Alabama Extended Standards & Alabama Alternate Assessment

1. Alabama Extended Standards & Alabama Alternate Assessment Alabama Department of Education Marla Davis Holbrook & DaLee Chambers

2. Part 1 Outline • Overview • Putting Standards into Practice • Understanding the Standards • Blending Academic and Functional Skills • Recommendations for Practice • Important Reminders

3. Change • Change has considerable impact on the human mind. • To the fearful change is threatening because things may get worse • To the hopeful change is encouraging because things may get better • To the confident change is inspiring because they are challenged to make things better! (King Whitney Jr.)

4. Change and Challenge The last decade has seen: • NCLB • Reauthorization of IDEA • State Accountability changed to align curriculum and assessments • Courses of Study, Curriculum Guides, Extended Standards, and Revised AAA

5. Standards • Standards clearly communicate what students are expected to know and be able to do at each grade level. • For students with significant cognitive disabilities, standards also provide opportunities to access the knowledge and skills that Alabama has decided are important.

6. What are Extended Standards? • They are extensions of the state academic content standards for each grade level. • They are designed to allow students with significant cognitive disabilities to access the general education curriculum.

7. Extended Standardsfor Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities • clear link to the content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled • grade-level content may be reduced in complexity or modified to reflect pre-requisite skills.

8. Extended Standards • NCLB requires reading and mathematics and in 2007-2008 science • Substantially different but not wholly independent of the state academic content standards

9. Extended Standards & General Education Curriculum • Academic Content Standards at each grade level make up the Alabama Courses of Study • Alabama Extended Standards are linked to the general education standards but are • Less complex • Less difficult • Divided into four levels

10. General Curriculum broadly means… Overall educational program and experiences students have in school For students with disabilities this translates into… Opportunities to participate in the same educational program and activities as typical students General Curriculum specifically means… Content of learning Defined by state content standards for the grade level For Students with Disabilities this translates into… Grade appropriate academic content instruction What is Access to the General Curriculum? • (Diane Browder, 2006)

11. Why Access to General Curriculum? • Legal precedent • IDEA • No Child Left Behind • No research to support idea that functional skills are prerequisite to academic learning • Increased educational opportunity • Potential unknown for students who have had little instruction in this content (Diane Browder, 2006)

12. Comparison Between Traditional and Standards-Based Learning

13. Putting Standards Into Practice • Read and study the extended standards. • Prioritize the standards. • Identify curricula that teach the standards. • Create and/or select classroom assessments that measure the standards. • Focus on student work.

14. Read and Study the Standards This page was added to each version of the Alabama Extended Standards (Posted Summer 2007). The page describes the organization of the document and clarifies each section.

15. Read and Study the Standards:Organization

16. Read and Study the Standards: Organization

17. Read and Study the Standards R. ES 7.1 Relate literary elements and devices to each other including setting, characters, and supporting details. Literary elements and devices-things writers do to make their writing more effective; common to most literary works (other than poems) Examples: conflict-man vs. machine; moral- lesson of the story.

18. Read and Study the Standards(Across the Subjects) Look for opportunities to connect standards across content areas. SCI. ES 7.3 Identify inherited traits, (e.g. hair, eye color, and height). R. ES 7.3 Gain information from graphs

19. Read and Study the Standards(Across the Subjects) M. ES 6.4 Organize pictures into data displays including tally charts and graphs. SCI. ES 6.1 Identify weather conditions using an instrument or technology (e.g., wind direction and speed, temperature).

20. R. ES 7.1 Relate literary elements and devices to each other including setting, characters, and supporting details R. ES 8.2 Identify mood of a story based on story details R. ES 9.1 Identify plotin short stories and dramas R. ES 10.1 Identify characters’ attitudes R. ES 11.1 Identify setting, mood, and plot in short stories and drama Read and Study the Standards(Across the Grades)

21. Read and Study the Standards(Across the Complexities) R. ES 8.2

22. Prioritize the Standards • All standards must be taught and tested. However, all standards are not equally important for all students. • Standards that are prioritized are referred to as power standards.

23. Prioritize the Standards • Questions to ask regarding priorities • Do these skills help students in more than one area of study? • Are these skills necessary for the next level of study? • Will the student use these skills in years to come?

24. Identify Curricula • Identify Curricula that meet the standards. • Focus on skills taught in the standards! • Standards are required, all else is optional. • Organize lessons using Big Ideas and/or instructional topics Examples: • Reading: 5 Big Ideas • Math: Counting, telling time, money

25. Identify Curricula • Best Practice includes collaborating to share materials, ideas, lesson plans, and classroom assessments. • Internet is a rich source for ideas. • Key words (literary elements and devices) • Content clarification (Newton’s First Law) • Sample lessons • Science experiments

26. Identify Curricula • ALEX will have a special education web page. • Major Initiatives • Extended Standards • Curriculum Guides • Curriculum Resources • Sample IEPs • Lesson Plans

27. Identify Curricula • Volunteer to serve on the Extended Standards Instructional Strategies task force • Link resources to standards • Share activities, ideas, and teaching strategies • Create lesson plans and activities based on standards

28. Create and Select Classroom Assessments How do we know if a standard has been met? • Objective Evidence “Begin with the end in mind.” • Decide on the criteria • Determine the student’s present level of performance on a standard • Pretest, teach, monitor progress, reteach, and document achievement.

