linking curriculum standards, assessment, and instructional practices
TRANSCRIPT
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National Center on Educational Outcomes
Linking Curriculum Standards, Assessment, and Instructional Practices
Martha L. ThurlowFebruary 11, 2003
. . .when Educating Children with Disabilities
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National Center on Educational Outcomes
StandardsAssessment
Instruction
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Topics for Discussion
• Why talk about linking?
• Expectations and success
• Building blocks of success
• Some steps for you to take
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Why talk about linking?
• Standards-based reform
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 1997)
• No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB 2001)
Standards-Based Reform Context
--- Everything else is negotiable ---
schedules, place, time, structure, curriculum, instructional methods,
methods of assessment. . .
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IDEA 1997
. . . a law created within the context of the standards-based reform movement . . .
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Key Provisions in IDEA 97
• Statement of present levels, needs, and how they affect involvement and progress in general curriculum
• Annual goals and objectives to allow involvement and progress in the general curriculum
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• Services needed to be successful in the general curriculum
• Modifications and supports to be successful in the general curriculum
• LRE statements
Key Provisions in IDEA 97
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• General educator collaboration• Assessment – full integration into
standards-based reform
Key Provisions in IDEA 97
The key provisions in IDEA 97 really address equity concerns – access to
common standards, challenging curriculum, and effective instruction
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Standards!Content standards = what all children should know and be able to do
Performance/achievement standards = how well children can demonstrate what they know and are able to do
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Status of Content Standards
MA
WA MT ND
OR
NV
CA
ID WY
UT
AZ
CO
NM
SD
NE
KS
TX
OK
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MIOH
KY
MSTN
FL
ALGA
SCNCVA
PANY
ME
WV
AK
HI
VT NH
CTNJ
DEMD
IN RI
All regular states, except Iowa, have state-level standards
PREL (Pacific Resources for Education and Learning) has good information on standards-based learning
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AFT (2001) recommends that:• Standards should be explained, along
with the performance levels required to meet them
• Examples of standards and student work at various grades and performance levels should be available to teachers, students, parents, and the public so that there is a shared understanding of them
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Step 1: Dig into your state’s standards so that you know what they are like and understand them
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No Child Left Behind
. . . reinforces standards-based education for all students and introduces accountability for results
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Stated purpose of No Child Left Behind
“…to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments”
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Key Provisions in NCLB
• Development of grade level standards and assessments aligned to those standards
• Inclusion of all students in assessments, including students with disabilities and limited English proficient students
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Key Provisions in NCLB
• A state accountability system that defines adequate yearly progress to ensure that all students reach proficiency by 2014
• School improvement plans and consequences when AYP is not evident
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AYP combinesTest
Data
% Proficient + AdvancedAND
95% tested
Progress over time
12 Years to 100% Proficient Intermediate goals
Annual measurable objectives
Within a Content Area
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This is high stakes! For the
system – schools, districts, and states
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The “why” is primarily about the LAW and assessments
Is there more to it than that?
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Assessment will drive improvements in instructional programs
For students with disabilities, participation in assessments will increase their access to the general education curriculum, thereby increasing their opportunity to learn to high standards.
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Students who are tested are those who get taught!
When educators know that students will be tested, and that their scores will count, they are more likely to make sure that they learn what they need to learn – that they get the resources they need.
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Inclusion in assessments may result in other inclusive opportunities
As students are included in assessments, the need to access to the general curriculum becomes more evident, and promotes the need to develop instructional activities that are more appropriate for all students.
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Negative effects of exclusion are avoided
Inappropriate referrals to special education are often avoided – if special education is an avenue to exclusion
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Higher expectations emerge for students who have been suffered from low expectations
Students in special education particularly have been subjected to low expectations (in the guise of protecting and caring for them), and these in turn has limited their opportunities to learn
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We obtain data on student performance, so that we know whether students are learning and programs are working – for all students
If we have no data to look at, we have no basis for making decisions, and we do not know whether students are learning and programs are successful in meeting the goals for students.
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Instructional programs improve (especially with professional development) and student learning improves!
Evidence is now accumulating that indicates benefits to educators and to students.
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Recent article in the Boston Globe (December 22, 2002)
Katie Bartlett has spent all of her 17 years exceeding the expectations the world placed on her when she was born with Down syndrome. . . .Still no one was quite sure what would happen when Bartlett took the MCAS exam, now a requirement for a high school diploma in Massachusetts.
