Expanded Core Curriculum

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Expanded Core Curriculum

• August 3, 2006 Pinellas County

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Agenda

• 830 900 Welcome and Introductions
• 900 1000 Brainstorming, Background
  Knowledge and Activities
• 1000 1015 Break
• 1015 1200 National Agenda and the Florida
  Agenda
• 1200 100 LUNCH
• 100 145 Implementing the ECC
• 145 200 Break
• 200 300 Pinellas Agenda

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Pre-Test
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Objectives for today

• Define the Expanded Core Curriculum
• Determine strategies for implementing the ECC
• Design next steps for Pinellas County

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Thinking Styles Assessment
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Role of the TVI

• Brainstorm all the things that you do in your
  job..

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How do you decide WHAT to teach?
Complete the following As a teacher of the
visually impaired or an OM Specialist I am
responsible for..
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National Agenda for the Education of Children and
Youths with Visual Impairments, Including Those
with Multiple Disabilities

• So.What does this have to do with my job???

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National Agenda

• Developed in 1994 grassroots effort of
  professionals and parents to define the issues
  facing students with visual impairments
• Printed in 1995 by American Foundation for the
  Blind (AFB)
• Originally had 8 goals

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National Agenda

• Endorsed by 124 Agencies and Organizations of
  and for persons with visual impairments
• Revised in 2004
• Added two more goals
• The National Agenda defined the Expanded Core
  Curriculum

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Lets Look at the National Agenda
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EXPANDED CORE CURRICULUM

• Compensatory Skills such as Communication Modes
• Orientation and Mobility
• Social Interaction Skills
• Independent Living Skills

• Recreation and Leisure Skills
• Career Education
• Use of Assistive Technology
• Visual Efficiency Skills
• Self-Determination

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OK. but what does this Expanded Core Curriculum
stuff have to do with me??
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Background Knowledge Cont.

• 94 Completing High School
• 43.3 participated in one or more community
  groups
• 66.1 participated in PS Education opportunities
• 62 likelihood of employment
• NLTS2http//www.nlts2.org/index.html

Karen Blankenship, Weekends with the Experts Feb.
2006
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Background Knowledge Cont.

• What does the research say?
• 27 Academically Oriented
• 14 Tutoring
• 18 Communication Skills
• 9 Social Interaction Skills
• 8 Sensory Motor Skills
• 7 Independent Living Skills
• (Wolffe, Sacks, Corn, Erin, Huebner Lewis,
  (2002)JVIB, v. 96 5)
• 61.7 indicated that they were teaching academics
  (Agran, Hong, Blankenship (2006)

Karen Blankenship, Weekends with the Experts Feb.
2006
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Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC)

• The ECC is not an additional or parallel
  curriculum but a skill set that research has
  shown is needed for students with a visual
  impairment to obtain positive adult outcomes.

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ECC

• The ECC are skills that students with visual
  impairments are not able to learn incidentally
  and must obtain through quality instruction in
  order to demonstrate proficiency within each
  deficit area and achieve positive adult outcomes.
  The need for instruction is based on both a needs
  assessment (needs/priorities) and formal/informal
  assessments (valid and reliable). Not all
  students need instruction in all ten content
  areas and the needs and priorities may change on
  a yearly basis or more often depending on natural
  transitions or circumstances.

Iowa ECC notebook, 2005
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The Expanded Core CurriculumFinding the Time

• Kathleen M. Huebner, Ph. D.
• Pennsylvania College of Optometry

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A Quick Review of What is Included in the
Expanded Core Curriculum

• Compensatory Skills (Braille listening skills
  handwriting skills abacus)
• OM
• Social Skills
• Independent Living Skills
• Recreation and Leisure Skills
• Career Education
• Assistive Technology
• Visual Efficiency Skills (NA-1995)

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What Itinerant Teachers Report as Most Time
Spent on Expanded Core (CO)

• Braille Reading and Writing (listed on survey)
• Nemeth Instruction
• Braille Preparation
• Independent Living Skills
• OM
• Vision Utilization (not listed on survey)
• Technology Training
• Materials Adaptation
• Large Print Production (Suvak 1999)

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What Itinerant Teachers Report as Most Time
Spent Teaching NON-Expanded Core (CO)

• Math
• Language Arts (Suvak 1999)

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Additional Responsibilities and Time Consuming
Activities

• Communication-Teachers-Parents-Administrators
• Travel
• Report preparation/paperwork
• Assessment
• Reinforce students other needs--MH
• Other Expanded Core areas-social skills, career
  education, recreation/leisure
• Materials ordering
• Professional development

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Current Concerns of 70 Experienced Teachers (TX)

• Keeping up with required paperwork
• Arranging a balanced schedule
• Keeping up on morale and confidence

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Another Suspected but Unreported Time Eater

• TUTORING !

