What is Community Based Instruction and how does it Benefit Calais Students?

Community Based Instruction (CBI) outings have been accused of being just another school field trip. However, if you look a little closer, you will find these small group outings are anything but!

The driving principle behind CBI is that skills learned through firsthand authentic experiences in the local community can have a lasting impact on students. While recreation can play a part, CBI outings are functional in nature and tend to occur in small groups with a small student to teacher ratio. CBI outings occur regularly, repeatedly and emphasize a cumulative application of specific life skills. Students are empowered as they take chaperoned excursions into the community with well-defined objectives to develop independence and interdependence.

Community Based Instruction is an integral component of The Calais School Transition Program. At The Calais School, the CBI framework is broken down into three key learning areas, each focusing on specific goals:

  1. Financial Literacy and Consumerism

Within Financial Literacy and Consumerism, students learn skills to help them become educated consumers which includes budgeting and managing their money. Throughout the school year, CBI students visit public venues to reinforce financial literacy and consumerism lessons in a variety of settings.

This past December, Calais CBI students took an instructional trip to a department store for a Secret Snowman gift exchange. They learned how to navigate a store setting, shop for their gifts within a budget, manage their time at the store, and purchase their gifts. 

  1. Community Service and Career Growth

Within Community Service, students explore what it means to be active, productive members in their community. Relating to Career Growth, students visit work environments, take college tours, and learn about different vocational options and careers.

Examples of learning in this area at Calais include a trip to Toni’s Kitchen where students put together fresh produce and bread bags which were handed out to the community. (Toni’s Kitchen is a food ministry of St Luke’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, NJ with a mission of providing healthy food to neighbors in need.) Later that year, students visited a local Federal Express branch to experience a real-world work environment. While at FedEx, students met the manager and took part in a Q&A about employee expectations and skills. 

  1. Leisure and Personal Growth

Leisure and Personal Growth hones in on social interaction, community exploration, physical activity and basic living skills like preparing meals, laundry and self care. Trips taken this school year included a NJ TRANSIT train ride from the Madison Station to the Morris Plains Station and a nutrition workshop at the ShopRite in Parsippany, NJ.

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Through these three key areas, CBI students build a comprehensive set of life skills and test the waters in a guided, instructional setting before they set out on their own. Post high school can be challenging. CBI helps students deconstruct the huge pie called life — slicing it into more manageable pieces so they can live, work and play confidently and become productive members in their communities. 

Offered to Calais students starting in their junior year, CBI is an evidence-based instructional practice that supports students with disabilities during transition from school life to adult life by focusing on community living, postsecondary education, and careers. Following junior and senior year, CBI instruction continues to be a core offering within The Calais School 12 Plus Program.

You can learn more about The Calais School Transition Program and its offerings which include Community Based Instruction, Work Based Learning, 12 Plus and our College Bridge Program on our website.