Title: What Have Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities Learned in Grade 7 Mathematics in New Ham
1What Have Students With Significant Cognitive
Disabilities Learned in Grade 7 Mathematics in
New Hampshire?
- Gaye Fedorchak
- New Hampshire Department of Education
- Large Scale Assessment Conference
- San Francisco, June 25, 2006
2The NH Alt Portfolio
- Work samples are collected during classroom
activities for two entries based on NH
mathematics standards. - 2 Entries (1 mandated, 1 choice of teacher)
- Mandated Mathematics Entry Communications
Connections (Standards 3-4) - Students will
communicate their understanding of mathematics
and recognize, develop and explore mathematical
connections. - Choice Mathematics Entry any other standard
from Standards 1, 5 - 17.
3Portfolio Entries
- Each entry should contain 6 work samples (2 per
data collection period) depicting the application
of the targeted skill within standard-based
activities. - There are three data collection periods for each
entry to demonstrate the progress made by the
student over the year.
4Mathematics Frameworks
- The critical function is described for each
mathematics standard. e.g. - Curriculum Standards 3-4 Student will
communicate his or her understanding of
mathematics and will recognize, develop, and
explore mathematical connections. - Critical Function Student will use mathematical
reasoning.
5NH Alt Scoring Rubric2004/2005
6Scoring Rubric (cont.)
7Students taking NH AltEligibility Guidelines
- The student has an IEP.
- Evidence that the students demonstrated
cognitive ability and adaptive behavioral skills - prevent him or her from demonstrating achievement
of the proficiency standards described in the New
Hampshire curriculum frameworks through
participation in the general statewide assessment
even with appropriate accommodations and - Require individualized instruction in multiple
settings (school, work, home, and community
environments) to acquire, generalize, and
transfer skills necessary for functional
application. - Historical data (current and longitudinal across
multiple settings) confirms the individual
student criteria listed above.
8Characteristics of Students Appropriately Served
in the NH Alternate Assessment
- Limited Communication The student may be
considered non-verbal or have very limited
expressive vocabulary and language skills. The
student may use simple language structures to
communicate and seldom acquires new communication
skills through incidental learning and - Very Low Levels of Academic Achievement
Performance in the subject matter of reading,
writing, and mathematics is significantly below
that of same aged peers, e.g., performance level
expectations must be modified to a reduced or
simpler level of performance from the curriculum
standards set for general education or typical
NH students. When typical general education peers
are reading paragraphs and answering questions,
the alternate assessment student might be
matching objects, pictures, or symbols and when
typical peers are writing and solving equations,
the student might be using objects, symbol
systems, or pictures to show more basic
connections and
9Characteristics of Students Appropriately Served
(cont.)
- Highly Specialized Instruction The student
generally requires systematic instruction with
tasks broken into small steps. In addition, the
student needs deliberate instruction to apply
learned skills across multiple settings, e.g.,
school, home, work, and other settings and - Ample Supports The student requires
individualized instructional, technological, or
interpersonal supports to make progress in
learning. The student requires accommodations to
demonstrate proficiency of even the modified
performance expectation levels described above,
such as modeling and repeated demonstration,
physical hand-over-hand guidance, specially
designed prompting procedures, alternate or
augmented communication systems.
10Students taking NH-Alt2004/2005
11Calculation of dimension scores for AYP
achievement levels
12Achievement Level Results Grade 7 Mathematics
04/05
- 17 Substantially Below Proficient
- Student demonstrates little or no progress in any
targeted content skills using the modified
content materials and/or activities presented.
Student is not accessing modified content
materials that are linkied to general education
curriculum activities. - Opportunities to practice content skills in
various settings are limited. Opportunities for
self determination and typical peer interaction
are rare or not present. - Redesigned instructional supports, team supports,
and/or task structure are necessary for this
student to access modified grade linked content
materials and/or activities in a manner that
promotes skill progress, generalization of
performance, and self determination.
13 Grade 7 Mathematics 04/05 (cont.)
- 35 - Partially Proficient
- Student is demonstrating some progress in
targeted content skills using the modified
content materials and/or activities presented.
Student has some access to modified content
materials that are linked to general education
curriculum activities. - Opportunities to practice content skills in
various settings are somewhat limited.
Opportunities for self determination are
inconsistent. Typical peer interactions are
inconsistent. - Redesigned instructional supports, team supports,
and/or task structure may be necessary for this
student to attain modified grade-linked content
materials and/or activities in a manner that
promotes skill progress, generalization of
performance, and self determination.
14Grade 7 Mathematics 04/05 (cont.)
- 28 at Level 3 - Proficient
- Student is successfully demonstrating moderate
progress that is consistent with the intended
goals in targeted content skills. Student has
access to and is using a variety of modified
content materials that are linked to general
education curriculum activities. - Opportunities to practice content skills are
offered in varied settings, or consistently
within a general education or other natural
setting. Opportunities for self determination
and interaction with typical peers are
consistent. - Instructional supports, team supports, and/or
task structure are adequate for this student to
access modified grade-linked content materials
and/or activities in a manner that promotes skill
progress, generalization of performance, and self
determination.
15Grade 7 Mathematics 04/05 (cont.)
