Striving for College and Career Readiness for All

Students with Disabilities

Martha Thurlow

March 17, 2014

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Background

New Assessments

Smarter Balanced Approach for Students with Disabilities

What Needs to Happen to Instruction and Educator Training?

What Needs to Happen to Policy?

Topics for Today

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Background

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Just 2 ½ Decades Ago …… Most states did not include students with

disabilities in their assessment systems

Students with disabilities (all disabilities) were held to different expectations – we worked hard to make sure that they felt good about themselves, but we did not necessarily attend to their academic needs

Little thought was given to accommodations that students might need in instruction to access the curriculum, much less how to use universal design principles for instruction and assessment

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History – Changes in the Population of Students with Disabilities

1990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

of students with IEPs %

National

% of Students with IEPs, All Grades, 1990-2011 (CCD)

California10.6%

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CA Categories of Disability (2012)

Specific learning disability

Speech/language impairment

Autism

Other health impairment

Intellectual disability

Emotional disturbance

Deaf/Hard of hearing

Orthopedic impairment

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Note: Multiple disability (0.9%), visual impairment (0.6%), traumatic brain injury (0.2%) and deaf-blindness (0.0%) are not shown because they account for less than 1%.

From CA Dept of Ed Data Quest

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History – Placement of Students with Disabilities

California*

55.3%

21.4%23.3%

*California data from data.gov

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2010-2011 Participation in Reading Assessments (Gr 8)

California

99

2010-2011 Participation in Math Assessments (Gr 8)

California

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New Assessments

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Six Assessment Consortia• Race-to-the-Top Regular Assessment Consortia

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced)**

• GSEG Alternate Assessment Consortia Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC)*

• ELP Assessment Consortium ASSETS: Assessment Services Supporting ELs through

Technology Systems ELPA21: English Language Proficiency for the 21st Century

** California belongs to this consortium

* California is in Tier II of this consortium

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Smarter Balanced Must Include All Students with Disabilities Except Those Who Participate in the AA-

AAS (California Alternate Performance Assessment - CAPA)

• No Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) – the California Modified Assessment (CMA)

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AA-AAS Consortia Participation: Three Basic Criteria

1. The student has a significant cognitive disability.Review of student records indicate a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior essential for someone to live independently and to function safely in daily life.

2. The student is learning content linked to (derived from) the Common Core State StandardsGoals and instruction listed in the IEP for this student are linked to the enrolled grade-level CCSS and address knowledge and skills that are appropriate and challenging for this student.

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AA-AAS Consortia Participation: Three Basic Criteria

3. The student requires extensive direct individualized instruction and substantial supports to achieve measurable gains in the grade and age-appropriate curriculum.

The student (a) requires extensive, repeated, individualized instruction and support that is not of a temporary or transient nature, and (b) uses substantially adapted materials and individualized methods of accessing information in alternative ways to acquire, maintain, generalize, demonstrate and transfer skills across multiple settings.

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Smarter Balanced Approach for Students with Disabilities

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Use of Individual Student Accessible Assessment Profile (ISAAP), or similar local process, as the avenue to ensure individualized accessibility

“New” terminology about accessibility and accommodations – universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations

Smarter Balanced Approach to Accessibility and Accommodations

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Universal Tools(For All Students)

• Embedded: Breaks, Calculator, Digital Notepad, English Dictionary, English Glossary, Expandable Passages, Global Notes, Highlighter, Keyboard Navigation, Mark for Review, Math Tools, Spell Check, Strikethrough, Writing Tools, Zoom

• Non-Embedded: Breaks, English Dictionary, Scratch Paper, Thesaurus

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Designated Supports(For All Students with Documentation)

• Embedded: Color Contrast, Masking, Text-to-Speech, Translated Test Directions, Translations (Glossary), Translations (Stacked), Turn Off Any Universal Tools

• Non-Embedded: Bilingual Dictionary, Color Contrast, Color Overlay, Magnification, Read Aloud, Scribe, Separate Setting, Translations (Glossary)

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Accommodations(For Students with Disabilities)

• Embedded: American Sign Language, Braille, Closed Captioning, Text-to-Speech

• Non-Embedded: Abacus, Alternate Response Options, Calculator, Multiplication Table, Print on Demand, Read Aloud, Scribe, Speech-to-Text

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Supports for Implementation . . . • Practice and Pilot Tests (with

accessibility features)• Sample Items and

Performance Tasks• Frequently Asked Questions

(for Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines)

• Webinars on Accessibility and Accommodations

Implementation Guide for Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations

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What Needs to Happen to Instruction and Educator Training?

