Building district-aligned AI tools for special education: Tyler County Schools

West Virginia’s Tyler County Schools serves approximately 1,200 students across four schools in a close-knit rural community. Educators know their students well and work hard to give each one the support they need.

For special education teachers, that commitment comes with an added challenge. Creating individualized education programs, progress reports, and other required documentation takes significant time away from working directly with students.

Tyler County Schools saw an opportunity to give teachers more useful support. During its first full year with MagicSchool Enterprise, the district began creating custom tools grounded in its own policies and special education practices.

The result:

• More detailed, individualized progress reports
• Positive recognition during a state special education audit
• Four custom tools designed around the district’s day-to-day needs
• Growing adoption among educators, especially at Tyler Consolidated Middle School

Here’s how Tyler County Schools started with one focused use case and built momentum from there.

Challenges

Making more time for students

IEPs, progress reports, and other required documents help families and school teams understand how a student is doing and what support they need. Creating them also means gathering a large amount of information and turning it into a clear, individualized picture of each student.

When teachers are responsible for 15, 20, or even 30 IEPs, they often work through many of the same steps again and again. This is especially difficult during IEP season, when teachers are balancing documentation with the daily work of supporting students.

Marcus Winters, Principal of Tyler Consolidated Middle School and a former special education teacher, understood that tension firsthand. “It’s giving them a starting point with all the data compiled and individualized for each kid,” he explains. “From there, I can apply my expertise. I know this student, and I can add that personal touch and put the final stamp on it.”

The district wanted to lighten that workload while making sure every document still reflected the teacher’s expertise and knowledge of the student.

Solutions

See where teachers need support

When Marcus and team first introduced MagicSchool to his middle school staff, they kept the approach open. Teachers had time and freedom to explore the platform and find ways it could support their work.

Over time, conversations shifted from what AI could do to the challenges it could help solve. “You start with the question or the issue you want to improve,” Marcus explains. “That’s where you’re going to get the most benefit from it.”

The team soon saw an opportunity to support special education teachers with documentation. Marcus worked closely with the district’s special education director to identify tasks that took teachers away from students and were difficult to individualize across a full caseload.

They started by using MagicSchool to support progress report writing. The reports gave families more context about how students were doing in the classroom and the progress they were making.

“I’ve saved so much time completing present levels and making a behavior plan for a student. All I had to do was upload recent data, teacher observations, and anything else that pertained to the student. Within seconds, MagicSchool was able to give me exactly what I needed, saving me hours of writing.” —Tomela Paden, Special Education Teacher

Build district context into each tool

After seeing the difference MagicSchool could make in progress reports, the team created a custom Present Levels Generator ahead of IEP season. Teachers could bring a student’s information together in one place and use the tool to develop an individualized first draft.

Before sharing it with teachers, Marcus and Melinda Walton, Tyler County Schools’ Director of Special Education, tested the tool together and read the drafts closely. As they refined the tool, the district’s special education director saw an opportunity to add clearer guidance around student placement. Marcus incorporated the relevant policy so drafts would reflect the district’s process and leave placement decisions to the IEP team.

Teachers continued to bring their own knowledge of each student to every document. “It’s just giving you a first draft,” Marcus explains. “At the end of the day, teachers are still accountable. It’s their name.”

By combining district guidance with teacher expertise, the team created a tool that reflected Tyler County’s approach and gave educators a stronger place to start.

Create a stronger foundation for personalized support

The district also created one folder for every student with an IEP. Each folder brings together current assessment data, psychological reports, attendance information, behavior records, and other documents teachers may need.

As a student moves from one grade or school to another, the folder moves with them and continues to grow. Teachers have one place to find the background they need when writing progress reports or preparing an IEP.

With that information ready, teachers can bring it into Tyler County’s custom MagicSchool tools and create an individualized first draft in seconds. This gives them more time to look closely at what the data shows and consider what they know about the student. From there, they can decide how best to support them.

