Presented by: Laura Hines MCAS-Alt Teacher Consultant October 2012 MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt) Creating Portfolios that Address Access Skills and Early Entry Points

“Although a student’s IEP objectives may be the overriding learning focus for that student, providing him or her with the opportunity to practice those objectives in the context of the general classroom and to receive instruction on those objectives in the context of general education activities represents one fundamental way of ensuring that students with significant disabilities do participate in the general curriculum.” Kleinert,H.L. & Kearns, J.F. (2001). Measuring outcomes and supports for students with disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. 2

IEP as Written “Lee will hold a toothbrush for 2 to 4 seconds.” 3

Condition, Behavior, and Criteria Condition: Describes what factors are present for the behavior to occur Behavior: Clearly explains what the observer will see the student do Criteria: How observer will know the student successfully performed the task and what is considered mastery for this task. 4

Example of a goal written as a critical skill: “Given a tool (Condition), Lee will be able to use it functionally for 2 to 4 seconds without dropping it (Behavior) in 50% of sessions observed (Criteria).” 5

Remember! For Each Strand, Identify: ONE Skill ONE Standard 6

7

8

Identifying an appropriate access skill Condition: Behavior: Criteria: When presented with an array of errorless words of phrases… …[Student] will choose word/phrase designed to complete a narrative by activating a switch… …within 30 seconds to indicate “that one.” 9

10

11

12

Teacher-Scribed Work Sample For students who do not produce written work Documentation of a series of trials conducted at the same time Contains more information than a field data chart Specifically describes the materials/context of the activity Indicates the student’s response (accuracy, independence) to each item/trial using his mode of communication Labeled with name, date, accuracy, independence, other information as needed. 13

14

15

16

17

+ Acceptable Core Set of Evidence = core set of evidence 1) One field data chart 3) One additional piece of primary evidence (e.g. teacher-scribed work sample) 2)One bar or line graph summarizing the same data shown on field data chart + 18

Thinking About Self Evaluation Student choice-making and evaluation of one’s own work are essential components of the concept of self determination, which is an important predictor of successful postschool outcomes (Wehmeyer& Palmer, 2003; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1998) Kleinert,H.L. & Kearns, J.F. (2010). Alternate Assessment for students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. 19

Students Making Choices Choices of materials, response format, order of events Choice of partner Choice of continuing or terminating the activity 20

Commonly Asked Questions Can the same access skill be used in more than one strand? What if the student doesn’t make progress? Why must access skills be practiced during standards-based (i.e., academic) activities? Others? 21