Tanager Place School provides educational services for children in the Tanager Place residential program as well as children from Linn and surrounding counties. These children require creative and specialized curriculum and teaching skills as they exhibit behaviors that inhibit participation in normal classroom settings such as:

• unusual or bizarre speech, loose associations, delusional thinking
• change in attention span and ability to focus
• dramatic swings in mood
• increased agitation, aggression and irritability
• decreased motivation, listlessness, chronic sadness or crying
• obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors
• low understanding of social conventions, resulting in frequent problems with uninhibited, socially inappropriate behavior

Tanager Place contracts with EduCare Learning Center of Cedar Rapids.  The School utilizes the 60/40 individualized learning concept in which 60% of a student’s time is spent in individualized instruction ranging over all academic areas, with the remaining 40% of the time spent in group classroom activities. The curricula utilizes:

• easy to understand concepts
• type sizes, line lengths and amount of content on each page designed to give students the greatest opportunity to succeed in the activity
• success oriented concepts
• self-pacing materials
• programs to make learning fun
   

For referral information call 319-365-9164

During the regular school year, Tanager School operates seven classrooms:

• Five Behavior Disorder classrooms that serve children according to their age.

• One classroom for children in the ICF/MR (Intermediate Care Facility for Mentally Retarded) program.

• One transitional classroom for children who have recently been placed in the residential program.

The maximum number of students in a classroom at any point in time is nine. During the summer, two classrooms are normally in operation, each serving fifteen children.  Tanager Place school offers two summer school sessions serving 30 children.