How One District Raised IEP Graduation Rates from 67.5% to 93%

67.5% → 93%.

That's the graduation rate for students with IEPs at Vallejo City Unified before and after one year under Kristen Hardy, Executive Director of Special Education / SELPA.

Beyond the Box is back after the summer break, and Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Kristen to unpack what actually moved the number:

• Every mild/moderate IEP student in core curriculum. No pull-out to worksheets.

• Co-teaching with self-selected partners and protected planning time.

• Master scheduling built around specialized populations first, not last.

• MAP 1 students sitting in classrooms lined with pre-calc equations - and rising to it.

Two lines worth reading back:

"The assessment is the story. The IEP is the roadmap."

"Special ed kids are general ed first."

That's systems design!

🎧 Video and audio links in the first comment.

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