AC&E
ACCESSIBILITY, COMPLIANCE &
EQUITY
Every Student, Every School, Every Day
IN THIS ISSUE:
The robot that teaches social skills to children with autism AND MORE >
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How many of your students
Autism
with have met or exceeded their IEP goals this school year?
What if?
90% of your students with Autism achieved mastery and demonstrated generalization and transference to human to human interactions? Would you be interested in how?
robots4autism creates impact and growth opportunities beyond the classroom! MILO
the humanoid social robot together with traditional intervention methods aligns with IEP goal areas for students on the spectrum by meeting four-out-of-five opportunities in the curriculum benchmarks: · Social Emotional
· Communication
· Behavioral
PILOT PROGRAM
South Carolina conducted a pilot program in 15 school districts with 47 educators and 305 students utilizing Milo along with robots4autism curriculum to address social-emotional understanding, conversational dynamics, and self-regulation in schools across their state. During the first of three years, 13,769 lessons were completed as the pilot expanded to include more than 50 school districts in the 20182019 school year.
These results could be yours this upcoming school year, don’t wait to meet with Milo, schedule a personalized demonstration today! Contact RoboKind for a personalized demo of Milo and robots4Autism to learn how they can help you transform education for students with autism in your school or district!
WWW.ROBOKIND.COM
SALES@ROBOKIND.COM
800.494.1206
CONTENTS ROBOT CREATED TO HELP CHILDREN WITH AUTISM Lisa Raiford
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AI AND PERSONALIZED LEARNING: AFOMEYA’S JOURNEY Michelle Zimmerman
DRIVING EQUITY BY HELPING ENGLISH LEARNERS ACHIEVE RECLASSIFICATION Claudia Salinas
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COMMUNICATION: THE KEY TO SOCIAL INCLUSION Kevin Custer
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ADDRESSING EXCELLENCE GAPS: ACHIEVING BOTH EQUITY & EXCELLENCE Jonathan Plucker
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ONLINE DUAL ENROLLMENT: BENEFIT OR CHALLENGE? Manjo Banerjee
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EDUCATION & ACCESSIBILITY OF DIGITAL CONTENT Karen McCall
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RETHINKING 12TH GRADE Michael Dannenberg & Anne Hyslop
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SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORTS VITAL TO ENGLISH LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC GROWTH Ed Lamprich WORK-BASED LEARNING FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Tracey Maccia
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THE AC&E TEAM Publisher & Director of Sales LARRY JACOBS Executive VP & Creative Director MAIA APPLEBY Advertising Sales J DALY ASSOCIATES
Open the Pathway to Success for Every Student i-Ready sets each student on an individualized learning path, delivering online lessons that work hand in hand with teacher-led instruction to accelerate student growth.
Learn more about i-Ready at i-Ready.com/Empower
MEET THE ROBOT THAT WAS CREATED TO HELP CHILDREN WITH AUTISM BY LISA RAIFORD, ED.D.
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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
“WHY WOULD YOU USE A ROBOT TO TEACH SOCIAL SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM?” That was the question I heard from the start. It was a question I pondered after having the opportunity to implement a social skills robotic program for children with autism for the state of South Carolina. And yet, after meeting Dr. Greg Firn of Robokind, and spending three months researching the program and others like it, the thought of its implementation did not seem so far-fetched. During my first week on a new job supporting autism, I had the opportunity to learn about Robots4autism and its evidence-based curriculum. At the same time, in this position of Education Associate for Autism for the State Department of Education in South Carolina, I was surveying to determine how we could help our educators support their students with autism. They needed a viable curriculum that supported the remediation of social skills, communication, and behavior and emotional regulation deficits. The Robots4Autism curriculum could provide this.
After making this determination, every aspect of the implementation process needed to be done with intention and planned with the purpose of considering what outcomes we wanted:
• Data surrounding the specific needs of each district • The Individual Education Program goals of each student • Scheduling • Training needs of the implementing staff Not only was our goal to have students master the skills learned through the program lessons, but more importantly the generalization of the learned skills. Our goal was not to replace teachers with a robot, but rather to support their teaching with tools that they could implement with confidence, and to give them a progress monitoring program to realistically measure their students’ outcomes. The districts chosen to participate were given prerequisites for the students – the curriculum needed to fit the students’ programming needs rather than make the students fit the program. We also wanted to be sure that schools had the infrastructure they needed to implement the program fluidly, including wifi strength, port access and tablets to support the program application and software. Finally, we needed to be sure to support our
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AC&E | Spring, 2019
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implementers with collaborative training through RoboKind experts and the State Department of Education. Once the entire process was outlined, implementation began with the understanding that this would be a three-year pilot in which each chosen district had ongoing support in order to maintain the ďŹ delity of the program and increase the likelihood of the desired outcomes. Coming to the end of year-two of the pilot, we are excited to see our implementers still vested in the program, and thus, our students continuing to make gains. Progress monitoring data show continual mastery of lessons, and implementers share anecdotal data of
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the generalization of the learned skills in the natural environment – our ultimate goal. Students, educators, and parents are aware of the student outcomes from using this technology of the humanoid robot and its curriculum. The program has been and continues to be a perfect way to provide our educators with a teaching tool that engages our students who need it the most, and answers the question of why we teach social skills to students with autism with the help of a robot!
Lisa Raiford, Ed.D. is the South Carolina Department of Education’s Associate for Autism.
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
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DRIVING EQUITY BY HELPING ENGLISH LEARNERS ACHIEVE RECLASSIFICATION BY CLAUDIA SALINAS
The Oak Grove School District (OGSD) in SanJose, California has an enrollment of 10,000 students, with nearly a quarter of the student body classified as an English Learner (EL). The majority speak Spanish at home, but 60 languages are represented and, like many districts across the state of California and nationwide, Oak Grove had serious decisions to make regarding the best plan for getting their ELs to proficiency and reclassified in a timely fashion. In California, the state stipulates four minimum criteria for certifying proficiency in English, one of which is administration of a valid academic skills assessment. Oak Grove began working with Curriculum Associates during the 2017–2018 school year when the district elected to use the i-Ready Diagnostic for math and reading to fulfill the academic skills criterion along with their use of the state test, the Smarter Balanced or SBAC, to help students achieve reclassification. Amy Boles, Director of Educational Services, explained the decision: “The SBAC is taken in the spring, which can be limiting for reclassification. i-Ready provided us with three additional opportunities to fulfill reclassification criteria and gauge our ELs’ performance throughout the year. Plus, the
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SBAC is not given in first and second grade. So, i-Ready created a path to reclassification for those kids that was not there before.”
A Pathway to Proficiency Not only are the total number of ELs in U.S. schools increasing, but long-term English Learners -- those who remain classified as ELs for the majority of their schooling -are the biggest growth demographic within the EL population. As much as any other data point, this illustrates why goal-setting is the first priority when developing a plan for ELs. Curriculum Associates sets the goal of ensuring ELs are prepared for reclassification within four to five years and provides the students in districts like Oak Grove with a real path toward that goal. This can seem like an ambitious goal at first, but it is within reach. To get there, the following three factors should be the cornerstones of a district approach: • Language development strategies This includes making sure ELs have plenty of time to talk, share and discuss in the classroom; students can best develop language by practicing. Another consideration is providing appropriate cross-curricular
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
vocabulary instruction to make sure all students can actively engage in the classroom discourse. For example, knowing not only the “math words,” but having the vocabulary to talk about math. • Culturally responsive teaching principles Cultural differences, if unacknowledged, can perpetuate inequity, and this goes beyond just language. For example, a math problem featuring cowboys may seem simple from a mathematical perspective and your students may be familiar with all the math terms. But what if they’ve never seen a cowboy before will they be able to form a concept of the problem and focus on the math? In this case, providing a definition of potentially unfamiliar words is a culturally responsive strategy to ensure students learn vocabulary and are also able to concentrate on the subject at hand. • Strategic scaffolds This term, which has come into use from the Council of Great City Schools, means making sure not to over-scaffold for students, and in the process fail to allow them to go through productive struggle. Determining the right amount of scaffolding to appropriately challenge students isn’t easy, but makes the difference in ensuring their continued progress and ability to reach proficiency on schedule.
