Striving for College and Career Readiness for All Students with Disabilities

1. Striving for College and Career Readiness for All Students with Disabilities Martha Thurlow March 17, 2014

2. Topics for Today • Background • New Assessments • Smarter Balanced Approach for Students with Disabilities • What Needs to Happen to Instruction and Educator Training? • What Needs to Happen to Policy?

3. Background

4. Just 2 ½ Decades Ago …… • Most states did not include students with disabilities in their assessment systems • Students with disabilities (all disabilities) were held to different expectations – we worked hard to make sure that they felt good about themselves, but we did not necessarily attend to their academic needs • Little thought was given to accommodations that students might need in instruction to access the curriculum, much less how to use universal design principles for instruction and assessment

5. History – Changes in the Population of Students with Disabilities 10.6% California

6. CA Categories of Disability (2012) From CA Dept of Ed Data Quest Note: Multiple disability (0.9%), visual impairment (0.6%), traumatic brain injury (0.2%) and deaf-blindness (0.0%) are not shown because they account for less than 1%.

7. History – Placement of Students with Disabilities California* 55.3% 21.4% 23.3% *California data from data.gov

8. 2010-2011 Participation in Reading Assessments (Gr 8) California

9. 2010-2011 Participation in Math Assessments (Gr 8) California 9

10. New Assessments

11. Six Assessment Consortia • Race-to-the-Top Regular Assessment Consortia • Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) • Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced)** • GSEG Alternate Assessment Consortia • Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) • National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC)* • ELP Assessment Consortium • ASSETS: Assessment Services Supporting ELs through Technology Systems • ELPA21: English Language Proficiency for the 21st Century ** California belongs to this consortium * California is in Tier II of this consortium

12. Smarter Balanced Must Include All Students with Disabilities Except Those Who Participate in the AA-AAS (California Alternate Performance Assessment - CAPA) • No Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) – the California Modified Assessment (CMA)

13. AA-AAS Consortia Participation: Three Basic Criteria The student has a significant cognitive disability. Review of student records indicate a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior essential for someone to live independently and to function safely in daily life. The student is learning content linked to (derived from) the Common Core State Standards Goals and instruction listed in the IEP for this student are linked to the enrolled grade-level CCSS and address knowledge and skills that are appropriate and challenging for this student.

14. AA-AAS Consortia Participation: Three Basic Criteria The student requires extensive direct individualized instruction and substantial supports to achieve measurable gains in the grade and age-appropriate curriculum. The student (a) requires extensive, repeated, individualized instruction and support that is not of a temporary or transient nature, and (b) uses substantially adapted materials and individualized methods of accessing information in alternative ways to acquire, maintain, generalize, demonstrate and transfer skills across multiple settings.

15. Smarter Balanced Approach for Students with Disabilities

16. Smarter Balanced Approach to Accessibility and Accommodations • Use of Individual Student Accessible Assessment Profile (ISAAP), or similar local process, as the avenue to ensure individualized accessibility • “New” terminology about accessibility and accommodations – universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations

18. Universal Tools (For All Students) • Embedded: Breaks, Calculator, Digital Notepad, English Dictionary, English Glossary, Expandable Passages, Global Notes, Highlighter, Keyboard Navigation, Mark for Review, Math Tools, Spell Check, Strikethrough, Writing Tools, Zoom • Non-Embedded: Breaks, English Dictionary, Scratch Paper, Thesaurus

19. Designated Supports (For All Students with Documentation) • Embedded: Color Contrast, Masking, Text-to-Speech, Translated Test Directions, Translations (Glossary), Translations (Stacked), Turn Off Any Universal Tools • Non-Embedded: Bilingual Dictionary, Color Contrast, Color Overlay, Magnification, Read Aloud, Scribe, Separate Setting, Translations (Glossary)

