# Archived Information

# 

# \[Slide One\]*** How Can Youth with Disabilities Achieve at High Levels in High School?***

## 

## *U.S. Department of Education Regional Summit*

# 

# \[Slide Two\]

# An Education System for ALL Students

## 

## *Assumptions to Remember*

### All students can learn --- high expectations are very important.

### Not all students can show their knowledge and skills in the same way.

### Alternatives in education are important, but must be used carefully.

# 

# \[Slide Three\]

# Issues for Today

## Implications of state and local school district assessment and accountability systems

## Determining what students should know and be able to do

## Meeting students' academic and transition needs

## School completion and graduation are goals for all

## Implications of state diploma alternatives

# 

# \[Slide Four\]

# Quality Instruction

## *Students with disabilities need access to quality instruction in order to achieve progress (Gersten, Nineteen Ninety-Nine)*

### *Highly-qualified and effective teachers*

### *Using evidence-based practices*

## 

## \[Slide Five\] 

# The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of Nineteen Ninety-Seven PART B REGULATIONS (34 Code of Federal Regulations PART 300)  

## (3) Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction-

### (one) To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child\'s disability; and

### (two) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that he or she can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.

## [[300.26(b)(3)(two) ]{.underline}](../../../../../../../../C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settings/ehjmccarthy/Local%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ehbjones/Local%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settings/ehjmccarthy/Local%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ehbjones/Local%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settin)

##  

# \[Slide Six\] Current Status -- What We Know

## 

## *Graduation rates*

## 

## The rate for youth with disabilities who graduated with a standard diploma has steadily improved from forty-two point four percent in the nineteen-ninety-five to nineteen-ninety-six school year to over fifty one percent for the two thousand and one to two thousand and two school year.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, year two thousand and four

# 

# \[Slide Seven\] Current Status -- What We Know

## *Academic courses*

## 

### Nearly all students with disabilities (ninety eight point six percent) take academic classes, which average sixty percent of their coursework.

### Classes typically include language arts, mathematics, social studies and science; about one in five students with disabilities takes a foreign language.

### Comparisons between the nineteen ninety-three National Longitudinal Transition Study and the two thousand and three National Longitudinal Transition Study Two data show a dramatic increase in students with disabilities taking challenging courses that are often associated with preparation for postsecondary education.

### 

### *(Wagner, Cameto, and Newman, year two thousand and three)*

#  \[Slide Eight\]

# Current Status -- What We Know

## *Academics*

## 

## The National Longitudinal Transition Study Two found that most students with disabilities, on average, make at least adequate progress as indicated by teachers on grade reports.

## When standardized test performance was compared with students' reported grades, students with disabilities were an average of three point six years behind expected performance for their grade level in both reading and math.

### 

### *(Wagner, Cameto, and Newman, year two thousand and three)*

#  

# \[Slide Nine\] Current Status -- What We Know

## 

## *Vocational Education Courses*

## 

## Nearly two-thirds of youth with disabilities are enrolled in at least one vocational education course.

## Seventy-one take vocational education in a general education classroom in a given semester.

## Participation in vocational educational courses has declined markedly since the National Longitudinal Transition Study, consistent with an increase in participation in academic courses.

### 

### *(Wagner, Cameto, and Newman, year two thousand and three)*

#  \[Slide Ten\]

# Current Status -- What We Know

## *Employment*

## 

## In the year two thousand and two only thirty-one percent of civilian non-institutionalized youth with disabilities, ages eighteen to twenty-four, were employed, compared to eighty-five percent of those without a disability.

## 

## *(U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, year two thousand and two)*

#  \[Slide Eleven\]

# Current Status -- What We Know

## *Self-determination*

## 

## Students who are expected to take responsibility for planning their futures and to engage in self-determination activities in secondary school also take greater responsibility for their lives after school

## 

## 

## *(Malian and Nevin, two thousand and two; Price, Wlensky, and Mulligan, two thousand and two as cited in Cameto, Levine, Wagner, and Marder, two thousand and three, page six-one.)*

# 

\[Slide Twelve\]

The Context of Standards-Based Reform

-   High Standards

-   All Students

-   Accountability

-   Everything else is negotiable: schedules, place, time, structure,
    curriculum, instructional methods, methods of assessment

> *(National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, two thousand
> and four)*

# \[Slide Thirteen\]

# Challenges Facing Schools

1.  To ensure access to the general curriculum.

2.  To increase the high school graduation rates.

3.  To ensure preparation for postsecondary education and employment.

4.  To increase informed parent involvement in education planning, life
    planning, and decision-making.

5.  To promote students' self-determination and advocacy.

6.  To improve collaboration and links with systems at all levels.

7.  To ensure a qualified workforce in schools.

8.  To collect and use post-school outcome data for program improvement.

\[Slide Fourteen\]

