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A Historical Background of Scholastic Assessments and the use of Assistive

Technology in the United StatesSeptember 9, 2014

3-4p.m. Eastern Time

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This webinar is one in a series of two webinars on AT and Education.

The next webinar in this series is scheduled for October 8, 2014, titled “Assistive Technology, Accessibility, and High-Stakes Assessments” Register at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/345295727

Both webinars will be recorded and archived on the RESNA Catalyst Project Website at http://www.resnaprojects.org/statewide/webed.html

If you do not see Real Time captioning on your screen, please visit http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=RESNA. You will need to tile or cascade your web pages to view both the PowerPoint along side the captioning.

Please use your chat box or question box to ask questions.

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Presenters

• Janice Carson, Director, Idaho AT Project• Ron Hager, Senior Attorney, National Disability

Rights Network

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

• Passed in 1975, effective in 1978• All students with disabilities guaranteed– Free appropriate public education (FAPE)– In the least restrictive environment (LRE)– Pursuant to a written individualized education

program (IEP)– Parents have the right to due process to question

school district decisions– Assistive technology provisions added in 1990

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No Child Left Behind Act

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) created in 1965

• ESEA purpose—provide federal support to educate disadvantaged children who live in poor urban and rural areas

• NCLB, amended ESEA and renamed, in 2001• States must assess all students, including students with

disabilities, in reading and math annually in grades 3 – 8 (less frequently for science)

• States must make adequate yearly progress toward reading, math and science mastery by 2014

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NCLB Assessments

• All students with disabilities must take NCLB assessments

• IDEA amended to reflect NCLB requirements• Students with disabilities may take all state-

wide and district-wide assessments, including “high stakes” tests, in one of five ways

• The determination of which assessment to use and any needed accommodations is to be made by the IEP Team

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NCLB Assessment Options

• Students with disabilities may:– Take regular assessment in same manner as other

students– Take regular assessment with approved

accommodations or modifications– Take alternate assessment based on same educational

standards as regular assessment– Take alternate assessment based on different

educational standards– Take assessment based on modified achievement

standards

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Alternate Assessment Guidelines

• Intended for students with significant cognitive disabilities

• Only "proficient scores" of 1% of students who meet the criteria for this assessment may be counted toward a school's AYP determination (i.e., whether or not the school "needs improvement")

• However, no restriction on number of students who may take this assessment

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Modified Assessment Guidelines

• Effective in 2007:– Provide access to grade level curriculum;‑– Be aligned with State's academic content

standards for grade in which student is enrolled;– Only academic achievement standards for

students are to be modified, not content standards;

– May not preclude a student from earning a regular high school diploma‑

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Modified Assessment Guidelines

• No limit on the number of students who can take this alternate assessment (as long as the IEP team determines its necessary)

• 2% cap on number of proficient and advanced scores that may be counted towards AYP

• Total number of students counted on alternate and modified assessments cannot be more then 3%

• Modified assessments removed from NCLB waivers

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IDEA Assessment Requirements

• IEP Team determines which assessment student takes, based on five options above

• If IEP Team determines student needs alternate assessment, it must indicate what alternate assessment is appropriate and why

• IEP determines any individual appropriate accommodations the student needs

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IDEA Assessment Amendment• Effective in 2007• State- and district-wide assessments must, to extent

possible, be developed and administered using “universal design” principles

• When selecting alternate assessment not aligned to state’s academic content standards, IEP Team must be aware of any possible effects, including whether student will qualify for diploma

• State guidelines must identify accommodations that do not “invalidate the score”

• IEP Team must select only those accommodations which do not invalidate the score

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Questions? Please use your chat box or ask questions.

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A Standard Evolution

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CCSS, SBAC & PARCC

What are the CCSS? State education chiefs and governors in 48 states

came together to develop the Common Core, a set of clear college- and career-ready

standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and

mathematics.

