Universally Designed Assessments for Inclusive Education

1. Assessment Architecture: Building Universally Designed Large-Scale Assessments CCSSO Preconference Clinic Saturday, June 21 1:00 – 5:00pm National Center on Educational Outcomes

2. Goals for Today • Identify and give examples of key elements of universally designed assessments • Use assessment results to determine whether items are universally designed • Apply considerations for item review to sample test items National Center on Educational Outcomes

3. Goals for Today • Explore universally designed assessments in state assessment RFPs and Test Specifications • Know where to go for information, resources, and support National Center on Educational Outcomes

4. Agenda • Building Design: Form Follows Function (and Taste!) • Welcome from NCEO! • Foundations of Universally Designed Assessments • Break • Measure Twice, Cut Once • Check Out the Materials • Keep it on the Level • Nail Down the Bids • Final Inspection National Center on Educational Outcomes

5. Title I Regulationsintroduce the need for universally designed assessments – [Assessments must be] designed to be accessible and valid with respect to the widest possible range of students, including students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency. Sec. 200.2(b)(2) National Center on Educational Outcomes

6. Caution While universally designed assessments can make tests more equitable, producing results that are more valid for all students, they cannot replace instructional opportunity! National Center on Educational Outcomes

7. Elements of Universally Designed Assessments • Inclusive assessment population • Precisely defined constructs • Items developed and reviewed for bias and accessibility • Amenable to accommodations National Center on Educational Outcomes

8. Elements of Universally Designed Assessments • Simple, clear, and intuitive instructions and procedures • Maximum readability/ comprehensibility • Maximum legibility: text, graphs, tables, illustrations, and response formats National Center on Educational Outcomes

9. Inclusive Assessment Population • Universally designed assessments: • Consider all types of students in the general curriculum from the beginning • Include students with disabilities and ELLs in item tryouts and field testing National Center on Educational Outcomes

10. Universally designed assessments reflect good measurement qualities: • Actually measure what they are intended to measure • Remove all non-construct-oriented cognitive, sensory, emotional, and physical barriers National Center on Educational Outcomes

11. Is the use of “hold” as a noun familiar to students? Is the concept of a “rock climbing wall” familiar to most students? Will students be distracted by the odd shapes on the diagram? “Four holds on one of the rock climbing walls are labeled on the diagram below. Matthew first climbs vertically 10 feet from Hold A to Hold B, horizontally 25 feet from Hold to Hold C, and then vertically 15 feet from Hold C to Hold D. How many fewer feet would Matthew have climbed if he had climbed directly from Hold A to Hold D?” National Center on Educational Outcomes

12. Amenable to Accommodations • Universally designed assessments allow needed accommodations to be used • Plan for students who continue to need accommodations • Facilitate the use of accommodations such as Braille, assistive technology, bilingual dictionaries or translations National Center on Educational Outcomes

13. American Printing House for the Blind Accessible Test Department National Center on Educational Outcomes

14. APH’s Commitment • Provide high quality tests in accessible formats for students with visual impairments • Build understanding of accessibility in testing students with visual impairments National Center on Educational Outcomes

15. Braille Issues • Pictures • Graphics • Appropriate test items. National Center on Educational Outcomes

16. Print Issues • Photocopying • Use of gray scale • Measurement items National Center on Educational Outcomes

17. We Promote… • Using VI expert during test item development • On time tests and practice materials • Teaching skills that students need National Center on Educational Outcomes

18. We have plans… • Publish manual on making tests accessible for VI • Research on what works! • Test publisher workshop • State assessment personnel workshop National Center on Educational Outcomes

19. We Can Do This • Have VI students taking and passing high standards tests • Have access to tests in formats needed, on time and of high quality • Raise the expectations of the general public National Center on Educational Outcomes

20. Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes…. …then when you do criticize that person, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes!! National Center on Educational Outcomes

21. Assessments designed to better include English language learners benefit all types of kids! • Students have the experience to understand the items • Language is clear, simple and indicates precisely what is required from student (“Plain language”) • Questions are amenable to supports that ELLs might use • Cognitive demands are reasonable National Center on Educational Outcomes

22. “While writers might think certain expectations are obvious, if they are not explicit in the item, then they are subject to honest misinterpretation in the responses.” (Kopriva, 2000, p. 39) National Center on Educational Outcomes

23. Experience can be crucial! To raise money for a trip to the Wolfridge Environmental Learning Center, sixth graders at Johnson Middle School are selling raffle tickets. The raffle prize is an electric scooter worth more than $300. A total of 500 tickets were sold. You bought two raffle tickets, your sister bought three and your father bought one. What is the probability that someone in your family will win the prize? National Center on Educational Outcomes

24. Recommendations to Improve Accessibility of Text (Kopriva, 2000) • Simple, brief and consistent sentence structure in items • Consistent and clear paragraph structure • Present tense and active voice • Minimal paraphrasing and rewording. If used, identify the original statement in parentheses • Minimal use of pronouns. Follow a pronoun with the term it refers to in parentheses • High frequency words • Avoid words with double meanings and colloquialisms. If used, define them in the text. National Center on Educational Outcomes

25. Young historians take projects to the granddaddy of museumby Jennifer Corbett, Staff CorrespondentStar Tribune Para. 1 “When Nicole Zachor, Laura Swanson and Carol Hinz started work on a project for history class a few months ago, the White Bear Lake sophomores had no idea that it would be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History…” Para. 12 “ This year junior and senior high students started work on their projects in January or February. A project can be a research paper but it can also be a group of individual media presentation, display presentation or performance” National Center on Educational Outcomes

