Developing Achievement Standards for Alaskas Alternate Assessment Aran Felix, Program Manager, Alternate Assessment Jeanne Foy, Program Manager, NAEP Department.

Developing Achievement Standards for Alaska’s Alternate Assessment

Aran Felix, Program Manager, Alternate AssessmentJeanne Foy, Program Manager, NAEP

Department of Education & Early Development November 15-16, 2005

November 15-16, 2005

Developing Alternate Achievement Standards

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Thanks to…

National Alternate Assessment Center (NAAC)- Designing from the Ground Floor: AA on Alternate Achievement Standards, Access & Alignment to Grade Level ContentDr. Diane Browder, University of North Carolina, “Linking to Grade Level Content Standards for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities,” ASES SCASS Presentation, October 7, 2005Dr. Patricia Almond, Consultant, “Performance Level Descriptions, Alaska AA Workgroup,” April 25-27, 2005



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Overview of Committee Work

Become familiar with assessment terminologyUnderstand Standard Setting ProcessWho are the students Who take AA on AAS?Legal and historical backgroundGain knowledge of this committee’s part in setting Alternate Achievement StandardsImmersion in GLES and ExGLESRecommend Performance Level LabelsDescriptors at Grade Level, Grade Cluster, Grade Span?Write final draft Performance Descriptors



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Assessment Terminology

Alternate Assessment (AA)Students with Disabilities (SWD)Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (SCD)Standard-SettingPerformance/ Achievement Standards

Alternate Achievement Standards (AAS)Performance DescriptorsPerformance Level LabelsGrade Level Expectations (GLEs)Extended Grade Level Expectations (ExGLEs)

Academic Achievement Standards

How good is good enough?



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Purpose of this Section

Gain an overview of the steps taken to develop Achievement Standards for any assessment.Then, understand that the same steps are taken to develop Achievement Standards for the Alternate Assessment. These standards will be called Alternate Achievement Standards (AAS).



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The Theory of Action, holds that in standards-based reform when

states set high standards for student performance, develop assessments that measure student performance against the standards, . . . change curriculum, instruction, and school organization to enable . . . students to meet the standards, and hold schools strictly accountable for meeting performance standards, then student achievement will rise. (The National Research Council, 1999, p. 15)



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Standards Based Assessment System (Hanasche, CAS Handbook, 1998, p. 36)

Content Standards What student Knows and Can Do

Performance (Achievement) Standards

How well student Knows and Can Do

Assessments How student Shows What s/he Knows and Can Do



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ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDSPerformance Labels each level of Levels achievement

Performance Describes each level of Descriptors performance

Exemplars Sample student work at each level of performance

Cut Scores Scores that separate separate the different levels of performance(Done by a Standard Setting Committee)



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PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTORS

Narrative descriptions at each performance level

Narrative descriptions for each grade and content area

Grade 4Reading

ProficientWhen reading fourth grade text, the student demonstrates an understanding of the main idea and key points of the text supported by literal and inferential information. The student draws clear connections between information and the text and inferences and conclusions.



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Exemplars•Representative samples of student work

•Illustrations for full range of performance

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan was a great big guy. He had a ox named Babe that was blue. Babe is the one that made the Grand Canyon. He got stung by a fly. He was so mad he dragged the plow all over America. And that's how the Grand Canyon got to be.



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Cut Scores(This work is accomplished by a Standard Setting Committee)



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Alternate Academic Achievement Standards

Alternate Achievement Standards follow the same process of development as general education achievement standardsPromote access to the general curriculum The Proficiency Descriptors must be aligned to content standards (include knowledge and skills that link to grade-level expectations using typical, age-appropriate materials and activitiesReflect professional judgment of the highest learning standards possible



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Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (cont.)

