Yellen Learning Center is a special school program for elementary age students from school districts within the Antelope Valley Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA). The program is designed to address the needs of students with serious behavioral and emotional disabilities who require specialized instruction and support in the areas of social skills development, emotional adjustment, and behavior management. Students enrolled at the Center have Individualized Education Program (IEP) plans specifying their need for educational placement more specialized and intensive than can be provided on a typical general school campus. In keeping with its vision, to support a learning environment in which all children are emotionally prepared, ready to learn, and able to progress toward productive adulthood, a full range of support services including behavioral interventions, counseling, and family communication is offered. The goals of the school are to help students develop their personal strengths and abilities, to remediate and assist in resolving student-specific difficulties, and to return students, when appropriate, to less restrictive school and community environments.

Positive support is the common thread for instruction and intervention. Using a collaborative, problem-solving team approach, students receive a comprehensive individualized program to address therapeutic and educational needs. Integrated mental health services provided during the school day may include crisis management, and individual, group, or milieu therapy, as well as socialization tasks with behavior management. A school-wide reinforcement system is utilized to reward positive behavior and student progress. School psychologists or therapists from a local mental health agency provide specific case management services including program planning and service coordination for the student and his or her family.

Each classroom is staffed with a credentialed teacher and two paraprofessionals. School psychologists and/or mental health providers from a local community agency are also available to communicate with teachers and to address the counseling needs of students. All staff members are trained in the socials skills curriculum being utilized throughout the school as well as in Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (NCI). The site administrator provides instructional leadership and encourages staff members to participate in on-going professional development offered by both the local district and the Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA).