Aligned, Systematic Personnel Development = Improved Student Results

1. Aligned, Systematic Personnel Development = Improved Student Results A Focus on Educational Interpreters OSEP Project Directors Conference July 2010 Shatarupa Podder, Project Director Janet M. Sloand, Project Coordinator Jennifer Sabo, Educational Interpreter and Mentor

2. Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel (A) Establish federal and state laws, regulations, policies and practices. (B) Pre-service preparation programs ensure that new personnel are highly qualified (C) In-service training programs assist current personnel to become highly qualified.

3. SPDG Long-term Goals • Create in-service personnel development programs that result in highly qualified special education personnel. • Develop pre-service programs that result in highly qualified special education personnel. • Revise and reform the Pennsylvania Special Education Certification process to result in highly qualified special education personnel.

4. SPDG Long Term - Student Impacts • Students with disabilities will achieve proficiency requirements and graduate from high school ready for adult life.(SPP Indicators 1, 3A and 3C) • #1: Percent of youth with IEPs graduating from high school with a regular diploma compared to percent of all youth in the State graduating with a regular diploma. • #3a: Percent of districts meeting the State’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) objectives for progress for disability subgroup. • #3c: Proficiency rate for children with IEPs against grade level standards and alternate achievement standards.

5. SPDG Long Term - Student Impacts • Students with disabilities will receive education in the least restrictive environment. (SPP Indicator 5) • #5:Percent of children with IEPs aged 6 through 21: • Removed from general class less than 21 percent of the day • Removed from general class greater than 60 percent of the day; or • Served in public or private separate schools, residential placements, or homebound or hospital placements.

6. How to Accomplish the Goals • Address areas of professional development not addressed in other ways. • Provide scientifically-based, systematic, and results-focused professional development. • Target systemic change to help improve student results. • Partner with Parent Training and Information Centers, Institutions of Higher Education, Intermediate Units and School Districts.

7. Project Activities • Educational Interpreter Initiative • School Psychologist Initiative • Paraprofessional Initiative • Special Education Leadership Initiative • Special Education/Secondary Certification Initiative • Special Education Certificate Revision Initiative

8. Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel (A)Establish federal and state laws, regulations, policies and practices.

9. Pennsylvania Regulations:Educational Interpreter • Educational Interpreter “An individual who provides students who are deaf or hard of hearing with interpreting or transliterating services in an educational setting”

10. Pennsylvania Regulations:Educational Interpreter • All Educational Interpreters must meet qualifications 1 or 2 AND 3 • Achieve and provide a score of 3.5/5.0 on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment for the appropriate grade level to which the person is assigned OR • Be a qualified educational interpreter or transliterator under the Sign Language and Transliterator Registration Act

11. Pennsylvania Regulations:Educational Interpreter • All Educational Interpreters must meet qualifications 1 or 2 AND 3 AND • Provide evidence of a minimum of 20 hours of staff development activities relating to interpreting or transliterating services annually.

12. Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel (C) In-service training programs assist current personnel to become highly qualified.

13. Educational Interpreter Initiative Goal of the Educational Interpreter Initiative • Insure that educational interpreters practicing in Pennsylvania schools meet the requirements outlined in Chapter 14 • Continue to build the skills of all educational interpreters in Pennsylvania schools

14. Educational Interpreters: Baseline Data • March 2007 • 132 out of 250 educational interpreters who earned a score of 3.5 or above on the EIPA • 2, 817 students in Pennsylvania identified with deafness or hearing loss

15. Educational Interpreter In-Service • Ongoing in-service training linked to skills assessed • After-school videoconference (n=7) • Weekends with the Experts (n=2) • Annual Summer institute • Effective way to reach large numbers of educational interpreters • Develop a formal mentoring program with professional development plans for interpreters who do not meet criteria • Develop 32 regional labs • Collaborate with PTI