# Tools and Strategies for Access, Participation, and Progress

## Curricular design

## Skilled teachers

## Instructional materials

## Research-based methods

## Assessment aligned to standards

## Collaboration among teachers facilitated by planning time during the school day

## Scheduling

## 

## \[Slide Fifteen\]

# Research-Based Instructional Methods

## 

## Individually referenced instruction

## Intense and frequent instruction

## Explicit instruction, including

### - scaffolding and

### - anchored instruction

## Mediating existing materials, including

### - content organizers *(Lenz, Schumaker, Deshler and Bulgren, nineteen ninety four)*

### - concept organizers *(Bulgren, Schumaker, and Deshler, nineteen ninety five)*

### -mnemonic adaptations *(Mastropieri and Scruggs, nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety two, and nineteen ninety nine)*

# \[Slide Sixteen\]

# Research-Based Methods for Inclusive Classrooms

## 

## Curriculum-based assessment

## Cooperative learning

## Self-management

## Class-wide peer tutoring

## Strategy instruction

## Explicit Instruction

## Goal-setting (self-determination)

## 

## (King-Sears and Cummings, Nineteen Ninety Six)

# 

\[Slide Seventeen\]

Assessments Aligned to Standards

-   General assessment without accommodations

-   General assessment with accommodations

-   Alternate assessment

> (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, two thousand
> and four)

# \[Slide Eighteen\]

# Universal Design for Learning 

## The design of products and environments are designed so they may be used by all people.

## A range of supports is built into the products and environments.

## The range of supports substantially reduces, or eliminates, the need for further adaptation or specialized design.

## 

## *(Orkiwis and McLane, Nineteen Ninety Eight; Rose, Nineteen Ninety Nine, Two Thousand, and Two Thousand and One)*

\[Slide Nineteen\]

# Three Principles of Universal Design for Learning

-   Multiple Means of Presentation: Reduces learning barriers

-   Multiple Means of Expression: Accommodates different motor systems
    of students

-   Multiple Means of Engagement: Involves learner actively in many ways

\[Slide Twenty\]

Success Data and Stories

Several success stories have been featured in the media recently. We
need to pay attention to these. Ones that involve secondary education
students comes from...

(Reference: National Center on Education Outcomes, two thousand and
four)

# \[Slide Twenty-One\]

# New York Regents English Exam, Two Thousand and One: Number of students with disabilities passing is higher than the number taking in the past

# 

# Figure: This is a double line graph measuring the number of students with disabilities (Y axis, from zero to sixteen thousand in increments of two thousand, numeric figures written above each data plot point) who either were tested with the New York Regents English exam (upper line) and were tested and passed with a score between fifty-five and one hundred (lower line) for the years nineteen ninety seven through two thousand (X axis). 

In nineteen ninety seven, four thousand, four hundred and nineteen
students with disabilities took the New York Regents English exam and
three thousand, four hundred and fourteen passed. The next year, in
nineteen ninety eight, five thousand, six hundred and forty-seven took
the test and four thousand, one hundred and seventy-five passed. The
next year, in nineteen ninety nine, twelve thousand, six hundred and
seven took the test and seven thousand, five hundred and forty-five
passed. At this point and thereafter more students passed the exam than
took the exam a year or two ago. Finally, in the year two thousand,
thirteen thousand five hundred and twenty-eight took the test and nine
thousand, five hundred and fourteen passed.

# 

End of Figure.

# Source: Public School Districts, Includes Special Act School Districts. Data are from the Online Analytical Processing file, and are as of March twenty-three, two thousand and one.

# 

# New York State Education Department, Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities, August 2001.

# 

# \[Slide Twenty-Two\]

From the Boston Globe, December twenty-two, two thousand and two.

"Katie Bartlett spent all of her seventeen years exceeding the
expectations the world placed on her when she was born with Down
Syndrome.... Still no one was quite sure what would happen when Bartlett
took Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (M.C.A.S.) exam, now
a requirement for a high school diploma in Massachusetts. This is what
happened: She passed."

Source: National Center on Education Outcomes, Two Thousand and Four

# 

#  \[Slide Twenty-Three\]

These success stories are related to the content standards, a defined
general curriculum, aligned instruction, good assessments and good
assessment decision-making.

Source: National Center on Education Outcomes, Two Thousand and Four.

# 

# \[Slide Twenty-Four\]

# Challenges to Policy and Practice

### To align concepts of common content and performance standards, assessments and accountability with the legal mandate for "individualized" education.

### To align special education requirements and practices with standards-driven reform.

### To build professional capacity.

### To share responsibility.

# 

\[Slide Twenty-Five\]

# Contact Information

### **Address:** Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services U.S. Department of Education 330 C Street, Southwest Washington, D.C. 20202-2641

### 

### **Phone:** 202-205-5465

### Troy Justesen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary

### Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)

### *<troy.justesen@ed.gov>* 

### 

### **Web:** <http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/>