily basis Monday through Friday from 8:15 am to 2:40 pm.
LWVP offers a strong academic curriculum, supportive teachers, and a wide spectrum of counseling services. Struggling students can get the individualized instruction they need, while receiving counseling services that allow students the opportunities to learn the skills necessary for success. Counseling services consists of group therapy, social skills training, conflict resolution, anger management, etc. Each student is also provided with individual support and case management through the school counselor. The ultimate goal for each student is to develop the motivation and success at school that will enable him or her to return to a regular school setting and/or fulfill the requirements for graduation.
Emphasis is placed on strengthening student's academic skills while focusing on stabilizing behaviors and symptoms that interfere with success at school. We also strongly believe that communication between students, parents/guardians and teachers is critical for a student's success. LWVP distributes a parent survey twice a year to solicit information and feedback from parents. As one of the primary stakeholders, soliciting information from parents/guardians can be used to improve programs and produce data for informed and best practices. As reflected in the March 2015 surveys, 83% of parents reported overall satisfaction with staff to parent communication.
LWVP strives to build strong relationships within the community and has successfully established a collaborative relationship with the Bucks County Library Association. In 2015, staff was afforded the opportunity to work with library employees to provide additional outside resources for classroom support. LWVP also has a relationship with Network of Victim's Assistance (NOVA) which affords staff an additional resource to further their knowledge in best practice for trauma-informed care.
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Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
School's Purpose
Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students.
LifeWorks Schools at Village Park (LWVP) is dedicated to providing a continuum of educational and behavioral health services to serve the unique needs of our students. We are committed to providing students with the skills needed to reach their full potential and become productive citizens. LWVP is devoted to being the provider of choice for academic and behavioral programming in the region by addressing the academic, behavioral, counseling and mental health needs of students through a full spectrum of high quality innovative programs.
All actions taken and decisions made by LWVP reflect and demonstrate the following four key values: safety, clinical integrity, customer service, and best practices. LifeWorks meet the unique educational needs of students through accommodations and modifications to our curriculum while maintaining the academic rigor necessary for students to reach benchmark. LifeWorks also balances empathy and structure to provide the students with an environment which is compassionate while also focusing accountability and skill acquisition. LifeWorks strives to improve the mental health of each student by providing therapeutic group counseling sessions for students during the school day and by working to connect students and families with outside agencies who can provide extra supports when needed.
LifeWorks accepts students enrolled in middle or high school grades 6 through 12, who benefit from a small (less than 10:1 student to teacher & 4:1 staff to student ratio), structured, compassionate environment in which to learn. LWVP Lower School is comprised of students in 6th to 9th grade, while our Upper School educated 10th through 12th grades. The school offers a strong academic curriculum based on the current Common Core and Pennsylvania Department of Education State Standards. Through the combined efforts of academic instruction, technology, and counseling support services, students can improve academic success, develop positive coping and leadership skills, gain positive socialization and interpersonal skills, and reduce behavioral health symptoms. The ultimate goal for each student is to develop the necessary skills that will enable them to maximize their potential. LWVP goal is to successfully transition students to a less restrictive environment as soon as they are ready.
Our dedicated team of qualified staff is trained to handle children and adolescents struggling with a variety of emotional and behavioral health problems. The students have daily interaction with certified teachers, instructional assistants, master's level certified school counselors, behavior managers, a board certified behavior analyst, and ancillary professionals. The students receive academic instruction in math, science, language arts/English, social studies/history, reading, health and physical education, computers, art, and music.
LWVP provides group counseling support for students up to 5 times per week for 45 minutes as well as individual counseling facilitated by master's level certified secondary school counselors. Group topics include but are not limited to: social skills, decision making, anger management, suicide prevention, drug and alcohol addiction/recovery, relationships, family systems, trauma, grief, loss, self esteem/concept, pregnancy, sexuality, abuse recovery, coping skills, setting goals, self control, career & post secondary preparation, medication, and dealing with mental illness. Each student and their assigned counselor work on up to three specific counseling goals relating to the students' needs for one marking period (45 day period). In addition, case management, conflict resolution, peer mediation, and restorative justice are also offered as part of our counseling services.
LWVP provides a school wide Positive Behavior Management Program that is geared toward positive reinforcement, clear rules & guidelines, restorative practices, and appropriate consequences for disruptive and maladaptive behavior. The Behavior Management Program at LifeWorks has multiple levels of implementation including but not restricted to: (1) Functional Assessments with individualized behavior Page 3 © 2016 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.
Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
intervention plans (2) S.M.A.R.T. Program (Token Economy) (3) Level System with daily point sheets (4) Tiered discipline system (5) Restorative Justice (6) Consultation with our full time Behavior Manager, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, or School Based Behavior Specialist Consultant (7) Group counseling support. LifeWorks operates 180 school days per school year and offers an Extended School Year (ESY) program for and addition 24 days for those who qualify.
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Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement
Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years.
In 2015, LifeWorks at Village Park (LWVP) experienced growth in student population as well as programmatically. With growth comes change. Greater demands emerged for classroom instruction that is differentiated and meaningful. In order to address this need, a new curriculum and scope and sequence was developed for all core subjects that is aligned to the common core standards. Also, in order to provide a more diverse educational experience, elective classes such as art, music and physical education were added with instruction being provided by certified teachers.
Moving forward, the focus for LWVP will be to develop staff that has ongoing opportunities for growth. LWVP will strive to provide staff with ongoing support and up to date educational resources for technology and instruction. Currently, in addition to internal training/professional development opportunities, LWVP provides professional development through instruction, in-service days with outside agencies that provide specific training areas, and video/internet preparation. All school staff may also utilize their $500 professional development allotment to attend training(s) conducted by outside agencies.
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Executive Summary LifeWorks At Village Park
Additional Information
Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections.
LWVP strives to build strong relationships within the community and has successfully established a collaborative relationship with the Bucks County Library Association. In 2015, staff was afforded the opportunity to work with library employees to provide additional outside resources for classroom support. LWVP also has a relationship with Network of Victim's Assistance (NOVA) which affords staff an additional resource to further their knowledge in best practice for trauma-informed care.
There has been ongoing discussions regarding opening both an elementary program as well as an ASD classroom.
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