Modifying Achievement Test Items: A Theory-Guided and Data-Based Approach for Better Measurement of What Students With Disabilities Know

Federal regulations allow up to 2% of the student population of a state to achieve proficiency for adequate yearly progress by taking an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). Such tests are likely to be easier, but as long as a test is considered a valid measure of grade level content, it is allowable as an AA-MAS (U.S. Department of Education, 2007b U.S. Department of Education. 2007b. Standards and assessments peer review guidance, Washington, DC: Author.  [Google Scholar]). In this article, we examine procedures for developing, modifying, and evaluating items and tests using an evolving modification paradigm, as well as a classic reliability and validity framework. Theoretical influences, such as principles of universal design, cognitive load theory, and item development research, are discussed. The Test Accessibility and Modification Inventory, a tool that provides systematic and comprehensive guidance to help educators modify grade-level tests, is introduced. Cognitive lab methods and experimental field tests are then described, along with examples and key findings from each, relevant to AA-MASs. The article concludes with a discussion of precautions, lessons learned, and questions generated about the methods used to improve both access and test score validity for the students who are eligible for this new alternate assessment.     

Assessing Students With Disabilities: Issues and Evidence

Historically, many students with disabilities were excluded from large-scale assessments. Recent federal and state policy initiatives, including the most recent reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, require that the large majority of students with disabilities be included in the statewide assessments used in accountability systems. Although most observers agree that educational outcomes for students with disabilities were inadequate before the new policies were implemented, the research undergirding the new policies is limited. The reforms have spurred a rapid increase in relevant research, but more and improved research is needed. This article reviews the status of research on issues that are central to the new reforms and recommends directions for future research.     

Practical Guidelines for Counseling Students With Disabilities

Counselors and advisers at the postsecondary level frequently work with students with disabilities, yet most have had very little training in this area. The authors discuss general interaction guidelines for working with people with disabilities. They also examine 7 themes that frequently arise when counseling or advising students with disabilities and provide suggestions for addressing the issues associated with these themes.     

随班就读学校残疾学生发展状况研究

本研究目的是了解目前在随班就读学校特殊学生的生态状况,并试图发现对随班就读学校特殊学生发展产生积极影响的因素。本研究以问卷调查、访谈、实地观察等方法进行调查,选取北京、上海、江苏、湖北、贵州、四川、云南、广西、福建等地的47所学校收集数据,最后获得有效教师问卷331份,有效家长问卷165份;获得34名特殊学生、75名普通学生、35名教师、21名家长的访谈记录;获得10所学校的观察记录。结果发现：在被调查随班就读学校中：（1）特殊学生属于轻中度残疾学生,以自闭症、听力残疾、智力残疾学生居多。（2）特殊学生的学业成就、自信心、社会交往能力状况良好,特殊学生对学校满意度高;在各类残疾学生中,听力残疾和智力残疾学生在校适应状况最好,而自闭症学生适应状况最差;轻度残疾学生比中度残疾学生适应状况更好。（3）影响特殊学生发展的最主要的积极因素是：教师和学生能够获得专业支持,学校营造的平等和互助的氛围,减轻教师工作负担。     

Students With Learning Disabilities: Homework Problems and Promising Practices

Students with learning disabilities are more likely than other students to have problems doing homework. In this article, we describe how deficits in language, attention, memory, and organizational skills as well as in reading, writing, and math affect homework performance. We describe family and school factors that may exacerbate-or ameliorate-their problems as well as the intervention research that has included students with learning disabilities. At this point, there appears to be a huge gap between the strategies successfully applied in intervention studies and teachers' preferences for interventions, a serious issue that spills over and has a negative influence on family life. Nonetheless, an emerging area of intervention research suggests that effective efforts to improve homework completion, accuracy, and test performance may require parental involvement, peer cooperation, self-monitoring and graphing, "real-life" assignments, teachercollaborative problem solving, or all.     

Educational Programs for Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities: Can They Be Both Effective and Inclusive?

One of the most controversial issues in special education over the last 40 years has been the extent to which students with learning disabilities (LD) should be educated in general education classrooms. Recent mandates in federal law requiring that all students with disabilities have access to the general education curriculum and make adequate yearly progress relative to this content have intensified this debate. In this article, a brief summary of research regarding the nature of instruction that produces significantly improved educational outcomes for students with LD is provided. This is followed by a review of research related to the delivery of this high‐quality instruction in inclusive, general education classrooms and in resource settings. We conclude that this research provides the foundation for reconsidering full inclusion and how services are delivered for elementary students with LD.     