Applying the Approach in Oak Grove Once students in Oak Grove took the adaptive i-Ready Diagnostic, teachers across the district were able to see where students stood in relation to grade level in reading and math and could also see, more granularly, which subset of students were below level in a specific domain; for example, the Number and Operations domain in math. With i-Ready’s online lessons, Oak Grove’s ELs were receiving instruction aligned to the College and Career Readiness Standards and to their individual placement level. i-Ready ACE-ED.ORG
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lessons prioritize best practices supporting ELs, including the following:
for
• An emphasis on high-utility vocabulary words and phrases, helping students to participate in the classroom discourse • Deliberate, contextual presentation of the English language at the word, phrase, sentence, and discourse level • Higher-order thinking activities that use graphic organizers, guided instruction, discourse, and on-page corrective feedback • Scaffolds to help Spanish speakers leverage their first language to understand the lessons and practice English, such as access to cognates
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The Final Push to Reach Reclassification Making sure ELs have enough time to hear, absorb and practice language is a major piece of success, and Boles created a solution to add more time for these learners. Before entering her current role as Director of Educational Services, Boles was principal of Parkview Elementary, during which time she started an After School Academy to give her ELs more exposure to i-Ready Instruction. She used Title III funds to offer a twice-weekly extended school day and invited ELs from Grades 4–6 to sign up. During this time, students could increase their time with i-Ready to a weekly goal of 90 minutes and could receive interventions and small group lessons from a teacher when they struggled.
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In 2018, more than 600 Oak Grove EL students qualified for reclassification more than double the number from the previous year. Clearly, this is a major achievement, but ensuring the students’ continued success is also essential. To keep a check on the rigor and competence of their protocols, OGSD follows reclassified ELs as a subgroup until they graduate. The group, referred to by the acronym RFEP (Reclassified Fluent English Proficient), is currently the highest performing student group within OGSD, and achievement continues to rise. In 2018, the OGSD RFEP population tested as 68 percent and 79 percent proficient in ELA and Mathematics, respectively, handily outperforming their counterparts in Santa Clara County and the state of California. With results like these, OGSD can feel ACE-ED.ORG
confident their plan is working and they have developed an effective pathway to EL reclassification and long-term success!
Claudia Salinas is the Vice President of English Learning at Curriculum Associates and Regional Manager for Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona. In her current role, Claudia works with school districts to meet the needs of English learners and struggling learners by bringing research-based professional development, assessments, and instructional materials that work in unison to provide a comprehensive system. Claudia also works with authors and editors to develop solutions to address the needs of all struggling students. AC&E | Spring, 2019
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“i-Ready has been super helpful pinpointing specific areas that maybe even just a few students need to work on, and then giving me resources to support them.” — Maddie M. Fourth Grade Teacher
Differentiate with confidence i-Ready delivers actionable insights teachers can use to make instructional decisions every day.
Learn more about i-Ready at i-Ready.com/Empower
FINDING “CAN DOS” FOR EVERY LEVEL When Albert H. Brigance began his career as a school psychologist in the 1970s, he noticed that assessment tools undervalued his students’ unique development trajectories and instead emphasized what they didn’t know and couldn’t do. Al wanted to change the conversation. From Al’s vision BRIGANCE evolved into an industry-leading publisher of screeners, assessment tools, and instructional materials, spanning from the earliest developmental skills through transition skills.
Trusted by Special Educators for more than four decades, see how BRIGANCE can help you and your students at Brigance.com/ SPECIALEDUCATION.
COMMUNICATION
THE KEY TO SOCIAL INCLUSION BY KEVIN CUSTER Think about your everyday communication, from those you speak to in person or on the phone, to those you text, e-mail, or interact with on social media. Now, imagine that your phone or computer is taken away, and you can only communicate with the people in the room with you. If you’re like most people, this idea probably makes you very uncomfortable—and shows how important the ability to communicate beyond four walls is to our life. However, this is the reality non-verbal students using AAC face, even in integrated classrooms. Though they are in the room, they can still be in something of a shell and not fully interacting.—physical presence is not enough if there’s no associated communication. This is why, for non-verbal students, it’s critical to move beyond physical presence, and beyond communication that’s confined to those in the room.
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Two pieces of science help us to connect the dots. First, the human brain is wired for social inclusion. Studies have confirmed what we know intuitively: those who are more social have longer, happier lives. Second, the two key factors that drive childhood brain development—the number of words in a child’s vocabulary, and the number of conversational turns (that is, back-and-forth) that a child experiences— both predict higher IQ and success in life. For instance, a spoken vocabulary of 2,500 words by kindergarten is a key predictor for reading by third grade, an achievement that correlates with being four times more likely to graduate from high school. And yet, while the typical child has a spoken vocabulary of about 2,600 words by age five, non-verbal children might have 20 words. That grows to 50,000 for a typical high school student, while non-verbal students might master 500 core words. It’s not hard to see that they aren’t being set up for success.
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What’s more, those 500 words often fall into the receptive side of language—asking for things—rather than the expressive or conversational language that’s built in every conversational turn. This limited language experience often mirrors a constricted social network. In elementary school, kids socially interact with 50-100 people, which expands to a peak of about 200 in middle and high school. But for non-verbal children, their network is often only three to maybe eight people, topping out at perhaps 20 by high school. The fundamental drivers of a thriving social network—interaction, vocabulary development, and conversational turns—are simply often not provided to non-verbal kids, even as they are increasingly included in “typical” classrooms. So what is the solution to achieving social inclusion? It’s clear that texting and social media have become second nature for young people today. Figuring out how to use those for non-verbal kids is yielding progress. Consider the story of Brian, a non-verbal boy
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whose social network consisted of his parents and grandparents. He started playing soccer, but when the games ended, Brian was excluded while his teammates excitedly spoke with one another—not maliciously, but because they didn’t know how to communicate with him. He got an App called Tippy Talk, that enables non-verbal people to use pictures to send text messages directly to the phones of caregivers, family, and friends, Brian began to text his teammates during the week, and the boys started to understand that even though Brian couldn’t talk, he could still understand them. Within a few games, Brian was truly included by his new friends in the post-game conversations. Being on the field was not enough, but once he was able to connect with his teammates when they weren’t on the field, Brian’s life was changed and his social network was expanded. The same is true for all non-verbal students—inclusion only comes when they can communicate fully beyond four walls.
Kevin Custer; Founding Principal, Arc Capital Development, an early stage venture firm for education and special needs markets. Arc has invested in 30 companies that provide products and technology for educators and people with special needs or autism. His companies have product in more than half of the K-12 schools in the North America. He has served on the national board for Autism Society of America and for over fifteen years as a volunteer ski instructor for the National Sports Center for the Disabled.
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LANDMARK COLLEGE
An Integrated Approach to Teaching Students Who Learn Differently While many colleges offer special programs for students with learning disabilities (LD) and other learning challenges, Landmark College is one of the only accredited colleges in the United States designed exclusively for students who learn differently, including students with learning disabilities (such as dyslexia), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
in weekly academic advising sessions while engaged with the advising curriculum. As students progress in their coursework, they become increasingly independent and meet with their advisor less frequently. Students pursuing their bachelor’s degree work with degree specific advisors. The academic advisor is central to the system which supports individual student performance.
For almost 40 years, our combination of research-based learning strategies and academic support has proved successful in preparing students for the rigors of college-level work. As the field of learning disabilities and differences expanded, our approach to working with students has grown more varied, but always with a constant unyielding mission to provide best practices for all.
