Member Meetings>Fall 2004 Member Meeting
Fall Meeting
Aligning
Assessments, IEPs, Instruction, and Progress Monitoring
October 21-23, 2004
Boston Marriott Cambridge
Boston, MA
The primary topic for our meeting was Aligning Assessments, IEPs, Instruction, and Progress Monitoring. Dr. John Hintze, Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts served as our keynote speaker on Thursday. Dr. Hintze helped us consider current best practice with regard to aligning eligibility determination and instructional processes with intended learning outcomes. His presentation focused on the training, organizational foci, professional role re-definition, and "tools" required to achieve desired results.
Friday was spent learning how selected member school districts are transitioning special and general education, as well as related services personnel, from traditional practice to outcome-based practice. Daniel Wiener, Assessment Coordinator for Special Populations at the Massachusetts Department of Education also facilitated two concurrent sessions on the unique issues and challenges aligning assessments, IEPs, instruction, and progress monitoring pose for students with significant disabilities.
We shifted gears on Saturday morning and focused on dropout prevention and students with disabilities. Our colleagues from Clemson University's National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities led a discussion of the dropout/re-entry research on students with disabilities, as well as some current initiatives Collaborative member school districts have designed to meet this increasing challenge.
Concurrent Sessions:
- How Boston and Other Urban Districts are Using the Alternate Assessment to Align and Improve Instruction, and Monitor the Progress of Their Students
Massachusetts Department of Education and Boston Public Schools
Presenters: Daniel Wiener and Laura Pirani
This presentation discussed the alternate assessments being used by more than 5,000 students annually in Massachusetts, and the effect it has had on the development of challenging, academic goals for students based on the state's Curriculum Framework learning standards. Dan addressed the goals and implementation of the state's alternate assessment, hailed by the U.S. Department of Education as a national model of effectiveness; followed by Laura, a Boston Public Schools special educator, supervisor, and alternate assessment specialist, who addressed the issues faced by a large urban school district in implementing this wide-reaching assessment program for over 300 students with significant disabilities.
Closing the Achievement Gap
Boston Public Schools
Presenter: William Kelley
Boston Public Schools shared its approach to closing the achievement gap for special education students. Based on an analysis of Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System data, Boston identified compelling examples of schools in which achievement gains among special education students are comparable to or exceed aggregate gains. During this session, Boston's special education leadership discussed (1) how their study points up the critical need for the alignment of assessment and instruction and (2) their efforts to develop a district-wide professional development plan incorporating successful, replicable strategies already in place in the district.
Executing a 180 in Student Achievement
Clark County Public School District
Presenters: Charlene Green and Barbara Mathews
Struggling with meeting AYP? Looking for strategies to improve student achievement in reading? This presentation focused on digging deeper into test data and developing meaningful IEP goals and benchmarks that are tied to state standards. Participants will gain strategies for improving student reading levels through focused interventions. Analysis of interim assessments for monitoring student achievement and driving instruction were discussed. Inclusionary practices for successful program implementation will be highlighted. These thoughtful instructional changes provide students access to an expanded curriculum. Following the presentation a guided discussion will follow to allow for a question and answer session.
Aligning Functional Curriculum to State Standards
Elgin Unit School District 46
Presenters: Sharon Raffe and Maria Smith
The U-46 Special Education Department has developed and implemented a transition program, Center House, for our students ages 18 to 21, that is community based and uses a functional curriculum. This program was developed in response to parents, student, and post school agency requests for more age appropriate programming that leads to students becoming more independent adults. Now in its sixth year, Center House has been recognized as a model transition program for students with mild to moderate disabilities. An outcome of this program was the need to develop a functional curriculum that is aligned to Illinois Learning Standards and a transition planning guide that links with corresponding learning standard. In this session, presenters shared the functional curriculum, transition guide, standards, and Center House program outcomes.
Making a Stronger Connection Between Regular and Special Education Through Standards, the IEP Process, and a District's Educational Framework
Madison Metropolitan School District
Presenter: Jack Jorgensen
The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) has been working on the development of technical assistance materials that can be used by IEP teams to address the relationship between the district's content and performance standards and the development of IEP goals and objectives. Additionally, Superintendent Art Rainwater has introduced the MMSD Educational Framework which is a comprehensive system of student opportunity to progress through childhood to become a successful adult. Organized around the three key concepts of Engagement, Learning, and Relationships, the framework reflects common best practices and requires the development of systemic, systematic, progressive supports, and interventions for children who are not experiencing success in our schools. A culture of collaboration and shared responsibility for all students is essential to this framework's success. The presentation provided information on these two key initiatives and how they will result in a stronger connection between general education and special education.
Collaboration! It Works!
Memphis City Schools
Presenters: Pat Beane, Frankie Johnson, Carla Shaw, and Annette Vaughan
This presentation focused on one school in the Memphis City Schools' district that successfully implemented reading interventions and strategies for students who were identified as "at-risk." The session presenters discussed how the students in need of academic interventions in reading are selected through the assessment and identification process. Information was shared about how the school used community resources, including the Reading Excellence Act grant, the Comprehensive School Reform grant, IDEA funds, as well as district resources. Participants left the session with an understanding of successful collaboration between regular education, special education, and community resources.
Referral Question Assessment: Linking the School Psychologist to Instruction, Goal Setting, and Progress Monitoring
Miami-Dade County Public School District
Presenters: Sue Buslinger-Clifford and Terri Clark
As part of the Superintendent's efforts to reform the country's lowest performing schools, a protocol for comprehensive diagnostic evaluation of retained third grade students was developed and piloted by the Division of Psychological Services. The diagnostic evaluation combined observation, ecological and functional assessment, curriculum-based measurement, and focused psychoeducational testing. A branching decision tree format allowed for the time efficient gathering of information necessary to establish progress monitoring procedures. As opposed to traditional static psychoeducational assessment methods that have been criticized in the literature as lacking treatment validity, the newly developed assessment sets the stage for dynamic evaluation of a student's response to intervention efforts. Rather than solely identifying within-child deficits, the assessment evaluates goodness of fit between the student's needs and the school's resources and remedial efforts. This presentation presented the assessment process through actual case studies. Decision point goal setting using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)-Oral Reading Fluency progress monitoring probes were discussed. Sample reports will be disseminated.
