ECC Collaborative Division Block Day July 18, 2012

Agenda Welcome – Dr. Phil Hatlen History Ice Breaker Activities Learning Goals Effective Instructional Continuum Laws and Regulations Assessment/program planning/instruction and ongoing evaluation Rubrics Integrating the ECC into daily routines and activities ECC Learning Stations Rotations Caseload Analysis Next Steps and Evaluations

Participants Demographic  TVI, COMS, RT, Other  Years of experience  Itinerant, Special School, University,  Approximate amount of time devoted each week to instruction in the ECC  Rate the ECC content areas (1-5) according to their importance in your instructional week

Metacognition Prompt  With a partner share the top 3 things that come to mind when you hear ECC  Report to large group

Learning Goals  Participants will be aware of laws and regulations that frame the ECC  Participants will be aware of the effective instructional continuum for the ECC  Participants will participate in a community of learners around the ECC content areas  Participants will gain knowledge in the ECC instruction across the continuum of ages and developmental levels as they engage in conversation with experts and review lesson plans, activities, and resources.

Laws and Regulations  ESEA  IDEA 2004  State Performance Plans

Instructional Continuum Screen all 9 areas of the ECC Assessment Program Planning InstructionEvaluation

What do we know?  We have no standards of practice for completing or writing up an Essential Assessment (EA)

Collaborative Study with AER (N=163) Representation from the NE, SE, SW, NW, MW, and 1 Canadian  54% have taught more than 11 years  Most worked in a school district (38%)  Most had 20 or less students on their caseload (17.2% 5 or less)  When asked if state required Essential Assessment (EA)  94% FVA  95% LMA  68% ECC  Participants were asked about each component of the EA rubric and the majority of participants included all component areas (79.8%-98.2%) with near/distance acuity having the highest ratings. The lowest rated components were ECC screening tool and formal reading/listening skills (79.8% & 81.7% respectively)  4 teacher efficacy questions were asked  Most participants had the skills necessary to complete a quality EA and interpret the results

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice Karen Blankenship Mary Ann Siller

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice  A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure professional’s work. It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a professional’s performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score.  Two Types of Rubrics  Holistic  Analytic

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice  What are the advantages to using a Rubric?  Rubrics improve professionals’ performance by clearly showing how their work will be evaluated and what is expected of them.  Rubrics help professionals become better judges of the quality of their own work.  Rubrics allow assessments to be more objective and consistent.

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice  What are the advantages of using a Rubric continued?  Rubrics force the teacher to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms.  Rubrics promote professional awareness about the criteria used in assessing peer performance.  Rubrics provide useful feedback to the teacher regarding the effectiveness of the assessment.  Rubrics provide professionals with more informative feedback about their strengths and areas in need of improvement.  Rubrics are easy to use and easy to explain.

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice  Essential Assessment Rubrics (holistic/analytic)  Adheres to the RIOT model  R eview of records  I nterviews with families, students, and professionals  O bservations in multiple environments over multiple opportunities  T esting both formal and informal  Developed using two extensive literature reviews, input from Dr. Randy Jose, and continued professional dialogue and learning  Includes tips and resources for staff development

EA Rubric

Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice  Navigating the Rubric 

Resources  Essential Assessments for Children with Visual Impairments: Rubric Project found at earubric.com  Karen Blankenship, Nashville, TN Mary Ann Siller, Dallas, TX Jennifer Coy, Jackson, MO Julie Prause, Columbus, TX  EVALS,  Resources for the ECC (RECC) at  www. familyconnect.org (student and parent ECC audio teen section)

Instructional Continuum Screen all 9 areas of the ECC Assessment Program Planning Instruction Evaluation

Integrating the Expanded Core Curriculum  Where do we get started?ere do we geted?  Family-centered approach  School environment life  How?  Peer groups  Individual lessons  Team teaching approach  Find the area that is best developed and continue to build on it.

Integrating the Expanded Core Curriculum  Family-Centered Approach Must get the parents to buy in!  Students need to be successful within their own family structures  Parents need to feel empowered that they are capable and necessary to their child’s success.  Knowledge of the ECC!!  Changing parents’ perspective that the ECC is merely a ‘functional curriculum’  How do we help parents evolve from the IEP warrior to co-pilot?

Integrating the Expanded Core Curriculum  Follow a routines based interview (RBI)  What exactly do we need now?  How can we use other components of the ECC to develop large components?  How can we create opportunities for ECC to happen?  Enroll para or general ed teacher support  Extra curricular activities  Outreach and awareness via Facebook and other social networks and message boards.

Integrating the Expanded Core Curriculum for children who have multiple impairments/Deafblind  Sometimes the easiest population to work in the ECC.  Be careful to label activities as the ECC.  Challenges for the vision team?  No classroom follow through  Sped teacher not looking at the unique needs of vision impairment.  How do we get the buy in from the SpEd teacher?

