SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION ESTABLISHING EFFECTIVE SUPPORTS ACROSS CLASSROOMS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY INSTRUCTION A Doctoral Capstone Project Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies and Research Department of Education In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education David Michael Muench California University of Pennsylvania August 4, 2022 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION California University of Pennsylvania School of Graduate Studies and Research Department of Education We hereby approve the capstone of David Michael Muench Candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Education ii SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION iii Dedication This work is dedicated to my wife Tracey and my children Jason, Katey, Justin, and Brett. I am eternally grateful for your love and patience through this journey and always. You extended to me such grace during this period of time where my moments with you all have been so very limited. I love you very much and can’t thank you enough for the continued support that is given to me. Here is to the next chapter! All my love, all my life! SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank the efforts of many people that helped make this project a reality for me. First, my staff at Independence Middle School who have worked tirelessly with me over the past 16 ½ years and on this project. I am eternally grateful for your professionalism, expertise, and utmost care for the students at Bethel Park. We have worked so hard together to educate students with special education needs, and of course all our students. You are all a tribute to the profession! I am proud to work with you. I would also like to thank Dr. James Walsh, an outstanding superintendent who always puts the needs of others before himself. When I first approached Dr. Walsh about being my external chair it was very early in our professional relationship. Dr. Walsh didn’t hesitate to want to support me in this endeavor. I have witnessed many times his selflessness and dedication to the school community. It has been an education in and of itself to work with this professional. Thank you so very much for taking the time to make this piece a reality in my life. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Kevin Lordon, my committee chair, for his dedicated support to my success. Whether it was touching base on a zoom meeting, late phone calls, email after email, or meetings at Panera, Dr. Lordon was always willing to support the students under his care. It has been a pleasure to work with you on this journey! SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table of Contents Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv List of Tables viii Abstract x CHAPTER I. Capstone Project Background 1 Introduction 1 Background 2 Capstone Focus 3 Reflection 4 Research Questions 5 Expected Outcomes 6 Fiscal Implications 6 Summary 8 CHAPTER II. Review of Literature 9 The Evolution of Special Education 9 Chapter 14 Special Education Services and Programs 19 Educational Evaluation 20 Individualized Education Plan Design 26 Continuum of Support 39 Instructional Practices 47 Assessment Practices with Students with Disabilities 51 Literature Review Summary 57 v SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION CHAPTER III. Methodology 59 Purpose 60 Research Questions 61 Setting and Participants 62 Research Plan 70 Research Design, Methods, and Data Collection 74 Research Question Number 1 74 Research Question Number 2 76 Research Question Number 3 78 Internal Review Board Process 80 Ethical Considerations 81 Validity 81 Summary 87 CHAPTER IV. Data Analysis and Results 90 Participant Description 91 Data Analysis 93 Results 94 Research Question Number 1 94 Language Arts Staff Beliefs 100 Math Staff Beliefs 103 Reading Staff Beliefs 105 Special Education Staff Beliefs 106 Research Question Number 2 109 vi SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Research Question Number 3 119 Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 1 125 Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 2 131 Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 3 135 Discussion 138 Summary 140 CHAPTER V. Conclusions and Recommendations 142 Conclusions 143 Research Question Number 1 143 Research Question Number 2 148 Research Question Number 3 152 Limitations 156 Recommendations for Future Research 158 Summary 159 References 162 APPENDIX A. IRB Letter of Approval 171 APPENDIX B. Informed Consent 172 APPENDIX C. Likert Survey 175 APPENDIX D. Semi-Structured Interview #1 180 APPENDIX E. Semi-Structured Interview #2 183 APPENDIX F. Abridged Qualitative Feedback Interview #1 185 vii SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION List of Tables Table 1. Independence Middle School Demographic Data 66 Table 2. Research Data Collection Timeline 73 Table 3. Staff Participation Demographic 92 Table 4. Number of Students by Subject 93 Table 5. Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs in their 96 Classrooms Table 6. Language Arts Staff Perceptions of the 98 Importance of SDIs Table 7. Reading Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs 98 Table 8. Math Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs 99 Table 9. Special Education Staff Perceptions of the 99 Importance of SDIs Table 10. Language Arts Performance Results 110 Table 11. Language Arts Teacher Perceptions for 111 Staff with the Highest Growth Table 12. Top 5 Most Commonly Valued Supports for 112 High Achieving LA Staff Table 13. Math Performance Results 112 Table 14. Math Teacher Perceptions for Staff with the 113 Highest Growth Table 15. Math Most Common Supports Rated 114 Agree or Strongly Agree Table 16. Reading Performance Results 114 viii SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 17. Reading Teacher Perceptions for 116 Staff with the Highest Growth Table 18. Reading Most Common Supports Rated as 117 Agree or Strongly Agree Table 19. Special Education Performance Results 118 Table 20. Special Education Teacher Perceptions for 119 Staff with the Highest Growth Table 21. Student Movement Throughout the Year 120 Table 22. Supports Rated as Strongly Agree for 137 Staff with Student Movement Table 23. Supports Rated as Strongly Agree and Agree for Staff with Student Movement 137 ix SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION x Abstract A central component of special education is the concept of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), meaning a student’s right to have access to the regular education classroom and curriculum as the starting conversation for placement. The purpose of this study is to examine IEP specially designed instruction implementation and teacher perceptions of their effect on student achievement that results in success in the LRE where high quality educational opportunities exist. This research project looks to answer three questions. What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student supports and student achievement? What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pullout classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? Through a mixed methods approach that collects teacher perception data, qualitative feedback, standardized achievement data, and schedule changes throughout the year, the researcher used the data to find common trends in student achievement and value systems with supports implementation. There is evidence that teachers who show the greatest gains with their students often have similar value systems regarding supports put in place in their classrooms. There are also differences in how various content teachers view supports in their classroom. The results of the study are meant to inform us as educators to try and replicate practices that yield better results. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 1 Chapter I Capstone Project Background The evolution of special education practices, regulations, and laws in the United States have furthered the cause of educating students with disabilities across the nation since the 1970’s. As with all evolution and progress there are many moments of learning through both success and failure. The concept of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) is a central mindset in that evolution. While the need exists for a full continuum of support in schools, the basis of LRE is that students get the richest experience in a regular classroom where varied activities, rich discourse, and proper levels of support are applied for the students’ benefit. In addition, particularly as students grow older and the curriculum gets more complex, having a regular education teacher with content training is essential in helping diagnose student misconceptions on curricular concepts. This is where trained special education teachers come into play in providing the content teacher with strategies that can help a student be successful in the classroom given the nature of their disability and needs. When these two professionals are hard at work on behalf of the student the LRE can be achieved. One of the primary constructs of special education practice is the application of accommodations and modifications in the regular classroom. These supports are pieced together based on the perception of student needs in relation to their weaknesses. The Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) that is found in a student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) outlines this to all adults that come into contact with the student. However, one of the primary questions within the construction of this Doctoral Research Capstone Project is how effective those various accommodations and modifications are in SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 2 assisting students in their achievement. Not only are we looking at the overall effect of these supports, but at how they are applied across classrooms and with what fidelity. Furthermore, concern exists that much of what is done for the student in the regular classroom is accommodation driven rather than modification driven. This could be due to the black and white nature of implementing accommodations rather than the more complex use of modifications in the classroom. This project is also very important in helping our schools achieve the benchmarks set for LRE. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has comparative data that looks at our students’ placement in the educational program. When these numbers fall short of expectations a plan for improvement is necessary in what is termed, corrective action. This is never a pleasant place for schools to be. It is important that we are proactive in this area, and in all indicators of an effective special education program. Success in the LRE is dictated most often by grades, and grades are dictated by students’ ability to perform on performance measures, and students' ability to do well on performance measures depends on the quality of instruction that has occurred. This is where many of the accommodations and modifications can make a difference. However, sometimes success comes down to the fidelity in which these modifications and accommodations have been implemented, keeping the student in the LRE. Background This project arose from a desire to understand how the implementation of student’s IEPs was contributing to the students remaining in the regular education environment. At Independence Middle School, where I was principal from 2005 until January of 2022, I saw the support framework evolve for students. Independence was SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 3 already a well-established school and performed well compared to surrounding schools in Allegheny County. However, we did see gaps in how we supported students in the LRE, particularly around co-teaching. The staff worked to evolve how we scheduled students to add the co-teaching element to the continuum of support available to students. Around this time, Bethel Park School District was noted in its special education cyclical monitoring that they did not meet the benchmark for students in the regular classroom 80% or more of the time when compared to other school districts. This furthered the conversation about what was being done to support students so that this benchmark could be achieved. Since January of 2022, I became the Director of Student Support Services full time. This role is multifaceted in that it has oversight into gifted education, health services, English as a Second Language, Foster Care and Homeless Student Services, Counseling Services, Student Assistance Programming (SAP), and the Instructional Support Team (IST) process at the elementary level. In conjunction with my colleague, who is the Supervisor of Special Education, we jointly oversee the special education program K-12. This is a huge task, but one that I am excited about in supporting those students that are most vulnerable. Students with special needs have long been an interest for me, and as I reflect, even from my earliest days. So, this next step professionally is just a natural extension of my work at the building level with special education and LRE, hence, why this project is valuable to me. Capstone Focus The research focus is on what works in the classrooms with student supports. This research is meant to look at best practices that can be highlighted and replicated when SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 4 supported by actual student achievement data across classrooms and grade levels where students with IEP’s show strong growth. To do so, we first need to start with what the current perceptions and practices are. This is then followed with actual student growth measures to validate those perceptions and practices. Without the lens placed on these data points, we operate our schools on independent measures and beliefs about what works within a classroom that may or may not be entirely accurate. The more unbiased feedback that a teacher can get helps drive them and their students to better results. In the end, I hope to validate best practices for student support implementation occurring in the school to help guide teacher development initiatives that best serve our special education student population. Reflection I feel sympathy for all involved in education currently who are trying to keep up with what is truly best for students. All groups involved in this process have good intentions much of the time. Special interest groups want students who are at risk to not be left behind and purposely planned for. Legislation and those that legislate want the same thing, for our nation’s students to excel, further develop our work force, and diminish the need for public assistance. Parents want their children to come home happy from school and learn information and skills to help them be gainfully employed. Students want to pass their classes and enjoy their peers and teachers. Lastly, teachers want to feel effective in supporting their students in being the best version of themselves possible. With all these forces trying to accomplish