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Some Basics…..

• Standards-based IEPs

• Accommodations during instruction (and assessment)

• Grade-level instruction and strategies for scaffolding to it

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Standards-Based IEPs

• Where is the student with respect to standards for enrolled grade?

• Which standards warrant attention?

• What goals are needed to designate the “necessary learning –the specially designed instruction” – that will lead the student’s program toward achievement of standards?

Source: Project Forum at NASDSE, 2010

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General CurriculumStandards

Transition Skills

Access Skills

Standards-based, not

Standards-bound.

The IEP is the boundary, not the standards

Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

Standards-Based IEPs

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What standards? (CCSS +)

Not all standards are “equal”

Match to needs/deficit areas

Match to Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance – (PLAAFP)

Standards-Based IEPs

Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

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PLAAFP Structure/Elements

Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

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Accommodations (During Instruction)

• Accommodations mediate the impact of students’ characteristics to: Support learning of the content Reduce construct irrelevant variance

• Assumes an accurate alignment between students’ needs and access barriers that need to be mediated [Good decision-making is essential]

Source: Leanne Ketterlin-Geller, Southern Methodist University

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Accommodations (During Instruction)

• Check out resources for decision makers, such as:

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Accommodations (During Assessment)

• Plan for transition from CA accommodation policies to Smarter Balanced usability, accessibility, and accommodations policies

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Smarter Balanced TerminologyState’s Previous

Terminology[example entries]

Differences to Note

Universal Tools – access features of the assessment; these are available to all students based on student preference and selection

[e.g., Best Practices (provide state definition)]

 

Designated Supports – features that are available for use by any student for whom the need has been indicated by an educator (or team of educators with parent/guardian and student)

[e.g., Accommodations (provide state definition)]

 

Accommodations – changes in procedures or materials that increase equitable access during the assessment for students who need them and for whom there is documentation on an IEP or 504 accommodations plan

[e.g., Accommodations (provide state definition)]

 

[no similar term in Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines]

[e.g., Modifications (provide state definition)]

 

Crosswalk Format to Compare New Terminology to Old Terminology

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Grade-Level Instruction and Strategies for

Scaffolding to ItLook to technical assistance resources, such as: IRIS Center:

iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu National Center for Intensive

Intervention: www.intensiveintervention.org

Center on Instruction: http://www.centeroninstruction.org/

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Educator Training

• Address low expectations!• Focus on what adults can do,

and less on what students do not do.

• Break down silos

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Famous 1960s Rosenthal & Jacobson study More recent contributions

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is Alive and

Well

Source: Aimee Howley , Ohio University

Sorhagen (2013): First-grade teachers’ expectations are significant predictors of the achievement of high school students. Expectations not explicitly influenced by exogenous characteristics.

Kalifa (2011): Some teachers bargain with students to lower expectations in exchange for compliant behavior.

Harris (2012): Deficit beliefs tend to lower teachers’ expectations for the performance of some of their students.

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• Focused on what adults do – intentionally and collectively – to include and assist all students in learning at higher levels

• Highlighted 10 districts in 9 states across the US (existence proofs)

• Looked at the role of higher ed, SEA, regional providers, parents

Focus on Effective Districts

www.movingyournumbers.org

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Use data well Focus your goals Select and implement

shared instructional practices

Implement deeply Monitor and provide

feedback and support Inquire and learn

Three Big Things:

1. FOCUS

2. STRENGTHEN INSTRUCTION

3. COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY

McNulty, 2014

Essential Areas of Practice

Source: Deb Telfer, University of Dayton (Ohio)

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The Higher Education Challenge Disciplinary specialties produce silos. General educators are not well prepared

to provide interventions. Special educators and general educators

are not typically taught how to co-teach effectively.

Few programs offer dual licensure (general and special education).

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What Needs to Happen to Policy?

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Support Educator Preparation for New Standards and

Assessments• Require adequate preparation in content for all teachers

• Require adequate preparation in specially designed instruction for special educators

• Require adequate preparation of all school personnel in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

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Review Policies That Might be Inconsistent with College and

Career Readiness

• Graduation policies?• Promotion policies?• Credit requirements?• Others?