THE LANDMARK COLLEGE DIFFERENCE
Landmark College offers the same range of student services found at any college—from counseling and health services to student life and athletics. The difference at Landmark College is that these professionals, like our faculty and academic advisors, bring specific expertise in, and a passion for, working with students who learn differently. Working together, we help students discover their path as confident, empowered, and independent learners. We integrate our innovative learning strategies into everything we do.
ACADEMIC ADVISING
In addition to classes, students in their first year at Landmark College participate
CENTERS FOR ACADEMIC SUPPORT
Landmark College’s Centers for Academic Support offer unparalleled support to students who learn differently, at no additional charge. The Drake Center for Academic Support is the first place students turn for help with reading, writing, and study skills. Academic support centers within individual departments offer drop-in support and one-on-one scheduled appointments with Landmark College faculty.
COUNSELING & HEALTH
Counseling Services are available to provide support to students dealing with stress and other personal, social, or academic difficulties. Health Services offers support for physical issues.
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
The office of Educational Technology Services helps students take advantage of the wide array of technologies that support the needs of students who learn differently.
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION COACHING
Through the office of Coaching Services, Landmark College’s Professional Certified Coaches work with students who have a variety of learning profiles and struggle with executive functioning.
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INTEGRATED SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM
Students with autism who are academically prepared for college may still face significant challenges navigating the social curriculum and adjusting to the more fluid routine of the college student. Landmark College recognizes the need to provide additional programming to assist students with autism to meet their college goals. Our integrated services model for ASD support services provides a structured living and learning environment that combines an effective pedagogical approach with tailored social and other programmatic supports.
Initial courses are offered at non-credit and credit levels. This allows students to be placed in classes where they are able to succeed, from the start. Due to our rigorous academic standards, more than 50% of incoming students begin in non-credit courses, with most moving into credit courses after one or two semesters.
LIBRARY
The Landmark College Library offers walk-in assistance as well as one-on-one appointments with students to assist them with their research projects and with developing information literacy. The Library building offers a welcoming space conducive to individual and small-group study, as well as resources to support students’ curricular and extra-curricular needs and interests.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES & CURRICULUM
Originally founded as a two-year college, Landmark College began offering four-year degrees in 2014. We now offer an array of associate degrees, with optional minors and concentrations. Landmark College offers a diverse selection of courses in anthropology, English, business, communications, humanities, philosophy, psychology, history, literature, math, science, foreign languages, theater, video, music, art, physical education, and other disciplines. For all entering students, the curriculum sequence begins with skills-development courses, designed to address the key areas of writing, reading, communication and study skills. Self-management, as well as the development of self-understanding and self-advocacy, are also important parts of this first-semester curriculum.
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VISIT OUR CAMPUS
Landmark College offers several Open Houses on Saturdays each semester. You can also schedule a visit with our Admissions office any week day during regular business hours by calling 802-387-6718 or emailing admisssions@landmark.edu.
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ADDRESSING EXCELLENCE GAPS ACHIEVING BOTH EQUITY & EXCELLENCE
BY JONATHAN A. PLUCKER The pursuit of educational equity and educational excellence are often seen as competing goals of our schools. I hear such rhetoric at school board meetings, it is implied in blog posts and tweets, and it frequently influences programs in our schools and classrooms. For example, one high-profile district adopted a policy a few years ago that forbade schools from offering algebra to Grade 8 students, under the guise that offering some students that opportunity was incompatible with the district’s equity goals. Yet as I’ve visited schools around the world, I’m always struck by the different assumptions in other countries. Many do not treat equity and excellence as mutually exclusive, and in discussing this with my colleagues
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around the globe, I began to wonder how we can change the prevailing American mindset on these issues. How do we help people understand that we can provide equitable education outcomes and foster high levels of student achievement, and that such efforts can work hand-in-hand? To help answer this question, my colleagues and I developed the concept of excellence gaps. Such gaps represent differences between groups of students at high levels of performance. Far fewer low-income students perform at high levels of achievement in every content area compared to higher-income students. As a case in point, on the 2017 NAEP math test for Grade 4 students, 3% of students receiving lunch assistance
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scored advanced, compared to 14% not receiving lunch aid. Indeed, over the past quarter century, the growth in advanced achievement among higher-income students has sharply increased; advanced achievement rates for low-income students have stagnated. As a result, excellence gaps have grown considerably during this century. Our team primarily focuses on excellence gaps as defined by family income and student race/ethnicity, but excellence gaps exist based on gender, ELL status, and locale (e.g., rural vs. suburban vs. urban students). In most cases, these excellence gaps have also grown considerably over the past couple decades, across all grades and content areas. At the same time, the U.S. rates of advanced achievement compared to other countries are unimpressive. On the last round of TIMSS (Trends in International Math and Science Study) testing in 2015, 10% of U.S. Grade 8 students scored at the advanced level in math, a similar rate to students in the U.K. But 14% of students in Russia scored advanced, as did 34% in Japan, and over 40% in South Korea and Taiwan. We could examine results from other content areas and on PISA, the other major, international testing program, and the data would tell the same story: Low excellence rates for U.S. students compared to their peers in most developed and many developing countries. This evidence – large excellence gaps coupled with low levels of advanced performance – suggest that our traditional, bifurcated approaches to equity and excellence are not working very well. But in talking to K-12 administrators and teachers, many are not
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aware that researchers have identified a range of promising interventions for closing excellence gaps and helping more students become high achievers. The purpose of this series of articles is to share information on specific interventions that hold promise for raising more students to advanced levels of learning and shrinking excellence gaps. Our focus will be primarily on research-based interventions that districts around the country are using effectively, but we will also profile districts that are learning valuable lessons are they try new approaches to equitable talent development. One quick note on terminology: People often ask me if I’m talking about gifted education when I talk about academic excellence. I’m not not talking about, but this discussion is much broader than traditional gifted education. We need to adopt a mindset that large numbers of our students are capable of achieving at high levels – and probably much higher numbers than most of us traditionally expect. Gifted education certainly plays a role in addressing these issues, but the goal here is to help educators create systems of advanced teaching in order to promote advanced learning.
Jonathan A. Plucker is the Julian C. Stanley Professor of Talent Development at the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also a Professor of Education.
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ONLINE DUAL ENROLLMENT BENEFIT OR CHALLENGE? BY MANJU BANERJEE Enrollment in college courses while still in high school has been rapidly growing (NCES, 2013)—even before the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 made dual enrollment a critical strategy for state and local educational agencies in supporting transition to college and allocating funding. ESSA provided the first federal definition of “Dual Enrollment.” Specifically, the ESSA statute (Section 1801) describes dual enrollment (DE) as a “program offered by a partnership between at least one institution of higher education and at least one local educational agency through which a secondary student who has not graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma is able to enroll in one or more postsecondary courses and earn postsecondary credit that:
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• Is transferable to the institutions of high education in the partnership, and • Applies toward completion of a degree or recognized educational credential as described in the Higher Education Act of 1965.” In recent years, however, dual enrollment has attracted unwanted attention with some asserting that it is oversold and not really beneficial in acquiring early college credits (Thomson, 2017). The issue at stake is transferability of college credits and variability in models of DE delivery. While it is true that taking college credits in high school does not guarantee that the credits will automatically transfer to one’s college of choice, there are several benefits to dual enrollment. Dual
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enrollment can help students understand the demands of postsecondary education while still in high school, lower the cost of college by providing free college credits (depending on the state), and offer challenging and varied curricular options not available in the high school.
Benefits of Dual Enrollment for Neurodivergent Students
The premise of this article is that neurodivergent high school students taking dual enrollment need more than college accommodations in these courses (see a description of the differences in accommodations in high school online dual enrollment).
