1. Special Ed. New Direction - Kathy Airhart and Joey Hassel  focus on embedded PD model combining sped and general PD  shifting towards performance based monitoring  we are all responsible for all students (put students 1st everyday)  revising monitoring to desktop via EIEP  performance based monitoring revisions and support  inclusion of SWD student scores in teacher effect data  decrease percentage of SWD  preparation for PARCC  increase implementation of standards based IEPs

2. “Moving your numbers” National Center for Educational Outcomes  supported by US Office of Special Education Programs  www.movingyournumbers.org  successful outcomes (including college and career readiness) for students receiving  sped services requires inclusion in standards based reforms and their participation in statewide assessments  assuming predetermined levels of achievement based on disability status diminishes the quality of instruction and opportunity to learn

3. PARCC  full CCSS and PARCC testing in 2014-15 for grades 3-11 in Reading, Writing and Math no Science and SS  many colleges have agreed to use the PARCC as entrance into college to determine credit bearing coursework  consists of 4 tests (1st 2 are diagnostic) throughout the school year - the first 2 (Fall ) will be performance based and guide instruction; no accountability attached - 3rd and 4th tests (Spring) will be combined  answer options are open ended so students must be able to demonstrate knowledge  students will have text-based prompts for writing assessment, they will need to provide evidence from the provided text as they write

4. Accommodations  PARCC for ELA and Math is based on common core standards and built with universal design (making sure the text used is applicable for all students including SWD, as well as formatting correctly and embedding accommodations)  no states, including TN are planning on continuing a modified assessment  ongoing discussions with PARCC as to embedding accommodations via universal design  in TN we use read aloud way too much and shifting to the PARCC does not support the heavy use of read aloud  TN is one of the only states that use prompting upon request so it will probably go away as well

5. 5 questions for IEP teams when considering accommodations  In what way does the student access the general curriculum?  What has been the student's response to academic interventions?  How does the student interact with text?  Do the supports required by the student to perform or participate meaningfully in the gen ed curriculum ?  What inferences can be made about how the students will generalize skills to different contexts?

6. Manipulatives  Manipulatives include number lines, counters, shapes, textured material (i.e., sandpaper), and representation of money, beads, or any other items that may be physically counted or manipulated by the student.  Manipulatives used on TCAP assessments must be the same manipulatives used throughout classroom instruction and similar assessments.  When the student typically uses manipulatives in mathematics instruction, those manipulatives should be brought to the mathematics testing session.  As always, be mindful of the assessment prior to making accommodation decisions.

7. Scribe  Constructed Response –Do not spell word for word –The scribe writes exactly what the student dictates  Writing –Encourage word processor (On line) –Student must dictate spelling, grammar, and punctuation to scribe –Scribe types response in to computer - The student may review and edit their response after dictating it to the scribe.

8. Read Aloud  Now applicable to Writing and Constructed Response  Encourage Prompting Upon Request instead of read aloud  Remember: No IEP accommodations allow the student to be provided with a definition or any variance from what is written in the test--verbatim.

9. Read Aloud Criteria  The use of Read Aloud should be restricted to one of the following conditions:  The student has a specific disability that severely limits or prevents him or her from decoding text, or from comprehending decoded text, even after varied and repeated attempts to teach the student to do so (i.e., the student is a virtual non-reader, not simply reading below grade level)  The student was suddenly and recently classified as legally blind and has not had sufficient opportunity to learn to use Braille materials  The student has access to printed material only through a human reader, English to ASL translator, or other electronic format during routine instruction.  A student receiving read aloud as a testing accommodation must also have specific IEP goals and objectives which provide the student with direct reading instruction in the identified area of weakness.

10. Read Aloud criteria cont.  The student has :  a visual impairment (including blindness)  a specific learning disability that limits or prevents the student from decoding text as evidenced by a standard score of less than or equal to 77 in at least one area (1.5 standard deviations below the mean on test with a mean of 100 and when one standard deviation would be equal to 85 and 1.5 standard deviations would equal 77). The specific disability must be established by a diagnostic tool currently in the student’s IEP.  Diagnostic Tools  WJ-III Ach/WJ-III DRB Letter-Word Identification or Word Attack  WIAT-III Word Reading or Pseudoword Decoding  Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing  Other disability information which would support use of Read Aloud:  Note: Students with disabilities who are simply having trouble reading below grade level are not allowed to use the read aloud accommodation. Accommodations are provided to allow students with disabilities to access the content and not for the purpose of scoring enhancements or advantages.