Minnesota Manual of Accommodationsfor Students with Disabilities

Training Guide

Workshop Materials

1. Expect students with disabilities to achieve grade-level academic content standards.

2. Learn about accommodations for instruction.

3. Make decisions about accommodations for assessment.

4. Administer accommodations during instruction and assessment.

5. Evaluate and improve accommodation use.

Five steps guiding accommodation decisions:

Equal Inclusion in Grade Level Content

• Every IEP team member familiar with MN academic standards and accountability systems at state and district level.

• Every IEP team member knows where to locate MN academic standards and updates.

• Collaboration between general and special educators must occur for successful student access to grade level content.

STEP1

Conditions for High Expectations

1. Teachers qualified to teach content areas and who know how to differentiate instruction for diverse learners

2. IEPs that provide specialized instruction (e.g., reading strategies, study skills)

3. Accommodations which increase access to instruction and assessment

STEP1

• Assure the provision of accommodations to facilitate student access to grade-level instruction and state assessments

(MCA-IIs, GRAD, TEAE included for ELLs with Disabilities, etc.)

• Use of alternate assessments to assess the achievement of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (MTAS in reading and math)

Include all students with disabilities in state accountability assessments

STEP1

What are accommodations?

Accommodations are practices or procedures that provide inclusion in content. They do not reduce learning expectations.

(Modifications will be addressed later in this step)

STEP2

Decision-making for Instructional Accommodations

STEP2

Presentation - students may access to information in alternate modes.

Response - students may complete work in different ways

Timing and Scheduling - students have flexibility in how time is organized to complete work

Setting - students may have changes to setting or conditions

Accommodation Categories

STEP2

Accommodations provide access without reducing learning expectations

Modifications can increase the achievement gap by lowering expectations for what students are expected to know or do.

Accommodations vs.Modifications

STEP2

1. Student characteristics

2. Instructional tasks expected of students to demonstrate grade level content in state standards

3. Consistency with standards-based IEP for classroom instruction and assessments

IEP Team ConsiderationsSTEP2

STEP 3:Making decisions about assessment accommodations

• Accommodations do not change what is being measured on a test.

• Modifications do change what is being measured.

Accommodations and Modifications on Assessments

STEP3

STEP3

Decision-making for Assessment Accommodations

STEP 4:Administering accommodations during instruction and assessment

Examples of appropriate and inappropriate practices for instruction.

• Accommodations chosen in instruction are very different from what is allowed on assessments.

• Accommodation choices are made that will provide the most seamless experience between instruction and assessment.

STEP4

Examples of appropriate and inappropriate practices for instruction.

• Accommodations chosen in instruction are very different from what is allowed on assessments.

• Accommodation choices are made that will provide the most seamless experience between instruction and assessment.

STEP4

STEP4More appropriate and

inappropriate practices...

• School level personnel are not aware of the accommodation needs of students in instruction.

• School level personnel track students’ ongoing accommodation use to best ensure their needs for accommodations on assessment days are met.*

Examples of appropriate and inappropriate practices for Assessment

• Develop instructional objectives based on the academic standards.

• Prepare instructional objectives or study guides based on specific Minnesota test items and teach accordingly.

STEP4

More appropriate and inappropriate practices...

• Encourage IEP teams to base assessment decisions on what is typically used for students with similar characteristics.

• Base assessment decisions on individual student needs.

STEP4

Examples of ethical and unethical accommodation practices during the assessment

• Follow state guidelines on appropriate accommodations that maintain test validity for specific tests.

• Allow the use of notes or other materials that give students an edge in answering items.

STEP4

STEP 5:Evaluate and improve accommodations use

Ways to collect information

• From classroom data

• Observations of test administration

• Interviews with test administrators

• Talking with students after testing

• And more...

STEP5

Thank You