a similar mission, but with sometimes very different mindsets, pressure on the system can be astronomical and SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 5 include legal actions against schools through Due Process Proceedings, often costing thousands of dollars. Research Questions The research questions are designed to uncover practices that are effective in the least restrictive environment to support students with special needs. There are three essential questions that we are investigating. They are: • What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? • What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student support and student achievement? • What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occurs over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? The research questions utilize multiple data points to draw conclusions from. The first question includes Likert style survey data and semi-structured interviews to generate understandings about teacher perceptions of accommodations and modifications. The second research question looks at standardized data that is generated through the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). This data point allows us to see student progress across classrooms on a common measure. Lastly, question three uses student information system data to show possible patterns of success in the LRE for students based on their movements to and from the regular classroom. When combined with the perception data in the Likert survey on accommodation and modifications and an SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 6 additional semi-structured interview, we hope to be able to draw conclusions as to the implementation of supports in the classroom and how that affected their success or not. Expected Outcomes It is thought that looking at this data in the manner the project has been constructed will allow for an evaluation of the best supportive practices that achieve the LRE for students. There is also potential that subject comparisons may also have different effective support structures because of the nature of the subject matter. This is certainly fine. The bigger outcome here is how to replicate what is effective across the classroom settings, potentially by subject, and how to best articulate that within the specially designed instruction that often has blanket accommodations. If we conceptualize that for a moment, we can see how broad-brush stroking accommodations and modifications can leave staff running in circles with supports that are not effective but listed in the IEP as needed for the students’ success, taking teacher time and thought. The outcome of this project could be a better articulated and tailored IEP document that can better support the student. In addition, it may uncover potential professional development topics that may support the staff in helping students achieve in the LRE. Fiscal Implications While the purpose of this project is really focused on student achievement, we know that spending on education increases substantially based on student needs. The cost to educate a regular education student is substantially less than that of their special education counterpart. In facilitating best practices for student support, we are improving the facilitation of a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) at the lowest cost we can when students are in the regular education environment. With the number of staff SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 7 hired to support the growing number of students with IEP’s as well as other fiscal influences unrelated to this project, it is no wonder that schools are annually grappling with the revenue and expenditure structure to run an effective school district. In the short term, the fiscal implications include savings due to increased student achievement because there are better support structures in the classroom that allow students to be more self-sufficient. When this occurs, reliance on staff such as paraprofessionals becomes less. This allows the paraprofessionals to be better utilized, preventing schools from having to hire more to support student needs. In addition, when there is an increase in student achievement, costs associated with other forms of support such as tutoring or mental health services are not needed to the same extent. This decreases the financial burden on the school and district, ultimately increasing productivity across the board. In the long term, fiscal implications can include a decrease of students requiring a multi-disciplinary evaluation, or an exit of students from special education services that are costly. As already stated, it costs a great deal more to educate a student with an IEP than it does a regular education student. Even decreasing the number of students requiring services by a small percentage can have an impact on the financial obligations of the district. When you create classrooms that have supports that are sound for nonidentified students as well as students with IEP’s you decrease the overall need for these costly supports while also building better students. This project, in however small a way, can affect fiscal resources in a positive direction by replicating best practices, and increasing student achievement in the regular classroom with existing staff. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 8 Summary The nature of educating students has evolved over time from the standpoint of advancements in technology, common core standards, legislative expectations, parental expectations, and general scrutiny of how public education operates. A central theme is a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and how that is achieved through the LRE. However, models of support that achieve the LRE are hard to generalize across settings due to many different factors that include the continuum of support available, pedagogical practices, and certainly people’s mindsets. This project is meant to look at one school's structure and practices and how they can be optimized across classrooms and content areas to give students the best experiences. Using effective data points, we can draw possible understandings of best practices in the support structure and where there is room for improvement. We will start out by looking at the literature to gain greater insight into this complex issue. This review of literature will look at the evolution of special education legislation to give context and necessity, as well as the special education process that culminates in an IEP that is meant to support students' needs in the classroom. We will continue with an understanding of continuum of support structures available to students in a public school, an understanding of accommodations and modifications, and how data points being used in this project are appropriate and relevant to answer the questions that have been posed. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 9 Chapter II Review of Literature The Evolution of Special Education The purpose of this research study is to look at the practices of teachers and schools in implementing effective supports in the classroom that help meet the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The history of legislation, and more importantly its evolution towards inclusivity, has put a focus on how schools are developing their practices to help students with disabilities make progress in the regular classroom environment. These practices stem from a highly articulated evaluation process that concludes with a comprehensive educational plan for students with disabilities that has at its heart, a prescriptive and targeted approach to address student needs through accommodations and modifications. These accommodations and modifications are used to meet measurable goals in the student’s Individualized Education Plan. Lastly, of utmost importance in this project are the assessment frameworks that, not only measures student understanding of material, but also effectively measures how practice and process are supporting all students in being the best version of themselves possible. This research project looks at one school's support structure, implementation of these supports, placement success in regular education environments, and assessment practices that demonstrate student progress. Looking at these components in more detail, the literature review focuses on the evolution of law surrounding educating students with disabilities, the evaluation process, the planning process, educational placement options, SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 10 teacher practices with support systems, and assessment practices in the classroom, in the school, and statewide. Special education, as a part of a student’s public education program, has evolved since the 1970’s. While educating students with disabilities has been occurring in the United States prior to that era, the weight of responsibility on public school systems to include all students with disabilities gained significant momentum with the passing of the Education for All Handicapped Act of 1975, or EHA as it has been called. This act, known more often as Public Law 94-142, established the concept of a Free and Appropriate Public Education for all students regardless of disability. Prior to this action taken by the government, the education of students with disabilities was sporadic, or sometimes even nonexistent across the United States. Statistics cited by the United States Department of Education (2020) suggest that one in five students who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed, or some other form of intellectual disability were educated in the public-school setting. They also indicate that there were 1.8 million school aged children that were not receiving an education prior to the passage of the act. The nation has progressed to serve more than 7.5 million children with those same disabilities with education services. P.L. 94-142 established a phrase that holds great weight in today’s educational programs known as a Free and Appropriate Public Education. This phrase has as its key word appropriate. While this phrase and this essential word have driven the educational program, it has also brought with it great debate of what is appropriate. Regardless of the definition of appropriateness, the main priorities for the passing of the law were to ensure four fundamental rights. These four rights were to ensure students with disabilities had SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 11 access to a free public education that was appropriate, that parents’ and students’ rights were protected, that states had the backing of the federal government to achieve these goals, and that effectiveness of these programs could be measured across the country (United States Department of Education, 2020). Following the groundbreaking EHA legislation in 1975, the federal government reauthorized the law in 1990 through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. According to the United States Department of Education (2020), the main changes within this reauthorization were the inclusion of additional disability categories, namely traumatic brain injury and autism. Also, the reauthorization included transition planning for students to improve students' movement from school aged years to post K12 school years. In addition to the changes to the disability categories and inclusion of transition services, the legislation speaks for the first time of the increasing diverse populations that make up the United States of America. The legislation uses those statistics to demonstrate some of the inequities that were starting to exist within the special education programs throughout the country. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act legislation (1990) at the time of printing, it was predicted that by the year 2000 that there would be 260,000,000 million Americans and that one in every three citizens would be either African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian. These statistics were important in the fact that the legislation noted the growing disparities in the numbers of students in special education programs. In other words, our country was growing more diverse but potentially falling into practices that could segregate the population through inflated placement in special education. Studies at the time held that SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 12 the African American population was noted to comprise 12% of the school aged population. However, the group comprised 28% of the special education population (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 1990). The Federal government continued its evolution of special education programming when it reauthorized IDEA in 1997. Of importance to this research study was the emphasis placed on access to the general education curriculum. This was of paramount importance to the inclusion movement because it set the groundwork that students within the special education program should not be relegated to remediation concepts alone as their source of curriculum. This brought a strong push for inclusionary practices that began to strongly proliferate in schools across the country. The law established a phrase known as the Least Restrictive Environment or LRE. The definition of this was laid out in the legislation when it said: To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 1997, p.111) The concept of LRE again pushed the boundaries of what was felt to be appropriate under FAPE in educating the special education population. The reauthorization included legal clarifications and processes, setting the stage for parents' ability to challenge school decisions. As an example, in section 604 of the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 13 act, the law explains that sovereign immunity does not apply to public entities for violations of the law. This clearly sent the message to school districts that their say so was not protected when in violation of the IDEA provisions. In addition, a due process format was also initiated through this reauthorization that substantiated a mediation procedure for parents/guardians to disagree with school districts. Section 615 of the law lays out this process, and most importantly the financial obligation of school districts to pay for these proceedings. This included the establishment of an outline of the procedural safeguards to protect student and family rights. The procedural safeguards set forth a framework for parents’ meaningful engagement in meetings regarding their child’s placement, evaluations, and FAPE implementation. This included written notice and acceptance of changes in placement that would affect the students LRE. In Pennsylvania this written document is known as the Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP) and follows the guidelines in the act that require a description of the action proposed or refused by the educational agency, an explanation of why this proposal was being made, a description of any other options considered and rejected, a listing of evaluations leading to the decision, other