Preparing School Counselors to Work With Students With Disabilities

Recent literature has demonstrated increasing roles for school counselors who work with students with disabilities, but it has also suggested that school counselors are not being adequately prepared to work with these students. In this research study, the authors investigated current courses and experiences focusing on disabilities offered in school counselor education programs. Results from the 137 participants suggest that school counselor education programs are incorporating more disability content into their training programs than they were in the past. Some disability content areas are included significantly more frequently in disability courses than in counseling program courses. Conclusions and implications are discussed.     

The Social Functioning of Students With Learning Disabilities: Implications for Inclusion

This article presents a selected review of research on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD) and draws implications for the inclusion of students with LD in regular education classrooms. Four areas of social functioning are addressed: social skills, self-concept, friendships, and social networks. Research in these areas indicates that some, though not all, students with LD demonstrate problems in the social domain that may have consequences for their inclusion in regular classrooms. In light of the trend toward inclusion of students with LD, we argue that the social dimensions of placement decisions for these students should be considered.     

Social Attributions of Students With Learning Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the social attributions of students with learning disabilities (LD) compared to those of nonlearning-disabled (NLD) low- achieving (LA) and average-achieving (AA) students. Ninety-two subjects partici- pated in the study; 32 students with LD and two matched control groups that consisted of 29 LA and 33 AA students. The results indicated that students with LD were likely to exhibit different social attribution patterns than did their NLD peers. They displayed a greater tendency to use external factors in explaining their social successes and failures, while attributing their successes to internal factors, than did LA and AA students. LA and AA students, conversely, were more likely to use interactional explanations of social events.     

Collaborative Partnership: Developing Pre-service Teachers as Inclusive Practitioners to Support Students with Disabilities

Since the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation including Australian Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 and the Disability Standards of Education, 2005, there is an increasing demand on all schools to cater effectively for more students with disabilities within an inclusive school community context. This investigation explored a proactive partnership model designed to equip pre-service teachers with deeper role understandings in teaching students with disabilities. This collaborative model involved sustained professional experiences in schools on four mornings each week over 38 weeks, offered in conjunction with their final-year teacher education studies in Diversity and Inclusive Education. A unique emphasis of this qualitative study was a focus on identifying conducive real-life experiences and ideal teacher qualities for undertaking challenging inclusive practitioner roles. Findings highlighted the perspectives of school leaders, special education mentors and pre-service teachers in improving inclusive learning outcomes for all students while developing an effective collaborative partnership model for teacher education.     

Working With Students With Psychiatric Disabilities or Other Emotional Problems

The professional literature on gatekeeping in social work education has grown; however, there remains a dearth in the literature regarding how educators truly work to engage students who are experiencing a psychiatric disability or other emotional problem. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 26 social work educators from 22 colleges and universities in the United States. Practice wisdoms emerged as interwoven strategies which encourage proactive interventions that accentuate students’ strengths through socially just opportunities. Identified strategies include having an awareness of psychosocial and environmental stressors that students may be experiencing, recognizing warning signs, approaching students, and building appropriate faculty–student relationships.     

Personal Narratives of Students With and Without Learning Disabilities

This study investigated personal narratives produced by children with and without learning disabilities in the context of naturalistic conversation. The high‐point analysis was applied to compare the referential and evaluative aspects of children's personal narratives. Participants were 60 students in Grades 4 and 5 in public suburban schools, with an almost equal number of boys and girls. The participants with learning disabilities were matched individually with typically achieving peers for chronological age, grade, ethnicity, and gender. Despite significant differences in expressive semantic and syntactic skills, both groups produced narratives that were equivalent in terms of length, structural organization, and global coherence. Group differences centered around the decreased inclusion of high points in narratives produced by girls with learning disabilities, indicating that these girls may struggle with generating coherent personal narratives and communicating their own perspective on the recounted personal experiences. This specific narrative performance is accounted for by the unique profile of cognitive and academic characteristics demonstrated by girls with learning disabilities. Practical implications for the multifaceted assessment of referential and evaluative narrative functions are discussed, and interventions for enhancing narrative skills are suggested. The study's findings are also discussed in the context of previous research and directions for future inquiries.     

