Margaret McFarland Learning Academy

Our Early Learning Center sits on the campus of Amy Beverland Elementary and is one of four NAEYC-accredited early learning centers run by the MSD of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis. We hold Level 4, the top rating in Indiana's Paths to Quality, and we serve preschoolers ages 3 to 5 along with full-day kindergarten. Our preschool program, Preschool of the Arts, lets children explore art, music, movement and literacy through project work, using the HighScope curriculum and ideas drawn from the Reggio Emilia schools. Kindergarten is full day and tuition-free for children who turn 5 before October 1, with daily Readers' and Writers' Workshop, small-group reading and IEPs when appropriate. Each building has a full resource staff for students with special needs, and on-site speech, occupational and physical therapy are available to students who qualify. Kindergartners are screened for dyslexia risk, and intervention can include Orton-Gillingham lessons. Preschool is billed weekly, from $190 for the school day, with before care from 6:30 a.m. and after care until 6 p.m. Preschool is for district residents, while kindergarten also accepts students from outside the district.

Damar Academy began in 1993 as a single on-campus classroom for Damar students whose needs the public schools could not meet. In 2005 we hired our own licensed teachers and teaching assistants and became an independent, Freeway-accredited private school on Damar's 83-acre campus on the southwest side of Indianapolis. We provide special education for students ages 6 to 21 with developmental, intellectual and behavioral disabilities. Our teachers hold Indiana licenses with special education endorsements, and they blend education and therapy through instruction in communication, behavior, academics, motor and adaptive skills, and social and emotional development. Students practice independent living skills in the classroom and out in the community, and older students build vocational skills for life after school. We can contract with local school corporations to serve qualifying children. Most of our students come from Indiana, but we also accept students from other states.

Damar Charter Academy is Indiana's first public charter school created specifically for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It opened in 2011 as a collaboration between Damar Services and the City of Indianapolis Office of Education Innovation, and serves up to 195 students in kindergarten through grade 12 on the southwest side of Indianapolis. Enrollment is open to any Indiana resident and there is no tuition. Students follow one of three tracks: an academic track toward a diploma, a life skills track focused on independent living and community integration, and a vocational track for students 13 and older. Classes are small, staff ratios are high, and instruction uses a total communication approach including PECS. Speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, behavior intervention, and counseling are provided on site. Through the Dragon Works program, students build job skills by running a coffee shop and a wood shop.