CESA 1 student programs consist of nine different programs across five sites, each supporting different age groups and identified needs for students with and without disabilities. Each program is designed to meet students where they are at and address needs that have led to a referral for out of district placement. Such needs may include students who are at risk for not graduating, students who have specific emotional or behavioral needs that benefit from targets supports and a small group or even one-on-one setting, and/or young adults that are in need of targeted vocational training in an immersive work environment in order to ensure that they are workforce and life ready. See our individual Student Programs pages for more information on each program.

CESA 1 student programs function as an extension of the programming available to each resident district seeking partnership. The two main goals of our programs are focused on positive student outcomes; reintegration into the least restrictive environment within the home school or successful completion of high school graduation requirements in order to receive the resident district diploma.  We work with each individual student and team in order to develop goals and learning plans to support their unique circumstances and needs in order to help our students build foundational skills, make academic progress and reach their individual goals. We pride ourselves on our outcomes through a highly collaborative partnership with students, resident district staff and families.

A resident district, in partnership with a student’s family or guardian, may initiate a referral to the CESA 1 Director of Student Services. Project SEARCH sites have an established application period and process established for intern selection.

We have limited staffing capacity to facilitate site tours, as the staff that provide the tours are working directly with currently enrolled students. While we provide tours as a required component of our referral process, we request access to student referral paperwork ahead of scheduling tours, as to ascertain the appropriateness of placement first. There are instances where district teams may be interested in conducting a site tour to learn more about our operations and how we might support their students and/or collaborate around effective strategies within that district. We do our best to encourage such partnerships and accommodate those opportunities to share the great work that our staff does.

Project SEARCH sites have a calendar of prescheduled tours to accommodate districts, families and prospective candidates for future program years.

For all K-12 student programs, resident district support is required for placement. Requests for placement in any K-12 program must be initiated by a resident school district designee.  Parents/guardians who contact CESA 1 to request placement information will be directed back to the resident district for initial collaboration around consideration of alternate placement.

For Project SEARCH programs, district support is not required. Applicants are required to have established support from DVR and an identified funding source for participation in the program.