Common Core and Special Education: What Families Need to Know

Welcome to the USC UCEDD Parent/Consumer Webinar Series

funded by grant #90DD0695 from

the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) Administration on Community Living

April 14, 2015

Your Moderator

Susan Kanegawa USC UCEDD Family Support Coordinator [email protected] www.uscucedd.org

The USC University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (USC UCEDD) is one of 68 UCEDDs funded to promote systemic change, advocacy, and capacity building in states on behalf of individuals with, or at risk for, developmental, behavioral and/or special health care needs and their families. The USC UCEDD Webinar series is designed to educate the community about current policy issues which impact the lives of people we serve and their families. Our primary audience is individuals with special needs and their families. However, service providers, program managers, students in training and others are welcome as space allows. At this time, our webinars are in English only. We are exploring methods to make this series available in other languages in the future.

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Common Core and Special Education: What Families Need to Know

By Kevin Schaefer, Assistant Director of Special Programs with WestEd’s Center for Prevention and Early Intervention (CPEI)

April 14, 2015

About Kevin Schaefer

Assistant Director of Special Programs with WestEd’s Center for Prevention and Early Intervention (CPEI) [email protected] http://www.wested.org/

WestEd is a nonprofit research and development agency working at the national, state, and local levels, improving education and other important outcomes for children, youth and adults. The depth, diversity, and history of their work, coupled with experience and research-based knowledge, give WestEd staff expertise in helping all learners succeed in school and career. Across the nation, WestEd staff meet the needs of clients and customers through consulting & technical assistance, evaluation, policy analysis, professional development, and research.

An Overview of Today’s Webinar Today we will cover: • What is Common Core, and why was it

adopted? • How do the new standards differ from the

former ones? • How does it fit in with special education? • How will this affect my child’s IEP? • Are there accommodations to help my child

succeed with Common Core?

• The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) address content areas of English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics

• Literacy standards for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.

• Provides K-12 progression of knowledge and skills to prepare students to graduate from high school and be ready for college and careers.

• It was adopted to create one standard for all schools, not only in California, but nationwide.

• Common Core standards are designed to be relevant to the real world.

What is Common Core?

Standards for English Language Arts Assist Students in Becoming College,

Career and Civic-Life Ready

• Demonstrate Independence

• Build Strong Content Knowledge

• Respond to the Varying Demands of Audience, Task, Purpose

and Discipline

• Comprehend as well as Critique

• Value Evidence

• Use Technology and Digital Media Strategically and Capably

• Come to Understand Other Perspectives and Cultures

Shifts in English Language Arts for Students, Parents, and Educators

1. Regular practice with complex texts and use of academic vocabulary

2. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text

3. Build knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

ELA Shift #1: Regular Practice with Complex Texts

and Use of Academic Vocabulary Students must… Parents can…

Read material at comfort level, but also work with more challenging text

Know your child’s independent and instructional reading levels based on your observations, teacher reports and IEP team information

Handle frustration and keep pushing (persevere)

Be familiar with your child’s triggers, interventions to use. High interest text and chunking reading time

Learn the words that they will need to use in college, careers and independent life

Read often and constantly with your child

Let your child see you reading

Use academic language that is content and topic specific (for Science, Social Studies, Math…)

Provide print material that is of high interest and topic-specific. Expect your child to communicate using vocabulary specific to content

ELA Shift #2: Reading, Writing and Speaking Grounded in

Evidence from Text Students must… Parents can…

Find evidence to support arguments Ask your child why they believe as they do and what is that belief based on (seen, read, heard, etc.)

Form judgments and become scholars

Demand evidence in every day discussions/disagreements

Discuss what the author, writer, speaker is “up to”

Ask probing questions such as, “What does that mean to you?” “Why do you think that?” “How did you come to that understanding” “What proof do you have?”

Compare multiple texts in writing Write ‘books’ together and use evidence/details

ELA Shift #3: Build knowledge through

content-rich nonfiction

Students must… Parents can…

Read more non-fiction and read like an investigator.

Ensure non-fiction text/examples are available. Instructions, directions, icons (that illustrate expectations, instructions, directions, explanations, etc.) as well as text are examples

Enjoy and discuss the details of non-fiction

Have fun with non-fiction with and around your child. Use high interest texts that explain. Demonstrate a love for reading (excited, animated, etc.)

Standards for Mathematical Practices Assist Students in Becoming College, Career

and Civic-Life Ready

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively

3. Construct viable arguments & critique the reasoning of others

4. Model with mathematics

5. Use appropriate tools strategically

6. Attend to precision

7. Look for and make use of structure

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

1. Greater focus on fewer concepts

2. Coherence: Linking topics and thinking across grade levels

1. Rigor: Pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application with equal intensity

Shifts in Mathematics for Students, Parents, and Educators

Mathematics Shift #1: Greater focus on fewer topics

Students must… Parents can…

Spend more time on fewer concepts (persevere)

Know what the priority work is for the grade level http://www.cgcs.org/Page/244

Apply strategies, not just get answers

Focus on how the child is tackling the problem over what the answer is. “How did you figure that out?”