“The MagicSchool customized Present Level Generator tool enabled me to complete individualized PLEPs for IEP students aligned with WV Policy 2419, and the Raina Chatbot has proved very useful in differentiating lessons.” —Teresa Dunham, Middle School Special Education Teacher

Roadmap to impact

Phase 1: Introduce AI gradually

Marcus and his team began introducing AI to his middle school staff nearly three years ago. They focused first on building awareness, creating space for questions, and helping educators see how AI might apply to their work.

Teachers were free to find the use cases that made sense for them. Some explored several MagicSchool tools, while others returned to one tool that addressed a recurring need. 

This gradual approach helped veteran educators become comfortable with AI without treating it as an overwhelming technical hurdle they needed to overcome.

Phase 2: Test a focused special education use case

The district began by using MagicSchool to strengthen student progress reports. Teachers experimented with the process, reviewed the drafts closely, and adjusted how they provided information to the platform.

The goal was to create reports that gave families a clearer picture of how their child was progressing in the classroom.

Phase 3: Gather feedback from reviewers

During Tyler County Schools’ most recent special education audit, an onsite state team reviewed randomly selected IEP files and progress reports.

Reviewers repeatedly highlighted the progress reports from Tyler Consolidated Middle School. According to district leaders, the team said the reports were highly individualized and unlike others they had seen. The reports gave families more meaningful information about student progress than a simple update on whether a particular skill had been completed.

The state team’s response gave the district greater confidence in the approach. Tyler County Schools later sent the state department examples of documentation created before and after implementing its custom workflow. Reviewers found the newer prior written notice more detailed and specific, with a clearer explanation for families.

Phase 4: Create a set of districtwide tools

Following that early validation, Marcus and the district’s special education director expanded the work. Tyler County Schools now has four districtwide custom tools for special education staff, including tools that support:

• Present levels
• Progress reports
• Prior written notices
• Additional recurring special education documentation needs

The custom TCS Present Levels Generator became the district’s third-most-used tool during its first full year of implementation. Many middle school teachers also regularly used MagicSchool’s Text Leveler to adapt materials to students’ reading abilities.

Overall MagicSchool use was especially strong at Tyler Consolidated Middle School, where 11 of 25 teachers completed more than 100 generations across the platform.

Phase 5: Let educator success build momentum

As teachers began seeing the value of these tools, they brought Marcus new questions and ideas. Could MagicSchool help with a behavior plan? Could it support another recurring document? Could the district build a tool around a school-specific process?

Those questions helped new uses spread naturally across the district. Tyler County Schools is now exploring ways for experienced middle school teachers to share what they’ve learned with special education staff at other schools.

The district has also begun creating custom tools beyond special education. After completing a full review and update of its policy manual with Neola, Marcus used the new manual to create the TCS Neola Policy Chatbot. The superintendent and board members can ask the chatbot policy-related questions and quickly find the information they need without searching through the full manual. The tool was introduced only a few weeks ago, and district reporting already shows that it’s being used.

Progress in practice

Tyler County Schools started with one challenge its educators knew well. What began as a way to strengthen special education documentation has helped more teachers see where MagicSchool can support their own work.

The district has maintained a straightforward approach by listening to teachers, building tools around genuine needs, and refining them with local policy and educator expertise. Each successful use has helped another teacher consider what might be possible.

"As a new special education teacher, MagicSchool has been extremely beneficial for aiding in the writing of IEPs and differentiating instruction in my inclusion and special education classes. Our principal created multiple custom tools that I use to help save time and create individualized present levels, goals, and progress reports. MagicSchool has given me more confidence in my new role as a special education teacher.” —Jenna Laudermilt, Middle School Special Education Teacher

Now, Tyler County Schools is building on what teachers have learned. The district plans to strengthen its student information folders, bring its custom special education tools to more educators, and help teachers begin creating tools of their own.

Marcus and his team agree that AI should give teachers and specialists more time to spend with students. “This technology gives us more time to be humans and interact with other people,” he smiles.

For Tyler County Schools, that’s the true measure of whether a tool is useful. MagicSchool gives educators a stronger starting point for required documentation, so they can focus more of their energy on the people they serve.