Unique Learning System

Erika Johnson, Director of Special Education

Samantha Goldman, Inclusion Specialist/Teacher on Special Assignment
Janell Sullivan, Redwood Autism Specialized Program Teacher
Sara Cummings, Thousand Oaks Autism Specialized Program Teacher
 ◦ Unique Learning ◦ News2You
Curriculum
◦ Current Events
◦ Language Arts
◦ L3 Skills
◦ Math
◦ Game-based learning
The Unique ◦ Science
◦ SymbolStix Prime
Learning ◦ Social Studies
◦ Symbol writer
System ◦ Transition
◦ Visuals
 Ventura County Office of
Education Schools
◦ Piloted 2015-2016
Unique
◦ Adopted 2016
Learning
◦ Used a slow implementation
System in ◦ Year 1 Focus on Curriculum
VCOE ◦ Year 2 Focus on Assessment
Schools ◦ Provided training for SELPA
◦ Connecting the standards
for ELA & Math
◦ Implementation of the
curriculum
 ◦ Aligned to Common Core
standards while providing
accessible content
Why ◦ Content is constantly being
Unique updated
Learning ◦ Receptive to feedback
System for ◦ Offers embedded assessments
VCOE? ◦ Student learning profiles
◦ Student data is kept from year
to year and can move from
school to school
 ◦ Prior to Unique, teachers created all
of their own materials and used
supplemental curriculum such as:
History of Touch Math, EdMark, PCI, or New2You
Unique ◦ Purchased Unique during the
Learning 2016-2017 school year under the
leadership of Dr. Michelle Morse
System in
CVUSD ◦ The purchase included 11 Unique
licenses and 1 Symbols Stix Prime
license
 ◦ Used as an Alternative Curriculum that
is aligned with common core standards
◦ Purchased a total of 22 licenses of
Unique for grades preschool through
post-secondary
Unique ◦ 15 News2You licenses for grades 6th
Learning through Post-Secondary
◦ 1 News2You license for all of elementary
System in to share
CVUSD ◦ 1 Symbol Stix to share between all staff
Today ◦ Used during Distance Learning and
in-person
 ◦ Unique provides curriculum for
Unique grades Preschool through
Learning Post-Secondary
System & ◦ English Language Arts Alignment
Common ◦ Math Alignment
Core ◦ Social Studies Alignment
Standards ◦ Science Alignment
Examples of Unique’s Language Arts Offerings
Preschool
Examples of Unique’s Language Arts Offerings
Elementary
Examples of Unique’s Language Arts Offerings
Intermediate
Examples of Unique’s Language Arts Offerings
Middle School
Examples of Unique’s Language Arts Offerings
High School
Examples of Unique’s Math Offerings
Preschool
Examples of Unique’s Math Offerings
Elementary
Examples of Unique’s Math Offerings
Intermediate
Examples of Unique’s Math Offerings
Middle School
Examples of Unique’s Math Offerings
High School
Examples of Unique’s Social Studies and Science
Offerings
Examples of Unique’s Transition Offerings
Transition Passports for Job Exploration
Academic Assessments: Benchmark
 Academic Assessments:
Checkpoints and Informal Assessments
 Transition Assessments
Transition Assessments- IEP Transition Page Career
Preference Assessment (Student Self-Reflection)
 Transition Passport Assessments
Job Performance Assessments in Class and In Community
News2You’s Various Levels
Examples of News2You
Examples of SymbolStix Prime
Examples of L3 Games
Access to Unique at Home
◦ Access through ◦ Other Ways Teachers
Unique Provide Access
◦ Interactive ◦ Boom Cards
◦ Printed ◦ Seesaw Activities
◦ Google Slide Activities
 ● Insights for Parents- Articles and webinars
to support parents at home

● IEP Resources for Parents- Articles,

webinars, and guides to support parents
Unique’s with the IEP process

Parent ● Logging In at Home

Resources
Q and A
 Future Training Future Purchases
◦ Essentials Pro ◦ Inspire Classics
◦ SymbolStix
Adapted versions
Moving Training
of classic novels
forward with accompanying
with activities
Unique ◦ More subscriptions
to SymbolStix
Allows for
students to access
comm boards
CVUSD Teacher Input
 Unique Usage Table
Reopening
Prior to Covid School Closures
(October-March
(Aug-March 2020) (Mar-August 2020)
2021)

# of Accounts 11 22 22

# of Times
145 535 942
Teachers Accessed

Average 13.18 29.72 52.3

 Unique Licenses
Preschool Elementary* Middle School High School Post-Secondary

School Be Me Madrona Colina NPHS Post Secondary

Maple Redwood TOHS Program
Sequoia WHS

Teachers Frankel Andrews Hare Alvarez Axelrod-Ngo

with Gomberg Francioni Joutras Cecil Hugar
Individual Harris Nash Wynner Slattum Cummings Sampson
Accounts Holder Ramer Smith Harney
Kassan Spraggins Sullivan Ketay
Tinker

*Clark, Ludere, Nassar, and Sharpe have access to the Unique Solutions but do not have individual
accounts as they do not teach alternate curriculum
 “My students have an equitable curriculum to
access content that their non-disabled peers
access everyday.“

“Independently students will seek out additional

Quotes
information after reading stories of interest.”
from
Teachers “I notice more engagement with unique. I can
track their skills better.”
 ◦ “Noticeable improvement in
reading comprehension/
writing skills”.
What’s ◦ “Extremely comprehensive”
Working
 ◦ Difficulty generalizing skills
◦ Needs more realistic
photographs
Challenges ◦ Difficult to assign work with
with
Unique