Supporting Neurodivergent Students in an Online Environment
Critics claim that research-based evidence on the benefits of dual enrollment remain sparse. Particularly lacking is information on whether dual enrollment is beneficial for neurodivergent students, such as those with Learning Disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Historically, dual enrollment was reserved for students performing above grade level and seeking a more challenging curriculum. Now, dual enrollment serves multiple purposes.
One such model is Landmark College Online Dual Enrollment. Landmark College in Putney, VT, launched the first-of-its-kind online dual enrollment specifically for neurodiverse high school students just a few years ago. The program experienced a 438 percent increase in student enrollment from spring 2017 to fall 2018. Since then, Landmark College dual enrollment has grown rapidly and owes much of its success to deliberate course design and format of delivery, which includes an online instructor and a course liaison for each course.
An important distinction for neurodivergent students taking dual enrollment is the difference between taking courses primarily for college credits versus the college experience. For many of these students, the college experience offered by dual enrollment outweighs the return on investment of college credits, cost reduction, and/or transferability of credits. Many neurodivergent students who are college-able are not ready for college following high school graduation. Dual enrollment offers a taste of college, while still being supported by special education in high school. The experience of being in a course with college students and participating in college-level coursework offers a unique opportunity for self-advocacy and communication with college professors and peers. For some, it is the best reality check on academic expectations at the postsecondary level.
Course design is anchored in the Landmark College Seal of Quality (LCSQ) for online courses. It is well known that the online platform is not particularly friendly to students with learning, attention, and executive function challenges (Kent, 2015). The LCSQ therefore places critical importance on course design and practice. The LCSQ draws from research-based practices espoused by the Online Learning Consortium and Educause and includes Landmark College pedagogies honed over 30+ years of experiential instruction of neurodivergent students. All courses follow a similar design including orientation and navigation structure. Students are guided through the course material with text, audio and video content. Text is kept to a minimum to facilitate access for student with language processing difficulties; accessible graphics are used to provide multiple means of representation. Screen display is carefully
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crafted so that students first see prioritized information when they open the course activities, such as due dates for a given assignment. Content and course activities are interactive, encouraging peer-to-peer and student-to-instructor interactions. While most of the content is asynchronous, synchronous sessions are provided each week in small groups or on a one-on-one basis with the instructor. The course liaison is a unique and significant component of this model. The liaison serves as an advisor and a transition coach within the course. The model includes onsite liaisons in some instances, and purely online liaisons in others. The role of the liaison is to encourage students to build advocacy and communication skills and to scaffold their learning and support executive function difficulties. For example, when a student has not logged onto the course site in two days, the liaison will reach out to the student to enquire
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why the student has not engaged; or if a student has fallen behind on assignments, the liaison will discuss with the student ways to communicate with the instructor. The role of the liaison is guided by Landmark College’s principles of non-directive coaching which espouse creating a “safe space to fail” while still holding students accountable. The liaison works very closely with the instructor, school personnel, and the online staff at the College to problem solve as situations arise and to ensure smooth operation and communication at all times. Course size is kept small at a maximum of 12 students per course. Currently, the course offerings are small and all are introductory college courses, but plans are underway to offer four new courses in spring and fall 2019.
Manju Banerjee, Ph.D., is Vice President for Educational Research and Innovation at Landmark College.
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
YOUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO PROTECTING STUDENT DATA PRIVACY
Protecting the privacy of student data is a fundamental responsibility of today’s school systems. As education leaders, you need to be empowered to make the right decisions about protecting student data privacy, for today and for the future. In Linnette Attai’s new book, Student Data Privacy: Building a School Compliance Program, you’ll learn what it takes to build a program that protects the personal information of your students while supporting your broader school mission.
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And look for 'Protecting Student Data Privacy: Classroom Fundamentals,' for teachers, available for pre-order on Amazon.
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About the Author For more than 25 years, Linnette Attai has been building organizational cultures of compliance and guiding clients through the complex obligations governing data privacy matters, user safety and marketing. She is the founder of PlayWell, LLC, a full-service compliance consulting firm that takes the complexity out of developing compliant and responsible practices within the framework of your organization’s capabilities, capacities and goals. Learn more at PlayWell-LLC.com and follow us on Twitter @PlayWell_LLC. © PlayWell, LLC™
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EDUCATION & ACCESSIBILITY OF DIGITAL CONTENT, PART 2:
Heading Styles Make Easier Navigation for People With Disabilities BY KAREN MCCALL In Part 1 of this four-part series we looked at the inaccessibility of digital or print-to-digital content as a barrier for parent, students, teachers and staff with disabilities. Part 2 of this series will guide you through using heading styles in Microsoft Word to create navigational points in your documents for people with disabilities. If we think of travelling across the US, we might be able to identify large cities and use them as general navigational points. However, once we get to the suburbs or smaller towns that connect to each other via a highway or country road, we soon get lost. Think of the major cities as chapter headings or high-level topic changes. Think of the sub-
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urbs and smaller towns as the route you take to get to the next chapter. For example, if we think of the state of New Hampshire as a “book,� I93 runs through the state from top to bottom. This is similar to the backbone or structure of a book or document. There is a thread that binds all topics together. If we want to go from Littleton to Nashua we have to go through Franconia. After we go through Franconia, we go through the White Mountains National Forest. If we think of the state as a book, Littleton, Franconia, the White Mountains National Forest and Nashua can be thought of as chapter titles. They represent larger entities or chapters in the book.
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Within the White Mountain National Forest are what can be considered secondary navigational points. These are represented on a map by Lincoln and Woodstock. If we ended up in Gilford, Laconia or Keene, we wouldn’t know where we were because these are not navigational points along I93. We would spend time troubleshooting our way back to our last landmark and then attempt to move forward again.
Mapping our metaphor to a book: • New Hampshire would be the document title. • Littleton, Franconia, the white Mountain National Forest, Concord and Nashua would be Heading 1’s. • Lincoln and Woodstock would be Heading 2’s because they are within the White Mountain National Forest, in effect they are “sub-topics” of the forest. The next question is how to create those navigational points in a word-Processed document. For this example, Microsoft Word is used, however, any application that has the ability to use styles/headings can create this type of navigational structure. This includes Pages, Google Docs and Microsoft Word on iOS or Macs. Word 2016 is used for this article but heading styles have been available in Word “forever.” They might be in a different place, but one of these techniques has
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always been present. Headings MUST be sequential! You can’t skip from a heading 1 to a heading 3. It would be like going from Franconia to Nashua without encountering the White Mountain Forest. You can have several headings of the same level in a row and you can go from a heading 3 to a heading 2 or heading 1, but NOT from a heading 1 to a heading 3. Part of accessible document design is “design.” Think about the structure and logical reading order of your content. First, create the text you want to be a navigational point. While a heading can be two lines of text, multi-line paragraphs are not considered navigational points. Select the text. This is done to confine the heading structure to this text only. Use one of the following methods to make the text a heading/navigational point in the document. 1. On the Home Ribbon of Windows Office 2016, there is a Quick Styles Gallery. Click on the Heading level you want to use for the selected text. a. Microsoft is synchronizing the Windows and Mac user versions of Office 365/Office 2016for Mac. There might not always be an equivalent. For a list of keyboard commands visit https://support.office.com. b. The Quick Styles Gallery in Office 365 for Windows is accessible using the keyboard, however, there is no first character navigation so using this method is tedious. c. Press Alt + H, S in the Windows version of Office 365/Office 2016 to move focus to the Quick Styles Gallery, then use the Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows to locate the style you
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want. Press Enter to apply it.. 2. Use the Styles Pane. The keyboard command is Alt + H, F, Y in the Windows version and is faster than trying to target the small Styles Pane icon in the Quick Styles Gallery shown in the following image.
