Using Online Training to Improve Accommodation Decision-Making and Implementation 2012 OSEP Project Directors’ Conference Washington, DC July 23-25, 2012

1. Introduction Sheryl 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/Discussion DaLee Chambers (Alabama Department of Education)

Multi-State GSEG Consortium Members 3 Alabama Tennessee Hawaii South Dakota Wisconsin

4 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.

5 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). 6

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). 7

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. 8

Special education teachers were asked how IEP teams at their schools determined a student’s needs for instructional accommodations. 9

Special education teachers were asked to select three factors that influenced IEP decisions about accommodations used on statewide assessments. 10

The Alabama Online Accommodations Training 11

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 Evaluation 12

Questions/Discussion What challenges do educators face when making and implementing accommodations decisions?

Questions/Discussion What types of training do teachers in your state receive related to accommodations/…and what is particularly effective?

Questions/Discussion Based on your experiences, what works (or does not work) related to online training in general?

For more information: 16 NCEO - Sheryl Lazarus NCEO - Bekah Rieke ALSDE - Nannette Pence ALSDE - DaLee Chambers