aligned, systematic personnel development = improved student results a focus on educational...

Aligned, Systematic Personnel Development = Improved Student Results

A Focus on Educational Interpreters

OSEP Project Directors ConferenceJuly 2010

Shatarupa Podder, Project DirectorJanet M. Sloand, Project Coordinator

Jennifer Sabo, Educational Interpreter and Mentor

Pennsylvania Framework for Qualified Special Education Personnel

(A) Establish federal and state laws, regulations, policies and practices.

(B) Pre-service preparation programs ensure that new personnel are highly qualified

(C) In-service training programs assist current personnel to become highly qualified.

SPDG Long-term Goals

Create in-service personnel development programs that result in highly qualified special education personnel.

Develop pre-service programs that result in highly qualified special education personnel.

Revise and reform the Pennsylvania Special Education Certification process to result in highly qualified special education personnel.

SPDG Long Term - Student Impacts

Students with disabilities will achieve proficiency requirements and graduate from high school ready for adult life. (SPP Indicators 1, 3A and 3C)

#1: Percent of youth with IEPs graduating from high school with a regular diploma compared to percent of all youth in the State graduating with a regular diploma.

#3a: Percent of districts meeting the State’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) objectives for progress for disability subgroup.

#3c: Proficiency rate for children with IEPs against grade level standards and alternate achievement standards.

SPDG Long Term - Student Impacts

Students with disabilities will receive education in the least restrictive environment. (SPP Indicator 5) #5: Percent of children with IEPs aged 6 through 21:

Removed from general class less than 21 percent of the day

Removed from general class greater than 60 percent of the day; or

Served in public or private separate schools, residential placements, or homebound or hospital placements.

How to Accomplish the Goals

Address areas of professional development not addressed in other ways.

Provide scientifically-based, systematic, and results-focused professional development.

Target systemic change to help improve student results.

Partner with Parent Training and Information Centers, Institutions of Higher Education, Intermediate Units and School Districts.

Project Activities

Educational Interpreter Initiative

School Psychologist Initiative

Paraprofessional Initiative

Special Education Leadership Initiative

Special Education/Secondary Certification Initiative

Special Education Certificate Revision Initiative

Pennsylvania Regulations:Educational Interpreter

Educational Interpreter

“An individual who provides students who are deaf or hard of hearing with interpreting or transliterating services in an educational setting”


All Educational Interpreters must meet qualifications 1 or 2 AND 3

1. Achieve and provide a score of 3.5/5.0 on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment for the appropriate grade level to which the person is assigned

OR

2. Be a qualified educational interpreter or transliterator under the Sign Language and Transliterator Registration Act


All Educational Interpreters must meet qualifications 1 or 2 AND 3

AND

3. Provide evidence of a minimum of 20 hours of staff development activities relating to interpreting or transliterating services annually.


Goal of the Educational Interpreter Initiative

Insure that educational interpreters practicing in Pennsylvania schools meet the requirements outlined in Chapter 14

Continue to build the skills of all educational interpreters in Pennsylvania schools

Educational Interpreters: Baseline Data

March 2007

132 out of 250 educational interpreters who earned a score of 3.5 or above on the EIPA

2, 817 students in Pennsylvania identified with deafness or hearing loss

Educational Interpreter In-Service

Ongoing in-service training linked to skills assessed

After-school videoconference (n=7)

Weekends with the Experts (n=2)

Annual Summer institute

Effective way to reach large numbers of educational interpreters

Develop a formal mentoring program with professional development plans for interpreters who do not meet criteria

Develop 32 regional labs

Collaborate with PTI


Competencies as assessed by the EIPA - Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment

Provides educational interpreters with diagnostic information about their interpreting skills

Sign to Voice

Voice to Sign

Vocabulary

Overall Factors

Designed specifically for educational settings

Educational Interpreter Mentoring

Mentoring Program Advance coaching and support for interpreters

who do not meet requirements

Mentor Requirements EIPA of 4.2 or above

3 years experience

Recommendation by supervisor

Educational Interpreter: Mentors

Ongoing Professional Development 3-day intense training with summer institutes

Shared work site

Technology tools to facilitate communication with mentees

Ongoing support by PaTTAN consultants

EIPA Feedback: Strengths

“Fairly accurate use of sign space for comparisons/contrast and sequential information”

“Key concepts were incorporated and deletions of content were minimal”

“Some use of analysis time to holistically represent the message was evident”

EIPA Feedback: Areas for Improvement

“While more ‘typical’ grammatical forms are facially marked, indication of narrative topic is frequently not conveyed”

“Work on developing a message with a higher degree of fluency and less evidence of processing”

“Reduce non-linguistic movements of torso while signing”

Mentor-Mentee Support

Summer Institute Regularly scheduled meetings

Face-to-face Via shared work Video

Educational Interpreter Mentoring

Through March 2010, 60 mentees have achieved the goal of scoring above 3.5 on the EIPA

All other mentees are awaiting their EIPA results or have scheduled their EIPAs to evaluate progress

Satisfaction survey conducted

Next Steps – Mentor Program

Continue to collect data regarding mentees’ progress

Continue to have follow-up meetings with mentors

Encourage greater use of our website – sharedwork.org

Solicit a new group of educational interpreters who have scored between 2.4 and 3.4 on the EIPA to enroll in the Educational Interpreter Mentor Program

PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: The mentoring experience has met my expectations.

PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: I have grown personally and/or professionally as a result of my participation in this mentoring program.

PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: The program has helped me achieve my professional development goals.

PA Educational Interpreter Mentor Program Satisfaction Survey: I would recommend this program to a fellow mentor/mentee.

Educational Interpreter Regional Hubs

Thirty-five hubs have been established across PA; they are located at each intermediate unit and at each PaTTAN office.

Three are available via the Pennsylvania short-term loan program

Consideration of providing to Interpreter Training Programs

Regional Labs/Hubs for Educational Interpreters Mini camcorder, Flip – Mino Tripod and “feet,” designed for Flip Video Ultra

Series Videos (Samples)

Building ASL Interpreting and Translation Skills Workbook – Narratives for Practice (with accompanying DVD)

Pursuit of ASL: Interesting Facts Using Classifiers DVD An Educational Interpreter’s Sampler DVD:

Voice-to-Sign Interpreting Sign-to-Voice Interpreting

A Student Sampler DVD: Sign-to-Voice Interpreting

A Teacher Sampler DVD: Sign-to-Voice Interpreting

Computer for each HUB

Collaboration with Higher Education Programs

Initial contact with ITP Presented information about changes to

requirements and resources available

Statewide meetings conducted Greater understanding of requirements

Working toward alignment of curriculum with skills measured on EIPA

Developing student skills that match the needs of schools and are assessed by EIPA

Discussion Questions

Based on the Pennsylvania Framework – analyze the strengths and needs of your current state system.

What has been successful in your state to build connections between K-12 and higher education?

How does your state/project link professional development to student outcomes?

Questions/Comments

Please contact: Shatarupa Podder – [email protected] Janet Sloand – [email protected]

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