Hello,
It has been a week or two since I have been able to write a new post. I could certainly give a lot of reasons or 'excuses' to the delay, but I would rather give a list of items that I am thankful for in celebration of our upcoming Thanksgiving Break:
I am thankful for:
-a successful move to Student Services new office area. Please feel free to stop by and see Karen and myself in Room 210 at the LRC!
-AEA staff that support our students, teachers, and building administrators. Did you know the AEA staff are working on a group project with elementary buildings to support students on the autism spectrum in all of our buildings?
-all of the student support teachers that keep our students focused on learning and designing unique ways to deliver instruction!
-guidance from our Department of Education and Ron Peeler, our district attorney to help with supporting families and students by making sure we follow procedures and legal "stuff" in our programming.
-for a Thanksgiving break! May you all enjoy some well deserved time and rest during this Thanksgiving break....(we will get back to more 'technical' messages next week!)
Take Care,
Julie
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Testing Accommodations and more....
Hello!
Ok....this is the second post of the day...the first one was not meant to go out....did you know if you hit the tab button too many times...your blog post will be sent out?! :-)
It is a Friday afternoon in November and I am still able to get by with a light coat....Iowa weather is amazing! Last year at this time I believe there was snow on the ground and the mittens were already on the hands!
One thing that does stay steady is ITBS/ITED testing! Whew! The week is over and unless I hear something in the next half hour, everyone made it through without too many accommodation challenges! Please do note that when an IEP meeting is held, it is always good to review the testing accommodations that are defined for district wide testing. A few areas to clarify include:
Extended time....please define what extended time means...the best guideline is to use 1 1/2 times the set time for a test. (This gets extremely important in middle school and high school programming!)
Scribe vs. writing in the test booklet.....the rule of thumb is to offer a scribe rather than writing in the testbook. We can't copy the test booklet pages (illegal!) and writing in the booklet means the booklet can not be returned!
Small group setting.....hard to define what is a small group...by definition a small group can be two people or up to...a smaller number than the class size....pretty grey area.
Testing accommodations are always a challenge for us, especially this time of year. But as many of you hear me say almost daily...."The beauty of special education is that it is individualized.....the challenge of special education is that it is individualized!!"
From the myths of special education by Thomas Mayes:
Myth: "All this compliance [garbage] is getting in the way of improving student performance." Thomas' reply: Compliance is the road to improved performance. Each compliance 'issue' has a demonstrable link to achievement.
May you enjoy this compliance free weekend with any accommodations that you find helpful!
Have a good one!
Julie
Ok....this is the second post of the day...the first one was not meant to go out....did you know if you hit the tab button too many times...your blog post will be sent out?! :-)
It is a Friday afternoon in November and I am still able to get by with a light coat....Iowa weather is amazing! Last year at this time I believe there was snow on the ground and the mittens were already on the hands!
One thing that does stay steady is ITBS/ITED testing! Whew! The week is over and unless I hear something in the next half hour, everyone made it through without too many accommodation challenges! Please do note that when an IEP meeting is held, it is always good to review the testing accommodations that are defined for district wide testing. A few areas to clarify include:
Extended time....please define what extended time means...the best guideline is to use 1 1/2 times the set time for a test. (This gets extremely important in middle school and high school programming!)
Scribe vs. writing in the test booklet.....the rule of thumb is to offer a scribe rather than writing in the testbook. We can't copy the test booklet pages (illegal!) and writing in the booklet means the booklet can not be returned!
Small group setting.....hard to define what is a small group...by definition a small group can be two people or up to...a smaller number than the class size....pretty grey area.
Testing accommodations are always a challenge for us, especially this time of year. But as many of you hear me say almost daily...."The beauty of special education is that it is individualized.....the challenge of special education is that it is individualized!!"
From the myths of special education by Thomas Mayes:
Myth: "All this compliance [garbage] is getting in the way of improving student performance." Thomas' reply: Compliance is the road to improved performance. Each compliance 'issue' has a demonstrable link to achievement.
May you enjoy this compliance free weekend with any accommodations that you find helpful!
Have a good one!
Julie
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