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NCSC Instructional Supports and Resources: Transition to NCSC Severo Martinez Education Administrator New Mexico Public Education Department
NCSC Instructional Supports and Resources:
Transition to NCSC
Severo MartinezEducation Administrator
New Mexico Public Education Department
Session Overview
• Introductions– Severo Martinez
• Overview of National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC) Support and Instructional Supports
• Overview of New Alternate Assessment (ELA and Mathematics only)
• 2014 Pilot Information and Sign-up
Alternate Assessment Background• States are required to have assessments to
measure student performance for accountability purposes in Math and English Language Arts for grades 3-8 and once in high school
• There are alternate assessments for students who have the most significant cognitive disabilities
• NCSC and NMAPA • These assessments are linked to grade level
content but have different expectations for achievement
• They are referred to as alternate assessments on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAS) 3
Who will take the NCSC Test?
NCSC Background
• In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC) a grant to develop a new AA-AAS in Math and English Language Arts by the 2014-15 school year
• 24 states and five national organizations are working together in NCSC http://www.ncscpartners.org
• NCSC is also developing curriculum/instructional resources based on Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that can be used in any state https://wiki.ncscpartners.org
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National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC) Alternate Assessment Consortia
To develop a system of assessments supported by curriculum, instruction, and
professional development to ensure that students with the most
significant cognitive disabilities achieve increasingly higher
academic outcomes and leave high school ready for post-secondary
options.
What does College and Career Readiness Mean for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities?
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Which Skills Promote College and Career Readiness?
• Communicative competence• Social skills to function well in small groups• Independent work skills• Problem Solving• Reading/writing/math• Knowing when and how to seek assistance
The NCSC model includes community readiness in its definition of college and career
readiness.
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Working towards College and Career Readiness in English Language Arts is Important for ….
• Communicating with family, friends, support staff, medical personnel, co-workers, etc.
• Comparing information to make decisions (including voting)
• Self-determination and self-advocacy• Traveling in the community• Understanding books, movies, TV shows and
songs• Attending college• Finding and maintaining employment
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Working towards College and Career Readiness in Math is Important for…• Telling time• Making and following a schedule• Managing money• Arranging and using transportation• Taking medication• Planning and making meals• Shopping• Attending college• Finding and maintaining employment
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Communicative Competence
CollegeCareer
CommunityCurriculum
Common Core StandardsLearning Progressions
Core Content Connectors
InstructionGrade-level Lessons
AccommodationsSystematic Instruction
AssessmentFormative, Interim
Summative
NCSC Communication Beliefs• All individuals communicate regardless of age OR disability.
All output (gestures, cries, noises) can be communicative.
Communication at some level is possible and identifiable for all students regardless of functional “level.”
Every step toward improved communication, attention and interaction leads to enriched quality of life and independence
Students with significant cognitive disabilities can improve their skills with appropriate communication interventions and instruction linked to grade-level standards.
Communication programming goals should improve students’ opportunities for increased integration and interactions with peers and the community in general.
Students with the most significant disabilities benefit from interactions with typical peers.
Typical peers benefit from interactions with students with the most significant disabilities!
No more fundamental outcome of education exists than the right and the ability to communicate.
• Define what students are expected to know and do for each grade level in math and English language arts (ELA)
• Focus on what is most essential, not all that can or should be taught or “how” to teach
• Are linked to expectations for college and career success
• Most states have adopted the CCSS and must provide instruction and assessments for ALL students based on these standards.
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Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Core Content Connectors (CCCs)
• Identify the most salient grade-level, core academic content in ELA and mathematics found in both the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Learning Progression Framework (LPF);
• Illustrate the necessary knowledge and skills in order to reach the learning targets within the LPF and the CCSS;
• Focus on the core content, knowledge and skills needed at each grade to promote success at the next; and
• Identify priorities in each content area to guide the instruction for students in this population and for the alternate assessment.
• Utilized by teachers to: – Share a common language; – Plan multi-grade instruction for students who
participate in the AA-AAS with a wide range of abilities and challenges;
– Support developed instructional units that will include all students and will promote the use of Universal Design of Learning; and
– Engage in collaborative discussion and delivery of instruction.
• Include Instructional Families and Element Cards.
Graduated Understandings
• Articulate the big ideas and related instructional content;
• Provide a structure/schema for teachers that articulates emphasized content within and across grades;
• Reference the related CCSS for each CCC; and• Organized by domain:
– By grade, learning targets, and instructional families
– By grade, instructional family, and CCCs– By instructional family and CCCs by grades.
GUs: Instructional Families
Reference to related CCSS
Instructional Families for Data Analysis I (K-4)
Grade-span Learning Target
from the Learning Progression Frameworks
Distribution of CCCs by
Instructional Families and
grade
• Assist educators to target instruction in multiple settings by promoting teacher understanding of and student movement towards the Common Core State Standards Contain one (or more) CCCs from a specific Instructional Family;
• Include the related Progress Indicator from the LPF;• Provide essential understandings that include
challenging and attainable content that is measureable and observable for use in instruction and in assessment;
• Provide suggested instructional strategies to teach the specific concepts and skills of the CCC; and
• Provide suggested supports and scaffolds for students to be able to demonstrate what they know and can do.
Element Cards
Element Cards
Element CardsNomenclature used to identify the CCC and
statement of the grade-specific CCC
CCSS Topic
Specific skills and concepts related to the Learning Targets in the
LPF
The Common Core Standard to which the
CCC is basedConcepts and skills
essential to entering the content described
in the CCC at grade level.