Viable Alternatives for Students With Disabilities: Exploring the Origins and Interpretations of LRE

In the flux of restructuring schools toward higher student outcomes, the challenge is tremendous for educators to provide, with confidence and integrity, a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) as required by law for their students with disabilities. This inquiry is intended to further a deeper understanding of the principles that undergird placement decisions by examining the relation over time between the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act requirements for an appropriate education for learners who are exceptional and the restrictiveness of the educational environments in which they have been served. LRE is examined through sociopolitical, legal, and educational data and illustrated through interviews with several of the law's developers, contemporary theorists, and parental advocates. It is argued that concerns about placement in the LRE have dominated the special education discourse, obscuring and distorting the preeminent issue of individually appropriate instruction. It is concluded that the legal meanings of FAPE and LRE remain unchanged but that the complexity of the dynamic LRE concept has defied consistent understanding and application. In conclusion, principles of practice grounded in the conceptual foundations of special education are offered to build the capacity of individualized educational program/placement teams as they seek to provide a full educational opportunity for each student with a disability.     

Sharing the Responsibility: Using a Transdisciplinary Team Approach to Enhance the Learning of Students With Sever Disabilities

The traditional approach of providing related services to students with severe disabilities in a pull-out, isolated fashion is presented as less effective than a transdisciplinary approach. Characteristics of the transdisciplinary model include: strong family focus, collaborative consultation, and integrative service delivery. This article clarifies the problems inherent in the traditional approach to service delivery with regard to student progress. Rationale for supporting documentation and case examples all highlight the benefits of a more integrative approach. Strategies for transitioning from a traditional to a transdisciplinary model are presented and ideas for future research are suggested to further substantiate this recommended approach.     

The Science and Politics of Gifted Students With Learning Disabilities: A Social Inequality Perspective

Researchers and advocates who argue for increased recognition of gifted students with learning disabilities (G/LD students) often frame their arguments in terms of the need to increase the diversity and inclusiveness of gifted education. However, the criteria used to identify G/LD students are sufficiently vague and fluid that the G/LD category can serve as a vehicle for the very elitism and social class reproduction that the category's advocates abhor. Empirical research suggests that G/LD students often fail to satisfy traditional criteria for either aspect of their label, while the incentives of the classification are nonetheless evident to knowledgeable parents and school personnel. Implications of these findings for practice are discussed.     

Improving Assessment Validity for Students With Disabilities in Large-Scale Assessment Programs

A test designed with built-in modifications and covering the same grade-level mathematics content provided more precise measurement of mathematics achievement for lower performing students with disabilities. Fourth-grade students with disabilities took a test based on modified state curricular standards for their mandated statewide mathematics assessment. To link the modified test with the general test, a block of items was administered to students with and without disabilities who took the general mathematics assessment. Item difficulty and student mathematics ability parameters were estimated using item response theory (IRT) methodology. Results support the conclusion that a modified test, based on the same curricular objectives but providing a more targeted measurement of expected outcomes for lower achieving students, could be developed for this special population.     

融合教育理念下学困生的差异教学

学困生在普通课堂教学中,因其自身认知特点无法获得有效学习的支持.基于对差异教学理论基础的考量,为满足学困生的特殊学习需求,课堂教学应采用差异教学,也就是针对学生的不同学习需求,提供适合的学习活动.     

Counseling College Students With Disabilities: Legal,Ethical, and Clinical Issues

This article guides college counselors who provide services to students with disabilities through pertinent legal, ethical, and clinical considerations.     

Customizing Instruction to Maximize Functional Outcomes for Students With Profound Multiple Disabilities

This article describes a process for customizing instruction for students with profound multiple disabilities that has been used to design instructional programs and maximize the attainment of functional outcomes for students. The process focuses on collaborative teamwork and problem solving to design and implement instructional programs by ensuring that the 5 components of the process are included. Team members determine (a) prepositioning handling procedures; (b) overall body positioning for instruction; (c) hand, arm, and head positioning; (d) instructional adaptations and materials; and (e) handling procedures to combine with systematic instructional strategies.