16. Educational Interpreter Initiative • Competencies as assessed by the EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment • Provides educational interpreters with diagnostic information about their interpreting skills • Sign to Voice • Voice to Sign • Vocabulary • Overall Factors • Designed specifically for educational settings

17. Educational Interpreter Mentoring • Mentoring Program • Advance coaching and support for interpreters who do not meet requirements • Mentor Requirements • EIPA of 4.2 or above • 3 years experience • Recommendation by supervisor

18. Educational Interpreter: Mentors • Ongoing Professional Development • 3-day intense training with summer institutes • Shared work site • Technology tools to facilitate communication with mentees • Ongoing support by PaTTAN consultants

19. EIPA Feedback: Strengths • “Fairly accurate use of sign space for comparisons/contrast and sequential information” • “Key concepts were incorporated and deletions of content were minimal” • “Some use of analysis time to holistically represent the message was evident”

20. EIPA Feedback: Areas for Improvement • “While more ‘typical’ grammatical forms are facially marked, indication of narrative topic is frequently not conveyed” • “Work on developing a message with a higher degree of fluency and less evidence of processing” • “Reduce non-linguistic movements of torso while signing”

21. Mentor-Mentee Support • Summer Institute • Regularly scheduled meetings • Face-to-face • Via shared work • Video

22. Educational Interpreter Mentoring • Through March 2010, 60 mentees have achieved the goal of scoring above 3.5 on the EIPA • All other mentees are awaiting their EIPA results or have scheduled their EIPAs to evaluate progress • Satisfaction survey conducted

23. Next Steps – Mentor Program • Continue to collect data regarding mentees’ progress • Continue to have follow-up meetings with mentors • Encourage greater use of our website – sharedwork.org • Solicit a new group of educational interpreters who have scored between 2.4 and 3.4 on the EIPA to enroll in the Educational Interpreter Mentor Program

24. PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: The mentoring experience has met my expectations.

25. PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: I have grown personally and/or professionally as a result of my participation in this mentoring program.

26. PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: The program has helped me achieve my professional development goals.

27. PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: I would recommend this program to a fellow mentor/mentee.

28. Educational Interpreter Regional Hubs • Thirty-five hubs have been established across PA; they are located at each intermediate unit and at each PaTTAN office. • Three are available via the Pennsylvania short-term loan program • Consideration of providing to Interpreter Training Programs

29. Regional Labs/Hubs for Educational Interpreters • Mini camcorder, Flip – Mino • Tripod and “feet,” designed for Flip Video Ultra Series • Videos (Samples) • Building ASL Interpreting and Translation Skills Workbook – Narratives for Practice (with accompanying DVD) • Pursuit of ASL: Interesting Facts Using Classifiers DVD • An Educational Interpreter’s Sampler DVD: • Voice-to-Sign Interpreting • Sign-to-Voice Interpreting • A Student Sampler DVD: • Sign-to-Voice Interpreting • A Teacher Sampler DVD: • Sign-to-Voice Interpreting • Computer for each HUB

30. Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel (B) Pre-service preparation programs ensure that new personnel are highly qualified

31. Collaboration with Higher Education Programs • Initial contact with ITP • Presented information about changes to requirements and resources available • Statewide meetings conducted • Greater understanding of requirements • Working toward alignment of curriculum with skills measured on EIPA • Developing student skills that match the needs of schools and are assessed by EIPA

32. Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel (A) Establish federal and state laws, regulations, policies and practices. (B) Pre-service preparation programs ensure that new personnel are highly qualified (C) In-service training programs assist current personnel to become highly qualified.

33. Discussion Questions • Based on the Pennsylvania Framework – analyze the strengths and needs of your current state system. • What has been successful in your state to build connections between K-12 and higher education? • How does your state/project link professional development to student outcomes?

34. Questions/Comments Please contact: • Shatarupa Podder – spodder@state.pa.us • Janet Sloand – jsloand@pattan.net