a. If you are using the keyboard, the Styles Pane is accessible in the Windows version, but you can’t use first character navigation so using this tool is tedious.
want. Click on or press Enter on the style you want, and it is applied to the selected text. b. In the preceding image, the Apply Styles Pane is on the left and the Apply Styles Pane with the list of styles expanded is on the right. 4. Use the keyboard to apply a heading style to selected text for the first three levels of headings. There is currently no keyboard command for headings 4 through 6.
b. The Styles Pane will open to the right of the document. c. Click on the heading style you want to apply to the selected text. a. With the text selected: b. Press Ctrl + Alt + number 1 for a heading 1 in Office for Windows. 3. The Apply Styles Pane can only be launched using the keyboard. The keyboard command is Ctrl + Shift + S. This keyboard command will also put focus on the Apply Styles Pane if you should accidentally lose it. a. There is no Mac equivalent. In Windows Office 365/Office 2016 Apply Styles Pane you can either type the name of the style you want to apply or click on the arrow to the right of the style listed. Pressing Alt + down Arrow while focus is on the name of the style will also expand the list and you can use first character navigation to locate the style you
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c. Press Command + Option + number 1 for a heading 1 in the Mac version of Office 365/2016. d. Press ctrl + Alt + 2 for a heading 2. e. Press Command + Option + 2 for a heading 1 in the Mac version of Office 365/2016. f. Press Ctrl + Alt + 3 for a heading 3. g. Press Command + Option + 3 for a heading 1 in the Mac version of Office 365/2016. Close any of the Panes in Microsoft Office applications by making sure that the Pane has
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
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focus then pressing Ctrl + Spacebar followed by C for Close or by clicking on the X in the upper right.
Figure 1 Navigation Pane showing the headings for the draft of this series of articles.
The Navigation Pane If you want to see the headings you’ve applied to make sure that they are sequential, go to the View Ribbon, Navigation pane check box and check it. The Navigation Pane will appear to the left of the document. As you add, remove or change headings, the actions will be reflected in the Navigation Pane. For example, I wrote all four of these articles in one Word document. At right is what is in the Navigation Pane.
In part 3 of this series, we’ll look at adding Alt text or alternate text for images.
Open Access Technologies makes it easy to take inaccessible documents and make them accessible and conforming to Section 508. To learn more, visit OpenAccessTech.com.
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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
Two key principles of strong, effective communication:
Access and
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AI &
PERSONALIZED LEARNING
Afomeya’s Journey BY MICHELLE ZIMMERMAN This is a story of several generations. A grandmother, a father, a daughter. It spans time and place from Ethiopia to the United States. It’s a story of a lineage from the generations that paved the way for Afomeya Hailu to experience a type of equity and access that the previous generations didn’t have, and thanks to advancements in technology, there are new possibilities for people to highlight story, culture, tradition, and share important stories that anchor us to who we are and our humanity. Afomeya Hailu is a 10th grade student. Her family is from Ethiopia. Her goal is to pursue a 34
career in the medical field by entering a dual enrollment program to complete her last two years of high school and her first two years of college at the same time through Running Start. Many locations around the United States have opportunities like this for students. She was recently nominated to attend the Congress of Future Medical Leaders. Afomeya is so much more than this. A brief profile is not enough to convey a full story and who each of the students in a school are as learners and individuals. Neither is assuming every learner enrolled in the same class is on the same level of experience or understanding. Within the past several months, I’ve had conversations with educators across the United States who assume
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
that all students enrolled in the same level of English Language Arts, World Language, or Math courses is a strong indicator that the majority (or even all) of the students are progressing at the same level, and that is why educators should keep the pace consistent for all learners. I’m taking a different approach to looking at how human-computer interaction can support equity and accessibility across a wide range of learning, from ethnography and humanities to mathematics. I’ll begin with Humanities. Scholastic has collected national data, surveying 20,000 educators (see more on the methodology here) about variation and classroom dynamics. 73% of educators surveyed reported that they had students in their class with reading levels that span four or more grade levels. 69% of educators surveyed identified students in their class who are working two or more grades below grade level, and 60% identified students who are gifted or working significantly above grade level. 52% have English Language Learners. This data demonstrates that in a typical class-
room there is substantial variation and the discussion on equity and accessibility should be for all classrooms and all students.
EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY TAKE ON MANY FORMS IN EDUCATION Beyond definitions and the ways schools address these topics, our concern should really be about finding strong matches in teaching and learning to reach the capabilities of each individual. When we do that, we have a better chance at helping them discern the right goals to set for themselves, supported by their own personal experiences. As young people go through various experiences and stages in life, we want them to know how to readjust their goals, set standards, and be able to navigate spaces in life that will be full of ambiguity, conflict and struggle. We want them to not only make it through those times, but to thrive and apply their learning to continually grow and know who they are as individuals. We want them to have the tools to support themselves as they go through life where technologies, jobs, relationships, and various types of access and accessibility shift all around them. Rather than give up, we want them to become resourceful and resilient in how they approach challenging or negative situations.
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In helping young people develop skills that extend beyond the classroom, we want them to know how to direct their learning, access tools and resources to help and give them opportunities for personalized learning that also becomes very personal. Although definitions vary, personalized learning indicates that students engaging in this type of learning are not all doing the same thing at the same time.
students to explore different avenues of inquiry, while gleaning valuable insights
It’s safe for educators to have all students engaging in content at the same pace. It feels concrete. However, it gives a false sense of security that all students are progressing at the same pace together. There are many well-meaning educators and education leaders who have been trained to think that for a typically developing classroom to be successful they should maintain the same pace for all learners.
PERSONALIZED LEARNING Unlike more traditional approaches to education, personalized learning provides a chance to focus on a very human element of learning—the unique needs and differences of students as they explore the depths of their own curiosity. As we work to develop the capabilities in today’s young people that will distinguish them from ever-smarter machines, personalized learning offers a pathway for allowing vital skills like creativity and critical thinking to flourish. At the same time, Artificial Intelligence is enabling greater levels of personalization than ever before, with tools that expand ateacher’s capacity to allow
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about how each young person learns. The photo above shows Afomeya using a Surface, equipped with digital ink, and her mobile device as she was interviewing her grandmother about their family’s history for an Ethnography project in 9th grade. She explained that since her grandmother lives in another state, it was hard to schedule an interview for the project as she needed her aunt to translate so they could understand each other. She sent her aunt questions in advance and while her aunt translated, Afomeya took notes. Through the process, she learned more about her family legacy and what her family experienced before arriving at the United States. A variety of tools supported Afomeya to help her achieve a
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goal of learning more about ethnographies. Sway is a free tool that helped her communicate the story to a broader audience. You can see her final product here. This ethnography assignment was a personalized, project-based learning experience anchored in Social Studies that turned into a video and includes multiple forms of media, the process and criteria for the project, as well as a way to share her learning with a broader audience beyond just submitting it to a teacher.
She used digital ink in OneNote to storyboard and sketch out concepts for her final layout, but machine learning assisted her in the design layout for her final presentation.
HUMANITY, CULTURE, AND STORYTELLING
a stack of digital note cards that you can drop multiple forms of media from audio recordings and videos, to images and text, then rearrange those digital note cards, tap “play” and it takes all your content and presents it as a polished, presentable artifact at any point along the way.
ACCESSIBILITY & DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION For students who can benefit from additional language, reading, dictation, grammar and proofreading assistance, they can take this same project but lean into the support from accessibility tools. There is a course for educators called “Accessibility Tools: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners” that explores the features that are already built into Office 365 tools. These features use something called natural language processing and machine learning to support accessibility, and was originally created to support people with dyslexia and vision impairment. There are so many applications for students who don’t need that same kind of support but benefit from having their writing read out loud to assist in the revision process, dictation, and seeing the parts of speech highlighted in their writing.
