Using Online Training to Improve Accommodation Decision-Making

and Implementation

2012 OSEP Project Directors’ Conference

Washington, DCJuly 23-25, 2012

1. IntroductionSheryl Lazarus

(National Center on Educational Outcomes)

2. State Overview Nannette Pence

(Alabama Department of Education)

3. Accommodations Online Training Bekah Rieke

(National Center on Educational Outcomes)

4. Questions/DiscussionDaLee Chambers

(Alabama Department of Education)

Multi-State GSEGConsortium Members

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Alabama

Tennessee

HawaiiSouth

Dakota Wisconsin

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Each member of the consortium shares a common interest in investigating the characteristics of low performing students with disabilities, and each of the states is dedicated to building a solid foundation that seeks to improve both instruction and assessment for this group of students.

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Persistently Low

Performance

Accommodations Practices(AL, SD, TN)

Nature of Instruction Received

(SD, TN, WI)

Effects of Learning

Progressions(HI)

The Alabama Focus

Accommodation Practices: Recent studies have shown that the provision of accommodations is variable across students, classrooms, and schools depending on the accommodations, educational context, and a student’s demographic characteristics (Altman, et al., 2010).

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The Alabama Focus

Accommodation Practices:

Finizio (2008) found that a student’s assessment accommodations more frequently mirror

accommodations used for instruction in the past.

However,

Teachers often still are unclear on the definition and use of certain

accommodations (Byrnes, 2008).

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Accommodations: Results of a Survey of Alabama Special

Education Teachers

Between March and May of 2009, 2,336 special education teachers in the state of

Alabama were surveyed about the factors and considerations affecting

accommodation decisions for instruction and assessment.

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Special education teachers were asked how IEP teams at their schools determined a student’s needs for instructional accommodations.

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Special education teachers were asked to select three factors that influenced IEP decisions about accommodations used on statewide assessments.

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The Alabama Online Accommodations Training

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The Training Features 5 Modules

• Module 1 – Thinking about student characteristics

• Module 2 – Linking student needs to accommodation decisions

• Module 3 – Instructional Accommodations

• Module 4 – Assessment Accommodations

• Module 5 – Monitoring and Evaluation12

Questions/Discussion

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1. What challenges do educators face when making and

implementing accommodations decisions?

Questions/Discussion

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2. What types of training do teachers in your state receive

related to accommodations/…and what is particularly effective?

Questions/Discussion

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3. Based on your experiences, what works (or does not work)

related to online training in general?

For more information:

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NCEO - Sheryl Lazaruslaza0019@umn.edu

NCEO - Bekah Riekerieke033@umn.edu

ALSDE - Nannette Pencenpence@alsde.edu

ALSDE - DaLee Chambersdaleec@alsde.edu