Project Co-Sponsors: KU Center for Research on Learning CAST NASDSE Paula Burdette, NASDSE Skip Stahl, CAST Online Learning for Students with Disabilities: The Story Research is Telling Us Bill East, NASDSE Diana Greer, University of Kansas

Bill East Paula Burdette David Rose Skip Stahl Rachel Currie-Rubin Mindy Johnson Sam Johnston Scott Lapinski KU Center for Research and Learning Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities Online Center Co-Partners Don Deshler James Basham Diana Greer Edward Meyen Sean Smith CAST National Association of State Directors of Special Education

Our Mission To research how online learning can be made more accessible, engaging, and effective for K-12 learners by investigating approaches that address learner variability within the range Of conditions under which online learning occurs.

Goal #1 Identify and verify trends and issues related to the participation of students with disabilities.

Goal #2 Identify and describe potential positive outcomes and negative consequences of participation in online learning for students with disabilities.

Goal #3 Identify and develop promising approaches for increasing the accessibility and potential effectiveness of online learning for students with disabilities.

Goal #4 Test the feasibility, usability, and potential effectiveness (or promise) of one or more key approaches.

What We Know

Online Learning Definitions Fully Online Schools work with students who are enrolled primarily (often only) in the online school. Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home (includes Supplemental Online Programs) Taken from 2012 Keeping Pace in K-12 Online and Blended Learning (Evergreen Education Group & iNACOL) and Classifying K-12 Blended Learning (Innosight Institute).

Total Online/Blended Students? “The total number of students taking part in all of these programs is unknown, but is likely several million, or slightly more than 5% of the total K-12 population across the United States. We stress, however, that we estimate this by triangulating from close to a dozen sources. No single source is comprehensive.” 2012 Keeping Pace

The Center: First Year Policy Reviews Case Studies Small Research Studies Accessibility Work (VPAT) Surveys distributed throughout the country (state, district, teacher)

Preliminary Findings: Accessibility Accessibility and Universal Design: – Review of widely adopted online systems reveals major accessibility gaps and a general lack of universal design options. – Mandated online learning as a graduation requirement poses a significant civil rights issue.

The Foundation: Accessibility Statutory Mandates from ED & OCR: “As the use of emerging technologies in the classroom increases, schools at all levels must ensure equal access to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of the technology for all students, including students with disabilities.” May 26, 2011 Russlyn Ali Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights

So how do educators, parents & students know what’s accessible? Section 508 as a baseline The Section 508 V oluntary P roduct A ccessibility T emplate as a guide. Not foolproof, but functional The Foundation: Accessibility

The Foundation: A Sampling

The Foundation: A Sampling Access for all Students

State Director of Special Education Survey 61 State Special Education Directors invited to participate 46 Responded

State Director of Special Education Survey Does your state education agency provide any publicly available guidance for educators, parents, or students related to the provision of online education? % 37%

Does your state have data on which students with disabilities are receiving their instruction through an online environment? – Online program 24% Yes 76% No – Supplemental online course 11% Yes 89% No – Blended program 7% Yes 93% No – Related Services 9% Yes 91% No State Director of Special Education Survey

State Directors Survey % 15% 30% 46% 33% 39% 26% 35% 43% 48% 39% 30% 28% 20% 46% DEAF-BLINDNESS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES MULTIPLE DISABILITIES ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENT SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES SPEECH or LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY VISUAL IMPAIRMENT INCLUDING BLINDNESS DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY DID NOT ANSWER AUTISM DEAFNESS IMPAIRMENT HEARING

District Administrator Survey 40 states selected 3 districts - small, medium and large 10 states – Center selected small, medium, and large districts Calls were made to ensure appropriate contacts and to inform them of the survey.

District Administrator Survey Special Education 64% 17% 7% 3% 9% administratorWhole districtadministratorGeneral Education administratorTechnologyadministratorMissing 103 participants

District Administrator Survey District offers online instruction (N=78) Yes (76%) – 56% have offered online instruction for 1-5 years – 41% have offered online instruction for 6-15 years Offer online instruction for SWDs (N=78) Yes (78%) – 56% have offered online instruction for SWDs for 1-5 years – 43% have offered online instruction for SWDs for 6-15 years

District Administrator Survey % 86% 71% 96% 49% 27% Online options districts offer: – Online Schools:  HS - 95%; MS – 86%; ES- 71% – Individual Courses:  HS – 96%; MS – 49%; ES – 27% Disability categories most represented online: – ED, OHI, SLD, Speech-Language, Intellectual Disabilities District Administrator Survey Online Schools Individual Courses

District Administrator Survey % 51% 26% 26% 16% Special education & related services provided online ( N=61 ):  72% Content Instruction  51% Skill-based instruction  26% Assistive Technology Support  26% Speech Language Service  16% Social-Emotional/Behavioral Instruction District Administrator Survey Content Instruction Skill-based Instruction Assistive Technology Support Speech Language Service Social- Emotional/ Behavioral Instruction

District Administrator Survey: Challenges Challenges teachers face in teaching SWDs online – 61% Knowing how to accommodate for students' disabilities – 48% Knowing how to use instructional strategies in online settings – 41% Knowing how to use specific technologies – 25% Limitations in technology infrastructure within the district – 20% Other

