Charmelle: CCSS and Special Education?

It may seem strange that I am about to embark on the start of a new school year and I’m  already having thoughts about the end of the year testing. While it may seem that I am jumping a bit ahead of myself in the planning game, these thoughts were actually ignited from a workshop that I attended this week.

I was recently selected along with other educators throughout the District of Columbia to participate in a standard setting workshop for the city’s comprehensive end-of-the-year assessment for second grade because it has recently been added as a new testing grade.

The standard setting process allowed us to make decisions about the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students should have in order to be classified in one of the performance levels. These performance levels are below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. We also are spending time establishing the cut scores for three of those performance areas mentioned.

During this process, we have received training, signed many documents to ensure testing security, engaged in dialogue about the content standards and expectations of each performance level. Today, we had the opportunity to go through last year’s test that was administered for the first time to the second grade students. It allowed us the opportunity to review the content and see how the items align with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that have been adopted by the District and were rolled out last year. I found this opportunity very exciting because I wanted to make sure, like many of my fellow special educators in the room, that children with disabilities were considered during the process.

As we looked through questions, I couldn’t help but place myself in my students’ shoes and see how it was for them taking this test even with their accommodations. It challenged me to really deconstruct the CCSS and look further into the skills that each of my students would need to grow and perform better.

The CCSS seem wonderful and a great addition to the District. It concerns me, though, that as the standards become more complex as  students move along and they are expected to have acquired certain skills each year, what happens when students have not been exposed to these skills previously? Or students have not acquired the skills to build on?

Many of my students fall into these categories. How do I then align their IEP goals with these new standards? As a new teacher I want to ensure that my students have a solid foundation to build on so that they can reach their potential and be successful.

I would love hear from other special educators who are currently tackling the challenge of Common Core State Standards. 

Comments

[Nicole]

Charmelle,

My school began using the CCSS this year. Since we take the New Jersey Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Test, my school is under pressure because of the achievement gap. To improve these skills, we purchased two new programs that tailor to these standards and so far, I have seen great success with my students.
You had spoken about being concerned about your students with math. We use Envision Math for all of our students that align with the CCSS. I have found it extremely beneficial being a special education teacher that these programs have varied activities to do with your students for each skill. They provide reteaching, practice, and enrichment pages also to help differentiate the instruction. To introduce lessons with my students who struggle in math, I sometimes visit the previous grades material and use the same skill, just on their levels.
However, you always have to have your students best interest in mind and thinking ahead to the test is important. I can say that I am worried about my students' performance, but am hopeful that this new math series, which teaches mastery of specific skills, will provide the students with enough experiences and skills to help them become proficient on the test.
When creating an IEP, we now use the CCSS as goals for English Language Arts and Mathematics. I feel that this will help assist us in creating meaningful lessons and activities. The CCSS make it easier to flow from one grade to the next.

[Kristine]

I have also been wondering what the CCSS, especially in math, will mean for students receiving special services. There is much more focus on problem solving and algebraic skills, which is a good thing. But it can be difficult to get students the basic skills practice they need while also engaging them in problem-based activities. I hope that with the new standards will come many new ideas of how to help our students reach those standards.

[Reflectresourcerm.blogspot.com]

We have started using Common Core standards in my state this year! I have a lot of the same questions as you have. I have been working with a grant project that is building the alternative tests for students with significant cognitive disabilities for my state, and many of our students are not up near all of the levels that the standards my require. We have been talking about universal learning design theory, which has given me a few ideas on how to get my students both with significantly cognitively disablilies and specific learning disabilities a little bit closer. I am sure you have heard of illuminations, which is part of the Thinkfinity group, but that has given me a ton of ideas for lessons that are closer to the Common Core Standards in math. There are quite a few standards that I know my students will not get close to. I think one of my greatest successes has been at least exposing some of my kids to about everything. I have had students who may not be able to understand all the money concepts but can do some serious geometry and algebra. Too early I think special educators get stuck on small concepts like money and they do not expose students to the higher level skills and kids may miss what they may excel at.