Ideas & programs for VRT & ECC  Student Advisory Council  Essential Skills Programs  Camp Abilities and Sports Adventure Weekends  Student Intern Program  Big Brother/Big Sister Mentor Project  The practice pact  RT for the OT

Big Brother/Big Sister Project  Big Brother/Big Sister Project is designed to provide mentorship and leadership opportunities for students.  Older students prepare Kid Kits for their adopted younger siblings.  Adopted siblings also participate at programs such as SIBS.

Student Intern Program  Designed as a transition preparation program for high school age students.  Students enter the program in the observation level. After successful observation, they progress to the following levels:  -Intern 1  -Intern 2  -Senior CIT (at Camp Abilities) -Student Supervisor  Students are assessed using the TSBVI ILSA.

ECC stations  AT/Technology  Career Education/Transition  College Prep  Expanding your network  Compensatory  Literacy  Instructional Progression  Independent Living  Human Sexuality  Cutting  Teaching families to teach ILS  Recreation/Leisure  Adaptive volley ball  Self-determination  Developing portfolios  Setting short/long term goals  Sensory Efficiency  Visual Efficiency  Multimodality Instruction  Infusing ECC areas into predictable routines

Caseload Determination  QPVI  Michigan Severity Rating Scale

Quality Programs for Students With Visual Impairments: QPVI Collecting, Analyzing, and Using Critical Data to Inform Decision Making Nancy M. Toelle

QPVI is ……  A data driven process for program improvement  Uniquely designed for programs serving students with visual and additional impairments in public or special purpose schools  Includes effective data collection tools that incorporate data analysis and “next steps”: QPVI Master List of Students & QPVI Caseload Analysis  Aligns with the EA Rubric in establishing standards for and uniformity of practice.

QPVI Tools and the ECC  Master List of Students – page one: Who are our students and what are their needs as reflected by valid assessments? (reference: EA Rubric)  Master List – page two: Are we conducting ECC screening and using assessment results to develop IEPs and design instruction?  Caseload Analysis: Once needs are appropriately identified by valid assessments, is there time in your caseload to meet those needs?

Caseloads Based on Students’ Assessed Needs Instructional Continuum

QPVI Master List of Students Student Database  What data do we need to collect?  List from audience….  How important is it to have 100% of that critical data for decision making  Eligibility  Programming  Data mining – by teacher, by district, by region, by state (Florida & Pennsylvania)

Examples of Data Collected 1

Examples of Data Collected 2

Examples of Data Collected 3

Tracking the ECC

QPVI: Using Student Data to Allocate Caseloads and Make Staffing Decisions

Example: Caseload Data  How many students do you have?  How many hours in your work week?  For each student: how much service/week, activities in support of instruction, travel time does it take to serve that student?  One student who gets 2 hours/week could easily take 6 hours out of your work week. How many 6 hour kids can you do in 37.5 hours?

QPVI E-Learning Tutorials  I’ve developed and am continuing to develop some iPad friendly e-learning tutorials based on my QPVI materials and tools, which will make them available to individuals for the first time ever.  Sign my guest book at the QPVI Poster Session to be on my mailing list OR keep an eye on

If you’re interested/have questions:  Come to the QPVI Poster Session on Saturday, I’ll have some of the QPVI materials there.  Contact Information:  Nancy Toelle  1201 Castle Hill #203  Austin, Tx   

Michigan Orientation & Mobility Severity Rating Scales: Tools Supported by Data Susan Langendonk Susan Bradley Dawn Anderson

43 Michigan Severity Rating Scales Adapted from the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania model beginning in 1995 Published and disseminated by the Michigan Department of Education – Special Education Services

Michigan Severity Rating Scales 44 Orientation and Mobility Severity Rating Scale (OMSRS) Orientation and Mobility Severity Rating Scale for Students with Additional Needs (OMSRS+) Vision Services Severity Rating Scale (VSSRS) Vision Services Severity Rating Scale for Students with Additional Needs (VSSRS+)

Michigan Severity Rating Scales 45 Internationally recognized Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) Colorado Department of Education Guidelines for Caseload Formula Massachusetts Assoc. of Educators of VI Students Calgary, Alberta, Canada Scholarly references

Michigan Severity Rating Scales What they are: 46 A data collection tool A guide based on best practices Guideline for IEP team service discussion

Michigan Severity Rating Scales What they are not: 47 Not an assessment Not a severity of disability but a severity of student’s need for services Not a pre-determiner of service Not the only data source

48 The Michigan Severity Rating Scales: The Survey

Study Findings  Reliability (precision)  Respondents overwhelmingly identified the scales as measuring the significant factors to be considered in O&M and Vision Services  Validity  O&M SRS 90% accuracy  O&M SRS+ 84% accuracy  VSSRS 80% accuracy  VSSRS+ 83% accuracy 49

50 Is It Used for Caseload Analysis?

51 How Important is it in Caseload Analysis?

Resources 52 Published and disseminated by the Michigan Department of Education – Special Education Services MDE-LIO – Michigan Severity Rating Scales:

Closure  Next Steps  Evaluation  Distribute flash drives  RECEPTION and business meeting to follow sponsored by Perkins