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How to Make the Best of the Time We Have
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Strategies to Make Best Use of Limited Time

• Teach Only Expanded Core
• Do Not Tutor
• Examine Your Strengths and Weaknesses
• Develop Appropriate and Shared
  Responsibilities-- Other Teachers/ Aides/Parents
• Increase Team Effectiveness

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Teach Only Expanded Core

• Be convinced
• Be determined
• Be resourceful--in other words YOU have to make
  it happen
• Be firm

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Avoid Tutoring

• Ask the question-- Does student need help because
  the visual impairment is impeding learning?
• If yes--teach
• If no--defer to other teacher, personnel, peer
  tutor, parents

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Examine Your Strengths and Weaknesses

• Be honest with yourself--Identify your
  weaknesses--its between you and yourself--not the
  world
• Weaknesses result in lack of confidence, slowness
  to accomplish tasks, and defensiveness
• Weaknesses result in inefficiency and
  ineffectiveness

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Change Weaknesses into Strengths

• Develop strategies and a plan to change
  weaknesses into strengths
• Seek out constructive ways to strengthen your
  skills and professionalism
• Work independently and seek out support where
  needed

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Weaknesses Changed into Strengths

• Recognize your improvements
• Note that tasks now take less time
• Note that you now have more confidence in your
  decisions and the quality of your work
• Note that you no longer procrastinate or resist
  doing what used to be weaknesses

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ADD OTHERS TO YOUR TEAMReauthorization of IDEA
(1997)

• Parents as members of the team
• Participation of regular educator

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Develop Appropriate and Shared
Responsibilities-- Other Teachers/ Aides/Parents

• Model--teach in the regular classroom
• Provide positive reinforcement
• Observe students in their regular classeseven
  snippets of time can tell you a lot
• Provide formal and informal training
• Teach your students to direct others for
  meaningful information-self advocate

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Appreciate Others Diversity

• Culture
• Education
• Socio/Economic Status
• Response to having a child with a disability
• Confidence
• Trust
• Lifestyle
• Responsibilities

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Look over the ECC Areas and mark those that were
included in your college or professional training.
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Background Knowledge

• Article Review and Presentation
• 1. Each person read the article and use the
  Power Notes handout to summarize the article.
• 2. In your group review your Power Notes and
  agree on the three most important aspects of the
  article.
• 3. Share your review with the group.

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ECC Content Areas

• Accessing AT
• Career education
• Compensatory Skills, including communication,
  literacy functional academics
• Independent Living

• Orientation Mobility
• Recreation/Leisure
• Social Interaction
• Visual Efficiency

Karen Blankenship, Weekends with the Experts Feb.
2006
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So what is included in each of these 10
areas.Im too busy to add a bunch of new stuff
to teach.
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Lets Explore the ECC

• Read the information about your ECC area
• 2. As a group list some of the skills in each
  area.
• 3. Categorize the skills into 5 (or less) groups.

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Now lets go back to your brainstorming list of
things you do in your jobs.
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Anything new to teach???
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Effective Teaching Practices

• Effective Practices - Research has shown that
  teachers who use effective teaching practices
  achieve the highest student gains. Effective
  teaching practices follow the continuum from
  assessment (baseline data) to instructional
  programming, instruction using research-based
  teaching strategies, to ongoing evaluation (post
  data) and adjustment if your instruction is not
  working. An additional component for TVIs and
  COMS is the quality IEP that has measurable goals
  based on assessment data.

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ECC Lesson Plan

• Lets do one together.
• (teacher modeling)

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ECC Lesson Plan

• Student
• Date(s) of Instruction
• ECC Area
• IEP Goal
• State Standard/Grade Level Expectation

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ECC Lesson Plan

• Target Skill (Skills necessary to reach IEP
  goals)
• Lesson Objective (Hierarchy of sub skills from
  your assessment data)

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ECC Lesson Plan

• Probing Question (relate to previous learning)
• Teacher modeling of skill
• Guided practice

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ECC Lesson Plan

• Check for understanding
• Independent practice
• Summary

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ECC Data Collection
E Early/Emerging Skill (1-25), P Partial
Skills (25-80), S Skillful (80-100)
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Guided Practice.

• With the scenario given to your group, create an
  ECC Lesson Plan.

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Back to earlier question.

• How do you decide WHAT to teach???

ASSESSMENTS
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AER Division 16

• Caseloads Position Paper

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Types of Assessments

• Texas Assessment Kit
• Assessment and Ongoing Evaluation Independent
  Living Curriculum (TSBVI)
• Oregon
• Brigance
• Key Math

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Types of Assessments

• Learning Media Assessments
• Functional Vision Assessments
• Reading Inventories
• Johns Basic Reading
• DIBELS
• ERDA
• DAR

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Types of Assessments

• Braille
• Minnesota Braille Skills Inventory
• Braille Assessment Inventory
• Braille Requisite Skills Inventory
• Mangold
• ABLS

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Types of Assessments

• ISAVE
• Every Move Counts
• Brigance (Pre-K)
• Assessment of Developmental Skills for Young
  Multihandicapped Sensory Impaired Children
  (SKI-Hi)
• INSITE Developmental Checklist

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Annotated Bibliography of Curricular Materials

• Related to The Expanded Core Curriculum for
  Children and Youth with Visual Impairments,
  Including those with Multiple Disabilities

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Where do you go from here?
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Florida Agenda and Action Plan

• Bringing it down to the local level

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Florida Agenda

• Goal 8 Expanded Core Curriculum
• All educational goals and instruction will
  address the academic and expanded core curricula
  based on the assessed needs of each student with
  visual impairments.

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Florida

• Today a Five-Year Action Plan is being created to
  direct and prioritize goal attainment
• Discussion about creating local/regional
  workgroups
• Continue to educate and inform parents and
  professionals about the National Agenda and
  Floridas Action Plans for obtaining those goals.
  

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Unexpected Gains

• Improved communication between those involved in
  the education of students with visual impairments
• Better understanding of roles and
  responsibilities of other agencies and providers
• Opportunities for collaborative ventures
• Less duplication of services

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Pinellas Action Plan
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What subjects/activities are you certified to
teach?
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Resources

• TSBVI.edu National Agenda and the RECC
• AFB.org Education and National Agenda

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Post Test
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Contact Information

• Kay Ratzlaff
• FIMC-VI
• kratzlaff_at_fimcvi.org
• 813-8937-7829
• 800-282-9193