The Common Core FAQs. (ND). Retrieved May 28, 2014 from http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/

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Adoption of CCSSGreen – adoption Blue –partial adoption

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Status of CCSS in States Blue - rejected Red - activity to reject Gray - no action

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CCSS, SBAC & PARCC

•Common Core State Standards (CCSS) •SBAC & PARCC• High Stakes testing

– Teacher evaluations (salary, promotion, contracts)

– District accreditation

– Grade promotions

– Graduation/Diploma

• Critical Need for full accessibility

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CCSS, SBAC & PARCCState Assessment Participation

(hopefully current) PARCC -- AR, AZ, CO, DC, IL, LA, MD, MA, MS, NJ, NM, NY, OH, RI, TN (ND, VI)

SBAC – CA, CT, DE, HI, ID, ME, MI, MO, MT, NV, NH, NC, OR, SD, VT, WA, WV, WI (ND, VI, WY)

Never Joined Either – VA, TX, NE, MN (AS, GU, MP, PR)

Withdrew – AK, AL, FL, GA, IN, KY, KS, OK, PA, SC, UT

IA – legislature must approve 20

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CCSS, SBAC & PARCCFederal Activities

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Multiple meetings ED, PARCC and SBAC1) Limited understanding of software accessibility 2) Misunderstanding of UDL and AT

Assumed built-in would address all access needs3) Conflict with pure content experts/specialists

Skills could not be technology supported4) Neither consortia had internal accessibility expertise or external advisory expertise

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Support Standards-Based Reform

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Support Standards-Based ReformLocal Education Agency

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Support Standards-Based Reform

We know time spent in the general education setting is increasing for students with

disabilities, however, in order to participate in standards-based reform, they must have access to the general education curriculum

(Rose, Meyer, & Hitchcock, 2006).

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Support Standards-Based Reform CCSS

Shift Functional Equivalent

Steeper staircase of Text Complexity-The reading levels expectation in 12th grade is higher thus the levels increase at a faster rate

Need access to content •AIM•Text-to-speech•Text Compaction

Stronger Emphasis on Nonfiction and Informational Text-Harder to understand because the terminology is more difficult

Need access to content•Same as above •Reading pens

Increased Emphasis on Text-Based Answers and Academic Vocabulary

Need to be able to use text-based content and vocabulary to answer assessment questions•Digital content•Writing software to build a dictionary from the content to answer questions on assessments•Support to learn vocabulary 25

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Support Standards-Based ReformState Education Agency

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Support Standards-Based ReformMissouri Activity Example

Task Force - Organizations and State ED Agency

Special Education AdministratorsSchool PsychologistsSpecialized Instruction and Related Services Staff Assistive Technology SpecialistsHigher Education Instruction/Assessment Faculty

Developed Guiding Principles for Assessment Accessibility

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Support Standards-Based ReformGuiding Principles

1) Digital assessment applications must conform to an accepted set of accessibility standards.

2) Students must be allowed to use their own AT.– If students forced to use unfamiliar AT, becomes a

test of how quickly and efficiently they can learn new AT.

– Without use of AT tools in assessment that are used in everyday learning, the measure of true academic proficiency is questionable.

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Support Standards-Based ReformGuiding Principles

3) Guidelines restricting the use of access features must be patently justified and cannot result in disability-based discrimination or cause invalid proficiency scores for students with disabilities.

4) Mandating another “individual student plan” to authorize and activate access features for assessments is unnecessary.

5) Technology supported academic achievement must be valued equally with non-technology supported.

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Support Standards-Based ReformMissouri and CCSS Assessments

• Missouri is a member of SBAC

• SBAC Accommodation/Access Guidelines adopted – SBAC Governing Board adopted resolution allowing

states to vary from the SBAC Guidelines to conform to their own laws, regulations, and policies in relation to accessibility for students with disabilities

– This “variance” resolution will be used by Missouri.

• Missouri awarded state contract to CTB to develop platform and administer CCSS assessments.

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Support Standards-Based ReformAssistive Technology Survey

Missouri AT Program What operating system are your students using?

Mostly Windows What tablets are your students using?

Mostly iPads What browsers are your students using?

No clear majority What kinds of specific AT are your students using?

Significant use of built in OS access features Set of input and output AT identified

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What are you doing in your state or territory?

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Thank You! Questions?

Please use your chat box or ask questions.

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Webinar Two: Wednesday, October 8, 2014AT, Accessibility, and High-Stakes Assessments

Dave Edyburn, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as he provides a detailed analysis of Assistive Technology, accessibility, and high stakes assessments. Topics to be covered in this webinar include the following:–State partnerships with the Four National Assessment Consortia–Technology infrastructure requirements for schools–Embedded technology supports–Allowable Assistive Technologies–Register at:https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/345295727

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