Include description of content-based competencies associated with each levelGrade-level content may be reduced in complexity or modified to reflect pre-requisite skillsFor each grade level/span/cluster, define alternate achievement standards for proficiencyShould be defined in a way that supports individual growth because of their linkage to different content across grades



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Purpose of this group is to write Performance Descriptors for the Alternate

Task 1: After GLEs, determine if Performance Descriptors will be written for each Grade Level (3 – 10), or by Grade Cluster (3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10) or by Grade Span (3-5, 6-8, 9-10) Task 2: Review draft Descriptors, revise and rewrite. These will be used by the State, by classroom teachers, and by a Standard Setting Committee.

Who are the AA Students?

Articulating the Population



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Who are the students who take AA on AAS?

The number of students participating in alternate assessments on alternate achievement standards as compared to the total population of student

learners and students with disabilities…

88%

11% 1%Total population ofstudent learners

Students withdisabilities

Studentsparticipating inalternateassessment



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More different than alike…The total student population receiving special education services

broken down by disability categorySOURCE: Education Week analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education,

Office of Special Education Programs, Data Analysis System, 2002-03.



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Issues in Teaching/Assessing Students in Alternate Assessments on Alternate Achievement Standards

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities present problems with learning in these areas:– Attention to Stimuli– Memory– Generalization– Self-Regulation– Limited motor response repertoire– Meta-cognition and Skill Synthesis– Sensory Deficits– Special Health Care Needs

Refer to Handout



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Handout of Issues



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Additional ConsiderationLevel of Symbolism

Symbolic: Speaks or has vocabulary of signs, pictures uses to communicate; reads sight words; recognizes some numbers/ may countEmerging Symbolic: Beginning to use pictures or other symbols to communicate; limited vocabularyPre-Symbolic: Communicates with gestures, eye gaze, moving to object, soundsSpecial consideration: Students who do not seem to have intentionality in communication; no clear response established that can be used to assess understanding

Background

Legal and Historical ShiftsTechnological Advances



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Federal Legislation

Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by NCLB– High Expectations– Challenging Academic

Standards– ALL students including

SWD– Accountability

IDEA 1997– SWD access general

education curriculum– Accommodations– Alternate Assessment– Report test participation– Report performance on

standards(See Handouts)



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Historical Perspective:Changing Curricular Context for SCD

Early 1970s– Adapting infant/early

childhood curriculum for students with the most significant disabilities of all ages

1980s– Rejected “developmental

model”– Functional, life skills

curriculum emerged

1990s– Also: social inclusion focus – Also: self determination focus– Assistive technology

2000– General curriculum access

(academic content)– Plus earlier priorities

(functional, social, self determination)

– Digitally accessible materials



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What Students with the most Significant Cognitive Disabilities

Should Know and be able to do…..



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We do not know if we can teach academics to this population until we try

Emerging evidence from teachers and students that students with severe disabilities can learn academics. – Subgroup of students with most complex, multiple disabilities

not represented in this research…But, they are also not represented in research on functional skills

We have to give ourselves permission to teach some skills that building understanding; not every skill will be usable at Walmart todayWe can align we grade level content if we use the concepts of AGE APPROPRIATE and partial participation. Need to do deeper thinking about this concept.– Diane Browder, October 7, 2005—ASES SCASS Meeting



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General Curriculum Access

Not just access to general education settings; but access to CONTENT and expectation for learning– Even students in separate settings have this

expectation per IDEA and NCLBAssessing progress on state standards Teaching grade level academic content with expectations for alternate achievements



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What is the Challenge?

Creating a link between Alternate Assessment, instruction, and state academic content standardsWhy it’s a challenge: 25 year tradition of focusing on separate function curriculum, not academics for this populationLack of research, models, shared understanding of what academics looks like. Research just beginning.– Diane Browder, October 7, 2005—ASES SCASS Meeting



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Accessing the Curriculum

Academic content (reading, writing, math, science) for students with SCD should be as close as possible to the grade level content (with age-appropriate themes, topics, materials, activities)– a) But with adaptations in delivery of content to make it

accessible to students level of understanding, and– b) Differentiation in level of expectation for student

achievement to focus on prioritized target skills within that content that are both meaningful to student and build growth in academic learning.