relevant factors, and finally a notice to the parents that there are safeguards afforded to them with contact numbers to assist when unsure or in disagreement with a district proposal. These important changes transferred much of the power from school districts to parents and guardians. The procedural safeguards themselves were meant to be disseminated at crucial decision-making times in a student’s program. Those critical moments were stated to be upon request for evaluation of a student, reevaluation of a student, the occurrence of an SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 14 IEP meeting, and at the time that a notice of complaint was received by the school district. An important piece of the procedural safeguards is the concept of Pendency. This concept sets a standard for educational placement when there is disagreement. Pendency requires schools to maintain the status quo of the placement until proper stages of mediation occur. An important process set up by IDEA (1990) dealt with the mediation and due process that parents and districts can enter. The mediation process was established to allow parents and school districts to have a formal discussion about the concerns. This was not meant to deny the right of parents or the school district to enter due process proceedings but was/is an attempt to settle the dispute prior to getting to that point. Within the legislation states were charged with the task of establishing a list of mediators that are trained to help the parties settle the dispute. The IDEA legislation makes it the responsibility of the state to pay for the mediation services, so that no cost would be incurred by the parent/guardian or district for that matter. The outcome of the mediation would hopefully result in agreement and the legislation stipulates that this agreement would be written down in a mediation agreement. However, mediation is not effective in all cases, and as stated in the legislation, a due process procedure is afforded to the parties. Within the due process framework is the ability for the parent to obtain council and to award attorney fees to the family's attorney in a prevailing case. The parties utilize a state agency when hearing these cases. The parties involved must file all relevant documents pertaining to the case in a timely manner. This is set at five days prior to the hearing date. Failure to do so could result in SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 15 the hearing officer barring the information from admission. All decisions at this level may be appealed to an independent hearing officer for a final decision. IDEA would continue to evolve in the new century. According to LDOnline (2021), under President Bush and his No Child Left Behind legislation, IDEA saw changes that included provisions for highly qualified teachers who teach students with special needs, introduced changes to eligibility determination for learning disabilities known as Response to Intervention (RTI), transition planning for students, as well as Individualized Education Plan (IEP) implementation items to improve efficiency of the IEP process. According to the reauthorization found in IDEA (2004) the Highly Qualified Provisions of the legislation put higher standards on the teaching qualifications for staff that teach students in core subjects. It was no longer appropriate for staff holding a K-12 special education certificate to be considered highly qualified to teach Algebra as an example. The purpose in the changes to the certifications was to drive teacher proficiency in the core subjects and to drive teacher preparation programs to focus more of their efforts on core content in addition to the skills needed to provide accommodations and modifications to a student's special education program. This impact was felt specifically in the learning support pull out classroom. The legislation did differentiate between teachers that teach students working on alternate standards, however. Those staff were not required to become highly qualified under the provisions of the legislation. Another aspect of the 2004 reauthorization and important to this Capstone Project was the inclusion of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process for identifying students SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 16 with a learning disability. This was cited as a preferred method to the commonly known discrepancy formula used to demonstrate a student's difference in achievement over their ability. The National Center for Learning Disabilities (2006) states that response to intervention is, “a comprehensive, multi-step process that closely monitors how the student is responding to different types of services and instruction” (p. 12). The thinking behind moving to the RTI model was driven by the concern that the discrepancy model increased the time that a student might experience a lack of performance prior to being identified for a learning disability. The RTI framework would shorten that time, with the provision that the interventions used are scientifically based. The data collection for the targeted interventions was called progress monitoring. In essence, data collection on progress of key learning is regularly documented to determine a student’s progress in attaining the skills. In documenting this information the school can determine, if after using interventions, if the student continues to struggle that they would be eligible for special education services. The RTI framework is broken into three tiers. The tiers are simply labeled tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Tier 1 includes all students as a part of universal screeners and group interventions. Universal screeners are tools used by schools to identify weaknesses in a students’ skills. After students are identified with some skill deficits, students are given group interventions. What makes this a tier 1 strategy is that these interventions are afforded to all students in the regular classroom that would show the need through the universal screener. These group interventions would be applied to the targeted population for a period up to 8 weeks. In contrast, tier 2 students who did not meet with success in tier 1 are provided more intensive interventions in small groups, often outside SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 17 of the regular classroom environment. From a timeline perspective, tier 2 interventions continue for approximately one grading period. Lastly, tier 3 interventions are given to students who do not respond in tiers 1 and 2. However, the important difference between the other tiers is that this tier provides individualized intervention programming for the student. This RTI process allows for a pathway to identify a student for special education services where the data gathered in the process are used in an evaluation for identification. An important note within this framework, however, is the idea that a family does not have to wait out the RTI process to conclude for an evaluation to be done. IDEA (2004) made transition planning a primary part of the IEP process for all students 14 years or older. The purpose of transition planning as stated by Pennsylvania Area Training and Technical Assistance Network (2018b) is: The process of preparing students for adult life after they leave high school. Transition planning begins at age 14, or younger if determined appropriate by the IEP team, as students consider their goals for the time after graduation through career awareness exploration activities. The transition process continues through high school as academic instruction and community experiences help clarify and support students’ goals. The entire process is based on individual student’s needs, taking into account each student’s strengths, preferences, and interests. (p. 1) This focus on life after high school is generally broken into the categories of postsecondary training, employment, and independent living. These categories are to have goals implanted in the IEP to support the student in their post-secondary plans that are developed through data that comes from assessment in these areas. During this SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 18 development phase the IEP team works to develop partnerships with community organizations as the students get older such as meetings with post-secondary institutions or representatives from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. The Federal government has continued to make changes to IDEA in the years 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2013. These changes were less substantive to the purpose of this Capstone Project. However, in 2015 changes were made that impacted process and practice as it relates to least restrictive environment. In 2015 the reauthorization of IDEA discontinued the authority for states to define alternate standards for students and the use of assessments for assessing those modified standards. The government's original thought on allowing modified standards was the belief that a small number of students were not ready for the grade level academic standards. However, the government also acknowledged that more research needed to be done in this area when modified standards were allowed. A rule explained in the Federal Register under the title, Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged (2015) stated that the changes to the regulations were a result of research conducted that demonstrated strong outcomes for students with disabilities on grade level standards when they, “received systematic, explicit instruction; learning strategy instruction; and other evidence-based instructional strategies and supports” (p. 50774). This was the basis that changed the initial legislation that allowed for modified standards. The legislation makes important use of the word access as it describes the state’s responsibility to provide that pathway to all the nation’s students. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 19 Chapter 14 Special Education Services and Programs Pennsylvania’s process for delivering special education programming to students identified as needing specially designed instruction in the state is driven by the Pennsylvania School Code under Title 22 (Education) and Chapter 14 (Special Education Services and Programs). The provisions of the regulations meet the Federal standards set forth in IDEA as was outlined in the initial literature review section of this Doctoral Capstone Project. Chapter 14 is set up into six main parts that include General Provisions, Child Find, Screening and Evaluation, IEP, Educational Placement, Early Intervention, and Procedural Safeguards. These regulations have oversite by the State Board of Education. According to the Pennsylvania Code, the state board is given the power to “adopt broad policies and principles and establish standards governing the educational program of the Commonwealth” (2021, Title 22, §1.2). The General Provisions clearly state its purpose and uses the commensurate IDEA language when describing the meaning of Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as well as access to general education curriculum and “a full continuum of placement options” (Pennsylvania Code, Title 22, §14.102). The full continuum of placement options operates under the guidance of the least restrictive environment in which a student is provided services in an educational environment that is as similar to their same aged peers as possible where the student’s needs are being addressed. This continuum of support, as it is commonly called, provides these comprehensive options to the Individualize Education Program (IEP) team. However, the starting point for placement options really begins with a student’s initial evaluation. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 20 Educational Evaluation The Pennsylvania School Code explains that the evaluation is to be conducted by a school psychologist for the purpose of identifying students who may qualify for a disability category of “autism, emotional disturbance, mental retardation (Now known as Intellectual Disability), multiple disabilities, other health impairments, specific learning disability, or traumatic brain injury” (PA Code, sec. 14.123). The evaluation is an essential portion of the special education process as it uses a comprehensive battery of assessment to determine the specific needs of the learner and can make recommendations for those needs to the IEP team. The data for this evaluation is not only gathered by the psychologist themselves but is gathered from multiple stakeholders involved in the student's education, including parents, and teachers. According to the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (2011) a Multidisciplinary Evaluation (MDE) report uses standardized assessments, informal measures, observations, student self-reports, parent reports, and progress monitoring data and are used to “identify a student’s pattern of strengths and needs” (p. 4). In addition, the evaluation must prove two things prior to a student’s placement in special education. That is determining if a disability exists AND if the student needs specially designed instruction due to low performance. In other words, having a disability in and of itself is not the sole factor for placement in special education. For the purposes of students with learning disabilities an evaluation looks to determine if a discrepancy exists in students' achievement and their abilities known as the discrepancy formula. While an important determining factor, the discrepancy formula may not be the only measure for a student's qualifications for a learning disability as SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 21 discussed previously. The areas that are targeted include oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, mathematics calculation, and mathematical problem solving. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (2006) the evaluation should also look at ability levels across domains of motor, sensory, cognitive, communication, behavior, perception, memory, attention, sequencing, motor planning and coordination, thinking, reasoning, and organization. Evaluation reports include information on exclusionary factors, inclusionary factors, and the patterns of strengths and weaknesses that the student has established over time. Whitaker and Oritz (2019) explain that exclusionary factors that a psychologist may consider in evaluating a student might include environmental, cultural or economic factors that have kept the student from achieving at the levels of their ability. These environmental factors, such as students that are English Language Learners, or students who have not had regular patterns of attendance at school, or students who have experienced a significant traumatic event may be reasons for the student’s underachievement and not a learning disability. As an example, in a recent study by Horowitz et al. (2017), English Language Learners made up 9 percent of students in the public school system, but made-up 12 percent of students identified for a specific learning disability. These types of factors are considered as possible exclusionary factors to a student’s qualifications as a student with disabilities because these factors would hinder progress in the educational program and do not necessarily indicate a disability. The purpose of this, according to Whitaker and Oritz (2019) is to protect against SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 22 disproportionate placement of students with these factors in special education programs that promote biased practice whether intentional or not. An evaluation for students with learning disabilities relies in part on the use of a discrepancy formula. However, after IDEA 2004, the discrepancy formula may not be used by itself to determine if a learning disability exists. It is important that multiple measures are used to identify areas of concern since testing by itself is one moment in time and may or may not be accurate to the student’s real weaknesses. However, the discrepancy formula is still a measure and considers a student's ability as measured on an intelligence test as compared to their achievement across multiple categories on a standardized test. When a significant gap exists between a student’s ability and achievement it is one indicator of a potential learning disability. According to the Iris Center (2021), a significant discrepancy exists when there is a 30-point difference between a student's ability and their achievement. This difference is two standard deviations from the student’s ability score. So, as an example, a student who scored a 100 on their intelligence score and a 68 on their achievement score would have met one of the indicators for a learning disability because it meets the discrepancy formula. In a different example, a student who has an Intelligence Quotient of 110 and an 85 achievement score would not meet that eligibility criteria piece based on the discrepancy being 25 points. As LdOnline (2021) points out, “the reason that comprehensive assessment and evaluation procedures are needed is because learning disabilities may be manifested differently among individuals over time, in severity, and across settings” (para. 33). This speaks to why the discrepancy formula can’t be the sole indicator of a learning disability SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 23 and key elements of a comprehensive evaluation should include the strengths and weaknesses of the student as well as other factors that are affecting performance in the regular education environment. The components of the evaluation report are many and are set up to walk the practitioners and IEP team through various considerations based in data that define a student’s needs and whether a diagnosis exists. The following is a brief overview of the components of a report, followed by a brief explanation of those components to illustrate the process for identifying students with special education needs. It is important to note that an evaluation may be initiated by a parent or by a school. This is the reason that the report starts out with a reason for the referral. This gives the MDE team background on what brought the evaluation to this point. According to the PATTAN (2018a), this section, “clearly, thoroughly and concisely describe why the evaluation is being conducted” (p. 2). The second portion of the evaluation report contains the Sources of Evaluation Data. This section contains the assessment batteries that have been conducted based on the areas of concern that were reported to the school psychologist. The reader would also find the results of these batteries in this area. PATTAN (2018a) makes reference in their annotated evaluation report that this piece should be clear to the reader, acknowledging that the reader will not have the same level of training and expertise as the psychologist writing the report. These sources of data are broken up into an organizational structure or categories. These categories include parent feedback, observations of the student by the teacher or related service providers, recommendations by teachers, physical health reports such as their vision and hearing screenings, assessment data such as classroom-based SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 24 assessments; aptitude and achievement tests; local and state assessments; behavior assessments; interests and preferences, and discipline referral information. The third component of the evaluation includes any deviation from normal testing routines. This section would include information such as testing changes that existed due to testing needs. An example may be testing in the student's native language. Other examples may include a student who became ill during the assessment or if the full battery was not given and only certain sub sections were conducted. The Determining Factor section, noted as section 4, is meant to illustrate the possibility of exclusionary factors. As explained earlier in this project, students can have existing factors that might preclude a student from being eligible for special education services. Students who have had a lack of instruction as an example may not be eligible for special education based on these exclusionary factors. English as a second language is another example that could preclude a student from qualifying for special education services. As a reminder, this provision was meant to safeguard the overidentification of students with these factors into special education because the suspicion would be that this factor itself was primary to their lower achievement and special education was not the appropriate answer. The report nears culmination in a summary of findings and interpretation of the results. The summary puts into clear language how the student is performing, also known as the Present Levels of Performance. These present levels are broken down into academic performance, functional levels of performance, and behavioral performance. These pieces of information are transferred onto the IEP for students who qualify to drive programming planning. Academic performance includes, as its name suggests, the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 25 assessment feedback that deals with achievement in school derived from the collection of data. Functional performance includes the day-to-day living skills of the student including hygiene, dressing, community-based instruction skills, and consumer skills. Lastly, behavioral information would contain feedback from assessments such as measures of social and emotional functioning. An example may be attention rating scales. Lastly, the report is finalized with conclusions and recommendations based on the data that is included. There are three options for the team to choose from within this portion of the report. The data either reveals that the student does not have a disability, has a disability but is not in need of specially designed instruction, or is a student with a disability in need of specially designed instruction. Remember that a student having a disability alone does not necessitate the need for an Individualized Educational Program. There must be a demonstrated need shown through the review of data. Hence the reason for the second option in the evaluation report. Additionally, this is also a crucial section of the report where a diagnosis will be assigned to the student if they are found in need of specially designed instruction. A student may, in fact, have more than one diagnosis but there is a primary diagnosis assigned to the student known as their primary disability category. The psychologist will incorporate their recommendations in this portion of the report as well. This important section gives the team guidance on what support may be put in place based on the report’s findings. Recommendations made by the Education Law Center (2021) state “the special education and related services the child needs to participate in the regular curriculum” (p. 19). They go on to say that specially designed SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 26 instruction includes “what is taught, methodology (the process used to teach), or delivery of the curriculum to take account of your child’s learning needs and to ensure that your child has access to the general education curriculum” (p. 9). Additionally, related services are items that the student needs such as transportation, speech/occupational/physical therapy, interpreting services, or school health services that address other weaknesses that affect the student adversely in the school environment. As an example, pull out classes may be considered for a student where small group instruction is recommended because a specially designed instruction element would include that recommendation. Whereas an example of a related service may be occupational therapy needs due to a student’s weakness in fine motor skills as it relates to holding and manipulating a pencil. Certainly, while not academic, this related service would have an impact on the student’s academic success. Individualized Education Plan Design The Individualized Education Plan, or IEP is designed by a team of individuals at least annually for a student who has qualified for special education services. The Education Law Center (2021) states that an IEP is “a written plan that describes the unique needs of a child who is eligible for special education and explains the specific services that the school will give the child” (p. 31). The initial provision for special education is derived from the Evaluation Report, taking the present levels of performance, strengths and needs of the student as well as the recommendations to address these needs. The IEP itself is broken out into many different components that all have meaning in achieving a Free and Appropriate Public Education while also adhering to the principals of the Least Restrictive Environment. Important to this project are the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 27 components of the IEP known as present levels of academic achievement, goals and objectives, specially designed instruction, and educational placement. Special considerations are noted at the beginning of the IEP document, to keep at the forefront, considerations that may be less typical but need much attention through the development of the IEP. These considerations may include blind or vision impairments, communication needs, assistive technology needs, limited English proficiency skills, and behavior that may impede the student’s progress or that of others. These items can have implications throughout the IEP. As an example, a student who is noted as having behaviors that impede their learning or that of others may need a behavior plan that is driven by a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). A behavior plan includes positive behavioral supports that would be clearly stated in the IEP for all staff to review and follow, to maintain a cohesive approach to dealing with the student’s behavioral needs. Yet another example might be the inclusion of mobility training in the Related Services portion of the IEP if the IEP team were to indicate blind or visual impairment needs. The team uses information from the Evaluation Report and data from the current academic program such as grades, scores on standardized tests, information from those involved with the student and other data available to the team to construct the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance. Harmon et al. (2020) state, “one of the most important elements of an individualized education program (IEP) is the section on present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP)” (p. 321). This section clearly outlines for those that play a role in the student’s education where the student is in their educational program, what to expect from the student, what struggles the student has, and sets the direction for where the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 28 student needs to go based on the needs identified. This may include feedback from the parent as well. Within the present levels framework are measures of functional performance. Harmon et al. (2020) explains that functional performance “refers to any nonacademic area that allows a student to function independently on a day-to-day basis, such as cognition, communication, motor skills, behavior, or social-emotional functioning” (p. 321). PATTAN (2018c) contributes to this understanding in its annotated IEP when it said that this, “relates to activities of daily living like hygiene, dressing, basic consumer skills, community-based instruction, or the ability to access public transportation, social/emotional learning skills or behavioral difficulties, and the consideration of personal safety and socially appropriate behavior” (p. 15). Functional performance is not always a concern for students whose needs are mainly academic. However, all domains of functional performance need to be considered for each student to rule in or rule out the need within this section of the IEP. Within the Present Levels of Academic and Functional Performance is the inclusion of transition needs and strengths. Transition refers to the areas of interest that the student may have regarding post-secondary life. The IEP team may gather this information from activities such as career awareness surveys or interest inventories. The team may also look at instruments such as the ASVAB for high school students. As Harmon et al. (2020) put it, “a description of the degree of match between the student's current skills and the student's desired postschool outcomes will provide insight into the impact of the disability and will assist the team with comprehensive transition planning” (p. 327). For students in the state of Pennsylvania, transition must be considered for SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 29 those students who are 14 years of age or older. The IEP team may consider transition services for students who are younger if the IEP team determines that this is appropriate. Lastly, considerations on present levels for behavior are also pertinent information to be included in this area. While previously stated under the special considerations section of the IEP, behavior that impedes the student’s learning or that of others requires specific attention within the IEP. From the special considerations comes the information demonstrating the student’s progress and ongoing needs in this area. Primary information pertinent to this would be found in a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). The FBA defines the target behavior and looks at the function of the behavior for why the behavior might exist. The FBA also includes triggers or antecedents to the behavior so that the team can consider what manipulations to the environment can be made to avoid the trigger to the behavior. Just as important is the statement of the behavior that is desired. Data can be gathered from sources including referrals to the office or direct observation of the problem behaviors. The information is placed in this area to demonstrate the needs that will be addressed later in the IEP as a goal or goals. The third part of the IEP is the Transition