Challenges of Administering MI-Access To Students with Visual and Hearing Impairments

1. Challenges of Administering MI-Access To Students with Visual and Hearing Impairments Presenters:COLLETTE BAUMAN Supervisor, Michigan Department of Education-Low Incidence Outreach DEB RAKAS Consultant Deb Rakas Productions

2. Visually Impaired and Hearing Impaired students deserve to participate in assessment.

3. How to administer MI-Access Functional Independence assessments to students with visual impairments?

4. Assessing VI Students • How to administer MI-Access Functional Independence assessments to students with visual impairments? • Student Braille Booklet • Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille • Enlarged Print Booklet • Audio CDs and tapes

5. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • APH Workshop • Michigan School for Deaf and Blind • Review items • Can item be Brailled? • Will students with low vision be able to read text/graphics?

6. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Simplify artwork • Remove unnecessary details • Use simple line drawings • Line weight (thickness) • Thicker line weight is easier to see

7. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Shading • Use shading only when needed • Make sure shading has separation from lines • Size and spacing of graphics Shading example

8. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Labels • Tactile readers need labels or explanations of graphics • No chance of instant recognition • Labels assist in reading tactile graphic

9. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Labels • Label all graphics that are allowed • Omit graphics that are unnecessary

10. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Some adaptations need to be made for Braille • Symbols used to represent pictures

11. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Some adaptations need to be made for Braille • Keys may need to be added

12. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Some adaptations need to be made for Braille • Labels may need to be moved outside of graphic

13. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to develop items that work for Braille and enlarged print? • Some adaptations need to be made for Braille • Orientation of keys and compasses may change • Pictures/graphics may be substituted with descriptive text

14. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the process for producing accommodated versions? • Items developed • Items reviewed internally • Items reviewed by Sensitivity Review Committee (SRC) • Made up of teachers and parents • Review items for bias and sensitivity issues

15. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the process for producing accommodated versions? • Standard print booklets approved • Work with American Printing House for the Blind (APH) –send transcription notes to be used as reference • Braille and enlarged print booklets proofed by APH and outside sources

16. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the process for producing accommodated versions? • Accommodated booklets approved • APH sends Transcription notes • Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille is produced to be used with student Braille booklet

17. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille? • Standard print booklet with assessment administrator notes • Visual depiction of changes and/or assessment administrator notes describing adaptations.

18. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille? • Grade 3 English Language Arts – Word Recognition • Picture items required substitute items for Braille booklet • Item stems are only in Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille and are to be read aloud to student

19. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • What is the Assessment Administrator Booklet for Braille? • Assessment Administrator Booklet for BrailleMUST be used with student Braille booklet • Standard print booklet is used with enlarged print and audio versions – Do NOT use with the student Braille booklet

20. MI-ACCESS VI CHALLENGE • How to administer Functional Independence Science assessment? • Science uses many graphics • All graphics in item stems and answer choices that can be are labeled • Unnecessary graphics are omitted • Graphics that cannot be labeled are replaced by descriptions of the artwork

21. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to students with visual impairments? • No accommodated versions for P/SI • P/SI uses activity-based observation items • New selected-response items are picture items

22. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to students with visual impairments? • Selected-response items • 81/2 by 11 picture cards are provided • Field test items for 07-08 school year • Students not graded on field test items

23. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to VI students? • Be sure to check the inside cover of each booklet for “Do Not Read Aloud” items • Review the items and their scoring focuses

24. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to VI students? • Become familiar with Extended Grade Level Content Expectations (EGLCEs) and Extended Benchmarks (EBs) for each item. • Can help in determining if actual items can be substituted for picture items, or items more familiar to students can be used.

25. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to VI students?

26. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to VI students? • Need to decide on a student-by-student basis. • Examples in items are just that, EXAMPLES. Different/substitute items or locations can be used if doing so doesn’t change the item construct.

27. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to VI students?

28. MI-ACCESS HI CHALLENGE • How to administer assessments to students with hearing impairments? • Visual cues have been fine for students with hearing impairments • New items will affect students with hearing impairments

29. Participation and Supported Independence assessments • How to administer P/SI ELA, mathematics and science to students with visual and hearing impairments? • Options being considered for future assessments: • Tactile picture cards for students with visual impairments • Special scoring for students with visual impairments and hearing impairments

30. Standard vs. Non-Standard Accommodations • How were MI-Access Assessments developed? • MI-Access assessments were developed using universal design principles. • Many of the P/SI items use an activity-based format, because traditional paper and pencil tests were not considered appropriate.

31. Standard vs. Non-Standard Accommodations • How were MI-Access Assessments developed? • P/SI selected-response items use picture answer choices because most P/SI students are not fluent readers and picture identification is a typical part of their instruction.

32. Standard vs. Non-Standard Accommodations • How were MI-Access Assessments developed? • FI assessments are written specifically to accommodate reading levels and interests of students being assessed. • Assessment administrators are allowed to read questions and answer choices aloud (with some exceptions).

33. Standard vs. Non-Standard Accommodations • What if a student still needs accommodations to participate fully and meaningfully in MI-Access? • Under General Information in manual – a section on Assessment Accommodations. • Appendix C in manual – State Board of Education approved Assessment Accommodations Summary Table.

34. Standard vs. Non-Standard Accommodations • What is the Assessment Accommodations Summary Table in Appendix C? • Outlines standard and non-standard accommodations for MI-Access. • Table updated to include science. • Full table is available on MI-Access Web page under “Resources” section.

35. Accommodations Decisions • Accommodations decisions must • be made by student’s IEP Team. • be documented in the student’s IEP (by content area). • reflect what the student routinely uses or responds during instruction. • Not appropriate to introduce a new accommodation just for the assessment.

36. Thank You! Thank You!