This is an example of a project that places humanity, identity, culture, and storytelling as a main focus, while machine learning, a component of Artificial Intelligence, helps support in the layout and design of the final presentation, taking care of the animations in the digital artifact that can easily be shared.
You can learn more about accessibility tools in action, OneNote Immersive Reader, and see Karrick’s story about his experience.
In addition, the machine learning supports search features and identifies content that is tagged as Creative Commons, meaning that students can freely use, reproduce, or create knowledge with that media. Imagine Sway as
Afomeya’s personalized learning doesn’t stop with the humanities. To have a stronger chance at being successful in the medical field, she needs to have a strong grasp of mathematics. If you have taught mathemat-
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PERSONALIZED LEARNING SUPPORTED BY AI FOR MATH
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ics, you know you will never have a classroom of students in which all arrive with the same prior knowledge, ask the same questions, work at the same pace, or approach practicing and studying for math in the same way. As an educator, if you are given freedom in how you choose to teach math, you may have several options to consider. One option could be to maintain consistency and cohesiveness by ensuring all students keep the same pace and progress through content together. Another option is to allow students to progress at their own pace. If you have ever tried this method, you know how difficult it can be—no, humanly impossible—to keep track of where everyone is at any given moment and assess sometimes drastically different content at the same time. Differentiated learning often involves bouncing between topics to answer questions and support student learning just in time for the next wave of questions. Solutions now exist to support differentiated learning using the basic foundational components of AI. McGraw Hill Mathematics has an adaptive program called ALEKS. The next two images are screen shots of Afomeya’s progress in Geometry for the first half of this school year. This dashboard helps identify areas that are solidly mastered and what areas she is still learning. ALEKS uses AI to help identify gaps in mathematics understanding and then helps redirect students to practice areas they need more support.
Afomeya Hailu in Teaching AI, 2018: I was introduced to ALEKS when I was in seventh grade. When I first began using it, I was very skeptical about how it worked and the accuracy of the program. Before ALEKS, math class to me was a place where the teacher taught a lesson, and you completed an assignment. After using ALEKS for a few years now, my math classes have changed drastically. In addition to daily lessons and assignments from my teacher my math class involves working through my ALEKS course. ALEKS is an online math course that allows teachers to keep track of their students’ progress in various math courses. You complete your math course at your own pace. This means in one school year you can complete multiple courses, or just one. At our school, we are required to complete at least one math course each year, and a minimum of 15 topics each week. In each ALEKS math course, there are multiple sections, such as Linear Equations or Real Numbers. Each of these sections has multiple topics. You are given a lesson and two to three questions to answer for each topic. If you answer all the questions correctly, you pass the topic. After a certain number of topics and hours spent in an ALEKS course, each student is given a mandatory Knowledge Check. During a Knowledge Check, you are tested on the topics you have learned recently. Once you finish the test you might have to revisit a few topics based on whether you got the answers correct or not. One thing I have found is if my daily lessons in class correspond with the topics I am learning in ALEKS I retain the information better. Throughout the years, I have noticed that when ALEKS is used hand-in-hand with
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Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
in-class lessons and projects, it helps me understand everything more clearly. The in-class lessons help me understand the base components I need for my grade-level math, and ALEKS helps me move at my own pace in my personal math courses. Times where I only have ALEKS are often spent completing topics but never remembering what I learned. When I only have in-class math lessons I find myself getting bored and restricted. When these two methods are put together, I have found that it is more effective for me. (Afomeya Hailu, in Teaching AI, 2018). To learn more about ways Artificial Intelligence can support equity and accessibility and see more examples of Afomeya’s work, along with her colleagues, read the new book, Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning. As part of my commitment to equity, student voice is woven through the book, as well as perspectives from educators from around the world. Sharice Lee, Rhonwyn Fleming, Emelyn Sung, and Afomeya Hailu all contributed to the content of the book. They are all breaking the stereotypes for girls in STEM. They are all using AI to support their own goals for learning from forensics, to astrophysics, to film production and the medical field, each young woman has a story, a lineage, a history. Each is unique. Each is far more than a profile. Human-computer interaction, when done effectively, can help support human connection, progress, creativity, empathy, and identity. When not taken seriously and thought through, equity gaps could increase in the presence of AI. Accessibility tools allow learners to go far beyond what traditional education has afforded them the opportunity in the past.
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Michelle Zimmerman, author of “Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning” received her PhD in Learning Sciences and Human Development from University of Washington, College of Education. She has spoken around the world including London’s BETT and Croatia’s CARNET. With 12 years of conducting original research at the intersection of technology and socio-cultural perspective, and implementing research into practice, she has also served on the University of Washington, College of Education Advisory Board, and adjunct at Concordia University. 18 years in the classroom (PreK -10th), her students gained international recognition through global school visits hosting Ministries of Education and Delegates at Renton Prep from China, Pakistan, Serbia, Australia, UK, Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Taiwan, New Zealand, Wales, and Netherlands, and U.S.A among others. She is published in Springer’s International Human-Computer Interaction Series and press such as VentureBeat, and Forbes. She has collaborated with industry leaders from Pixar to Lockheed Martin, Valve, and Scientific American. As a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, she’s been selected three consecutive years as Microsoft MVP for global impact, has briefed Satya Nadella and his executive team, and was invited to contribute at a Microsoft Leadership Summit in Singapore in 2018 and Paris in 2019 and her leadership has led to her school, Renton Prep, being the first K-12 school in operation in the United States to be selected among 17 global schools to be identified as part of the Flagship Schools Program.
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RETHINKING 12TH GRADE BY MICHAEL DANNENBERG & ANNE HYSLOP
Homecoming. Prom. Commencement. For generations of Americans, senior year of high school has been a rite of passage. But senior year also brings senioritis and that itching feeling for what comes next—a feeling exacerbated for the roughly one in four high school juniors who are academically ready for college-level work before 12th grade begins, according to ACT data. The existing model of four years of high school and four years of college is system-focused instead of student-driven. Rethinking how we, as an American educational system, approach 12th grade could give these estimated 850,000 college-ready students a leg up on their academic career—while also freeing up resources to support those who are behind. It could help solve one of the most vexing problems facing students as they transition to and through higher education: skyrocketing college costs and student loan debt. Instead of the traditional 12th grade year, what if at the end of 11thgrade, students who demonstrate college readiness had meaningful options to enroll in college-level coursework, full-time—and what if public funding encouraged this choice? These “Fast Track” pathways for students would make high school better and the journey to a college degree faster and cheaper.
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We envision a primary pathway that would give high school juniors who are academically ready the opportunity to take a full-time sequence of college-level courses in 12th grade—with a crucial guarantee that if they pass the sequence, it would transfer into useable college credit at any public college or university statewide. Students who choose this pathway would still spend four years in high school, but they would start college ahead of the game—giving them the option of graduating from college early and saving them (and taxpayers) on college costs. A second, more out-of-the-box alternative pathway would allow eligible students to graduate from high school a year early, with the reward of a scholarship to attend any in-state public college—funded by taxpayer money saved when they spend three years in high school instead of four. This pathway could provide much-needed scholarship funds to students, particularly since 30 percent of the students we estimate would be eligible for a Fast Track pathway come from low-income families, again according to ACT data. This multi-path, Fast Track system is closer to reality than one might think, because it would build on programming that already exists in many states. Currently, millions of students take Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment classes.
