Assessment for Transition Planning

1. Assessment for Transition Planning

2. Assidere: Latin for assess • Literal translation: to sit with

3. Einstein • Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts

4. Wiggins • The aim of assessment is to improve performance not merely audit it

5. Transition Services • Coordinated set of activities • Designed within a results-oriented process • Promotes movement from school to post-school activities • Based on student’s needs, preferences & interests • Activities: instruction, community experience, employment & adult living, daily living skills, functional vocational evaluation.

6. Types of Assessments • Formal • Informal • Alternative

7. Types of Assessment • Formal: any standardized battery that yields targeted information • Over and above traditional psychoeducational testing • Inability to translate results into useful planning info

8. Informal Assessments • Not standardized assessments • Typically are teacher-made, teacher administered • Result in information about how a student does in a particular context • Measures performance on curriculum • Typically still paper and pencil

9. Informal Assessment • Community-based vocational assessment • Interviews and questionnaires • Observations • Ecological inventories • Situational assessments • Interest inventories

10. Student Profile • At times it is beneficial to have more detailed information concerning a student (I.e., a student may have severe challenges requiring more supports). • A Student Profile questionnaire • Identifies additional info.: • student’s present level of performance • his/her learning style • community connections • accommodations required in the community

11. A student profile questionnaire • Should be completed using a variety of techniques: • Talk with the student • Observe the student in various environments • Ask other people in the student’s life • Talk with past teachers, supervisors, etc. • Review past records (in conjunction with above only)

12. Parent/Guardian Survey • Use the Parent/Guardian Survey to assist family members in preparing for the annual case conference • Recommend that parents discuss the questions with the student as they complete the form. • Distribute the survey at the beginning of the school year. • Support phone calls (as needed) can be made throughout the year. • Ask parents to bring the completed survey to their son/daughter’s annual case conference.

13. Situational Assessment • First step: task analysis (what does person need to do?) • Collect information about how student performs on task analysis • Collect information about how person without disability does job • Collect information about other aspects of interacting with environment

14. Why do we need alternatives to standardized testing? • Parent issues: • Few opportunities for involvement • Information is deficit-focused • Information is not relevant, hard to understand

15. Why do we need alternatives to standardized testing? • Student issues: • They don’t feel involved • Testing is done “to” student, not “with” • Motivational factors: can influence validity of results • Used to sort, rank, group according to what they can’t do • Doesn’t give picture of whole person

16. Legal issues • IDEA calls for student involvement in transition planning (Based on preferences, interests, needs). Best practices call for student-directed transition planning. • IDEA amendments require that we develop alternative assessments for those who cannot participate in regular assessment programs.

17. What are alternative assessments? • Alternatives to formal tests • Broad view of student progress across time • Dynamic • Uses self-evaluation and continuous feedback • Provide opportunities to learn and show what is learned in ways that make sense.

18. Focus: what student can do Holistic view Measures complex constructs Done continuously Done with and by student Developed by student and others Focus on deficits and remediation Separate views of measurements Measures isolated facts Snapshot: end of unit, year Forced response to narrow questions What is performance assessment?

19. Authentic Real problems and tasks in context Learn simple to complex What do professionals do? What tasks are key? What contexts? Feedback Clear Continuous Provides exemplars Specific and descriptive Encourages self-assessment Key points related to performance assessments

20. Person-Centered Planning • For some students, dreaming about the future is something they can’t do alone

21. Goal of Person-Centered Planning • To create a plan for a positive, possible future for those individuals who, without such a plan, would “fall through the cracks” of the adult service world. • Example: Personal Futures Planning, PATH, MAPS, Circles of Support, Group Action Planning, Lifestyles Essential Planning

22. Features of Person-Centered Planning • Held at the convenience of the individual and her/his significant others • Focus is on the positive

23. Individual decides who will be “at the table” Individual directs process and participates as a team member

24. Information and action plan displayed in a way that is easily understood by all (may include maps, pictures, graphics, colors) Process is FUN and welcoming

25. What is Michelle’s history? Who is Michelle? What are Michelle’s dreams? What are Michelle’s fears? What are Michelle’s needs? What are Michelle’s strengths? What would an ideal day be like for Michelle (after high school)? MAPS: One type of PCP process

26. Transition Assessment should provide: • Clearer information about progress toward goals • Clearer information for employers about student abilities • Clearer information for student to use to make informed choices

27. Transition Assessment Model • Modified from Hughes & Carter’s Informal Transition Assessment Model • pp. 54-57 • Table 5.1 outlines the 8 steps that are part of the process

28. Transition Assessment Model • Step 1. Determine the purpose of the assessment • What do you know about the student, what information is still missing/unknown • Beside the student, assessment should include information about the setting(s), interactions, people, changing demands, etc.

29. Transition Assessment Model • Step 2. Identify relevant behaviors and environments • These should be directly related to the purpose of the assessment • Behaviors should be assessed within the environments in which they are expected to be performed. • If behavior is performed in multiple environments, then the behavior should be assessed in multiple environments.

30. Transition Assessment Model • Step 3. Verify Steps 1 and 2 • Verify selections with students and important others. • “It is essential that decisions made about assessment, instruction, and planning represent the priorities and values of students and their families” (p. 56)

31. Transition Assessment Model • Step 4. Choose appropriate assessment procedures • The decision to use a particular assessment procedure should be based on the purpose of the assessment, the behaviors and environments of concern, and input from the student and important others.

32. Transition Assessment Model • Step 5. Modify procedures as needed • You may need to modify an appropriate assessment procedure based upon the needs of the student and the characteristics of relevant environments.

33. Transition Assessment Model • Step 6. Conduct the Assessment • After selecting the appropriate assessment method and modifying it if necessary, the next step is to use it to gather information. • In conducting the assessment, it is important to continually check that we are focusing on the established purpose for the assessment and the chosen behaviors and environments of interest. • In conducting assessments in community settings, it is important that the procedures are nonintrusive and nonstigmatizing to students.

34. Transition Assessment Model • Step 7: Use Assessment Findings to Identify transition goals and objectives • Assessment is not an end to itself. • The function of transition assessment is to gather information that will inform and guide instruction, planning, and the provision of supports. • Must be able to communicate results in a way that everyone can understand.

35. Transition Assessment Model • Step 7. (continued) • Consider the information gathered on both the student and the current and future environments in which he or she will participate • Student abilities are compared to those necessary in the environment • Discrepancy between student abilities and necessary abilities should be targeted as potential goals and objectives

36. Transition Assessment Model • Step 8. Develop Curricular Plans to Achieve Goals • Identify relevant educational experiences within which a student’s goals and objectives can be addressed. • Educational experiences should occur in inclusive environments, including general education classrooms and activities, service learning experiences, community-based instruction, job training.