Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

The Inclusion Of Classroom-Related Dispositions In Teacher Evaluations, David K. Griffin

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This paper examines various approaches to evaluating the classroom teacher and discusses the inclusion of dispositions in the evaluation process. A random sample of 150 teachers were asked to complete an online survey focusing on the inclusion of dispositions in their formal evaluations. They were asked to report what specific dispositions were evaluated, and if the specific dispositions were operationally defined. A summary of their responses to the survey items is discussed.

Early Intervention Speech-Language Pathologists’ Knowledge, Beliefs, And Practices Surrounding Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Assessment Practices For Dual Language Learners, Rebecca Lynne Jarzynski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Early intervention (EI) speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are required to provide culturally and linguistically responsive assessments for dual language learners (DLLs) within an increasingly diverse population. Previous research has documented gaps between SLPs’ beliefs related to assessments for DLLs and their implementation of best practices within school-based and pediatric outpatient settings. The purpose of this present research study was to better understand the current knowledge, beliefs, and practices of EI SLPs in relation to the use of culturally and linguistically responsive assessment practices within the context of EI programs. A total of 134 EI SLPs completed a nationwide survey in which …

Developing A K-12 School Leadership Plan, Marian E. Truehill

Journal of Research Initiatives

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a K-12 School Leadership plan for public, private, and parochial educational institutions. The K-12 School Leadership plan will help principals, teachers, staff and students focus on how to accurately operate a successful school culture, climate, and improve academic performance at their educational institutions. I used a pseudonym JFK for the high school examined in this paper. Themes represented in this paper will include assessment of ineffective leadership style, assessment of school culture, climate and performance, school improvement areas, explanation of leadership style, most effective style to improve school performance, research-based leadership …

Collaborative Teaching And Data Collection In The Inclusive Classroom: Utilizing The Activity Matrix, Jamie L. Cota

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Educators first began to focus on the impact of inclusive teaching practices with the passing of the Education for All Handicap Children Act 1975 law (Public Law 94-142), now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Inclusive practices have come a long way, but can still vary from district to district. It is easy to claim to have an inclusive classroom, but it takes collaboration, communication, shared responsibility and shared data collection to truly include students of all learning abilities in the classroom. The focus of this project is to show how teams can work together to support an …

Assessing Pre-Literacy Behaviors In Infants And Toddlers: Psychometric Evaluation Of The Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (Itla-3), Barbara J. Jackson, Christine Marvin, Amy J. Encinger, Nicole Buchholz, Becky Zessin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Assessment of emerging literacy in young children is generally limited to either skill development in children over 3 years of age or the quality and context of young children’s early literacy experiences. Although there has been promotion of their early literacy experiences, assessment of emerging pre-literacy behaviors in children younger than 3 years has yet to be organized into a single tool.

Preliminary work on the Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (ITLA) has progressed through initial steps of scale development and shown promise as a criterionbased, standardized assessment for tracking children’s pre-literacy behaviors and guiding practitioners in supporting development of those …

Course Outline And Weekly Plans For Eds 741 Psychoeducational Evaluation Of Children With Learning Problems, Lisa Cavallero

Open Educational Resources

Topics covered in this course include: psychoeducational evaluations, IEPs, standardized tests, fair assessments, measures of intelligence, disproportionality of linguistically and culturally non-dominant backgrounds in special education, assessment of adaptive behavior, learning disabilities, attention, and social and emotional behavior, functional behavior assessment, assessment of multilingual learners, math and literacy assessments, response to intervention.

This course outline includes:

• all assignments for the course (link to assignments packet).
• links to lecture slides
• instructor notes
• additional resources

Note: users will be prompted to make their own copy of documents when clicking on links to Google Docs and Google Slides.

Systemic Challenges During Assessment Of Emerging Bilingual Students: Perspectives Of Speech Language Pathologists And School Psychologists, Courtney Smith

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the perspectives of speech language pathologists and school psychologists, to identify the systemic challenges they identified that negatively impact how emerging bilingual students are referred, assessed, and identified for special education. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with 6 speech language pathologists and 6 school psychologists (n=12) to explore these challenges and barriers, as well as to look at the systems of belief present on campuses, that impact this process. Using a systems thinking framework and detailed inductive analysis of the data many themes emerged related to barriers such as difficulty finding an interpreter and ensuring that …