section. This should sound familiar because transition was discussed in the student’s present levels section specified previously. This section takes that information and puts into action a plan to achieve post-secondary goals in the areas of education and training, employment, and independent living needs (not all students require independent living to be addressed). As Finn and Kohler (2009) state: SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 30 This federal mandate for IEP transition content actually helps simplify IEP development, by aligning the various components (present level of academic achievement and functional performance, annual goals, course of study, special education and related services, duration of services, and accommodations) with the student's postsecondary goals. (p. 20) The Individualized Education Plan team puts in this section specific activities that will occur throughout the year that will assist the student in fulfilling the goals. As an example, a student with a post-secondary employment goal of being a carpenter may have as a part of their IEP a trip planned to see the local area vocational technical school servicing the district. Another example may be taking part in developing a career plan that fulfills career awareness standards. Lastly, this area is a federally monitored portion of the IEP known as Indicator 13. There are 20 indicators that are used to show compliance and effectiveness of a students’ IEP and the implementation of IDEA (Project 10 Transition Network, 2021). With the Federal weight placed on this indicator, it makes this an important part of the individualized education plan. Part IV of the IEP includes the consideration of whether the student will participate in state and local assessments. This portion of the IEP is important in the sense that the research conducted in this study uses standardized and local assessment data to determine the effectiveness of supports, accommodations and modifications that help the student make progress in the regular education curriculum and results in positive achievement on these measures. In addition, in the state of Pennsylvania currently, the use of standardized measures fulfills some of the graduation pathways for all students. At the heart of this project is the pedagogy and practice that keeps students in the Least SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 31 Restrictive Environment and assists students in successfully achieving grade level standards. It is important, as a part of accountability measures, that students take part in the assessment structure in order to gain valuable insight into the effectiveness of the educational program and their achievement. However, there are students who cannot take part in the state standardized assessment system. In Pennsylvania as an example, students that the IEP team determine meet the criteria to participate in the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) would be noted in this area of the IEP. Pennsylvania outlines six criteria that a student must meet in order to be eligible to take part in the PASA. These six criteria, taken from the PATTAN IEP template (2018c) are listed as follows: 1. Will the student be in grade 3,4,5,6,7,8, or 11 by September 1st of the school year during which the IEP will be operative? 2. Does the student have significant cognitive disabilities? Pennsylvania defines significant cognitive disabilities as pervasive and global in nature, affecting student learning in all academic content areas, as well as adaptive behaviors and functional skills across life domains. 3. Does the student require intensive, direct, and repeated instruction in order to learn and generalize academic, functional, and adaptive behavior skills across multiple settings? 4. Does the student require extensive adaptations and support in order to perform and/or participate meaningfully and productively in the everyday life activities of integrated school, home, community, and work environments? SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 32 5. Does the student require substantial modifications to the general education curriculum? 6. Does the student’s participation in the general education curriculum differ substantially in form and/or substance from that of most other students? Students found eligible to take the PASA must have measurable annual goals AND short-term objectives reflected in the IEP. (p. 26) In addition, for English Language (EL) students, considerations would be made as to the appropriateness of the state assessments and what accommodations may be necessary for the student to show what they know to eliminate the language barrier to the greatest extent possible. EL students, who take the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State assessment, or ACCESS testing, have considerations in this area of the IEP as well. The testing is broken into domains of Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. Accommodation exists for each of these domains. Much of the prior information leads up to the next section of the IEP known as Part V Goals and Objectives. This area brings into action the need statements discussed in the Present Levels of Academic and Functional Performance and potentially the transition portion of the document. The goal statements are broken up into Measurable Annual Goals and Short-Term Objectives. Measurable Annual Goals are necessary for all students in the areas that affect their disability. This could include academic goals, transition goals, or behavioral goals. Short Term Objectives are not necessary in all cases. They are necessary, however, for students who participate in the PASA testing. Hedin and DeSpain (2018) state that IEP goals “include four components: conditions, SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 33 learner, behavior, and criteria” (p.101). Goals need to be driven from the learner’s needs, include the type of behavior that is desired for the student based off that need, and is measurable to a criteria that includes baseline and successful attainment of the goal. As an example, if we know that a student has a weakness in reading comprehension a measurable annual goal may look like this: Given a reading comprehension passage at a Lexile level of 700, Gavin will answer 80% of the comprehension questions for the passage correctly from a baseline of 60%. In this example, the learner’s needs would be stated in the present levels and known to be in the reading comprehension area. We would also know from the present levels the instructional level. The goal describes the behavior of the student answering correctly the comprehension questions, with a criteria of 80% accuracy from a baseline of 60%. Paramount to this Capstone Project is part VI of the IEP known as Related Services/Supplementary Aids and Services, and Program Modifications. Specifically, this section is broken into five parts, Specially Designed Instruction, Related Services, Supports for School Personnel, Gifted Support Services and Extended School Year. For the purposes of this Capstone Project we will focus on the Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) portion of the IEP. As you have read, the beginning of the literature review focused on the evolution of legislation to support special education students in their educational growth. Primary to this objective was access to the general education curriculum as well as placement in the Least Restrictive Environment. The primary vehicle to achieving this success can be found in section VI of the IEP. Here, the IEP team articulates the types of supports that SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 34 can be put in place to keep the student in the least restrictive educational environment, accessing the regular curriculum. Looking at part A, Specially Designed Instruction, this would be where staff dealing with the student’s needs would find pertinent information about the accommodations and modifications that are prescriptive in helping the student achieve in the classroom. Part of the goal of this project is to look at the practices for accommodations and modifications and to what level of fidelity their implementation effects the student’s access to the curriculum, stay in the least restrictive environment, and show growth. Specifically, the Assistance to States for the Education of Students with Disabilities (2012) describe SDI’s as: Adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology or delivery of instruction (i) to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child's disability; and (ii) to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children. (§300.39[b]) These are supposed to be matched with the student’s deficits to overcome the barriers that the disability places on the students access to curriculum and programming. The next section breaks out the difference between accommodations and modifications and their role in the academic program. Accommodations are known within the special education and broader school community as changing the way that students learn or present material. As Lovett and Nelson (2020) state, “in either case, the essential content of the academic program SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 35 (instruction or testing) is retained, but the mode of administering an aspect of the program (the timing, scheduling, setting, presentation style, or response format) is altered” (p. 442). These accommodations may include changes to how students access information or present information. As an example, a student with a reading disability may access reading content from an audio book file for social studies class. Another example may be that a student uses a calculator for certain abstract mathematics problems so that the student can practice and demonstrate what they know about the concept where calculation is not the targeted skill. These would be examples of accommodations that allow a student to access information. Another example may be a student who is able to use text to speech software in order to respond to a comprehension question. In all cases, the standards that the student is being assessed on are the same as their regular education counterparts. However, some concerns exist with the efficacy of accommodations in the educational program. It is suggested in some circles that the dissemination of accommodation lists in government publications and by special education advocacy groups has led to the inclusion of many accommodations in action plans that do not have any research as to their effectiveness. Additionally, there are suggestions that accommodations are easier for schools to implement and less costly than intervention practices which are more costly resulting in proliferating the use of the accommodations in IEP and 504 documents. However, research done by Lovett and Nelson (2020) measured read alouds as one of the exceptions to the ineffectiveness of accommodations for students with Attention Deficit Disorder. Also, VanSciver and Conover (2009) state in their research that it was “reported that on computations and problem-solving SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 36 questions, teachers erred by over-identifying accommodations. Specifically, teachers granted accommodations to large numbers of students with learning disabilities who failed to profit from those accommodations more than would be expected among nondisabled students” (p. 3). Additionally, VanSciver & Conover (2009) state that much of the decision making that goes into the use of accommodations come from a teacher’s preferences, the ease at which an accommodation can be put into place, or the parent’s urging the use of an accommodation. In a study conducted by LeDoux et al. (2012) Likert style surveying was used to determine staff perceptions of seven perceived teacher challenges in the classroom when working with special needs children. In doing so, the researchers demonstrated that the biggest challenges to staff were keeping special education students on pace with the regular education curriculum as well as finding the time to meet the special education students' needs. Comparatively, of much less concern to the staff was identifying and implementing accommodations and modifications. This suggests some of the concerns cited in this section of the fidelity of accommodations put in place and their actual effect on student performance. One would reasonably expect that if the accommodations were effective, keeping up with the content and finding time to meet the student needs would not outpace choosing appropriate accommodations. The two should go hand in hand and possibly reinforces the idea that accommodations are much more generic than pointedly effective as discussed in Lovett and Nelson’s research. Modifications, as opposed to accommodations, include the changing of the actual content being learned rather than the way it is learned or demonstrated. According to the PACER Center Champions for Children with Disabilities (2013), modifications are: SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 37 An adjustment to an assignment or a test that changes the standard or what the test or assignment is supposed to measure. Examples of modifications include a student completing work on part of a standard or a student completing an alternate assignment that is more easily achievable than the assignment. (p. 1) Decisions that teachers may make in the realm of modifications could include choosing literature with a lower Lexile level but practicing or introducing similar concepts. In essence, the student is learning the standards in a modified way. Another example may be a teacher who modifies content for a student so that only the big ideas are taught/assessed, leaving out some lesser essential elements of the content. Beyond materials, modifications can also be rooted in grading practices, curriculum, and testing. As an example, a grading modification may include partially grading the contents of the assessment to the big ideas that the staff member wants to assess. Curriculum modifications could potentially be shortened assignments that focus on the key concepts being taught. Testing modifications may include changing the type of test given or providing a word bank to the test, where other students may be asked to remember the words from memory. Interesting research conducted on the implementation of modifications was found in a research study conducted by Hawpe (2013). In his research, Hawpe investigated some key questions around willingness to implement modifications disaggregated by gender, grade, regular education staff and special education staff, whether the teacher had a disability themselves, or if a family member of the staff member had a disability. The results suggested that more females than males were open to providing modifications for their students in the classroom. In addition, it was found that neither middle school or SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 38 high school teachers are more or less inclined to provide modifications. Also, staff that had a disability were more inclined to provide modifications to their students as well. Lastly, it was found that special education teachers were more likely to give students modified outlines and materials than were their regular education counterparts. This research was pertinent to the Doctoral Capstone Project in that we are studying the fidelity of accommodations and modifications and how that affects the least restrictive environment in the core subjects. While there are other components to the IEP, the last ones to discuss that affect this Doctoral Capstone Project include Parts VII, Educational Placement and Part VIII, Penn Data Reporting. They will be dealt with here together because of their close relationship. The Educational Placement of the student deals directly with the LRE that is spoken of so often in the IDEA regulations and in this project. The educational placement is supposed to be driven from considerations in using supplementary aids and services. The IEP team is to consider what supplementary aids and services are necessary to help the student be successful in the placement that is recommended in the IEP. This is also where the IEP team makes specific statements about how the student will be included in the regular education classroom and regular education curriculum. The IEP team is asked the following questions. 