Terms like “workforce development,” “job readiness” and “career training” are vitally important in today’s k-12 education.  Those same terms are especially important to students with significant disabilities who disproportionately suffer from persistent unemployment and dependence. This population needs new and effective resources to develop employment skills that will support independent living. This is especially true among students receiving instruction in Alabama’s Extended Standards and who are on the Alternate Pathway.

The Beautiful Rainbow Training curriculum and instructional video series is designed to help fill that gap.   These useful lessons plans, engaging videos and sensible assessments are aligned with the Alabama State Department of Education’s Extended Standards and Transition Standards for students on the Alternate Pathway.  They are based on best instructional practices developed and proven at the award-winning Beautiful Rainbow Cafe.  They are made available at no charge to teachers, rehabilitation specialists and others working with young people with special needs in Alabama. 

Beautiful Rainbow Training and its sister program, Beautiful Rainbow Café, are projects of the Gadsden City School System located in Northeast Alabama.   They are recognized as model training programs for students with significant cognitive disabilities by the Alabama State Department of Education.  The Beautiful Rainbow Training curriculum and instructional video series is made possible by grants from the Stringfellow Health Fund, the Harland Jones Charitable Fund and the Longleaf Fund of the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama.

Beautiful Rainbow Café is a widely praised garden-to-table education program for adolescents and young adults with significant cognitive disabilities in the Gadsden City Schools. The café, located in the Gadsden Public Library, is open to the public.  The organic garden is located across the street and produces vegetables year-round. The students learn academic and transition skills through instruction in the cafe and garden.