Stem For Everyone: A Mixed Methods Approach To The Conception And Implementation Of An Evaluation Process For Stem Education Programs For Students With Disabilities, Amy Jane Griffiths, John Brady, Nicholas Riley, James Alsip, Vanessa Trine, Lauren Gomez

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Some students with autism spectrum disorder and other learning differences may have superior visual acuity, increased attentional focus, and logical thinking abilities, lending to an affinity for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. At the same time, economists report that, the United States will experience a 28.2% increase in STEM-related jobs between 2014 and 2024. Although students with disabilities (SWD) can help to fill those positions, 85% of SWD graduates are either underemployed or unemployed as they enter young adulthood. Thus, there is a need to develop, evaluate, and report outcomes of STEM preparation programs specifically tailored to SWD. …

Validation Of A Brief Prosody Rating Scale For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarai S. Holbrook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Differences in the speech prosody, or "melody" of speech, of persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have long been noted by researchers. Yet, despite many studies, researchers have not identified a universal description of speech prosody in ASD. It may be flat or monotonous, not different from typical, or overly variable. However, atypical speech prosody can immediately set someone apart from their peers. This distinction could negatively social, academic, and vocational interactions. For those persons with ASD whose speech prosody is different from typical and interferes with daily functioning, valid, reliable, and efficient assessments of speech prosody are needed. Currently, …

Beliefs And Self-Efficacy Of Parents Of Young Children With Hearing Loss, Sophie E. Ambrose, Margo Appenzeller, Alexandra Mai, Jean L. Desjardin

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the beliefs and self-efficacy of parents of young children with hearing loss. Seventy-two parents completed the Scale of Parental Involvement and Self-Efficacy - Revised (SPISE-R), which queries parents about their child’s hearing device use and their perceptions of their own beliefs, knowledge, confidence, and actions pertaining to supporting their child’s auditory access and spoken language development. Two beliefs were identified that related to parents’ action scores and one belief was identified that related to children’s hearing device use. Knowledge and confidence scores were significantly correlated with action scores and children’s …

Orientation And Mobility Service Decisions: What Is Guiding Them If It Is Not Assessment?, Lauralyn Kay Randles

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: In this study, I sought to determine what tools are used during assessment and service delivery decisions. Also, the study worked to explore O&M specialist’s perceptions of factors impacting assessment results and service delivery decisions. Methods: A survey was employed to gather this information from O&M specialists spread throughout Midwest region of the United States. Seventy six O&M specialists completed the survey sharing about their experiences with O&M assessments and service delivery decisions. Analysis was completed using Microsoft Excel and a researcher establish codebook. Results: The participant’s caseloads and employment details varied greatly from one to another. The results …

Grading For Growth: Using Sliding Scale Rubrics To Motivate Struggling Learners, Dina Mahmood, Hugo Jacobo

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

In an effort to adopt more equitable and humanizing grading practices, this teacher inquiry explores how educators attempted to improve students’ views of learning and assessments by utilizing rubrics on a sliding scale. Using the sliding scale rubric approach to grading provided an opportunity for students and educators to rethink how learning is evaluated. The authors found that the logistics of using sliding scale rubrics as a grading tool does need to be refined and further evaluated; however, the belief that a student can receive a grade based on her or his individual starting point did have some positive implications …

Understanding Equitable Assessment: How Preservice Teachers Make Meaning Of Disability, Melissa K. Driver

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Disproportionality of historically marginalized populations in special education continues to be a critical concern. The identification of students with disabilities is reliant on valid and reliable assessment that is free of bias. The extent to which this is possible given measurement constraints and an increasingly diverse student population is unclear. How teachers are trained to design, select, administer, score, and interpret assessment data related to the identification of students with disabilities is vastly under-researched considering the significant implications of assessment practices. In this study, six special education preservice teachers engaged in an assessment methods course during their second semester of …

Professional Transition Porfolio, Ali Gunn

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

During my career in junior high, I have been able to provide many transition assessments. This is the first introduction to transition planning for my students and their families, and I enjoy being able to discuss with them their hopes and dreams for the future, and help parents realize the strengths and skills their child has, based on these assessments, which will benefit them in their future goals. I have been able to use transition assessments not only to make appropriate transition plans, but also to set up work experiences that meet my students’ strengths and preferences.

I have provided …

The Overrepresentation Of African American Students In Special Education, Kelsey Kihle

Culminating Projects in Special Education

The purpose of this paper was to review the literature and research that examines the overrepresentation of African American students enrolled in special education programs and give reasons as to why this overrepresentation continues to occur.

