This curriculum project was funded by 1) Best Practices Clearinghouse Grant and through the Department of Children, Families and Learning and the 2) Curriculum Completion Project Grant funded by the Department of Education.

One of goals of the Best Practices Grant was to determine “gaps” in curriculum for students with Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (EBD) and Developmental Cognitive Disabilities (DCD) and to then identify and/or create curriculum aligned with the Minnesota Graduation Standards.

Teachers from the three intermediate districts, 916, 287 and 917, were surveyed in the fall of 2001 to determine areas of greatest need regarding curriculum and instruction for these targeted populations. Teachers were then identified to work collaboratively to promote the meaningful integration of graduation standards for these two groups of students with special needs. The teacher teams adopted a definition of “learning standards” as “the core of what all people should know and be able to apply as a result of their education”. This guided the teachers working on this project in maintaining a focus on individual student priorities and ensuring priority attention for foundation and relevant skills development.

The collaborative team of teachers serving students with EBD focused on identifying and field testing curriculum aligned with the graduation standards in 4 instructional areas: Social Studies, Science, Math, and Arts and Literature.  The team adapted MECR and CART assessments or created rigorous performance assessments for EBD students that were aligned with identified curriculum to address specific needs of students with EBD.