Meeting Individual Student Needs - Cathedral of Saint Raymond

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Meeting Individual Needs

Every student is a child of God and is deserving of an opportunity of the best Catholic education possible. Our mission calls us to uniquely challenge every student, from those academically gifted to those who need extra support. St. Raymond School offers several levels of support to achieve the goal of having every student reach their fullest academic and social/emotional potential.

WIN(N) Time

At St. Ray’s, we commit to knowing our learners and meeting their needs — mind, body and spirit. In order to differentiate and meet the individualized needs of our students, we provide WIN(N) Time, which enables teachers to engage students where they are and get them where they need to be.

WIN(N) Time — or What I Need Now Time — is dedicated time in the schedule to intervene, enrich and challenge all students. Each week, our classroom teachers, enrichment coordinator and academic counselor work with small groups to teach, reteach, support or challenge — whatever the student needs most.

Through WIN(N), our students experience targeted lessons and activities that matter most — lessons and activities that are critical for that particular learner on that particular day. We truly know our students and we prioritize their individual needs, ensuring their growth, confidence, engagement and success.

Enrichment

Students identified as high level learners by using standardized testing, teacher recommendation and classroom performance, are included in our Enrichment Program. Focused on math and reading, our enrichment teacher pushes into the classrooms and extends the general curriculum to meet the unique needs of these high-level learners, as well as pull them out for small group work.

For more information on these services, contact Julie Vitas, St. Ray’s enrichment teacher, at jvitas@csrn.org.

Counseling

St. Ray’s partners with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet to provide a social worker to meet the social/emotional needs of our students. Counseling services consist of the following:

Individual meetings with students. The sessions are approximately 30 minutes and are usually once a week for a defined period. Students can be referred by the teacher or parent or be self-referred when there are concerns about the student’s ability to manage their emotions or social skills.
Observations of students in the classroom to identify possible reasons for behavior and development of a behavior intervention plan in consultation with the teachers.
Facilitated conflict resolution meetings with students that have a conflict.
Group sessions with a small number of students. An example is a new student group for students that have transferred to St. Ray’s.
Counseling lessons in the classroom. Examples include bullying, emotion identification/regulation, empathy, problem-solving, etc.
Consultation with outside therapists to ensure that counseling goals for students are aligned and feedback is ensured.
Parent education and consultation on social emotional issues.

For more information on our counseling services, contact Sarah Zych, St. Ray’s social worker, at szych@csrn.org.

Academic Intervention

St. Ray’s employees a full time academic counselor who is skilled and experienced in providing learning strategies to students who are currently performing either slightly below, or well below grade level expectations in a specific subject. The academic counselor provides strategic support to help students meet grade level standards in reading, math or executive functioning.

The academic counselor works one-on-one with students or in small groups, both in and outside the classroom, to give students support that meets their individual needs. She also works closely with classroom teachers to either assist with, or model, ways to adjust the content, process, and products of their lessons, to help all students achieve success.

For more information on these services, contact Leanne Buhr, St. Ray’s academic counselor, at lbuhr@csrn.org.

Special Education Services

Despite our best attempts to provide students with interventions and accommodations, some students need a bit more support than we can provide. Under the federal law of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) parents can request a formal evaluation of their child. Through a special education referral process students may qualify for additional support from a District 86 special education teacher on-site at St. Raymond.

The results of the special education evaluation may illuminate needs that are beyond what St. Raymond School can offer. We discern this with each family on an individual basis, always putting the needs of students first.

For more information on special education services, please contact Leanne Buhr, St. Ray’s academic counselor, at lbuhr@csrn.org. She coordinates all students from St. Raymond who have a designated IEP from the public school.

608 North Raynor Ave.
Joliet, IL 60435
Email: info@csrn.org
School: 815-722-6626
Fax: 815-727-4668