Assessment In Special Education Teacher Preparation: An Examination Of Practices, Michelle Simmons, Laurie A. Sharp

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

There have been significant changes in special education and assessment over the past four decades. These changes have affected how university-based educator preparation programs train preservice special educators to address assessment in their professional practices to ensure that they enter classrooms with specialized assessment expertise and practice aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children’s preparation standards. This study identified specific preparation practices that special education teacher educators use with their candidates to develop understandings of assessment. Qualitative data were analyzed using a dual-level systematic coding scheme; findings revealed strengths in teacher training and highlighted opportunities for growth. Implications for special …

The Effects Of Didactic Training & Behavioral Skills Training On Staff Implementation Of A Stimulus Preference Assessment With Adults With Disabilities, Sandra G. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study assessed the effects of BST and DT on the treatment integrity scores of four direct care staff (DCS) conducting a multiple stimulus without replacement assessment with confederates. A concurrent multiple baseline design showed that BST was effective in achieving mastery level treatment integrity scores for all participants and that these scores generalized to adults with disabilities and remained at mastery levels after a 2-week generalization phase.

A Different Way To Provide Feedback Of Student Learning, Dr. Deborah Bracke

Education: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works

This article provides an alternative to traditional letter grading.

A Screening Protocol Incorporating Brain-Computer Interface Feature Matching Considerations For Augmentative And Alternative Communication, Kevin M. Pitt, Jonathan S. Brumberg

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The use of standardized screening protocols may inform brain-computer interface (BCI) research procedures to help maximize BCI performance outcomes and provide foundational information for clinical translation. Therefore, in this study we developed and evaluated a new BCI screening protocol incorporating cognitive, sensory, motor and motor imagery tasks.

Methods: Following development, BCI screener outcomes were compared to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBS), and ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALS-FRS) for twelve individuals with a neuromotor disorder.

Results: Scores on the cognitive portion of the BCI screener demonstrated limited variability, indicating all participants possessed core BCI-related skills. When compared …

Identifying Learning Disabilities In English Learners, Eunsil Kang

Culminating Projects in Special Education

Identifying how to best help a student learn and reach their goals is one of the most important tasks an educator needs to do each year. This is especially true as the number of language learners coming to American schools continues to rise each year. (Sullivan, 2011) The purpose of this study was to review the literature that examines how to differentiate between learners who struggle in acquiring English as a second language and English learners who have a learning disability. When distinguishing between ELLs and Special Education students, however, it is easy to make errors that negatively affect the …

Critical Skills For Special Educator Effectiveness: Which Ones Matter Most, And To Whom?, Sara B. Woolf

Publications and Research

Special education teachers are expected to fulfill diverse teaching and non-teaching tasks in comparison to their general education peers. However, their performance is evaluated with measures that were normed for use with general education teachers. These specialty teachers are also routinely evaluated by professionals who may lack formal special education training or experience. These conditions render special educators vulnerable for inaccurate performance evaluation. Explicit research is needed to clarify the professional skills that are most critical to special educators’ professional effectiveness and ensure continuity of focus on these skills in preservice teacher education and employment contexts. This qualitative study builds …

An Exploration Of Alternative Scoring Methods Using Curriculum-Based Measurement In Early Writing, Abigail A. Allen, Apryl L. Poch, Erica S. Lembke

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This manuscript describes two empirical studies of alternative scoring procedures used with curriculum-based measurement in writing (CBM-W). Study 1 explored the technical adequacy of a trait-based rubric in first grade. Study 2 explored the technical adequacy of a trait-based rubric, production-dependent, and production-independent scores in third grade. Results of Study 1 suggest that the rubric holds promise as a valid measure of sentence writing ability in first grade and has utility as a supplemental scoring procedure when using CBM-W as a screening tool. Results of Study 2 show that correct word sequences maintained the highest correlation coefficients across time with …

Maximizing Test Efficiency: The Effects Of Test Format On Nonsense Word Reading, Amanda Kern

Doctoral Dissertations

A repeated measures study was conducted to determine the effects of test format on accuracy and fluency performance on a computer-based, nonsense word, decoding task. Decoding is a phonics skill that is highly predictive of overall reading performance (Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007). Therefore, identifying students who are struggling with decoding and providing instruction to remedy skill deficits is of high importance to teachers. A possible way for teachers to determine the instructional needs of their students is through testing (Hosp & Ardoin, 2008). However, time dedicated to test completion in classrooms limits the time available for instruction. Therefore, …