26. Which of the following is a condition for a student to participate in National History Day? The student must be a junior or senior in high school. The student must be able to go to Washington, D.C. C. The student must do a project related to the national topic. D. The student must do the project on his or her own by himself or herself. ¿Cuál de las siguientes es una condicíon para que un estudiante participe en el Día Nacional de Historia? Los estudiantes deben estar en grados once o doce de High School. El estudiante debe estar en posibilidad de ir a Washington, D.C El estudiante debe hacer un proyecto relacionado a un tema nacional. El estudiante debe hacer el proyecto por sí solo. Think about accommodations up front! National Center on Educational Outcomes

27. Cognitive Demands • Amount of text not relevant to items • Length of text • Number of long texts • Timing (may be unspoken) • Amount of unfamiliar words • Placement of definitions (in text, to side, separate) • Location of native language text • Computerized/Hypertext National Center on Educational Outcomes

28. Preliminary Research in Universal Design • Sample of 230 students taken from four schools in U.S. Southwest. • Two schools were “town” schools (pop. 20,000) and two were “rural” schools. • Students chosen from sixth grade teams that had populations of students with disabilities. National Center on Educational Outcomes

29. Research Design • Two tests were created, one from sample statewide test items, the other re-designed using UD principles. • Each student took both tests. • Students randomly assigned to take a particular test first to prevent practice effect. • Constructs held constant for each item. National Center on Educational Outcomes

30. Community Involvement • Advisory Board trained in principles of Universal Design and asked to comment / suggest improvements based on their perspectives. • Team consisted of three parents of children in special education program (one Navajo, one Latina, one Anglo) and one community member with dyslexia. National Center on Educational Outcomes

31. Sample Original Item Ramón is building a doghouse. He wants the roof of the doghouse to be at an angle that is more than 90° but less than 110°. Which angle below could he use for the roof? A. B. C. D. National Center on Educational Outcomes

32. Revised Item Which angle is more than 90° and less than 110°? A. B. C. D. National Center on Educational Outcomes

33. What changed? Design element #2: Construct more precisely defined. Design element #3: Bias eliminated (dog house, Ramón) Design element #4: “Built in accommodations” – un-timed, students circled answer on paper, did not bubble Design element #5: Simple instructions and procedures Design element #6: More comprehensible language Design element #7: Larger font National Center on Educational Outcomes

34. Results • Means of two tests were compared and t-tests performed. • A difference of 8.16 (1.67 sig.) was found between means, a statistically significant finding. • Effect size calculated using Cohen’s d. Effect of design = .061 (or 6/10 Standard Deviation difference) – a “moderate effect” National Center on Educational Outcomes

35. Why?? • Students with largest difference between two tests were interviewed to determine difference for them. • Students noted that: more direct language made it easier for them to “understand” items and unlimited time helped them to “think better” about items. Students also said they “remembered” content better on UD test. National Center on Educational Outcomes

36. What have we learned? • Design matters!! How a test is designed may affect how a student scores on that test. • Items that are better designed appear to aid students who are English Language Learners with disabilities “show what they know” better. • This leads to more valid assessment of traditionally “under-performing” students. National Center on Educational Outcomes

37. Usability • Universally designed assessments use text that enables people to read quickly, effortlessly and with understanding • The physical appearance of text – shapes of letters and numbers – conforms to several dimensions that characterize legible text National Center on Educational Outcomes

38. OFFICIAL BALLOT, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA National Center on Educational Outcomes

39. Legible Text Dimensions Contrast – Black type on matte pastel or off-white paper produces good contrast and reduces eye strain Type Size – Print larger than 12 point increases legibility Spacing – Space between letters and between words in wide National Center on Educational Outcomes

40. Legible Text Dimensions Leading – White space between lines of type (leading) is larger Typeface – Standard typeface, with upper and lower case letters, is better than italic, small caps, or all caps Justification – Unjustified text is easier to read, especially for poor readers National Center on Educational Outcomes

41. Legible Graphs, Tables, Illustrations • Universally designed assessments use non-text materials just as carefully as text materials • Symbols are highly distinguishable • Only essential illustrations are used (ones referred to in text and necessary to answer question) [illustrations for interest often draw attention away from construct being assessed] National Center on Educational Outcomes

42. Is the border distracting? National Center on Educational Outcomes

43. Legible graphs, tables, illustrations What’s that big black rectangle? National Center on Educational Outcomes

44. Could this item be presented in an alternate format? Braille? Is the high number of items on the map and long list of cities necessary to respond to this item? “According to this weather page, which place is the warmest on December 28?” If you were flying to Chicago the day this weather page was printed, what information could you learn for your trip from this page? National Center on Educational Outcomes

45. Here is an example of an item that could more easily be translated into an alternate format. National Center on Educational Outcomes

46. Legible Response Formats • Universally designed assessments consider the design of the response venue as well as the assessment itself • Large bubbles that avoid most challenges of low vision or difficulty with fine motor skills • Consideration of age of students in selecting format (avoid separate answer sheets for younger students) National Center on Educational Outcomes

47. More information? NCEO Resources • Visit: http://education.umn.edu/nceo • or Search for NCEO • Web site includes: • Topic Introduction • Frequently Asked Questions • Online and Other Resources National Center on Educational Outcomes

48. UD and Data Analysis • Goal = Increase validity for all • Focus = Reduce differential validity • Impact = May or may not reduce differential difficulty (p values) • Process = Go beyond internal validity statistics such as DIF (Differential Item Functioning) National Center on Educational Outcomes

49. Salvage Example - Day 1 National Center on Educational Outcomes

50. Salvage Example - Day 2 National Center on Educational Outcomes