29. Focus on Student Work • Use student work to decide what needs to be taught. • Look for errors. Is there a pattern? If so, what skills does the student need? What has he/she learned and practiced that is incorrect? • Look for strengths. What skills/interests does the student have that I can build on?

30. Understanding the Standards R. ES 5.1 Identify words with more than one meaning. Multiple Meaning Words are words that have several meanings depending upon how they are used in a sentence. Examples: pen, light, bat

31. Understanding the StandardsR. ES 5.1 Here are examples of how bat can be used in a sentence:1. I watched the bat flitting through the trees.2. Raymond gripped the bat tightly as he waited for the pitch.

32. Understanding the Standards R. ES 12.1 Identify persuasive techniques in functional and informationalmaterials.

33. Understanding the Standards M. ES 3.3 Continue an existing pattern of three shapes using the terms first, next, last.          Which part of the standard hasn’t been addressed in this example?

34. Understanding the Standards M. ES 3.3 Continue an existing pattern of three shapes using the terms first, next, last.          Which shape is first? Which shape is next? Which shape is last?

35. Understanding the Standards M. ES 9.2 Represent functional relationships by solving number sentences (e.g., 8 + 4 = 5 + , or 8 +  = 12 and 5 +  = 12). In a number sentence, the student must fill in the empty box with a number that will make the sentence true.

36. Understanding the Standards SCI. ES 4.2 Identify ways that a plant and an animal help each other. This standard is about the interdependence of plants and animals. Students must identify ways plants help animals and animals help plants. Example: • Plants are a food source for animals. • Animals eat the young shoots, leaves, and twigs of plants creating additional space for plants to grow. This keeps the dominant plants from taking over which would kill off the less dominant ones.

37. Understanding the Standards SCI. ES 8.2 (4) Describe an object in motion staying in motion or an object at rest staying at rest (3) Identify Newton’s first law of motion. (2) Identify the effect of securing or not securing an object in motion (e.g., identify what happens when not wearing a seatbelt in a car that stops suddenly) (1) Participate in an activity demonstrating an effect of Newton’s first law of motion

38. Understanding the StandardsSCI. ES 8.2 Newton's first law of motion is often stated as an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

39. Understanding the StandardsSCI. ES 8.2 Materials: hard-boiled egg and a raw egg • Spin the hard-boiled egg on its side. • When it's going fast, gently put your fingers down on it to stop the spinning and move your fingers immediately when it stops. • Spin the raw egg. Stop it in the same way you did with the hard-boiled egg. After you let go, what happens?

40. Understanding the StandardsSCI. ES 8.2 Results: The egg should start to turn again. This is because the motion of the liquid within the egg is still going; the force you exerted was not enough to stop both the inertia of the shell and the inertia of the liquid inside of it. If you held the egg longer, enough force would have been exerted to stop the egg completely. The results of the experiment fit in with the Law of Inertia: an object will continue to remain in one state until sufficient outside force acts upon it, either to put it in motion or to bring it to rest.

41. Blending Academic and Functional Skills • Become familiar with the knowledge and skills students need to know and be able to do at each grade level • Identify places in the standards that can be associated with functional skills • Plan blended lessons/activities that include both academic and functional skills • Provide opportunities for practice in multiple situations and settings

42. Blending Academic and Functional Skills R. ES 7.2 Apply strategies to determine the purpose of reading materials. Daily living / Communication • Student will look up information in a variety of materials (e.g., newspaper, recipe book, phone book, dictionary).

43. Blending Academic and Functional Skills R. ES 10.1 Identify characters’ attitudes. Employment • Student will use video clips, stories, or role play situations to identify the mood of boss and/or co-workers in a work setting.

44. Blending Academic and Functional Skills M.ES 5.4 Analyze data collected to determine the amount of time required for familiar activities. Daily Living/Classroom Routines • Student will collect data on the classroom schedule or student’s individual schedule and analyze according to length of time spent in each activity. • Student will time other students participating in a PE activity (e.g., sack races on field day) and compare data.

45. Blending Academic and Functional Skills M. ES 7.4 Compare weights of objects using customary units. Social Skills • Student will cooperate, take turns, and encourage. Assign each student a partner to weigh a variety of objects using scales. As partners weigh the objects, one student records the weight and the other student identifies which objects are the heaviest/lightest. The two students complete one worksheet that is signed by each student.

46. Blending Academic and Functional Skills SCI. ES 1.3 (4) Identify reasons for recycling (3) Identify items to be recycled (2) Sort items that can be recycled (example: paper & cans) (1) Participate in recycling activities

47. Blending Academic and Functional SkillsSCI. ES 1.3 Daily Living / Teamwork Activities • Student will organize a school wide recycling program. • Student will distribute recycling boxes to various places in the school (e.g., lunchroom, library, teacher work room). • Student will create poster showing items to be recycled. • Student will collect boxes and sort recycled items.

48. READING: Recommendations for Practice • Address all components of reading. • Use age/grade-appropriate literature and social supports for story reading. • Associate images with words when presenting new vocabulary. • Present new words in a variety of contexts.

49. MATH: Recommendations for Practice • Demonstrate the concept and have the student show you how to solve at least two problems/equations successfully. • Vary the instructional methods. • Draw pictures of the problems. • Use manipulatives. • Use software resources.

50. SCIENCE: Recommendations for Practice • Involve students in active learning through hands-on activities. • Assign a “lab buddy” to facilitate participation in hands-on science activities. • Clearly label or color code equipment, tools, and materials for enhanced visual recognition.