The Issaquah School District's LAP program mission is to provide intensive intervention for students not meeting standard in literacy or, in some middle schools, math, who do not qualify for other support services. The goal of the program is to accelerate learning for these students and bring them quickly to standard, and to exit them from the program.
Traditionally, students not meeting standard have been tracked into remedial classes that slow down the pace of learning and simplify the content of curriculum. Though this practice of remediation is intended to allow students to catch up to their peers, research finds that remediation actually causes students to fall further behind. Instead of a remediation model, Issaquah uses an acceleration model that provides each student with powerful learning experiences that stress complex and engaging activities and direct teaching of relevant content. Learning and skill development is accelerated, so students catch up to their peers.
Test scores from WASL assessments, Stanford 10 scores, classroom performance, and teacher observation are combined to create a list of students. Students are invited into LAP programs, beginning with those most in need of service. As students exit the program, their place is taken by the next in line on the rank ordered list.
An additional belief of Issaquah's LAP program is that students most in need of support should work with those teachers most likely to be able to provide support. Accordingly, students identified for LAP services are taught by highly qualified, certificated, teachers in a small group setting.