20. Accommodations (For Students with Disabilities) • Embedded: American Sign Language, Braille, Closed Captioning, Text-to-Speech • Non-Embedded: Abacus, Alternate Response Options, Calculator, Multiplication Table, Print on Demand, Read Aloud, Scribe, Speech-to-Text

21. Supports for Implementation . . . • Practice and Pilot Tests (with accessibility features) • Sample Items and Performance Tasks • Frequently Asked Questions (for Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines) • Webinars on Accessibility and Accommodations Implementation Guide for Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations

22. What Needs to Happen to Instruction and Educator Training?

23. Some Basics….. • Standards-based IEPs • Accommodations during instruction (and assessment) • Grade-level instruction and strategies for scaffolding to it

24. Standards-Based IEPs • Where is the student with respect to standards for enrolled grade? • Which standards warrant attention? • What goals are needed to designate the “necessary learning –the specially designed instruction” – that will lead the student’s program toward achievement of standards? Source: Project Forum at NASDSE, 2010

25. Access Skills General Curriculum Standards Transition Skills Standards-Based IEPs Standards-based, not Standards-bound. The IEP is the boundary, not the standards Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

26. Standards-Based IEPs • What standards? (CCSS +) • Not all standards are “equal” • Match to needs/deficit areas • Match to Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance – (PLAAFP) Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

27. PLAAFP Structure/Elements Source: Jim Shriner, U of Illinois

28. Accommodations (During Instruction) • Accommodations mediate the impact of students’ characteristics to: • Support learning of the content • Reduce construct irrelevant variance • Assumes an accurate alignment between students’ needs and access barriers that need to be mediated [Good decision-making is essential] Source: Leanne Ketterlin-Geller, Southern Methodist University

29. Accommodations (During Instruction) • Check out resources for decision makers, such as:

30. Accommodations (During Assessment) • Plan for transition from CA accommodation policies to Smarter Balanced usability, accessibility, and accommodations policies

31. Crosswalk Format to Compare New Terminology to Old Terminology

32. Grade-Level Instruction and Strategies for Scaffolding to It • Look to technical assistance resources, such as: • IRIS Center:iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu • National Center for Intensive Intervention:www.intensiveintervention.org • Center on Instruction: http://www.centeroninstruction.org/

33. Educator Training • Address low expectations! • Focus on what adults can do, and less on what students do not do. • Break down silos

34. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is Alive and Well • Famous 1960s Rosenthal & Jacobson study • More recent contributions • Sorhagen (2013): First-grade teachers’ expectations are significant predictors of the achievement of high school students. Expectations not explicitly influenced by exogenous characteristics. • Kalifa (2011): Some teachers bargain with students to lower expectations in exchange for compliant behavior. • Harris (2012): Deficit beliefs tend to lower teachers’ expectations for the performance of some of their students. Source: Aimee Howley , Ohio University

35. Focus on Effective Districts • Focused on what adults do – intentionally and collectively – to include and assist all students in learning at higher levels • Highlighted 10 districts in 9 states across the US (existence proofs) • Looked at the role of higher ed, SEA, regional providers, parents www.movingyournumbers.org

37. Essential Areas of Practice Three Big Things: • FOCUS • STRENGTHEN INSTRUCTION • COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY McNulty, 2014 Source: Deb Telfer, University of Dayton (Ohio) Use data well Focus your goals Select and implement shared instructional practices Implement deeply Monitor and provide feedback and support Inquire and learn

38. The Higher Education Challenge • Disciplinary specialties produce silos. • General educators are not well prepared to provide interventions. • Special educators and general educators are not typically taught how to co-teach effectively. • Few programs offer dual licensure (general and special education).

39. What Needs to Happen to Policy?

40. Support Educator Preparation for New Standards and Assessments • Require adequate preparation in content for all teachers • Require adequate preparation in specially designed instruction for special educators • Require adequate preparation of all school personnel in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

41. Review Policies That Might be Inconsistent with College and Career Readiness • Graduation policies? • Promotion policies? • Credit requirements? • Others?