- 20 - Proficient with Distinction
- Student is successfully demonstrating extensive
progress in targeted content skills. Student has
access to and is using a variety of modified
content materials that are linked to general
education curriculum activities. - Opportunities to practice content skills are
offered in varied settings and include naturally
embedded supports, or this student is included
full time in the general education classroom.
Opportunities interaction with typical peers and
different adults are extensive. Opportunities
for self determination are consistent and include
all required components. - Instructional supports, team supports, and task
structure are effective and allow this student to
successfully access modified grade-linked content
materials and/or activities in a manner that
promotes skill progress, generalization of
performance, and self determination.
16Profile of Performance by Dimension Student
Progress
17Profile of Performance by Dimension
Connection/Access to General Curriculum
18Selection of Portfolio Examples
- 26 portfolios selected based on Student Progress
(SP) and Connection/Access to the General
Curriculum (GC). - n4 at Level 1 the student shows limited
progress with limited access to the general
curriculum (SP1-2, GC1-2) - n9 at Level 2 the student shows progress and
access to the general curriculum in one entry
(SP1.5-2.5, GC2-3) - n7 at Level 3 the student shows progress and
access to the general curriculum in both entries
(SP2.5-3.5, GC2.5-3.5) - n6 at Level 4 the student shows extensive
progress and access to the general curriculum in
both entries (SP3.5-4, GC4) - 51 entries reviewed
19Categorical Concurrence
20Depth of Knowledge(Webb designations applied to
alternate assessment)
21Samples of the knowledge, skills, and abilities
of students in grade 7 mathematics
- related to Curriculum Standards and Critical
Functions (CF)
223. Numbers, Numeration, Operations, and Number
Theory
- CF Develop number sense, understand concepts of
number operation, and use a variety of ways to
compute solutions to problems. - number sentence
233. Numbers, Numeration, Operations, and Number
Theory (cont.)
244. Geometry, Measurement, and Trigonometry
- CF Have exposure in two-dimensional geometry,
develop spatial sense, and develop understanding
of measurement - shapes
254. Geometry, Measurement, and Trigonometry (cont.)
265. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability
- CF Gather, organize, and use information to
make decisions/predictions - data map
-
275. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability
(cont.)
286. Functions, Relations, and Algebra
- CF Recognize, extend, complete, create, and
describe patterns - Wind chill
-
29What we know about students achievementin
mathematics
- Alternately assessed students are usually given
opportunities to demonstrate knowledge, skills,
and abilities in mathematics concepts related to
two content strands - Number Operations and/or Geometry
Measurement. - Data, Statistics Probability as well as
Functions Algebra are attempted much less
often. - In the 2 content strands most often assessed,
most students are showing progress, but for those
students (20) who did not show progress the
reasons vary. Teachers still choose targets too
low for some of their students. This forces
baseline performance to be so high that
significant progress cannot be seen across the
year. In this way, student potential is being
underestimated and under reported.
30What weve seen
- As a teachers experience with portfolio
assessment grows, they begin to adjust their
expectations for most students upward. This is
usually seen first in field requests for help in
charting increasingly complex skills. - Recognition of skill underestimate occurs
midyear. - When teachers develop engaging activities using
grade level activities, students can and do
demonstrate skills at higher levels of cognitive
complexity. - Teachers need support to develop better
assessment strategies for measuring the baseline
academic skills of their students.
31Issues and challenges
- Identify support the mathematical conceptual
and teaching skills of the teachers working with
alternately assessed students. How can we help
them get beyond conventions to determine
students mathematical thinking, misconceptions,
and application possibilities? - Encourage creation of activities that allow
students to show us more clearly how they make
sense of mathematical ideas. We must move beyond
worksheets. - Design activities that allow meaningful sensory
access to mathematical ideas and skills in a form
useful to the student. We need to build
multi-sensory alignment of content. This
requires cognitive research and mapping. - Support teachers to teach academic self
determination in a way that builds independent
problem solving in alternately assessed students.
32Next steps for NH-Alt
- Complete production of first prototype NH
Alternate Assessment Technical Manual and, based
on information developed with NHEAI grant
partners, create disseminate Users Guide and
Support Materials for general development of alt
assessment technical manuals - This summer Conduct first year descriptive
research on the sensory skill characteristics
(receptive expressive) of NHs Alt Assessment
Students (The Sensory Access Form) - This fall Develop of new statewide regional
support structure for 1. Increasing use of
instructional technology with NH-Alt students,
and 2. Improving content linkage to instructional
activities for alternately assessed students
33Long Term
- 2006-2007 NH begins a long term planning and
re-tooling process for NH Alternate Assessment. - This will be a 5-10 year project involving -
- Alignment of NH-Alternate achievement Standards
to NH academic Grade Level Expectations. Long
Term Goal is to work toward development of
cognitively-based content alignment maps that
bridge the continuum of general and alternate
achievement standards. - Based on the work of key RD projects the
Colorado Enhanced Assessment Grant, the NHEAI
Technical Adequacy project, and NH Sensory Access
descriptive work, NH will work with stakeholders
to identify structural design changes needed in
NH-Alt. - NH will engineer the needed structural changes to
incorporate ongoing evaluation measures to help
inform continuous growth.
34Contact Information
- Gaye Fedorchak
- GFedorchak_at_ed.state.nh.us