Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs:

1. Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs: Three Generations of Alternative Licensure

2. CSEEP Old Dominion UniversityFunded by the Virginia Department of Education Christa McAuliffe Award for Teaching Excellence American Association of State Colleges and Universities 2005 Recipient

3. Our Grant Team • Stephen W. Tonelson, Ed.D., Program Director • Jane M. Hager, Ph.D., Program Co-Director • Robert A. Gable, Ph.D., Program Co-Director • Cheryl S. Baker, Ph.D., Program Co-Director • Ann Maydosz, M.S. Ed., Program Coordinator • Kimberly Hughes, M.S., Research Coordinator

4. Virginia Department of Education Partners • Dr. Thomas A. Elliott, Assistant Superintendent, Division of Teacher Education, Licensure, and Professional Practice • Dr. Patricia Burgess, Special Education Human Resource Development

5. Generation 1: Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Program 1997 - Present Generation 2: Paraprofessional Preparation for Extraordinary Teaching 2003 - Present Generation 3: A Commonwealth Collaborative Endorsement for Special Education Studies 2006 - Present

6. Generation 1: Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Program • Purpose - To provide site-based course work in special education designed to meet the requirements for endorsement in learning disabilities, mental retardation, and/or emotional disturbance for Virginia’s conditionally/provisionally licensed teachers.

7. Original Grant – CSEEP • Began in 1997 with 62 participants. • To date, over 700 individuals have completed full licensure in learning disabilities, mental retardation, and/or emotional disturbance in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

8. Snapshot – CSEEP Spring 06 • 204 active participants • 65 applicants for Summer 2006 • 746 finishers • Over 250 are working toward or have completed their Master’s Degrees in Special Education. • 6.9 million dollars in awards • 101 Public school divisions/27 Private/ 4 Regional Education Programs Represented

9. Entrance Requirements for CSEEP • Employed full-time in the Commonwealth of Virginia and assigned to teach students with emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, and/or mental retardation in a public school division or state-operated program; • Hold a valid Special Education Conditional/ Provisional License in emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, and/or mental retardation; • Be recommended by the employing public school division or state-operated program;

10. Be assigned a mentor by the employing public school division or state-operated program; and • Hold passing Praxis I, ACT or SAT scores as determined by the Virginia Department of Education OR hold a Collegiate Professional or Postgraduate Professional license that would exempt the applicant from needing Praxis I scores and/or other assessments as determined by the Virginia Department of Education.

11. CSEEPEvaluation by CEC Standards Sample categories: 1. Instructional Strategies 2. Learning Environments and Social Interactions 3. Language 4. Instructional Planning 5. Assessment 6. Professional and Ethical Practice 7. Collaboration • Pre/Post Task Rating Form • Mentor Observation

12. Sample Evaluative Competencies • Learning Environments and Social Interactions--Use performance data and information to make modifications in learning environments. • Instructional Planning--Involve the individual and family in setting instructional goals and monitoring progress. • Collaboration--Foster respectful and beneficial relationships among families and professionals.

13. Participant Task Rating Form • Assesses participant preparedness to meet CEC competencies • Completed at the beginning and at the end of grant coursework

14. Participant Task Rating Form • 65 items (Rating scale: 1 - none, 2 - very little preparation, 3 - adequately prepared, 4 - well-prepared, 5 - extremely well-prepared) • Sample item: [How well prepared are you to] use student responses to guide instructional decisions and provide feedback?

15. Participant Task Rating Form Results A. Instructional Strategies* B. Learning Environments* C. Language* D. Instructional Planning* E. Assessment* F. Ethical Standards* G. Collaboration* H. Overall Preparedness* *t value is significant, p < .05

16. Mentor Summative Evaluation • Mentors complete a Pre/Post Task Rating Form for their mentees and three observations per semester. • A summative evaluation form is completed by the mentor on each of his or her participants at the end of each semester of grant participation. • A representative sample of the summative evaluation forms was gathered to assess mentors’ perceptions of their participants’ progress on each of the CEC standards.