This is what happened: She passed
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Other Data Also Coming to Light
5,647
13,528
12,607
4,419
9,514
7,545
4,1753,414
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
1997 1998 1999 2000
Num
ber
of S
tude
nts
Number Tested Number Passing with Score of 55-100
New York Regents Exam, 2001: Number of students with disabilities passing is higher than the number taking in the past
Trend data across grades in large southern state – special education population changes over time mask closing of gap between special education and general education students
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These success stories are related to the content standards, a defined general curriculum,
aligned instruction, good assessments, and good
assessment decision making
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Access to the General Curriculum is essential, but: Is the general curriculum linked to the
content/curriculum standards?
Has the general curriculum been defined?
General curriculum does NOT = books
General curriculum does NOT = regular classroom placement
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Step 2: Identify the linkages among standards, especially grade to grade, then define the general curriculumDefine access, participation, and progress in the general curriculum for students with disabilities
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Building Blocks• State system of academic content standards
What all students should know and be able to do for future success
• Curriculum and instructional plansWhat and how all students will learn – varied and rich, multiple settings, resources, authentic applications in the general curriculum
• Individual student needs, strengths considered Services and supports to be successful
• Assessment of student performanceAppropriate assessments to document knowledge and skills rather than disabilities
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Assessment Requirements
• Aligned with challenging State standards• Adequate technical quality for the purpose• Involve multiple up-to-date measures,
including measures of higher-order thinking and understanding
• Measure achievement against State standards in at least mathematics, reading/language arts, and (beginning in 2007-08) science
No Child Left Behind
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Reminder: Types of Assessments – All Important
Classroom TestsEligibility
Assessments
Large-Scale Assessments
District-wide Statewide National
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Ways to Participate in Assessments
Same way as other students
With accommodations
In an alternate assessment
But, this does not mean that it is simple
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School accountability systems
High stakes for students
Bubble of students without access to the general curriculum, high expectations
Lawsuits that suggest new ways of thinking about accommodations and other alternatives
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Step 3: Recognize the importance of individualized assessment decisions – evaluate these decisions and revisit them
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AccommodationsAccommodations are changes in assessment materials or procedures that allow the student’s knowledge and skills to be assessed rather than the student’s disability.
Setting, Timing, Scheduling, Presentation, Response, Other
Clarify what is okay and not okay!
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Good Accommodations Decisions Start with good instructional decisions
Raise systematic questions about accommodations for individual students
Use data to aid decision making
What helps student learn or perform better?
What has student or parents told you?
What gets in the way of the student showing skills?
What has the student been taught to use?
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Individualized accommodation decisions should be linked to the standard, the construct assessed, the nature of instruction or the assessment, and the student’s characteristics
Purposeful reading – reading to select and apply relevant information for a given task
Does this allow different modes of print interaction? And, what are the implications of these different modes for accommodations?
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Universally-Designed AssessmentsBe part of the movement toward assessments designed from the beginning for the widest range of students – not to assess different standards but to better assess the standards that we have
During item development
During item tryouts
During item reviews
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Step 4: Push for universally designed assessments.
Participate on item review teams
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Alternate Assessments
First introduced in IDEA 97 -
for students unable to participate in general state assessments
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Alternate Assessments
Developmental approaches – 1970s Functional approaches – 1980s Academic approaches – 1990s
• Vary from state to state
• Reflect shifting goals for students with significant cognitive disabilities
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Alternate Assessments: Examples of Current State Practices
• Portfolio, body of evidence - Kentucky• Performance assessment – Colorado and
Louisiana• Checklist – Montana, and in one portion of
Oregon’s alternate assessment• IEP analysis/multiple measures – Vermont
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Step 5: Explore your state’s alternate assessment, even if you do not work with the students in the alternate assessment
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Getting back to instruction . . .
This is the critical cog in the system!
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AFT recommends:• Teachers involved in development of grade-
by-grade curriculum aligned to standards
• Specify the learning continuum in the core subjects to show the progression and development of critical knowledge and skills from grade to grade
• Use information on instructional strategies or techniques to help teach the standards
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• Develop and use performance indicators of the quality of student work required for mastery of the content standards
• Create lesson plan data banks that include exemplary lessons and student work related to standards-based instruction
AFT recommends:
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NEA book suggests:• Identify needed instructional
accommodations on an individual basis
• Instruct students to identify their own accommodation needs
• Maintain positive attitude and high expectations
• Use effective instructional techniques
• Reflect on test results
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Thurlow, Ysseldyke, and Elliott recommend:• Carefully examine existing state and
district assessment data
• Explore trends in performance over time
• Identify and obtain other data
. . . all to inform programmatic decisions
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National Center on Educational Outcomes
Elliott and Thurlow recommend:• Integrate transition needs and standards-
based requirements
• Prioritize learning without sacrificing the foundations for later learning
• Don’t fall prey to teaching-to-the test unless it is meaningful narrowing of the curriculum
• Create collaborations and support within and outside
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