N C E O National Center on Educational Outcomes Linking Curriculum Standards, Assessment, and...

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National Center on Educational Outcomes

Linking Curriculum Standards, Assessment, and Instructional Practices

Martha L. Thurlow

February 11, 2003

. . .when Educating Children with Disabilities

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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


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• General educator collaboration• Assessment – full integration into

standards-based reform


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

MI

OH

KY

MS

TN

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

Nu

mb

er o

f S

tud

ents

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 Assessments

Be 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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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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