Educational Support Services

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School is committed to meeting the needs of students with mild to moderate learning differences. Providing support services to our students with diverse academic needs and learning styles is a fundamental part of the CESJDS educational program. CESJDS has a staff of learning specialists who work closely with students, teachers, counselors, and parents to identify and support students in their academic work and executive function skills.

In the Lower School, learning specialists provide “push-in” support to students in the classroom. Our staff of learning specialists work closely with the classroom teachers in a co-teaching model and provide academic intervention to students several times throughout the week. Learning specialists meet weekly with classroom teachers to plan lessons together and to discuss student accommodations. When educationally appropriate, strategy instruction in small “pull-out” groups outside the classroom is also provided by our learning specialists. Many students at CESJDS work regularly with a grade level learning specialist while other students may occasionally work with a learning specialist throughout the year for extra support.

Educational support services are provided in the following areas: decoding, fluency, reading comprehension, writing, math and organizational skills. Additionally, our Hebrew learning specialists provide support in decoding, fluency, reading comprehension and writing.

The learning specialists focus their work with students on the following areas:

• Remediation in reading instruction, including decoding, fluency, and comprehension, using research-based, structured multi-sensory instruction
• Strategy instruction in written language skills
• Strategy instruction in organizational and study skills

Learning specialists develop Learning Plans for ESS students which include individualized academic goals. Accommodation Plans are also developed for students and help guide teachers to provide a classroom environment with student supports which may include accommodations in areas of organization, focus/attention, language, behavior management, and assessment. Our Learning Plans include goals that are similar to those found in public school IEPs and our Accommodation Plans are similar to public school 504 plans. 

Students in the Lower School are not required to have psycho-educational testing in order to receive educational support services.  However, testing is often recommended in order to help parents and the school team better understand a student’s academic and/or social emotional profile. Students applying to Sulam@JDS are required to have psychoeducational testing in order to be considered for admission to the program. (More information about our Sulam program can be found below.)

MCPS provides speech and language services  to eligible students enrolled in private or religious schools located in Montgomery County. Students who have a Service Plan that designates speech and language therapy can work with an onsite MCPS speech and language therapist at JDS in the Lower School.  

CESJDS offers on site private therapy services. We currently partner with several private therapy practices and students work one-to-one in a private space during the school day. 

For more information about educational support services in the Lower School, contact the Director of Lower School Educational Support Services Lenore Layman.

Sulam@JDS Program

Sulam@JDS offers a level of intervention and support beyond what is currently provided to students enrolled at CESJDS. Students in the Sulam program receive:

• More frequent opportunities for academic intervention
• Individualized support in the classroom including modifications to curriculum and materials where appropriate
• Ongoing skill building in the areas of social and emotional development
• Personalized case management that includes frequent communication between school, home and outside providers.

A Sulam@JDS student requires a level of support that exceeds what ESS provides. The student experiences barriers to success across the school day, which necessitates a higher frequency and intensity of intervention services. The determination whether a student requires ESS or Sulam support will be made by the Sulam Director and the CESJDS Director of Lower School Educational Support Services.

Learn more about Sulam@JDS.

Educational Support Services in the Upper School serves students with documented learning disabilities using an assets-based philosophy to help students understand their learning profiles and use their strengths to support their learning.  Students are enrolled in Structured Study Halls, each staffed by a learning specialist who shares study and test-taking strategies so that students learn to study smarter, not harder. Through the ESS program, students develop the following core skills to help them reach their potential as competent, independent, and resilient life-long learners. These core skills include:

• Developing self-awareness, including an understanding of an individual’s learning profile (strengths, learning challenges), leading to self-confidence
• Learning effective self-advocacy skills
• Improving executive function skills 
  • Organization of time, materials, space
  • Independent task initiation and completion
  • Transitioning (shifting tasks, activities)
  • Cognitive flexibility
  • Time management and pacing
  • Planning and prioritizing
  • Self-monitoring and self-reflection
• Applying talents and strengths to take risks in their learning 
• Recognizing the role they themselves play in interfering with learning and academic output and learn how to control it
• Using the school’s excellent internal resources to support their own learning

For more information about educational support services in the Upper School, contact the Feder Family Director Upper School Educational Support Services Sue Zuckerman.

Accommodations Offered

For students who qualify through documentation, typical accommodations we offer include:

• Extended time for tests, quizzes, and in-class essays
• Preferential seating
• Extra white space or enlarged print for tests and worksheets
• Transliteration and translation for students new to Hebrew, as appropriate

Each student in the ESS program has a CESJDS Upper School Education Plan that lists the student’s learning strengths and weaknesses as well as accommodations and recommendations.  The plan is based on the documentation provided by families. This documentation needs to be in the form of a psychoeducational evaluation that has been completed within the last five years.  The evaluation usually includes a cognitive assessment (often a WISC or WAIS), achievement testing (e.g., Woodcock Johnson), and other tests that focus on attentional controls, executive function, and academic skills.

Please note that the College Board and the ACT require students applying for accommodations to have a history of using those accommodations in school. Decisions to grant accommodations for these tests are determined solely by the College Board and ACT, and are not determined by the School.  Both testing agencies review the psychoeducational evaluation as well as the student’s Education Plan as part of their process.