Spend more time solving a single problem in a deep way

Expect fewer problems but more writing and explaining in homework

See mistakes as learning opportunities

Help their children use their mistakes as windows into their thinking

Mathematics Shift #2: Coherence: Linking topics and thinking

across grade levels

Students must… Parents can…

Apply math in real world situations

Ask children to do the math that comes up in daily life and across a variety of situations

Show children the math they work with either in your career or at home

Give context to the mathematical situation

Know which math to use for which situation

Ask the child which operation is needed —addition, subtraction, multiplication, division – and how he/she knows

Recognize situations that use the same math skills

Explicitly note when math skills are being used, “Remember yesterday when counted pennies in our bank? Now we’re counting strawberries in our shopping cart.”

Students must… Parents can…

Understand why the math works—explain and justify

Ask questions to find out whether the child really knows why the answer is correct

Talk about why the math works—explain and justify

Ask children to explain how they solved the problem and why they chose the strategies they used

Prove that they know why and how the math works—explain and justify

Ask children to show how they know they have the correct solution Talk about alternative strategies

Use academic vocabulary to explain their reasoning and critique that of others

Expect children to use the language of math

Talk about math

Mathematics Shift #3: Rigor: Pursue conceptual understanding,

procedural skills and fluency, and application with equal intensity

Educational Benefit and the IEP Assessment

RESULTS USED TO

DETERMINE

PRESENT LEVELS,

IDENTIFY NEEDS,

AND DEVELOP

GOALS:

-All assessments are

complete (each area

of suspected

disability)

-- Student educational

needs are identified

-- Can baseline data

be established?

PURPOSE: To

determine whether a

child is a child with a

disability and to

identify the

educational needs of

the child

Is the assessment

complete and identify

the students’ needs?

Present Levels

PLOP/PLAAFP

ADDRESSES EACH

AREA ASSESSED

AND IDENTIFIES

NEEDS:

-A descriptive

narrative summary

(the most relevant

information)

- Areas not assessed

or not a concern

documented as such

- Educational

concerns of parent

documented

- Academic,

Communication,

Gross/Fine Motor,

Social/Emotional/Beh

avioral, Health,

Vocational, Self-Help

- Does the present

levels include all of

the needs identified in

the assessment?

Identify Needs

SPECIAL FACTORS

IDENTIFIES ALL

NEEDS FROM

ASSESSMENT DATA

AND PLOP/PLAAFP:

- Examples: Academic

(Reading, Written

Lang., Math), Social,

Behavioral,

Independence,

Vocational, etc.

- Identified needs may

also include areas

such as low

incidence,

blind/visually

impaired, deaf/hard of

hearing, assistive

technology, EL related

to IEP planning

- A goal/objectives

must be written for

every identified need

Goals

GOALS/OBJECTIVES

DEVELOPED IN

EACH AREA OF

IDENTIFIED NEED:

- Baseline:

quantifiable

description of

classroom

performance in the

specified area

- Progress reported

an documented at

noted intervals to

parents

- Goals/objectives are

“linguistically

appropriate”.

Goals/obj. contain:

- DOES WHAT:

- BY WHEN:

- GIVEN WHAT:

- HOW MUCH:

- MEASURED BY:

Are all areas of

student needs

addressed?

Services

SERVICES AND

SUPPORTS THAT

WOULD PROVIDE

PROGRESS TOWARD

GOALS & ED.

BENEFIT:

- Services determined

after goals/obj. have

been finalized

- Decisions must be

made in conformity of

LRE

- Allows student to the

maximum extent

appropriate, to be

educated with typically

developing peers and

access to core

curriculum

Do the services

support the goals and

objectives?

Progress

- Need to measure

progress (at each

progress reporting

period) and adjust

when necessary

- Determine if you

need an IEP meeting

to adjust

- Measurements will

vary depending on

goals

- May include

informal and formal

assessments

results, classroom

progress in

academics,

behavior, social/

emotional, grades,

progress on goals/

obj.

- Did the student

make yearly

progress? If not, was

the IEP altered to

assist the student in

making progress?

Additional Common Core/IEP Considerations

In addition to academics…

• Communicative Competence

• Executive Functioning

• Social/Emotional Learning

• Appropriate Behaviors

• Self-Determination

• Self-Advocacy

…must also be considered.

Additional Common Core/IEP Considerations

Parent suggestions:

• Ask clarifying questions

• Ensure the IEP doesn’t solely focus on your child’s area(s) of deficits

• Prepare for the IEP and provide input throughout the process

• Keep a long range perspective (Does this IEP lead to college, career and civic life readiness?)

Resources • Common Core Home Page http://www.corestandards.org/ • CDE Common Core Resources for Parents and Guardians http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/ccssresourcesparents.asp • CDE Common Core Resources for Special Education http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/cc/ • Understood (subscribe) https://www.understood.org/en • Engage NY https://www.engageny.org/

Poll:

Do you now have a better understanding of Common Core as it

relates to special education?

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