RKS Associates Special Education Case Study Series

We were asked to design and develop a series of white papers for RKS Associates, a network of special education schools in New Jersey. Each one follows a single student’s growth over years of specialized out-of-district placement and shows the level of support from the special education professionals at RKS Schools behind each student’s growth.

The series includes three case studies:

• From Emotional Reactivity to Self-Confidence. This one covers eight years of supported learning that led a student from serious emotional dysregulation to a place on his high school track team back in his home district.
• The Integration of the Four Disciplines. This one shows how classroom instruction, speech-language therapy, adaptive physical education, and counseling worked together to prepare a student to return to his district after four years.
• Despite the Degeneration of His Vision. This one covers fourteen years of support for a student with multiple disabilities, including progressive vision loss, that ended with him working and traveling on his own in his community.

Each story covers many years and draws on several disciplines, so the design had to make that complexity easy to read. We built a consistent series identity across all three schools.

We turned each school’s care model into clear visual diagrams, such as the four-discipline model, the collaborative support plan, and the four key components of student success. We also used pull quotes and sidebars to bring forward the observations of the staff who worked with each student every day. 

Throughout, we designed with plain language and health literacy in mind so families, district case managers, and other professionals can follow each student’s progress. Each white paper was accessible on each school's website as a PDF download and for principals to use to engage district education professionals in considering an RKS school for placement of a challenged student within their district.