Diane Browder, ASES-SCASS, October 2005



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Advent of Assistive TechnologyProvides Access Tools

Provides multiple means of representation of content (e.g., words, pictures, symbols, objects)Provides engagement alternatives (e.g., use of computer, digital materials)Provides multiple means of expression (e.g., communication systems)

(CAST, 2002)



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Cheap Talk 4 (Enabling Devices)

DynaVox

3100

Step By Step Communicator, Abel Net

“Active Participation”

Picture Exchange Communication System, PECS(Pyramid Educational Consultants)

Communication devices must provide a means of active participation within the curriculum



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“Active Participation” - reading with...

.. graphics/symbols (Writing with Symbols 2000, Widgit)

.. objects

.. tactile cues

.. a communication aid (Step-by-Step, AbelNet)



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..word prediction(Read and Write Gold, textHELP)

..webbing software (Inspiration)

A portable keyboard

(AlphaSmart)

.. a custom overlay and adaptive keyboard(Overlay Maker, IntelliTools)

“Active Participation” - writing with…



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“Active Participation” - write with

A plant needs

oxygen ●

.. word stamps

.. sentence strips in science

water ●

The plant needs sunlight.

.. individual laminated symbols secured with Velcro (Boardmaker, Meyer-Johnson)

.. pictures – drawn, magazine



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Additional Consideration:Meaningfulness

Functional is– Usable in daily life; something

student will do in their daily routines currently or in the future

– Functional skills are not necessarily meaningful until student gains experience with them

Dr. Browder-Oct. 7, 2005

Meaningful is– Student will be able to gain

enough understanding of activity to learn the target response

– Student has some prior knowledge/ experience that gives the activity meaning

– Acquiring the response will build academic knowledge that will broaden the student’s world

– Meaningful skills that are also functional are more likely to be maintained, but not all academic skills are immediately usable

What will be Taught? What will be Assessed?

Becoming Familiar with Grade Level Expectations



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In a Complete System of Standards “What gets tested gets taught.”

Content and Performance Standards

Standards direct assessment content

Standards direct curriculum and

instruction

Assessment

Alignment between curriculum, instruction, and

assessment provides opportunity to learn.

Curriculum and

Instruction



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Alaska Standards Book

Page 9 – Content Standards– Broad statements of what students should know and

be able to do

Page 41 – Performance Standards/Grade Level Expectations (PS/GLEs)– Statements that define what students should know

and be able to do at the end of a given grade level.– Further defines content standards



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Grade Level Expectations (GLEs)

Guides development of assessment itemsBasis for school district’s curriculum developmentGLEs do not represent the entire curriculumGLEs indicate core curriculum to be mastered by the end of a given grade.



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What are Entry Points to the GLEs?

From Massachusett’s Curriculum Frameworks:

Entry Points provide a range of options at which a student with a disability can access the content standard at a challenging level, and should be used by educators and parents to identify instructional goals and objectives for the student. Entry points are described along a continuum of complexity and difficulty.



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Access to the General Curriculum: A Continuum of Learning(Mathematics) Dan Wiener & Pam Green 2002

Grade 7-8Learning

Standard #2for Algebra:

Solve simple algebraic expressions for given values

Example:3a2 – b, for a=3 & b=7

Match pictures & objects to create and compare sets

Understand symbols and meaning of:

* addition + * subtraction - * equal to =

Solve simple one- and two-digit number sentences

Example:1 + 1 + 1 = x2 + x = 53x + 8 = 29

Standard ‘as written’Less Complex More Complex

‘Entry Points’



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Access to the General

Curriculum: A Continuum of Learning(ELA – Reading and Literature)Dan Wiener & Pam Green 2002

Grade 7-8Learning

Standard #16.10 for Reading and

Literature:

Identify and analyze mythologies from different cultures

Example:Student creates a hero tale, using epic tale conventions (e.g., quest, special weapons)

