Our Curriculum

Our intent is to provide a wide range of programs designed to help you achieve proficiency in the professional service of your choice. We plan to meet your needs. We plan to teach the way that will help you learn best. We promise to provide every our services with a smile, and to your highest level of satisfaction. As such, our curriculum is designed to be comprehensive, flexible and with your needs and the needs of the community you will be serving in mind.

Mass Frameworks

The Starting Point: The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has designed a base curriculum for technical training schools. "Massachusetts Career and Technical Education Programs (CTE) prepare students to graduate with skills and credentials that will provide them with advanced employment opportunities to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. CTE Programs also provide students with learning experiences that enable them to see and understand their future career paths, including continued education."

Modified Framework

In teaching adults with cognitive disabilities, over time, teachers have come to realize that programs must be flexible to meet the students needs. As a result, we start with The Massachusetts Frameworks and modified this to include the programming from which we believe our students will most benefit; and also to adapt to the learning needs of our students. Once our students are immersed in the programming year, teachers will adjust and adapt the programming based on aptitude, interest level, and realistic pace of the program. Many special education programs plan out the curriculum months at a time. As an innovative program, we intend to follow this model with special education teachers and vocational teachers meeting regularly to fully plan for and address the needs of our students. The basis of an innovative program is "The freedom to structure curriculum and assessment practices to best meet students' learning needs."

Landscaping Example

Technical knowledge of all areas of our program are necessary. For each area of study, we intend to be very hands on in our training, supported by classroom discussion, video and more. This is so our students can learn and retain as much knowledge as possible. We will make sure students can describe and perform the tasks being taught. Areas of study may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Safety, Tools and Equipment
Vocabulary
Plant knowledge
Basics of landscape design
Hardscaping
Green house management
Hanging baskets
Low voltage lighting
Irrigation
Snow blowing and winter activities
Handy work as desired and time allowed, such as fence install, power washing, etc
Career readiness
Communication
Sales
Business knowledge
Coordination with entrepreneurial class