At Shepherd we believe that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, can achieve at the highest levels. As a community, Shepherd works to provide all students with the most appropriate environment based on their individualized needs to ensure their success academically, socially, and globally. Parents, families and community members play an essential role in the education of their children, especially when a child has a disability and needs special services. You are an expert on your child and his or her most important advocate. DC Public Schools aspires be a model district for special education. Our goal at Shepherd is to provide high quality inclusion and special education services, and to dramatically improve academic outcomes for students with disabilities.

For SY2020-21, Shepherd gained an Early Childhood Education Communication and Education Support classroom (ECE-CES). ECE-CES program classrooms are for students in grades Prek3-4 who have been identified with autism spectrum disorder or other types of learning needs. The ECE-CES classrooms are based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and use research-based practices to provide students with highly structured environments. The teacher and staff in this classroom support the academic, behavioral, communication, and social-emotional needs of students to help them develop early academic and independent life skills.