Diagnostic Tasks in the Special Education Classroom WERA Conference March 2009

Introductions  Who are we? –Sasha Hammond  Math Coordinator, ESD 105 –Dee Dee Gaub  Special Education Teacher, East Valley S.D. –Shawn Morton  Special Education Teacher, East Valley S.D.  Who are you?

What was our dilemma?  How do we implement the research from our trainings into our classrooms?  How do we create goals and objectives that match the student data provided by the school psychologist?  How do we measure progress towards these goals and objectives in an ongoing and efficient way?  How do we align materials to the state standards, the goals and objectives, and individual student needs?  How do we differentiate between reasoning and calculation in mathematics?

Our Process So far…..

Step 1: Examining the Current Assessments  Why are they not working? –Cumbersome –Time Consuming –Inconsistent  What else could we use? –Examined FSiM Diagnostic tasks –Identified tasks that met our students’ needs

Step 2: Aligning Diagnostic Tasks  Alignment to the strands of math –Sorting within the strands  Aligned to student needs –What were the goals and objectives needed to fulfill IEP’s?  Alignment to Standards –Created rubrics that crossed the grade levels.

Step 3: Examine Psychologists’ Evaluation –Note: We wish we would have done this first!  What is being classified as calculation?  What is classified as reasoning?  What is the testing protocol?  What is not tested?  What input did the school psychologist have to help with our process?  How can we work together better as a team?

Step 4: Separating Calculation from Reasoning  Separation was based on WIAT-II evaluation.  Determined we would start with calculation because our program, Connecting Math Concepts, had this focus.  Identified other resources for reasoning.

Step 5: Calculation  Examined program assessments for placement.  Matched those skills to the skills identified in the psychologist’s report.  Differentiated skills into levels.  Determined the program covered all of the skills identified as calculation.

Step 6: Periodic Assessments for Calculation  Identified where skills were assessed throughout math program.  Determined what was taught in the program that could be de-emphasized.  Allowed us to focus our intervention on the concepts identified as student objectives.  The program placement aligned with psychologist’s evaluation.  Discovered that other resources would need to be used for reasoning.  Filled in gaps in the program’s assessments.  Aligned calculation objectives to state standards.

Step 7: Tackling Reasoning  What resources do we have access to?  What resources might we need?  How are the concepts broken down within the strands?  How do the concepts grow through the developmental phases?  How will we measure this growth?

Our Resources  Groundworks, Creative Publications  Think Tanks, Origo  FSiM  Math Whizz  Teacher to Teacher

Breaking Down the Strands  Reasoning with Numbers –Representation –Number Sense –Ratio and Proportion –Number Theory –Computation

Cont.  Measurement –Units –Measurement Sense –Conversions –Scale –Formulas

Cont.  Reasoning with Geometry –Attributes of Shapes –Composing and Decomposing Shapes –Spatial Reasoning –Transformations –Relationships Among Shapes

Cont.  Reasoning with Algebra –Representations –Proportional Reasoning –Balance –Function –Inductive Reasoning

Cont.  Reasoning with Probability and Statistics –Ways to Count –Probability –Interpret Data –Organize Data –Describe Data

Developmental Progression of Concepts  FSiM alignment of concepts as they progress through the resources.  Alignment of diagnostic tasks to the progression of concepts.  Alignment to psychologist’s evaluation and reporting.  Creation of clear, consistent, measurable goals and objectives.

Examining the Diagnostics  How we use diagnostic tasks to understand student thinking and measure student progress.

Where we are going with this…  Finish the alignment work.  Pilot the diagnostic tasks.  Share the work throughout the district.  Fill in the gaps.  Figure out what else we’ve missed!

Questions and Suggestions