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
But some 40 percent of AP course-taking does not result in college credit, and more than 40 percent of dual enrollment and regular college course credits are lost when students attempt to transfer, according to College Board and the Government Accountability Office. States should ensure that all public colleges accept credits for all introductory-level, early
postsecondary coursework taken by high school graduates—like AP and dual enrollment—that meets minimum performance standards. Moreover, these credits should transfer toward degree requirements, not mere elective credits. Some states have taken steps in this direction. Twenty states already have policies requiring public colleges to accept AP exam results for credit. Florida has a model statewide credit transfer policy whereby an associate degree transfers into two years of credit at all public four-year colleges statewide. AP Biology and Bio 101 at Miami Dade Community College are not substantively different from Bio 101 at Florida State. States should also expand the availability of early college coursework, including quality on-line options, so a Fast Track pathway can exist at all schools—even rural schools with limited access to in-person AP or dual enrollment options—so that all eligible students can fast track to college, free-of-charge. The building blocks for the second Fast Track pathway are also already in place. For example, in Indiana the Mitch Daniels Early High School Graduation Scholarship helps students get an advance start on higher education, along with a $4,000 scholarship they can put toward school. Other states should go even bigger on the scholarship front. A student-driven approach to the transition from high school to higher education not only benefits students, but also states and taxpayers. States would also generate savings to re-invest in college readiness efforts from the main Fast Track pathway when students graduate college in three or four years, instead of the typical five or six—an estimated $1.8 billion annually in savings if only a quarter of eligible fast track students participate.
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And for every high school junior who chooses to graduate high school early, a state could reallocate an average of $11,000 per student—or the amount that would have been spent on a student’s 12th grade education. If only 10 percent of eligible high school juniors participate, nearly $1 billion could be saved each year and reinvested in early college scholarships and improved high school programs for everyone. New Fast Track pathways will not solve the college affordability problem, but they can make a significant difference financially—and academically—for hundreds of thousands of students. Let’s make the senior of high school one that counts for everyone—students, teachers, and
taxpayers alike—by rethinking 12thgrade in a way that meets the needs of every student and helps them excel, thrive, and succeed as soon as they’re ready. They shouldn’t have to wait.
Michael Dannenberg is Director of Strategic Initiatives for Policy at Education Reform Now, a non-profit, education progressive advocacy group. Anne Hyslop is Assistant Director of Policy Development & Government Relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education a non-profit policy and advocacy group focused on high school improvement.
ROBUST SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL SUPPORTS ARE VITAL TO ENGLISH LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC GROWTH
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By Ed Lamprich VP of English Learner Strategy McGraw-Hill
currently being supported, what gaps persist, and what further research should be conducted.
Effectively supporting English learners (ELs) in a PreK-12 environment is complex: as a rapidly growing population, ELs as a group speak a wide variety of languages and come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Their unique needs require a careful look at how they are
The McGraw-Hill EL Education Report surveyed teachers and district leaders in order to identify some of the most pressing challenges PreK-12 teachers currently face in supporting ELs, and the approaches currently used to address EL needs.
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Educators cited social and emotional learning as the biggest hurdle for ELs. For many readers, this will not come as a surprise: linguistic and cultural barriers can complicate ELs’ relationship to the classroom environment, and many ELs have experienced trauma as a result of migration or cultural challenges. In the survey, 69% of administrators and 65% of teachers report that conversations about immigration impact their school’s environment. Surveyed educators cite collaborative group work and games as the most impactful approaches on EL achievement. This, too, makes sense: research tells us that the connection between language skills and practicing vocabu-
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lary verbally with peers can strengthen reading and writing skills. The challenge, however, is creating an environment where ELs feel empowered, safe, and comfortable engaging in these types of collaborative activities. Teachers are challenged with providing ELs with the social and emotional supports they need to feel confident interacting with their peers – particularly when teachers are concerned about available SEL supports for their English learners. Research has long told us that SEL instruction should be integrated throughout the school day and into academic instruction for all students. It
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is helpful to consider how SEL supports specific to meeting EL needs can be embedded into these collaborative vocabulary activities. Research also tells us that culturally responsive teaching is key to creating affirming cultural spaces for EL students, where they will feel empowered to participate in collaborative work. Educators can support ELs in an impactful way by integrating culturally responsive social and emotional supports into academic content. For example, culturally relevant literature selections with summaries made available in multiple languages can serve as a powerful supplemental tool to
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drive important classroom academic discussion while fostering literacy skills. While more research needs to be done to identify best practices for supporting ELs’ social and emotional development alongside academic growth, educators’ collective attention to English Learners’ unique needs will be vital in prioritizing their success.
To view the full results of the McGraw-Hill EL Education Report, visit: mheducation.com/ELreport
Accessibility, Compliance & Equity in Education | Spring, 2019
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Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls Independent School District (WFISD) knew they had a problem: nearly half of their students enter kindergarten unprepared with the basic skills they need to be successful in school. Doctor Travis Armstrong, Director of Early Learning for WFISD, is intimately familiar with the struggles families can encounter with early learning and equal access to quality PreK education. "Children who aren't technically enrolled in the school district, they're at home, but they have a need. They have a need to be educated, they have a need of building that foundation before they enter kindergarten, but potentially there's some barrier there." When families don't qualify for a government-funded preschool program, he says it's incredibly difficult to turn them away because "You're not Just turning down that family, you're turning down that child." Superintendent Michael Kuhrt stresses the importance of children being properly and
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equally prepared for kindergarten: "We know where the starting line is, we know where the finish line Is, and we want every student starting at the same starting line." The district understood they needed to reach more students before they enter kindergarten and needed to increase early education access to help families who don't qualify for a PreK program, can't afford private preschool, or are in rural areas where programs simply aren't available.
Accessible Early Childhood Education Kuhrt spearheaded an effort to bring more PreK options to the district. After hearing about Waterford, the district launched a pilot of Waterford UPSTART, offering the program in the homes of 91 qualified families.
�Waterford
UPSTART
Waterford UPSTART is an at-home kindergarten readiness program that is provided at no cost to children and families. The adaptive computer program engages students with educational activities and fun characters while teaching them math, science, and, most importantly, reading.
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"Our kids have to be literate," Dr. Armstrong explains. He is passionate about prioritizing early education, starting with literacy; "Learning to read Is the first step" in a child's education, he explains. "The main goal is every four-year-old in our community has the opportunity to learn what they need to learn before they come to kindergarten. The program beautifully fills that gap." As a nonprofit, Waterford works directly with local legislatures and school districts for implementation while grants and donations help fund the program. Qualifying families even receive a computer and
Internet at no cost to ensure the participants of low-income and rural households have every opportunity to receive PreK education.
One family using Waterford UPSTART is the Crawfords.
We spoke with Debra Crawford about the progress
her daughter Corena has been making since beginning Waterford UPSTART, including learning her letters, the
sounds they make, and recognizing them outside of the program.
Beyond the lessons,
Corena has gained experience with technology and computers she wouldn't have otherwise had.
"Before Waterford UPSTART, Corena had never even used a mouse," Debra said. Another family selected for the program is the Humphyreys. Charisse Humphyreys is the parent of
four-year-old Nathan, who latched onto the program. Charisse says he feels confident because "It's not
mom's. It's not dad's. It's not brother's. This is his program, and he's going to gain from it what he puts
into it"
The Waterford UPSTART program includes updates from personal care representatives who keep families on track through phone calls, emails, and progress reports. Both families expressed appreciation for those updates.
"As a parent," Charisse explains, "I think he knows everything, so when I get those reports each week, I'm actually able to see where he struggles, where he needs a little more help, and then It also gives
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me what he's doing great, so I can praise him for those things." Students who complete the program prove to be ahead of their peers in kindergarten and even through
the fourth grade. WFISD is optimistic their children who graduate from Waterford UPSTART will enter kindergarten with the skills they need to start out on the right track.
Early Education Equity in Schools Despite the district's best efforts, they know that many children still will enter kindergarten without attending
preschool or receiving PreK education like Corena and Nathan, so many schools in the district have early education programs to catch up those students.
