Grades K-5

Carl Dwire School is located in Oxnard and serves students from Kindergarten to fifth grade with moderate to severe disabilities that have been referred by their local school district. Staff use evidenced-based instructional strategies to teach the functional skills that will maximize independence for the students. Classroom instruction is aligned to the California Standards and 21st Century skills. Establishing a functional means of communication for each student is an important focus of the program, so that students can participate in California's statewide student assessment system: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP).

Each classroom benefits from smaller class sizes, increase in staff to student ratio and structured educational expectations. The classrooms use state adopted instructional materials. As a learning community, we believe that professional expertise, supported by collaboration between parents, students, teachers, specialists, paraprofessionals, and administration leads to a safe learning environment and positive student outcomes.

Instruction is designed to meet individual needs of each student throughout the school day, including recess and lunch periods. Instruction is based upon the following curricular skills: functional academics, communication, self-care, social-emotional/behavioral functioning, and motor skills so our students can maximize their independence in the domains of vocational, community access, self-care, independent living skills and recreation/leisure activities. A functional mobility component to the curriculum is utilized for students with physical disabilities to develop the skills of sitting, standing and walking while participating in their school activities.

Students may have the opportunity to participate in integrated activities with students from the adjacent McAuliffe school. These activities may be in of the general education classrooms, or during lunch, recess and school wide activities.

Preschool

The VCOE Carl Dwire Preschool program located in Oxnard and provide educational programs for preschool students referred by their local school district. The classroom staff includes Teachers, Paraeducators, and a school nurse. Speech and Language Pathologists, an Occupational therapist, a Psychologist, a Vision Specialist, and a Physical therapist work with students as needed. The instruction is guided by the California Preschool Learning Foundations and Curriculum Frameworks and incorporates evidence based instructional strategies with developmentally appropriate curricular materials and activities into the daily schedule.

Instruction is based on the curricular domains of functional academics, pre-vocational, recreation/leisure, and community access. Skill development related to communication, self-care, social-emotional/behavioral functioning, and motor skills are focused on within those curricular domains.

The staff members teach functional skills that will maximize independence for the students. Establishing a functional means of communication for each student is an important focus of the program and a strong emphasis is placed on teaching the students appropriate behaviors. Instruction is designed to meet individual needs of each student throughout the school day, including recess and lunch periods. Students may have the opportunity to participate in integrated activities with other preschool students on the campus. The classroom may include typical peers enrolled to support student learning through structured opportunities.
The DRDP-Access (a mandatory assessment) is used to measure student progress on readiness skills in developmental and academic areas.