About REACH

What is REACH?

Resources for Educational Achievement Collaboration and Health – REACH – is Chicago’s strategic and coordinated effort to address a system-wide need to be more inclusive. With the help of REACH, Chicagoland Jewish day schools are able to teach and care for students with a wide range of needs.

Our vision is to ensure that all Jewish students in Chicago can attend the Jewish day school of their choice. There, all children can achieve their individual potential as learners so that they thrive as productive, committed and communally involved Jews.

REACH built upon and integrated two prior special education programs in Chicago, ELAN and P’TACH. Since 2011, REACH has created a successful model for increasing academic achievement and inclusion for diverse learners; building local schools’ capacity to educate and support all students; and destigmatizing the need for support services in school.

A core component of REACH’s work is the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), a continuous-improvement framework in which data-driven problem solving and decision making is practiced across all levels of the educational system to support students.

REACH services include:

Direct services to students (academic coaching, small group instruction, school resource, IDEA, school-based occupational and speech therapy, school counseling)
Consultation, partnering to develop best practice systems, strategies and protocols for the needs of each specific school
Professional development, training, coaching and consultation
Community collaborati on, working with other educational and family-focused organizations to support programming that aligns with our mission

Multi-Tiered System Of Support (MTSS)

Academic and Behavioral System Interventions

Since 2011, REACH staff has supported Jewish day schools with the tools they need to meet the varied needs of the whole student, including their academic, social-emotional and physical health needs. This allows students with a wide range of learning styles, abilities, challenges and special needs to access a meaningful Jewish education that reflects their families’ values. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are where we at REACH primarily focus our resources. We remain available and dedicated to supporting ATT in their focus on Tier 1. MTSS allows schools to provide optimum educational support in the least restrictive environment for each student, defined as maximizing time spent in a typical learning environment with peers.

Tier 3 (1-5%)

Direct services for students who need deeper level of supports from school or
long-term supports for classroom teacher – individual students,
assessment-based, intensive

Tier 2 (5-15%)

Consultation and Coaching for teachers and administrators around specific
students with goal of increasing student success in the classroom, based
on specific support plans and implementation – high efficiency, rapid
response, small groups, some individualizing

Tier 1 (80-90%)

General Professional Development, relevant to all teachers and
classrooms, with goal of increasing teacher knowledge and skills to
support all students, including struggling students – strategy for
universal design for learning – all students, preventive, proactive

What people are saying about REACH

Thanks to REACH, my daughter has learned better study skills in order to prepare her for tests and improved her reading comprehension. Her teacher has been extremely flexible and easy going.
JDBY Parent

REACH is an invaluable resource for the entire Chicagoland Jewish community. REACH is attentive to the specific and ever-changing needs of each school and works collaboratively to bring the best practices of the most current educational approaches to help each student grow and reach their potential.
Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School Administrator

With the wonderful foundations given to our son by REACH, we were both confident and hopeful that he would be supported in high school in order to achieve his goals, both academically and socially.
Ida Crown Jewish Academy Parent

REACH has been instrumental in offering support to our school community. Working with REACH is easy – the team members are kind, accessible, knowledgable and eager to support us.
Solomon Schechter Day School Administrator

With the support of REACH, students in the past who may not have been able to make it at the Academy are now able to succeed and thrive.
Ida Crown Jewish Academy Administrator

My daughter is very artistic and the REACH teachers used that as a foundation for her learning instead of pushing it away as irrelevant to her educational growth.
JDBY parent

Having occupational and speech therapists readily available on a weekly basis has greatly impacted our students and staff…we have received very positive feedback from our teachers in regards to the support being offered.
Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School Administrator

My son has ADHD, and last year he was in public school. He could not find common ground with the other students and was isolated socially. Now at Arie Crown, the REACH teachers are amazing and have tremendous patience. They are invested in him and go the extra mile.
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School Parent

The REACH professional development program in our school has been a real game changer for my teaching experience. They give me plenty of opportunities to implement the tools and strategies straight into my classroom. I am definitely meeting my students’ needs a lot better.  
Lubavitch Girls High School Teacher

Partnering with REACH professionals has not only provided us with the ability to service the needs of more of our community’s children, it has raised the level of education at Arie Crown for all of our students.
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School Administrator

REACH has been instrumental in offering support to our school community. Working with REACH is easy – the team members are kind, accessible, knowledgable and eager to support us.
Solomon Schechter Day School Administrator