Assignment: Specil Education Project

My hope is that the final product this assignment will look similar to an artifact that would serve as evidence that a teacher would bring to a parent-teacher conference, an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) meeting, and/or a multi-tiered system of support team meeting. The evidence provided in this product will support and justify your instructional decisions, as well as your professional opinions regarding a student's academic, social, and/or behavioral performance. Finally, the final product will be in a format that can be reviewed by other individual's on the multidisciplinary or IEP team, so they may collaborate on decisions regarding the whole child.

Directions:

1. Identify a student in your placement to assess.

2. Determine what behavior to count.

3. Plan how and when you will count the behavior.

4. Collect the behavior.

5. Analyze the assessment data.

6. Summarize how the student performed (BE SPECIFIC!! Provide statements regarding strengths displayed and areas for growth).

7. Based on your data analysis, formulate an academic, social, or behavioral goal for the student in order to facilitate growth in an area requiring growth. Make sure the goal is written in a way that it will be clear when the student has met the goal (i.e., observable and measureable).

8. Using your academic, social, or behavioral goal, list benchmarks you want the student to meet, in order to show progress is being made towards the goal.

9. Write lesson plans (i.e., design instruction) that specifically target the first benchmark.

10. Teach the lesson plans and document the outcomes.

11. Following a period of instruction (e.g., one week of targeted lesson plans), re-assess your student to find out if/what progress has been made as a result of your instruction. Collect assessment data.

12. Analyze your data. Consider how it compares to the data you collected and analyzed at the beginning of the project (i.e., steps 4 and 5).

13. Using your findings, determine what criterion was met, if any. If no progress has been demonstrated, develop hypotheses as to why the student is not progressing. Consider re-designing your instructional strategies and/or supports.

14. Plan your next step of instruction for the student based on his or her present level of performance.

15. Write additional lesson plans targeting the student's new benchmark.

16. Go through steps 10 - 15 as many times as necessary to meet the goal formulated in step 7.

Product to Include:

Section One: Contextual Information

Summary of Student Information. Length parameters: No more than 1.5 pages, no less than two paragraphs.

Environmental Analysis. There is a template that will guide your analysis. Length parameters: No more than 1.5 pages, no less than whatever is required to complete the form (i.e., address each of the specified points, even if it is with "Not applicable").

Section Two: Baseline Data

Assessment Administered. Write a summary (one or two paragraphs) describing (a) the instrument(s) used to assess the student, (b) why the instrument(s) was chosen, and (c) possible limitations to the instrument(s).

Raw Data. Baseline data (i.e., data reflecting where the student was performing prior to intervention), progress monitoring data, and final assessment data is to be submitted. Data collection forms, permanent products, and/or observational (anecdotal) data are expected.

Data Analysis. An analysis of your data is to be presented in the form of a summary of findings. What were your results, and what do you need to do to help the student? You will also need to include two line graphs: one for the goal, and one for the first benchmark.

Section Three: Intervention

Intervention Goal. Formulate an intervention/instructional goal. The goal is to be written in observable and measureable terms!! It needs to include the following components: condition, student name, observable behavior, criteria, how progress will be monitored.

Benchmarks/Objectives. Benchmarks, or objectives, are to be written in observable and measurable terms and show direct connection to the overall goal. Include a time frame (i.e., after how many instructional opportunities) for when the benchmark/objective is to be met by the student.

Lesson Plan. Present three or more lesson plans designed to teach benchmarks/objectives.

Progress Monitoring. Collect data on the outcomes of your lesson plans designed to target instruction on prescribed benchmarks/objectives. Include your data with its corresponding lesson plan.

Section Four: Analysis and Implications

Analysis of Progress Monitoring Data. Summarize your progress monitoring data. Determine how your instruction has impacted the student's learning by comparing your intervention data to your baseline assessment data. Length parameters: No more than 1.5 pages, no less than one paragraph. You need to plot your progress monitoring data on the graph you created for the first benchmark.

Implications. Based on your data, delineate what additional steps are necessary for the student to be successful in meeting the overall instructional goal. Does the student require continued targeted instruction? Does the student require a referral to the multidisciplinary team for further evaluation?