Along with Waterford UPSTART, the district also
launched Waterford Early Learning in several of their elementary schools, a PreK through 2nd grade early reading, math, and science program. Elise Fox teaches four and fiveÂ
year-olds in the district and has been impressed by the progress her students have been making since beginning Waterford Early
Learning. She loves sitting down with the parents of students who
were struggling to show them the improvements their children made over the months.
Dr. Armstrong is the point of contact between the district and Waterford and explains how beneficial
the partnership is for the district as well. To make a
case for early education funding, the district needs to prove it works, and "The data component is huge,"
Dr. Armstrong explains. "The reports that we have have shown ... that students are consistently mastering the objectives that they're assigned to master in reading, in math, and in science." Teachers and administrators are encouraged by the progress their students are making in Just a few short
months and by the potential positive impact their efforts will have on the coming years.
WFISD's investment in children and their education is taking important steps so all students begin at that
same starting line, helping to ensure no child falls behind in their education and has an equal fighting chance for success as the rest of their peers, â–
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WORK-BASED LEARNING
FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES BY TRACY MACCIA
John Dewey (1916) said that students learn best when learning activities are explicitly connected to the real world. Meaningful work-based learning experiences are unmistakably connected to the real world and require teachers and administrators to address the critical issue of integrating school curriculum with business and industry expectations. This work-based learning program focuses on: self-advocacy, self-determination, work-place readiness, job maintenance, independent living, financial planning, transportation usage, state agency and business partnerships.
Creating Partnerships with State Agencies and Local Businesses
Labor force statistics for January 2015 estimate that 19.6% of adults with disabilities over the age of 16 are employed, compared with 68.2% of those without disabilities (Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2015). Labor force data also indicate that workers with disabilities had significantly higher levels of job loss and hardship during the recession, and have not benefitted from the economic recovery as much as their non-disabled counterparts (Butterworth, et al, 2010). For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the disparity in employment participation widens. The numbers tell
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the story: Students with disabilities enrolled in secondary educational programs need work-based learning experiences. Furthermore, approximately 62% of students with work experience as part of secondary school career and technical education programs maintain competitive jobs, as opposed to 45% without (Rounds, 1997, Holloran & Johnson, 1992).
Work-Based Learning Studies have shown that students engaged in integrated career and community experiences, especially career education and paid work, are more likely to experience positive employment outcomes (Ferretti & Eisenman, 2010). Work-based learning is embedded in the New Jersey Learning Standard, 9.3 for career pursuits. Dr. Tracey Maccia, Director of Special Education for Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools (MCVTS) developed goals and objectives for the program based on pre-employment skills in the area of life skills (such as good hygiene, appropriate clothing and behavior, and transportation skills), affective skills (such as selfconfidence, awareness of own strengths, interests and abilities), and employability skills (recognition of authority, good attendance, job knowledge, ability to give and request assistance, and quality work production). Work-based learning provides secondary students with four benefits that are not easily acquired in a classroom environment: 1. An authentic context for applying problem-solving skills under normal work-related restraints and stresses. 2. A familiarity with varied careers and exposure to different leadership styles. 3. An appreciation for the connection between the worksites and continued learning and personal growth.
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4. Opportunities for networking with future employers, adult mentors, and the New Jersey Division of Vocational and Rehabilitation Services (NJDVRS).
Agency Partnerships Since 2016, approximately 250 students with disabilities from the district have participated in paid work-based learning opportunities made possible through a partnership with the New Jersey Division of Vocational and Rehabilitation Services authorized by Pre-Employment Transition Services funded under section 113 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. As the Director, I led the initiative by forwarding a letter of interest to NJDVRS for pre-employment transition services in the form of paid work-based learning. Soon after, I initiated a partnership with the New Jersey Travel Independence Program (NJTIP) to provide transportation training to students traveling to their jobs and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to deliver transition-based curriculum. Last but not least, partnerships were developed with the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities (NJCDD) and Workforce Development of Middlesex County to enhance the work-based learning program and create a system built on strong interagency partnerships.
Business Partnerships The relationships among schools and the communities in which they operate are essential to student learning (Juszczak, Moody, & Vega-Matos, 1998). These partnerships provide many and varied benefits which include increasing school capacity and enhancing educational experiences for students.
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Self-Determination, Self-Advocacy and Independence
Students have been placed at various job sites, such as the Raritan Bay YMCA, Hackensack-Meridian Health Center in Perth Amboy, E.A.R.T.H. Center, and the YMCA of Metuchen, Edison, Woodbridge and South Amboy. The partnership with NJDVRS led to a Business Outreach Summit to educate businesses on disability awareness to build conďŹ dence and experience in the ability to communicate comfortably and appropriately with customers, coworkers or potential hires who have disabilities. Implementing partnerships such as these is instrumental in sustaining student-focused planning and student development practices, such as work experiences and student involvement in planning (Kohler & Field, 2003).
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Studies have found that helping students acquire and exercise self-determination skills leads to more positive educational outcomes (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997). Since 2016, the program has evolved to address closing the work gap between disabled and non-disabled post-secondary students. As the Director, I revitalized curriculum offerings to reect more authentic, relevant career planning options, such as a Workplace Readiness curriculum (Knight & Aucoin, 1999). Additionally, I partnered with the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities to provide direct instruction in self-determination. Self-determination is a concept reecting the belief that all individuals have the right to direct their own lives. Students who have self-determination skills are more likely to be successful in making the transition to adulthood, including employment and community independence (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997). In addition, students are taught transportation skills to become familiar with the transit routes from school to work.
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Teaching students how to navigate transportation assists in removing barriers and giving students greater access to jobs, services and social networks is an independent life skill. It empowers students to take greater control of their lives, enabling them to learn new skills and take advantage of opportunities in their communities. Finally, the partnership with the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce provides direct instruction to the students on the challenges of the world of work.
ever, family advocates continue to play a signiďŹ cant role while students with disabilities are developing their self-advocacy skills. Students themselves report the need for their families to guide and support them as they plan for the future. The value of family involvement is well-understood by this Director. The district hosts a parent orientation for each student cohort, as well as a Transition Fair for parents to become familiar with services pre and post-graduation.
Teacher Training
Conclusion
As the Director, I planned and coordinated a professional development program for special education teachers wishing to gain a better understanding of their role in work-based learning. The focus was on job exploration counseling and workplace readiness to better support the students with disabilities in their classrooms. Each classroom was outďŹ tted with a mobile technology lab to access transition features of New Jersey Career Assistance Network (NJCAN), a free, online, interactive resource designed to support lifelong career exploration, career planning and decision making through easy-to-use, straightforward search and sorting utilities adopted by the New Jersey Department of Education.
Work-based learning experiences have the strong potential to engage students with disabilities into intellectualizing critically about their future occupations, the realities of the world of work, and the undeniable applicability of education to their own destinies. To be career ready, students must take ownership of their learning including the nonacademic skills of self-determination and self-advocacy. A career ready student understands their strengths and interests and ultimately gains an appreciation of the skills necessary for employment. In the future, we will need a more effective, balanced, and truly inclusive public educational system, one that promotes knowledge of both the world of academics and the world of work. It takes a community to provide high quality work-based learning experiences to students with disabilities.
Parent Participation Parent participation and leadership in transition planning play an important role in assuring successful transitions for youth with disabilities (DeStefano, Heck, Hasazi, & Furney, 1999; Furney, Hasazi, & DeStefano, 1997; Hasazi, et al., 1999). Family members also contribute to work readiness and employability in a number of ways, both directly and indirectly, and in manners beyond those typically recognized. Ideally, students should be able to advocate for their own choices during transition planning. How-
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Dr. Tracey Maccia, Director of Special Education, is on a mission to provide work-based learning experiences to students with disabilities at Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools. Dr. Maccia was successful in the award of a grant from the Department of Labor to provide students with disabilities with paid work-based learning opportunities.
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