District Administrator Survey 36% reported that their teachers are well prepared to teach SWDs online – 39% reported their teachers are not well prepared – 25% reported they don’t know or did not answer 57% reported being prepared to make decisions affecting the online instruction of SWDs

District Administrator Survey: % 39% 36% 30% 26% 26% Top 3 instructional methods used to support SWDs online:  46% Activities/labs  39% Videos  36% Audio  30% Discussion  26% Text  26% Games District Administrator Survey: Instructional Methods Instructional methods Activities/ labs Videos Audio Discussion TextGames

District Administrator Survey: Future District administrators reported that in the future, they anticipate that their district will: 3% Develop their own online courses 25% Purchase vendor-developed courses 33% Develop and purchase vendor- developed courses 16% Don't know

Teacher Survey: Teacher Satisfaction Satisfied with teaching online (in general) – Satisfied: 72% Neutral: 11%Dissatisfied: 2% Satisfied with teaching SWD online – Satisfied: 60% Neutral: 16%Dissatisfied: 8% Adequate support to teach SWD online – Yes: 55% No: 11% Sometimes: 19% 76% plan to continue teaching SWD for at least 2 years

Teacher Survey Methodology: – District administrators nominated teachers – Purchased teacher distribution list from many organizations (e.g. ISTE, eSchool News) – Organizations who volunteered (e.g CEC, iNACOL, NEA)

Teacher Survey cont. 110 Participants – 89% taught for 6+ years – 31% taught online for 6+ years – 47% are certified to teach SWDs – 77% do not feel well prepared to teach SWDs online

Where they teach? % 95% 47% 86% 2% 71% 85% 96% 33% 49% 7% 27% Teach: – Online Schools:  HS - 80%; MS – 47%; ES- 2% – Individual Courses:  HS – 85%; MS – 33%; ES – 7% Students with Disabilities : – SLD, ED, Autism, OHI, Intellectual Disabilities, Multiple Disabilities Where they teach? District Administrator Survey Online Schools Individual Courses

% 72% 46% 51% 25% 26% 24% 16% 21% 26% The following percentage of teachers reported that their students receive these:  67% Content Instruction  46% Skill-based instruction  25% Assistive Technology Support  24% Social-Emotional/Behavioral Instruction  21% Speech Language Service Teacher Survey: Supports provided to SWD District Administrator Survey Teacher Survey: Supports provided to SWD Content Instruction Skill-based Instruction Assistive Technology Support Speech Language Service Social- Emotional/ Behavioral Instruction

Teacher Survey: Instructional % 39% 45% 46% 44% 26% 40% 30% 34% 36% 19% 26% Teachers chose top 3 instructional methods to support SWDs:  47% Video  45% Activities or labs  44% Text  40% Discussion  34% Audio  19% Games Teacher Survey: Instructional Methods District Administrator Survey: Instructional Methods Video Activities or labs TextDiscussion AudioGames

Teacher Survey: Challenges faced 40% Knowing how to accommodate for SWDs 30% Knowing how to use instructional strategies online 37% Limitations to the district technology infrastructure 23% Knowing how to use specific technologies

Teacher Survey: Challenges faced % 61% 30% 48% 37% 41% 23% 25% 20% The following percentages of teachers reported that their students receive these supports:  40% Knowing how to accommodate for SWDs  30% Knowing how to use instructional strategies online  44% Limitations to the district technology infrastructure  23% Knowing how to use specific technologies Teacher Survey: Challenges faced District Administrator Survey: Challenges Knowing how to accommodate for SWDs Knowing how to use instructional strategies online Limitations to the district technology infrastructure Other Knowing how to use specific technologies

Teacher Survey Correlations cont. – Having a higher level of education or expertise was significantly associated with greater influence on decision making for SWD. SE: (N=31) r (29) =.406, p <.05) GE (N=60) r (58)=.340, p <.01) – Being more satisfied with teaching online was significantly associated with being more satisfied with teaching SWDs online. SE: (N=31) r (29) =.821, p <.01) GE (N=60) r (58)=.635, p <.01) – The more time teaching online was significantly associated with being more satisfied with online teaching. SE: (N=31) r (29) =.365, p <.05) GE (N=60) r (58)=.346, p <.05)

– The more prepared they felt to make decisions about SWDs was NOT significantly associated with feeling they had more influence on decisions effecting online programs for SWDs SE: (N=31) r (29) =.261) GE (N=60) r (58)=.5, p <.01) – The more support received to teach online was NOT significantly associated with being more prepared to make decisions for SWDs. SE: (N=30) r (28) =.019 GE (N=48) r (46)=.408, p <.05) – More support to teach SWD online was NOT significantly associated with being more prepared for teaching SWDs SE: (N=30) r (28) =.2 GE (N=48) r (46)=.359, p <.05) Teacher Survey Correlations cont.

Current Research Initiatives Strategic Inquiries – Textual Linguistics Study – Parent Engagement – Big Data/Analytics – Peer-to-Peer Interaction – IEP Decision Making – Persistence Study – Learner Variability Studies – Student Achievement – Teacher Quality – Online Assessments – Descriptive Studies – Executive Functioning

North Carolina Florida Michigan Washington Kansas Ohio States we are working with:

Visit us at: centerononlinelearning.com Contact us at: Follow us on Twitter For More on the Center