Training Parents In Descriptive Assessment And Function Identification, Makenzie Sip

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is often difficult for parents to address their child’s problem behavior. Children with special needs can display more frequent and intense problem behavior. Therefore, professionals need to help parents of children with special needs identify how to decrease their child’s problem behavior. Professionals help to decrease problem behavior by performing assessments called descriptive assessments to identify why the problem behavior is happening, and then using these assessments to create an appropriate plan of how to prevent and respond to the problem behavior. We examined if parents could be taught the skills necessary to perform descriptive assessments and then use …

Evidence-Based Assessment In Adapted Physical Education On Psychomotor Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis, Sam R. Diskin

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

There is little data to show evidence-based practices in adapted physical education and whether it is working or not. There is a lack of information currently on the frequency that assessments are being done, on the disabilities that are being assessed or should be assessed with each test, and on the uses of the assessments that are being done. The aim of this paper is to assess and synthesize all evidence-based practices on psychomotor outcomes in adapted physical education using a meta-analysis. Data was sourced from computerized searches using the following databases: SPORT Discus, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Pub Med (Medline), Cochrane …

Assessing Written Narratives: Current Versus Theoretical Practices, Megan Chamberlin, Michelle Tatko, Marissa Mcelligott, Savannah Lovitt

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Language sample analysis (LSA) provides a non-standardized, culturally sensitive method of language assessment and is considered a best practice by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). One type of LSA is the elicitation and analysis of children’s written narratives. Narratives, one type of language discourse, either fictional or personal, can be thought of as stories.

Across the literature, there are differences in the types and clinical implications of the individual types of discourse and narratives. For example, eliciting conversational discourse for LSA is less demanding for the student than eliciting narrative discourse. Additionally, research shows that students with a …

Program Monitoring Practices For Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing In Early Intervention, Anne E. Thomas, Christine Marvin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Program monitoring is an important and necessary assessment practice within the field of early childhood deaf education. Effective program monitoring requires a focus on both the consistent implementation of intervention strategies (fidelity) and the assessment of children’s ongoing progress in response to interventions (progress monitoring). Teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing (TODs) who provide early intervention services need to conduct regular program monitoring to evaluate the merit of their efforts. However, progress monitoring is a practice often overlooked by practitioners within the field of early intervention. It is recommended that TODs monitor children’s progress “regularly,” but evidence of …

Assessing The Writing Achievement Of Young Struggling Writers: Application Of Generalizability Theory, Steve Graham, Michael Hebert, Michael Paige Sandbank, Karen R. Harris

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

This study examined the number of writing samples needed to obtain a reliable estimate of young struggling writers’ capabilities. It further assessed if performance in one genre was reflective of performance in other genres for these children. Second- and third-grade students (81 boys, 56 girls), who were identified as struggling writers in need of special assistance by their teacher and scored at the 25th percentile or lower on a norm-referenced story-writing test, wrote four compositions: a story, personal narrative, opinion essay, and informative text. Applying generalizability theory (G-theory), students’ scores on three writing measures (total number of words [TNW], vocabulary …

Applied Examples Of Screening Students At Risk Of Emotional And Behavioral Disabilities, Corey D. Pierce, Philip D. Nordness, Michael Epstein, Douglas Cullinan

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Early identification of student behavioral needs allows educators the opportunity to apply appropriate interventions before negative behaviors become more intensive and persistent. A variety of screening tools are available to identify which students are at risk for persistent behavior problems in school. This article provides two examples in which the Emotional and Behavioral Screener (EBS) was used to identify students at risk of emotional or behavioral problems. Example 1 demonstrates how the EBS can be used within a school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports framework to inform decision making. Example 2 demonstrates how the EBS can be used to inform …

Eportfolio Using The Power Of Nonlinear Space To Create And Interlink A Repertoire Of Skills Essential For Teaching, J. Evans Ochola, John Achrazoglou, Rebecca Anthony

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The ePortfolio is a web-based innovation that allows teacher education students to demonstrate their competency and share their work on websites. While the original impetus for this work was in professional placement. A platform where students could represent their strengths to potential employers was developed. It has since become the means by which to address state and national mandates for standards performance assessment. The three-part developmental structure of the ePortfolio, in fact, offers a mechanism for demonstrating to faculty, assessors, and to students themselves a mastery of complex learning systems and strategies. The framework for professional development begins with an …