17. 76 mentors were included in the sample. 79% indicated that their participant showed consistent progress or mastery of instructional strategies, learning environments and social interactions, language, instructional planning, and collaboration. 90% indicated that their participant showed consistent progress or mastery of assessment. 93% of mentors indicated consistent progress or mastery of professional and ethical practice. The means for each of the standards were extremely high, ranging from 4.30 to 4.63 on a 5-point Likert scale.

18. Mentor Summative Evaluation Results

19. CSEEP Impact on K-12 Student Academic Behavior • When contingent praise was introduced - there was a decline in the error rate. • When the use of contingent praise was withdrawn – there was a decline in the rate of corrects and an increase in the error rate. • When contingent praise was reintroduced – there was a significant improvement in the correct oral reading rate.

20. Academic Behavior Performance Graph

21. Instructional Analysis • Teachers identify two to three students in their classroom and systematically collect data on the following to ensure that all students are given equal opportunities to be successful learners: (a) opportunities each student has to respond to instruction; (b) the ratio of correct to error responses; and, (c) the number of praise statements they deliver to each student.

22. Next, teachers analyze the nature of their instruction and make adjustments that reflect best practices, namely, that students have at least two opportunities to respond per minute and that students are able to respond correctly at least 75% of the time.

23. Instructional Analysis Graph

24. Academic Intervention: Aggregated Instructional Analysis Data

25. Generation 2:Paraprofessional Preparation for Extraordinary Teaching (PPET) • Purpose of PPET - To provide site-based course work in special education designed to meet the requirements for endorsement in learning disabilities, mental retardation, and/or emotional disturbance for Virginia’s paraprofessionals and non-licensed school division personnel.

26. Began in Summer, 2003 with 17 participants. • Paraprofessionals, teacher’s aides, substitute teachers, instructional aides, teacher assistants, office associates, secretaries • 20 Virginia school divisions are represented.

27. Snapshot – PPET 06 • 36 active participants • 1 applicant for Summer 06 • 18 finishers • 4 have completed their Master’s Degrees in Special Education • 8 have moved into the CSEEP Grant; 5 are expected to move into the CSEEP grant in Summer 2006 (have been granted conditional/provisional licensure.

28. Entrance Requirements for PPET • Hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; • Employed in a Commonwealth of Virginia public school division or state-operated program in a non-licensed position (paraprofessionals, teacher’s aides, paraeducators, long-term substitutes, and any other non-licensed personnel are invited to apply); • Have passing scores on Praxis I or equivalent SAT or ACT scores, as determined by the Virginia Department of Education and/or other assessments as determined by the Virginia Department of Education.

29. Be recommended by the employing public school division or state-operated program; • Be assigned a mentor by the employing public school division or state-operated program; and, • Be seeking initial licensure in special education with endorsement in ED, LD, and/or MR.

30. Generation 3:A Commonwealth Collaborative Endorsement for Special Education Studies (ACCESS) • In May, 2005, we asked representatives of all public school divisions and agencies how many paraprofessionals and other non-licensed personnel held associates degrees in their divisions. • 42 divisions/agencies responded that 1010 such personnel held associates degrees

31. Entrance Requirements for ACCESS • Be seeking a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies (teacher preparation) and licensure in special education (learning disabilities, mental retardation or emotional disturbance). • Be a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia. • Attain admission to Old Dominion University and be eligible for in-state tuition. Eligibility for in-state tuition is determined by the Registrar’s Office.

32. Hold any transferable associate degree from a regionally accredited institution and have a cumulative grade point average of 2.8 or better. • Have passing Praxis I, SAT or ACT scores as determined by the Virginia Department of Education for teacher licensure and/or other assessments as determined by the Virginia Department of Education.

33. Future Directions • Renewal • Recruitment • Assessment • Structure changes • 7 week course offerings in Spring 2006

34. Collaborative Flowchart More information: www.odu.edu/cseep