IEP Meetings: Assessing students, designing accommodations, and increasing collaboration

1. IEP Meetings: Assessing students, designing accommodations, and increasing collaboration Heather J. Hendry University of Pittsburgh heh15@pitt.edu

2. Purpose • To present strategies that FL teachers can apply in IEP meetings to increase collaboration with special educators • To propose an observation protocol for assessing students’ difficulties • To share data that support the protocol • To suggest foreign language specific accommodations that are aligned with the protocol

3. Presentation Agenda • Share data from study of 3 students with LLDs and supporting literature • Present Observation protocol • Simulate student assessment using protocol • Share suggested foreign language specific accommodations • Apply accommodations to simulations • Discuss collaboration with special educators in IEP meetings

4. Overview of Study • 3 middle school students with LLDs • K-12 sequential content-based Spanish program • Data collection • Classroom observations, twice a week, 16weeks • Writing samples at beginning and end of observations • Student interviews

5. Participant 1: Nate • 6th grade • Shy quiet student • IEP: Reading and Writing • Writing: spelling, and identifying and applying definite and indefinite articles • Reading comprehension: fifth grade level (one grade level below) • Reading fluency: 84 words per minute (15 points lower than the sixth grade target of 100-140 words per minute)

6. Participant 2: Gayle • 6th grade • Social student • IEP: Reading, writing, and attention • Reading: comprehension and identifying sound-symbol connection • Writing: lacks organization, frequently omits topic sentences, transitions, and closing thoughts • Attention: staying on task and ignoring the behavior of other students

7. Participant 3: Tina • 7th grade • Unique student, enjoys working independently • IEP: reading, writing, ADHD, mild Asperger’sSyndrome • Difficulty attending and socializing • Word recognition and decoding • Reading fluency: 110 WPM (7th graders should read between 110-150 words per minute) • Writing: spelling, handwriting, organizing and focusing on content; developing semantic and pragmatic language skills

8. Classroom Observations

9. Designed only for assessments Limit choices on tests Repeat directions Encourage asking for assistance Provide extra time on assignments Develop study guides Lack of accommodations for presentation/practice of lesson content Generic: Not differentiated for each student Apply to many subject areas Not specific to foreign language learning Findings: Accommodations

10. Findings: Classroom Participation • Infrequent participation • Participation occurred for questions in English about: • grammar • translation to Spanish • the task itself • Participation of LLDs was different from non-LLD peers

11. Findings: Classroom Participation Do you raise your hand to speak in Spanish class? “I don’t raise my hand a lot because I forget the answer, forget the question, or I’m worried that I’m gonna get it wrong and people will laugh at me.”

12. Writing Assessments

13. Findings: Writing Performance

14. Student Interviews

15. Findings: Student Perceptions X X Nate Gayle Tina

16. Findings: Student Perceptions

17. Findings: A Summary • Oral participation of LLDs was infrequent • Differed from non-LLD peers • Due to fear of answering incorrectly and risk of embarrassment • Students performed differentially on writing tasks • Students expressed different perceptions of learning Spanish with reference to learning styles • Accommodations were designed only for assessments • Not differentiated for each student • Generic, applied to many subject areas • Not specific to foreign language learning

18. How did students struggle? • Comprehending target language use • Comprehending reading tasks • Participating orally in whole group classroom tasks • Writing in the target language • Retaining vocabulary meaning • Eliminating distractions and attending • Comprehending grammatical concepts

19. Observation Protocol for Foreign Language Students with IEPs

20. How is Protocol used?: An Example

21. How is Protocol used?: Simulation Part 1 Assessing a student • Think of a student with an IEP, or create an imaginary student with an IEP • Assemble a group of 3-4 people • Choose 1 person to represent the student with an IEP • Go through each criteria of the protocol asking the “student” to describe their performance • Record observations • This information will be used later for Simulation Part 2

22. What is an accommodation? • Accommodations are adaptations to activities that allow students with LDs to participate at the same level as their non-LD peers. (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2006) • Accommodations must reflect individual needs • Accommodations must be aligned with student to produce a successful outcome

23. Recommendations for Accommodations in IEPs:ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL! It is recommended that accommodations in IEPs… • Are specific to foreign language learning • Apply to all components of lesson, not just assessments • Designed differentially to reflect the unique needs of each individual student • Suggest the use of alternative forms of assessments

24. Suggested Accommodations

25. How is Protocol used?: An Example Designing Accommodations

26. How is Protocol used?: Simulation Part 2 Assigning Accommodations • Review the list of suggested accommodations • Identify criteria that indicate student struggles • Assign accommodations to the criteria in which the student struggles

27. IEP Meetings: Collaborating with Special Educators

28. Questions?