Inclusions of Special Populations

1. Inclusions of Special Populations In the State-Required Assessment and Accountability Programs 703 KAR 5:070

2. DEFINE INCLUSION • Take the next 2-3 minutes to come up with your very own definition of inclusion. • Please be prepared to share.

3. Who Says “EVERYONE”? • Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990 stipulated that our statewide assessment would be an inclusive system. • The Amendments of 1997 and 2004 for IDEA stipulated that children with disabilities must be included in general state and district-wide assessments, with appropriate accommodations or in an alternative assessment.

4. Who Participates in State Assessments? • Students without accommodations • Students with accommodations • Alternate Assessment

5. Without accommodations • Students who have been referred to an Admissions and Release Committee (ARC) or 504 committee, but the evaluation or eligibility process have not been completed. • Students with disabilities not receiving special education and related services or accommodations and interventions under section 504.

6. With accommodations • Students who have a current Individualized Educational Plan(IEP),504 Plan or Program Services Plan(PSP). • Students who meet the eligibility requirement for one of the disability categories under KAR 707 Ch. 1 or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. • Students who receive specially designed instruction and related services.

7. Purpose of accommodations • Based on the individual needs of the student and not on a disability category • Evaluation information or data support the need for intervention and accommodations in the specific area of need • Part of the student’s routine instructional program

8. Accommodations • Accessing the general curriculum and demonstrating what the student knows and is able to do. • Shall not inappropriately impact the content being measured. • Shall be considered temporary strategies and shall be faded as the student gains skill and knowledge. • Not intended to reduce learning expectations or substitute for specific instruction.

9. Assistive Technology • “An assistive technology device, as defined by (PL 105-394), is any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially, off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.”

10. Who can assist with accommodations? • School district decision • Preferably someone familiar with the student (teacher, instructional assistant) • Individual trained in the roles and responsibilities of appropriate accommodations, confidentiality, the Administration Code and the Inclusions Regulation.

12. Readers • “If listening to a reader is the normal mode through which the student is presented regular print materials, reading assessments may be read to a student on the premise that the intent of reading is to measure comprehension.”

13. Use of Readers • Read directions, prompts, situations, passages, and stories as written unless the student meets criteria for paraphrasing. • Not using information to lead the student to information needed for answering the open–response items or multiple choice questions. • Re-read directions, prompts, situations, passages, and stories ONLY AT THE STUDENT’S REQUEST. • Not pointing out parts of the task, questions or parts skipped by the student and read individual words and abbreviations that are mispronounced by text/screen readers.

14. Use of Scribes • Before providing a scribe the ARC or 504 committee should consider under what conditions a student will use a scribe or supplementary aids: Braille writers, communications boards, audio recorder, assistive technology or note taker • Has to be used on a routine basis during instruction • Should not be used as a replacement for writing instruction or assistive technology

15. Scribe’s Role • To record the student’s work • To allow the student to reflect what the student knows and is able to do while providing the student with an alternative means to express his/her thoughts and knowledge without changing the measure of the student’s response

16. Scribe’s Responsibility for Multiple Choice • For multiple choice, record the answer selected by student. • NOTE: Few students will need a scribe for this type of items. Generally, needing this assistance will be students with physical disabilities or visual tracking issues.

17. Scribe’s Responsibility for Open-Response • For open-response items, scribe writes what student dictates. • Since the purpose of open-response items is to assess application of knowledge in content areas, scribe may record the student’s responses using correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. • HOWEVER, scribes DO NOT correct grammar, run-on sentences, or organization of the student’s ideas.

18. Scribe’s Responsibility for On-Demand Writing • Write what the student dictates. • Follow the directions for use of a “scribe” for portfolios. • Shall not provide instruction or conference with the student during the on-demand writing prompt. • Shall not correct grammar, run-on sentences, or organize student’s ideas.

19. Paraphrasing • Teaching a student to use paraphrasing strategies, which are used to restate printed text or oral communication using other words or forms putting printed text and oral communication into his/her own words.

20. Paraphrasing Can Use Paraphrasing on the On-Demand Tasks for: • Open-Response Items • Multiple Choice Questions • Writing Prompts

21. Paraphrasing • Paraphrasing for the state-required Assessment and Accountability Programs shall be consistent with classroom instruction and includes: • Repeating or rephrasing the on-demand tasks, directions, prompts, or situation. • Breaking directions and sentences into parts or segments or using similar words or phrases. • But shall not include defining words or concepts or telling a student what to do first, second, etc. • Stories (reading passages) and content passages may NOT be paraphrased.

22. Use of Extended Time • Part of their daily instructional routine • Student must be making constructive progress on completing their responses and under proper supervision

23. Reinforcement & Behavior Modification Strategies • If ANY student’s behavior impacts the performance of other students, then school staff may remove the student from the assessment situation.

24. Reinforcement and Behavior Modification Strategies • A student may complete the assessment if….. • they are moved to another location, • standards for appropriate testing are followed, • test security is maintained, and • must finish in the same day.

25. MANIPULATIVES • Used on the state-required assessment and development of portfolios as a strategy to solve problems • Part of daily instruction • Student initiated

26. Prompting and Cueing • The use of these strategies and guides for assessment shall be student initiated and not teacher initiated. • Prompting and cueing documents are personal to the student and not generic. • Collection of tools to assist a student with a disability in accessing the general curriculum • Organizers for his or her thinking and work • Management strategy to assist a student in organizing his or her learning and memory devices

27. LEP Accommodations • Permitted only if listed in a student’s PSP. • Both the current PSP and the current accommodations have been used in an on-going basis in the mainstream classroom.

28. LEP Accommodations

29. Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students (as defined in 703 KAR 5:001) • All LEP students participate in CATS • 1st year LEP students take the NCLB required mathematics (grades 3-8) and science (grades 4, 7, 11) assessments for participation but not part of a school/ district’s accountability • 2nd year LEP students take all the assessments for that particular grade level with the exception of a writing portfolio • 3rd year LEP students will be responsible for all assessments and a writing portfolio

30. Questions?