Closing the Opportunity to Learn Gap for Students with Disabilities

1. Closing the Opportunity to Learn Gap for Students with Disabilities Cross-State Research Results Opportunity To Learn– Instructional Alignment Least Restrictive Environment Impacts on Student Achievement Summary: What Was Learned?

2. A report of the KS State Consortium SEC Special Education ProjectUS ED Enhanced Assessment Grant The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal government.

3. Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Analysis of Instruction Question examined: How well aligned is Instruction in Classrooms to Standards and Assessments?

4. Opportunity to Learn Language Arts & Reading Alignment By Teacher Position * CCSS CCSS Notable distinctions between General Ed. and Special Ed. teachers across all alignment targets Mod. Test State Test * Ext. Stnds. Alignment By SWD Status State Stnds. Only alignment to Common Core is notably different when grouped on SWD Status General Ed. Teacher Special Ed. Teacher

5. Opportunity to Learn Mathematics Alignment By Position Mod. Test Only alignment to Common Core is notably different when grouped on Position State Test Ext. Stnds. NCTM Stnds. CCSS Alignment By SWD Status State Stnds. Alignment to Common Core and NCTM Standards are notably different when grouped on SWD status General Ed. Teacher Special Ed. Teacher

6. Least Restrictive Environment Language Arts and Reading – School LRE Category A (>80% time) by Performance & OTL For All Students Performance | Opportunity To Learn | For SWD Students Performance | Opportunity To Learn |

7. Least Restrictive Environment Mathematics – School LRE Category A (>80% time) by Performance & OTL For All Students Performance Opportunity To Learn | For SWD Students Performance Opportunity To Learn |

10. Mathematics Multivariate Regression Equation predicting mathematics achievement

11. Language Arts/Reading Multivariate Regression Equation predicting achievement

12. What have we learned? (so what?)SEC Special Education Consortium Project –Final (1) • Instructional content data from classrooms in 3 states show general consistency in opportunity to learn between general ed. and special ed. but instruction differs at the fine grain (specific topic) level in many schools • The SEC data reported by teachers reveal wide variation in instructional practices used in Math and ELA, and among classes taught by special education and general education teachers • Demonstrated for schools, districts, & states a method of analyzing and using data on alignment of instruction to standards –two dimensions are important – Topics by Cognitive expectations • Cognitive expectations for teaching and learning were found to be a major gap between current instruction and Common Core Standards— SEC charts proved useful to focus shifts needed for transition to CCSS

13. What have we learned? (so what)SEC Special Education Consortium Project –Final (2) • Analyzed school LRE indicator and instruction– Schools with more inclusive classrooms (higher LRE scores) had greater alignment of instruction to Standards –both students with IEPs and Gen.Ed. students • Tested a new method of reporting on instruction to students with significant cognitive disabilities (1% group), and reporting on relation of instruction to Extended Standards • Analyzed effects of instructional alignment on gains in student achievement: a) Better alignment of ELA instruction to Common Core positively related to student achievement gains, b) Math instruction alignment to prior standards related to gains in achievement • Model for professional development with use of data at school level, involving teacher teams by grade level (Online PD Modules)