Ensuring Progress in the General Education Curriculum

1. Ensuring Progress in the General Education Curriculum Chapter 2

2. View Heather and Star Video • Who do you think will take the MAP test in 2 years? • Should Heather be required to take it in just the same way as her peers without disabilities? • Should Star? • If not, what accommodations are reasonable? • Should either of them be exempted and have an alternative assessment?

3. Progress in the General Education Curriculum • IDEA - IEP requirements • Standards-based reform • NCLB: Academic standards, student achievement standards, and alternate achievement standards • IEP accommodations • Raise standards • Problems in standards-based reform

4. Issues of Diversity • 2003: European American and Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher on assessments than African American, Latino, and Native American/Alaskan Native students • Average reading scores for fourth and eighth grades students on free lunch are lower • Large gaps between European American, African American and Latino students remain unchanged since 1990

5. Low-wealth children engage in far less academic work • By Oct. of first grade, a middle/high-SES child reads 12 words per reading session; a low-SES child reads 0 words • By April, the middle/high-SES child reads 81 words; a low-SES child reads 32 words • By the end of first grade, middle/high-SES have seen approximately 19,000 words; low-SES about 10,000 • By the end of the sixth grade, a child of poverty would need to go to school an additional year-and-a-half to have the same academicexperience

6. Demographics in Special Education Race General Special Population Education White 66.2% 63.6% Black 14.8% 20.2% Hispanic 14.8% 13.2% Am. Indian 1.0% 1.3% Asian/Pacific 3.8% 1.7%

7. Supplementary Aids and Services • Universal design for learning • Access • Classroom ecology • Education and assistive technology • Assessment and task modifications • Teacher, paraprofessional, or peer support • See Figure 2-1

8. What Universal Design Means • In the world of architecture and building, adaptability is subtle, integrated into the design, and benefits everyone. • A shift from thinking why we should make changes to accommodate a few people in wheelchairs to an appreciation of how much better things can be for all of us

9. Fundamental shifts in our ideas of teaching and learning • Students with disabilities fall along a continuum of learner differences, just as other students do; • Teachers should make adjustments for all students, not just those with disabilities; • Curriculum materials should be as varied and diverse as the learning styles and needs in the classroom, rather than textbook-centered (currently possible with digital and on-line resources); • Rather than trying to adjust the students to learn from a set curriculum, the curriculum should be flexible to accommodate a range of student differences.

10. Principles of Universal Design • Principle 1: Equitable Use • The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities

11. Equitable Use… • Adjustable chairs

12. Inequitable use… • Chairs in the room or office

13. Principles of Universal Design • Principle 2: Flexibility in Use • The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities

14. Flexible in Use… • Latch doorknob

15. Flexible in Use • Push opener

16. Inflexible in Use… • Round doorknob

17. Accessible for use • Push door opener

18. Principles of Universal Design • Principle Three: Simple and Intuitive Use • Use of the design is easy to understand regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level

19. Principles of Universal Design • Principle 4: Perceptible Information • The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities. • round thermostat

20. Perceptible Information • Fire alarm with strobe light

21. Perceptible Information • ATM with large buttons

22. Principles of Universal Design • Principle Five: Tolerance for Error • The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions

23. Tolerance for Error…low? • Bathroom entranceway

24. Tolerance for Error…high? • Outside power door button for entry system

25. Tolerance for Error?? Let’s Look

26. Principles of Universal Design • Principle Six: Low Physical Effort • The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue. • door handle

27. Principles of Universal Design • Principle Seven: Size and Space for Approach and Use • Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility. • subway gate

28. Student-Placement Trends • 50% of students with disabilities in gen. ed. 80% of the time or more • 28% of student in gen. ed. 40%-79% of the time • 19% of students in gen. ed.0-39% of the time • 3% of students in residential facilities • 0.7% of students in separate facility • 0.5% of students in home/hospital

29. Characteristics of Inclusion • Home-school placement • Principle of natural proportions • Restructuring teaching and learning • Age-and grade-appropriate placements • Eliminating the continuum of placements • Increasing amount of time in general education • Perspectives: parents, teachers, and students • See Figure 2-7

30. Inclusion: Refer to Figure 2-7 • What are your thoughts on this topic? • Get into your discussion group and discuss • What are the pros and cons for inclusion? • If you were a parent of a child with a disability, what would you want? • Which disability category would you see less likely to be included, and why? • Which disability category would you see most likely to be included, and why?

31. Designing an IEP (see Figure 2-8) • Determine supplementary aids • Determine specially designed instruction • Address life-skills content • Specify related services