Suggested evidenced-based strategies
supporting instruction are varying levels of
challengeSuggested tools and materials to promote understanding of and engagement with the
concepts
Necessary to engage successfully with the content identified in
the CCC
Representational-based learning of concepts
and skills using symbols
Big ideas and related instructional concepts denoting a curricular
emphasis
Element CardELA
• Shows the steps students typically take to progress through a content area (e.g. math) to get deeper, broader, more sophisticated understanding,
• Represents the essential core concepts and processes learned in a content area (sometimes called the “big ideas”);
• Provides a map to IEP teams for what should come next as students continue to move through the grades; and
• Contains progress indicators24
Hess, Karin K., (December 2011). Learning Progressions Frameworks Designed for Use with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts & Literacy K-12.
Learning Progressions Framework (LPF)
All curriculum and instructional resources available at https://wiki.ncscpartners.org
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NCSC Assessment
Assessment Participation Guidelines
• There will be a NCSC AA-AAS in math and one in ELA, which includes both reading and writing, for grades 3-8 and 11
• The IEP team will determine, on an individual basis, whether a student will take the NCSC AA-AAS
• If a student doesn’t meet the AA-AAS criteria for both math and ELA, he/she may not be eligible for either AA-AAS
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Format
• Approximately 30 items for each subject.• These 30 items will cover approximately
10 CCCs• Most of the assessment items ask the
student to select the correct response (e.g. multiple choice).
• Some items will require the student to construct a response (e.g. write a short answer or use an alternate way to respond e.g. picture symbols)
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Technology• This will be an online testing program.• Some students will use the online testing
program directly on the computer. • For other students, the teacher may print
out testing materials and enter student responses into the computer.
• The assessment will have built-in supports to provide students with the opportunity to respond independently
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Length of Assessment
• Expected testing time will be approximately 1.5 – 2 hours for each assessment (math and ELA)
• Each student’s assessment can be
completed in multiple smaller time slots over a 2 month period to meet the student’s needs
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Relationship of Items to Grade Level Content
• About 75% of the assessment items are closely linked to the grade-level content
• About 25% are a farther link to the grade-level content to allow students who are just beginning to work with the academic content show what they know and can do
• In the first years of the new assessment many students will likely answer questions and do tasks that are less complex, but increase complexity as instruction improves
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Levels of Complexity
• Multiple items were then developed for each standard at four increasing levels of complexity, along with accommodations, to allow for measurement across the performance continuum
• 4 Tiers
• Varying in complexity and embedded supports– Visual support, simplified sentences or
language
– “Remember statements” or prompts
Exceptional Circumstances
• There will be policies and criteria for dealing with rare situations where it may not be appropriate to administer or continue an assessment
• When these policies are used there will be requirements for data collection in order to flag the need for interventions to address unmet instructional needs (e.g., related services or instructional supports)
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Procedures for Assessing Students Who are Blind, Deaf, or Deaf/BlindAdditional procedures will be provided for students who are blind, deaf, or deaf/blind. These include:
• Items in which significant effort has been made to reduce barriers for vision and hearing;
• A protocol that provides guidance for developing tactile symbols; using object replacements; and guidelines for sign language interpreting.
• Foundational items (grades 3 and 4 only) provided in braille for students who use braille.
• Additional alternative text, applied using APIP standards, will be read to a student who has a vision impairment. As an example, for an item that contains a bar chart, a verbal description of the bar chart is embedded in the item for a student who has difficulty visually perceiving the bar chart.
Students will be identified and will be provided the items, the protocol, and when appropriate, the foundational words in braille.A student can use this test form if a student meets one or more of the following conditions:
The student has• has low vision; uses vision for some activities of daily living;• has no functional use of vision for activities of daily living, or unable to
determine functional use of vision;• has a profound hearing loss, even with aids; and/or• undetermined functional use of hearing.• The student uses Braille (contracted or uncontracted) If you have any questions about whether or not your student meets these criteria, please contact your state NCSC coordinator. The TA will be directed to the document that provides the additional guidance for students who meet the criteria. The foundational words (grades 3 and 4 only) in braille will be shipped to the school of students who are identified as needing it.
Assessment
• Summative Assessment ( Testing Window late spring 2015)
• Math and ELA including Writing – Grades 3-8 and GRADE 11
• Computer Based (Online) – selected response– some constructed response (Math and
Writing)
Assessment Features
• Online Platform
• Each of the two content area assessments, mathematics and ELA
• Selected response and constructed response
• Math constructed response at various grade levels• Writing both selected and constructed response
• Tiered items of varying complexity
Call for Participants: NCSC Pilot 2
• During the NCSC Pilot 2 Test students and test administrators will have the opportunity to try out items and interact with a computer based test administration platform in reading, mathematics, and writing. The Pilot 2 Test will supplement the work from the Pilot 1 Test, providing additional information on the functionality of items, test forms, platform performance, and the overall user experience. Pilot 2 will be administered to students in grades 4–9 and 12. If your school district is interested in participating in the test pilot email [email protected]
Pilot 2
• October 20 through November 14
• All test administrators will participate in required training modules
• Your last opportunity to get experience and knowledge of the new NCSC Alternate Assessment
Parent Resources• Additional materials designed to help
inform parents about NCSC’s work and related issues can be found athttp://www.ncscpartners.org/resources
• Other topics are: – A summary of the project – The NCSC curriculum/ instructional resources– College and career readiness– Communicative competence– Research on instruction/ assessment of
students with significant cognitive disabilities39