Respond to epic tales read aloud by selecting/ drawing pictures related to the story

Recognize that an epic tale is fictional

Example:Student reads (or listens to) adapted stories, and categorizes each as ‘make-believe’ or ‘real’

Identify elements of fiction in an epic tale

Example:Student reads an epic tale, identifying details related to characters, setting and plot

Standard ‘as written’Less Complex More Complex

‘Entry Points’



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What are Access Skills?From Massachusett’s Curriculum Frameworks:

After repeated attempts to address academic content through successively less complex entry points in a subject strand, it may be determined that the student would benefit at present from exposure to access skills (under “other educational needs” defined in the IEP) within the context of standards-based activities. In order to provide “access to the general curriculum,” the student may engage in standards-based instruction by practicing targeted social, motor, and communication skills (I.e. “access skills”) during such activities. Practicing these skills in the context of academic instruction benefits students by exposing a student to challenging new ideas and content, by providing new opportunities to practice targeted skills in a variety of settings.



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Example of Access Skill

From Massachusett’s Curriculum Frameworks:This is a grade 5 activity in which students describe how electromagnets can be made and used. Small student groups design and construct electromagnets using a six-volt battery, insulated wire, a large nail, and an electronic switch. Norman participates in this activity by activating an electronic switch that connects the current to the electromagnet so his group can test a variety of objects for magnetic properties. Although Norman does not address the essence of the learning standard directly, this activity provides the opportunity for Norman to participate in instruction with his peers while practicing a targeted skill in his IEP.



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Findings Mixed: Some states had strong alignment to academic content;

some weak alignment

Examples from strongly aligned states– Math

• Compare volumes of more and less

• Use strategies such as counting, measuring, to determine possible outcomes in problem solving

– Reading• Answer questions related to

story• Identify pattern in familiar

story

Examples from weakly aligned states– Math

• Replace rollers in beauty parlor

• Measure growth of fingernails– Reading

• Show anticipation on roller coaster

• Attend to visual stimuli

(NAAC, June 2005)



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Seymour Sarason

“It could be argued with a good deal of persuasiveness that when one looks over the history of man the most distinguishing characteristic of his development is the degree to which man has underestimated the potentialities of men.”

(Christmas in Purgatory, 1965, p. 107)



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Working with GLES

Use the handout showing the continuum of skill development: Least to Most Complex. The ExGLEs are not by grade level. This group will determine grade level abilities in order to write performance descriptions.Grade Level Expectations when extended are about age-appropriate materials and using adapted, less-complex but same content and activitiesEventually a curriculum document should be developed that contains suggestions of grade-level activities to access content. Okay to make comments about suitable activities if you think of them – but this is not your assignment.



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Examining AK GLESToday: Become familiar with GLES and extended GLESMake comments, provide feedback, turn in.As group examines, make a preliminary determination of what skills at what grade in order to make the grade level decision

~ ~ ~Diane Browder recommends asking these questions:

Will the skill have meaning for the student?When looking at the skill in isolation, can you still identify the academic domain? Or is it no longer reading, math, etc.?Could a curriculum content expert link it back to the specific state standard?



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Purpose of this group is to write Performance Descriptors for the Alternate

Task 1 After GLEs, determine if Performance Descriptors will be written for each Grade Level (3 – 10), or by Grade Cluster (3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10) or by Grade Span (3-5, 6-8, 9-10) Task 2: Review draft Descriptors, revise and rewrite. These will be used by the State, by classroom teachers, and by a Standard Setting Committee.

Thank you for your work!

Contact Information: Aran Felix, Alternate Assessment Program Manager

[email protected]#907-465-8437

Developing Achievement Standards for Alaskas Alternate Assessment Aran Felix, Program Manager, Alternate Assessment Jeanne Foy, Program Manager, NAEP Department.

Documents

high standards

meeting performance

student achievement

grade level content

standardsbased reform

level gradelevel content

student performance

performance level descriptions