1. Explanation of the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with students without disabilities in the regular education class. 2. Explanation of the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with students without disabilities in the general education curriculum. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 39 Depending on the answers to these questions, the team would declare the level of support that the student will receive. There are three levels of support considered in this area. They are itinerant, supplemental, and full time support services. Itinerant support refers to the lowest level of support where the student spends less than 20% of their day outside of the regular education classroom. Supplemental support refers to 20%-79% of the day outside of the regular education environment. This is followed by full time support, that is 80-100% of the school day separated from their regular education peers. Continuum of Support Students with disabilities are serviced in public schools under the direction of LRE. Schools are expected, to the extent possible, to provide this education with supports in the regular education setting. School districts are also asked to provide supports that would be commensurate with the needs that the students have. The type of support is critical and challenges old ways of thinking with regard to a type of support (Learning Support, Emotional Support, Life Skills Support, Etc.) as opposed to a place where the support is given. Three categories of location are typically found in public education, and they are inclusive regular education classrooms, pull-out classrooms, and settings in a separate school. According to Choi et al. (2020), research indicates that including students in the regular education environment meaningfully results in improved academic and social outcomes for students with disabilities. This research makes the argument compelling for schools to implement support in this environment. One such model of support to help students with disabilities gain access to the regular classroom is the coteaching model. Within this model, there are two educators present in the classroom at any one time. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 40 Sinclair et al. (2018) indicates that this arrangement usually includes a special education teacher who serves as an intervention specialist and a regular education teacher that serves as a content specialist. However, within the model of coteaching there are different approaches. There are generally six of these approaches that have been developed as a framework for coteaching (Friend, 2008, as cited in Sinclair et al., 2018). These models include one teach, one observe, one teach, one assist, parallel teaching, station teaching, alternative teaching, and team teaching. A goal that is sought by teachers in a coteaching arrangement using these approaches is that there isn’t a discernable difference between the special education teacher and content area teacher. While the approaches may be different in the classroom, the view from the students is hoped to be that the two professionals are their teachers (Hurd & Wielbacher, 2017). Perceived benefits of the model include reducing the student-to-teacher ratio in such a way that students get more attention, improving the delivery of content when presented from multiple viewpoints, providing for teamwork opportunities, and eliminating some of the negative connotations associated with being pulled out of the regular classroom environment (Hacket et al., 2020). In the one teach, one observe approach either the content area teacher (CAT) or the special education teacher (SET) would be delivering the main portion of instruction. The other teacher would be conducting data collection in order to plan for interventions needed for the student’s success. While this could be either teacher in either role, the intervention specialist is often the data gatherer while the content specialist, CAT is delivering the instruction to the class (Sinclair et al., 2018). SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 41 In the one teach, one assist model, one of the professional staff are conducting the instruction for the class while the other instructor is monitoring the students and providing assistance to students who demonstrate need. This assistance can involve 1:1 support on the current assignment, or behavioral interventions necessary due to frustration with the activity being conducted (Sinclair et al., 2018). In the parallel teaching approach, there is a splitting of the classroom into two groups. In this model the teachers are vested equally in the instruction and assessment of the lesson. Students could be heterogeneously grouped or homogeneously grouped in order to serve the approach that the activity is trying to accomplish. Of usefulness with this model is the ability to achieve more facetime and accountability to student learning since you are effectively cutting the class in half. Sinclair et al. (2018) states that this method is great for the reviewing of information because it gives students more opportunities to demonstrate what they know and don’t know for the instructor. Using station teaching is yet another model that staff can use when implementing a coteaching approach. Station teaching refers to the ability of the instructors to work with small groups of students. When this occurs, the teachers plan for specific activities that could be without the teacher present, such as centers, mixed in with small group sessions with the teacher that can provide targeted interventions for students. This leads to a level of differentiation for students throughout the lesson. Alternative teaching refers to the SET and CAT grouping students based off assessment and feedback. This method requires formative assessment practice that determines what students need small group instruction on a topic while other students may receive whole group instruction (Sinclair et al., 2018). In doing so, the teachers are SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 42 identifying needs, based in data, and responding to those needs in real time. An example of this might be students taking a bell ringer assessment that measures their understanding of simplifying fractions. Based on this result, the SET may take a small number of students who are showing basic skill deficits in simplifying fractions. Whereas students who may have a stronger understanding of the content may work on more complex ratio problems that practice this skill in an application type format. Remediation is provided where necessary to the small group so that the application piece can then be applied while not holding up the students ready for this task. Lastly, team teaching refers to the practice of both teachers delivering instruction at the same time to the whole group. Sinclair et al. (2018) indicates that this model highlights the strengths of each teacher during the lesson and may appeal to different students from the differing approaches that the instructors have. One weakness to this model is that it does not present itself with many opportunities to differentiate instruction for students. Having a knowledge of these different models enables the teachers involved to choose between them based off what they are trying to accomplish. If the goal of the lesson is to differentiate then one would certainly not use the one teach, one observe or team-teaching method. Likewise, during the initial instruction phase, the team teaching, one teach, one observe, or the one teach, one assist approach may be the best method. Challenges to the implementation of the coteaching model are plentiful. Teacher common planning time, as one example, is a primary ingredient to the success of the framework. Without this necessary component, teacher ability to make adaptions and discuss scope and sequence affects the efficacy of the model. Additionally, Scruggs et al. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 43 (2007) explains that the depth of knowledge that the co-teacher has in the subject matter can also play a role in the model’s success. This is viewed as a barrier to a co-teacher being a fully valued member of the classroom or being treated as an equal. Hacket et. al (2020) notes certain attributes that successful staff may have that play a role in the success of the program. Teachers who engage in the model successfully are most commonly flexible, have trust with their co-teacher, enter the process voluntarily, and have strong interpersonal and communication skills. Much discussion has occurred regarding the effectiveness of this model. For practitioners and administrators there are challenging factors to overcome before a coteaching framework can function properly. According to staff who have been surveyed on this piece, concepts such as common planning time, shared responsibilities, compatibility, and desire have all played a role in the success of this approach. Sinclair et. al (2018) notes that the research on the effectiveness of the co-teaching framework has limited information, however. Murawski & Swanson (2001) (as cited in Sinclair et al., 2018) noted that the net effect of students in pull out instruction and those in co-teaching classrooms had very little net difference in achievement. In fact, it was noted that “of 89 identified studies on co-teaching, only 6 could be analyzed for effects and the average effect size was only 0.40” (p. 307). Still other research noted by Fuchs et al. (2015) stated that students below the 10th percentile that were in pull out environments had a greater increase in their achievement relative to students in inclusive settings. However, other research focused on the feelings of students in coteaching arrangements were much more positive. According to Gokbulut et al. (2020) students reported being “happy, successful, and academically prepared during the coteaching practices, found the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 44 materials used by their teachers interesting, were willing to attend the class and were pleased to be in school” (p.12). Another study by Rosati (2009) (as cited in Gokbulut et al., 2020) stated that students felt they were better able to get the help they needed quickly and efficiently in a coteaching environment. A placement option that exists in public schools is the regular classroom with supports outlined in the IEP, tailored to the student’s needs. This differs from the cotaught classroom in that the environment has one teacher facilitating instruction. Burns (2007), states that the “regular education classroom teacher has the expertise that is crucial for a child with a disability to achieve satisfactorily in the regular education classroom” (p. 27). He goes on to say that this crucial individual knows the framework and structure of the curriculum and is an expert in helping the student in attaining the goals of the course and sequential benchmarks. This environment may include supports such as paraprofessional support, modified curriculum, accommodations such as lengthened time to complete assignments, or the ability to have assessments read, to name a few examples. However, the primary prescriptive instruction is outlined in the specially designed instruction portion of the IEP that is implemented in this environment. Thurlow et al. (2005) cite five major accommodation categories for students in the general education classroom. These categories include timing such as alternate test schedules, response such as ways in which students present what they know, setting that include changes to where tasks are completed, equipment and materials such as text to speech computer functions, and presentation such as how a student represents what they have learned. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 45 Within the regular classroom framework there are additional practices that occur that help the student be successful beyond the accommodation strategies discussed. Differentiated instruction has been a widely used approach to meeting the needs of learners that come to the classroom with different skillsets and readiness. Tomlinson (as cited in Goodard et al., 2019) notes this approach as a means for the learner to have varied ways to interact with the content. Goodard (2019) goes on to say that this could include changes to content, process, and what is produced by the student based on the “student’s readiness, interests, or needs” (p. 201). Tomlinson herself noted in an interview with the School of Education at the University of Virginia that differentiation means “trying to make sure that teaching and learning work for the full range of students” (Bell, 2011, para. 2). Tomlinson states that this comes down to three student need areas of student readiness, student interest, and student learning profile. This includes what Tomlinson refers to as modes of learning that have four facets of gender, culture, learning styles, and intelligence preferences. Tomlinson cites that much of the difficulty in incorporating differentiated instruction in the classroom is that it must take into account the four facets. To do one facet of the program, such as incorporating learning styles is only implementing part of what makes differentiated instruction work. Therefore, Tomlinson refers to implementation of differentiated instruction as a second order change process. It requires teachers to rethink their classroom and being comfortable with multiple things going on at the same time. These are some of the barriers to effective differentiation in the classroom. Lastly, the IEP team may decide that a student’s education is best supported in a pull-out classroom. This is known as a more restrictive environment, as the class SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 46 operates with only students with disabilities and not in the general education setting. The purpose of the pull-out classroom is to provide smaller, individualized instruction. Teachers in this setting are given more opportunity to pace instruction to meet the needs of the learner's content acquisition rate. Causton-Theoharis et al. (2011) stated that selfcontained classrooms are more protective environments. Some have gone as far as to say that a pull-out environment is necessary and that subjecting students with disabilities to the regular education classroom and corresponding assessments was actually discriminating against the special education student (Albrecht & Joles, 2003). Another author boldly stated, ‘‘the goals of teaching all children well and teaching all children in the same place and at the same time (i.e., full inclusion) are on a collision course for some students’’ and that ‘‘we cannot avoid the ‘train wreck’ of these two goals unless we give up one for the other in some cases’’ (Kauffman et al., 2005, p. 2). These arguments have made the inclusion of the pull-out classroom an option in the continuum of support that schools have offered. The pull-out setting does not come without its share of concerns, however. Some of the drawbacks to this type of program can include stigmatization (Klingner et al., 1998). Also, there is a great deal of debate in the research world as to whether pull-out classrooms are effective in achieving a better outcome for students with disabilities. Fuchs et al. (1993) had conducted research that demonstrated that students receiving math instruction showed greater gains in the pull-out classroom. However, interestingly, in a study conducted by Hurt (2012), the author noted that he had found eighteen studies on the effects of inclusive practice as compared to pull-out practice. Of those studies, ten showed a positive correlation to achievement for students in inclusive settings vs. pull- SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 47 out settings, while seven showed no difference to placement in inclusive settings vs. pullout settings, and one showed a negative result to placement in inclusive settings vs. pullout settings that tipped the scale slightly in favor of educating students in inclusive settings. Hurt’s study also included studies of Virginia’s standardized testing framework and found that there wasn’t any significant difference between students in pull out settings and inclusive settings. So, the research about the effectiveness of pull-out and inclusive practice seems to fall short of declaring a best approach. Most likely this is due to the varied nature of students' skills and readiness, teacher experience and readiness, school resources, and local mindsets as it relates to the implementation of these programs. Instructional Practices As has been explained in the IEP process, there is specially designed instruction that is provisioned for students with disabilities in the classroom setting. Namely these are modifications and accommodations that affect the delivery of instruction that meets their specified needs. However, what are examples of these kinds of modifications and accommodations? Also, is there any empirical evidence that these instructional practices actually work for students with disabilities. As mentioned in the literature review, modifications are changes to what is taught to students. Accommodations are changes in the environment that allow students to work around their disabilities. The Iris Center (2021) notes four types of accommodations that involve presentation, response, setting, and timing/scheduling. We will look at both modifications and accommodations in more detail below. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 48 Looking at modification practices first, researchers have suggested that there are two types of modifications made to curriculum (Wehmeyer et al., 2002). The first is curriculum adaptation and the second is curriculum augmentation. Curriculum adaptation refers to how content is represented or in how students respond to curriculum. This adaptation does not alter the content that the student is learning. Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strongly support curriculum adaptation in practice. UDL is a method for staff to vary how material is presented, how teachers deliver the content, and how students show what they have learned (Rose & Meyer, 2002). An example of how material is represented and presented may be in the selection of text, graphics, pictures, or audio and video content to name a few. When delivering content, varied approaches may include lectures, visual presentation (such as slide shows), role playing, or computer mediated instruction. Lastly, when it comes to showing what they have learned students may be given options such as reports, exams, portfolios, drawings, performances, oral reports, videotaped reports, or other alternative means for evaluation. Curriculum augmentation, on the other hand, refers to layering supporting skills in the delivery of content. Lee et al. (2006) cites that these augmentations may include helping students with meta-cognitive or executive functioning strategies to access the content and teaching students to learn how to learn. Contrary to what the title might indicate, augmentation does not mean that curriculum is altered. It is only that there are skills embedded that assist the student in understanding the material being taught. Lee et al. (2006) gives other examples of curriculum augmentation such as shadowing, verbatim notes, graphic organizers, semantic maps, mnemonics, chunking, questioning, and visualizing strategies. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 49 Looking at some of these examples in more detail, Lee et al. (2006) explains the use of graphic organizers creates a visual that helps the student organize information in a way that they can understand. An example of this might be a Venn Diagram that shows information that two groups/items have in common represented in the overlap of two circles but show their differences in the parts of the circle that are not overlapping. This visual representation that compares and contrasts the items is helpful in providing a framework to conceptualize the information. Another augmentation, chunking, is a strategy that is used to put strands of information together in a manner that connects the material in smaller units of information. This makes it easier for the learner to synthesize the information. Mnemonic devices are another example of modifications that aide a student in memory recall. Using this method, one uses imagery through pictures or words that help students recall information. A popular example that most learners can remember from their school days is Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally when thinking about the order of operations parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. Modifications in the regular classroom can be difficult to implement due to the time and thought that goes into creating these flexible opportunities. Research by Dymond & Russell (2004) (as cited in Lee et al., 2010) suggests that studies conducted to determine modifications made for students with mild disabilities in the classroom were almost nonexistent. However, in their research, when students were subject to modifications there was a high correlation between positive student academic responses and the presence of those modifications. They also found that these modifications were mostly noted in social studies and science and not in Language Arts and math. Still other SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 50 research has noted the higher quality individualized education programming existed when modifications were present that included better social outcomes (Kurth & Mastergeorge 2010, as cited in Morningstar et al., 2015). Carter et al. (2012) conducted research that also showed a high correlation between students with disabilities in the general education setting and their adult outcomes. Such research continues to drive schools forward in creating opportunities for students to access the curriculum in the regular classroom through modifications made by staff. Accommodations offer other support to students trying to access the curriculum in the regular education environment. As stated previously, these deal with manipulation of the classroom environment and deal mainly with presentation, response, setting, and timing/scheduling. Generally, accommodations are applied for instructional purposes and for assessment purposes. Lazarus et al. (2006) reveal that the most popular accommodations for testing include extended time, small group testing, reading test items aloud, and reading test directions aloud. Instructional accommodations include items such as text to speech software, picture dictionaries, reduction in clutter or number of problems presented on a page, large print materials, responding to items by pointing, or preferential seating to name a few. Some accommodations can be both testing and instructional in nature. An example might be items read aloud such that a student’s reading disability does not interfere with the understanding of print materials. In the research that was done by Lazarus et al. (2006), teachers were asked why they use accommodations in the classroom. It was noted that the top two responses for why teachers use accommodations instructionally were to create higher levels of independence SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 51 and to allow access to the general education curriculum. Staff went on to say that they used student abilities to make these determinations. Assessment Practices with Students with Disabilities Formative and summative assessment practices are essential elements of any classroom serving any student, regardless of the presence of a disability. Formative assessment would include data that the teacher gathers each day to help them understand where a student stands in building an understanding of the material. This assessment is conducted concurrently with instruction (McTighe & O’Connor, 2005). To be effective, this assessment must have certain elements of timing, specificity, understanding, and allow for students to judge their learning with an opportunity to correct their misunderstandings prior to summative measures (Wiggins, 1998). Dixson and Worrell (2016) give us feedback that says formative assessment is both planned and unplanned. Teachers asking pointed questions that are a part of their lesson planning and expertise or homework would fall into planned formative assessment. Other examples of planned formative assessment may include an exit ticket or bell ringer activity. These respective activities that occur at the end or beginning of class respectively, are a method for the teacher to know if the student was able to use what was asked of them during class or from the previous class. All of this is meant to inform the teacher. On the other hand, unplanned formative assessment might include a teacher that notices students are not understanding a concept, and probes deeper into these misunderstandings by deviating from the lesson plan. Whether planned or unplanned, formative assessment is a key element to guiding the teacher through day-to-day decision making about next steps in lesson design. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 52 Summative assessment occurs when the teacher is assessing what a student has learned at the end of a unit of learning (American Educational Research Association et al., 2014). Most of us are very used to the traditional summative assessment method, the chapter test. In this case, the teacher has taught the material and measures if the goal of teaching that information was achieved. However, another type of summative assessment that one may not think of in this category of assessment includes performance-based assessments. These assessments are built around a demonstration of what was learned. If you think about a Family Consumer Science class as an example, students putting into practice what they learned about recipes and, as a culminating activity, may cook something using those skills would be an example of a performancebased assessment. Another more common example might include an argumentative essay that is written by students at the conclusion of a series of planned instruction about this method of writing where the student may lobby for a change in the school’s dress code (Dixon & Worrell, 2016). The importance of ongoing use of formative and summative assessment is crucial to ongoing systems of monitoring student performance. These two systems are not separate and work in conjunction with one another (McTighe & O’Connor, 2005). When used cohesively they help the teacher pace their instruction, adjust instruction, and ultimately increase the outcomes for students in the class. Houston and Thompson (2017) suggest that the interplay between these two processes is really a communication framework about learning. These practices create evidence for the teacher in a way that allows them to make judgements. Knight (2002) refers to this as sense making and claim making regarding student learning. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 53 Also important in this Doctoral Capstone Project is the use of standardized test measures that assess student progress in the curriculum. A benchmark tool in this project is the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP). MAP testing, as it’s known, is authored by the Northwest Evaluation Association. The MAP is a computer adaptive test that is given throughout the year and gives feedback on growth. MAP is an assessment tool that was developed by NWEA, a nonprofit organization that has been in existence for forty years. This is a Pre-K-12 assessment tool that is used by over 9500 schools in 145 countries (Northwest Evaluation Association [NWEA] 2021a). The client base for this organization and their tools are quite extensive. According to the MAP Growth fact sheet produced by NWEA (2021b), the assessment adjusts to student responses to give thorough reporting on what a student is ready to do. The assessment is given over multiple periods of time, usually three but can be done up to four times. This periodic implementation of the assessment measures growth over those three periods. The norms are invoked for pools of testing that occurred in prior years at the same time for other test takers, which allows for strong statistical analysis. In addition to this, scores on the MAP are normed nationally and use a linear scale called a RIT scale, short for Rasch Unit. The linear scale enables student scores to be placed on a continuum that is common for all students, regardless of grade. In other words, the score achieved for a fifth grader and eighth grader who have the same RIT score are theoretically achieving on the same level. NWEA (2021) reports that they can leverage 10.2 million students to gain insights about student learning, making it statistically reliable. NWEA touts that this data culture is more equitable because it includes both mastery and growth. In this way, students are given credit for their improvements because it respects where a student has started. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 54 Research on the effect of MAP implementation appears to lack volume, but there is substantial research on the effects of formative assessment (Cordray et al., 2012). However, research that is pertinent to the use of MAP as a predictable tool for student readiness for learning and for projected growth is well documented. Looking at the study conducted in 2015, NWEA was able to show "for mathematics, a pattern of steady increase in standard deviations over grade levels” that was “evident for both students and schools” (p. 40). Other research done by Ball & O’Connor (2016) using a regression analysis was able to demonstrate reliability on its ability to predict student performance on the state standardized achievement tests in Wisconsin. They concluded a high level of reliability using this model. Still, in other research, Klingbeil et al. (2015) looked at the reliability of the scores, noting a high level of correlation, particularly when multiple measures were given throughout the year. However, there is also evidence to suggest that the quality of teacher preparation to use the MAP data is a predictor of implementation success as well (Wagner, 2020). In other words, while reliable as a predictor, how to use the benchmark formatively is more elusive without adequate teacher preparation. The PSSA on the other hand, is a summative assessment measure in the state of Pennsylvania that has a long history of implementation. The PSSA is administered in the spring for students in grades 3-8 in Math and ELA and in grades 4 and 8 in science (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2022). The Pennsylvania Department of Education notes that this is a standards-based, criterion referenced assessment. A criterion referenced assessment is one that compares the student score to a standard, in this case established cut scores. In other words, cut scores that students achieve are based on what they know and not how they compare to other students, which would be a norm SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 55 referenced assessment. The assessment is based on the PA Common Core Standards. The PA Core Standards were adopted in July 2010 and were modeled after the National Common Core standards. This is the standard most widely used in the state for measuring student performance and school performance. PVAAS is the tool by which the state reports student progress to stakeholders. This data tool reports not only achievement but also growth and will predict student achievement based on the students’ prior testing history. The methodology used to measure growth gives credit to schools and staff for making gains with students even if their achievement data is Basic or Below Basic, which are two of the lowest score categories. This process involves taking the students testing data and compares it to previous years' assessment data for that cohort of students. The process looks at the students' relative position within the group from year to year. Students who move their relative position up within the group make greater relative gains to their peers. Whereas students who move down from their relative position show regression when compared to their peers. Of course, it is also possible that a student maintains their relative position. While PVAAS does not report individual students’ growth, it does take the group of students involved at the school and classroom level and applies an aggregate score to that group known as the growth measure. This growth measure is compared to the growth standard that has been calculated for the entire student group in the state based on the average of the prior years’ testing history. PVAAS uses a color-coded key to signify this growth. Dark Blue signifies strong evidence that the instructional program is moving students up the continuum. Light blue signifies moderate evidence that the educational program is moving students up the continuum. Green signifies evidence that the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 56 educational program is maintaining students' growth. Yellow is moderate evidence that the educational program is causing students to lose ground. Finally, red is strong evidence that students are losing ground in the educational program. It is important to note that green is not a negative data point. However, as one might expect, if we are talking about students in a classroom who are in the lowest performance group, a green indicator is not helping those students make gains to raise their achievement to be commensurate with their peers. So, in this case, the goal for this targeted group would ultimately be a light blue to dark blue indicator demonstrating positive growth beyond the growth standard. PVAAS also uses what is called projections. In the case of ELA and math, projections take all the prior testing history for a student on all subject tests to formulate a prediction for future performance. The methodology then takes that score profile and compares it to students who have scored similarly in the past and what they achieved on the current test in question. According to the paper published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (2021), the methodology is very reliable statistically from the years of giving the assessment. In summation, PVAAS is a reporting method that allows schools to accurately look at their growth and achievement collectively. This tool and methodology takes into account where students start and acknowledges growth as a measure of a school or teacher’s effect on students. This is argued to be a much better methodology that serves different types of schools fairly. Traditionally low performing students, who are perhaps in lower performing schools, can find improvement initiatives challenging and hard to measure. This method acknowledges their growth as an evaluative measure of their SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 57 change initiatives. Likewise, students and schools who do well in measures of achievement may become stagnant and lack a bigger picture of their students’ growth. In those cases, when their students start to lose their relative positioning, yielding negative growth scores, that is an indication that good isn’t good enough. Literature Review Summary This Doctoral Capstone Project is built on the concept of Least Restrictive Environment for students as established over the decades of evolution that special education has undergone. The laws have continued to progress, making it the expectation that students are educated in the regular education environment with supplementary aids and services to the greatest extent possible. With the evolution of the law, so too has there been an evolution in the processes in schools for evaluating and placing students. This literature review looked at the important processes at play in the Evaluation Report, that shows the methodology for a student to be placed in special education, as well as the recommendations that are meant to support the student in there identified areas of need. The identification process led to the establishment of the Individualized Education Plan, that used the evaluation to design a prescriptive course of action to support students in the least restrictive environment identified by the IEP team. This included the environments that the student may be educated in throughout a school day such as, cotaught classrooms, regular classrooms with supports, pull out classrooms, and separate schools. Integral to this project is how all of these processes lead to success in the least restrictive environment using the supports in the IEP that include modifications and accommodations. The effectiveness of these supports is the crucial piece, that often is dependent on a teacher’s understanding of them and best practices in implementing them SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 58 in the classroom. Lastly, the literature review looked at assessment practices in the classroom, in the school, and statewide. These assessment frameworks are essential in understanding how students attain success in the least restrictive environments they are educated as well as measuring school progress on teaching curriculum. As you can see, these processes are all intermingled, but all pointed to one thing, student progress and success in school! SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 59 CHAPTER III Methodology The review of literature makes it clear that the push to educate students in the least restrictive environment is the main goal of federal and state legislation. From the earliest forms of legislation, such as P.L. 94-142, pressure and movement from stakeholders drove the concept of FAPE with four primary tenants. Those tenants were ensuring students with disabilities had access to a free public education that was appropriate, that parents’ and students’ rights were protected, that states had the backing of the federal government to achieve these goals, and that effectiveness of these programs could be measured across the country (United States Department of Education, 2020). Furthermore, the purpose has evolved from protecting those four tenants to funneling the definition of what is appropriate. The IDEA legislation reauthorized in 1997 had strong wording of to the maximum extent possible children with disabilities would be included with their same aged peers (1997, p.111). This language forced schools to look at their practice intensively and that level of introspection is still occurring today. This push to include students in the regular classroom is accomplished through thorough planning guided by the multi-disciplinary evaluation process and subsequent development of the IEP. Specifically, within the IEP is the plan for supplementary aides and services that includes specially designed instruction made up of accommodations and modifications that include strategies such as coteaching and paraprofessional support. This background is a key understanding in the “why” of the research. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 60 Purpose The purpose of this study is to look at accommodations and modifications delivered in the classroom in more detail that help schools achieve LRE and FAPE. The focus will essentially be on their application across settings and on teacher perception as to their importance overall and by content area. The goal is student success as it relates to student achievement measured using a variety of data points that include grades, adaptive tests, standardized test scores, and predictive metrics. The research focus is on what practices are working in the classrooms with student supports that yield better results. This research is meant to look at best practices that can be highlighted and replicated through reinforcing actual student data across classrooms and grade levels where students with IEP’s show stronger growth. To do so, the researcher decided to use a mixed method approach, combining the best attributes of qualitative and quantitative study techniques. This led to a research plan that collected data starting with what the current perceptions and practices were in the classroom. This was then followed by a study of achievement prediction measures and actual student growth measures that were followed by a closer look at student movement between classes throughout the year. Without the lens placed on these common data points, schools operate on independent measures and beliefs about what is working within a classroom that may or may not be entirely accurate. The more objective feedback that a teacher and school system can obtain helps drive the organization, staff, and students to better results. In the end, the intent is for the research to validate best practices for student support implementation occurring in the school to help guide teacher development initiatives to best serve our special education student population and staff. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 61 Research Questions There are three key questions to answer within the construct of this research project that are supported by a clear collection of data points using a variety of instruments. Research question number 1 is: What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? Research question number 2 is: What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student supports and student achievement? Research question number 3 is: What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? These questions illustrate the alignment of the purpose of the research study and the data being sought. As one can see, if we are trying to highlight what teacher practices regarding accommodations and modifications produce better results, teacher perception of the supports, aligned with student performance measures, as well as studying student movement to and from the least restrictive environment support the purpose of the study. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 62 Setting and Participants Bethel Park School District is a K-12 public school located to the south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The district is within the Municipality of Bethel Park that comprises 11.67 square miles of territory. This is slightly larger than the surrounding communities in terms of geographical size. As of 2019 there were 32,177 people living in Bethel Park. The median salary of families in the community was $79,894 dollars while the median home cost $188,600 dollars. Additionally, 80% of the families in Bethel Park owned their own homes. Regarding race, the population of citizens in 2019 was 91.6% white, 2.59% multi-racial, 2.17% black, 2.17% Asian, 1.42% Hispanic/Latino, and .06% of the population was American Indian. The median age of a person in Bethel Park was 46.6 years. Lastly, those individuals living below the poverty line in Bethel Park made up 4.64% of the total population (Data USA, n.d.). The school district itself is comprised of five elementary buildings, one 5-6 middle school building, one 7-8 middle school building, and one 9-12 high school building. This study is being conducted at Independence Middle School, which is made up of students in the 7th and 8th grade. The school is scheduled via the middle school concept. The middle school concept utilizes the school within a school approach. This entails breaking staff into teams where a portion of the students are scheduled to a specific group of educators. This creates a smaller community feel, where teams can take on their own identity, developing a more personal approach that is responsive to the middle school students’ needs. Independence Middle School has five of these teams. There are two 7th grade teams, two 8th grade teams, and one team, referred to as a “split” SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 63 team, that has both 7th and 8th grade students. However, students on this split team do not mix by grade level within their classes. A team at Independence Middle School is made up of either 6 or 7 teachers. In 7th grade, the staff make-up is one social studies teacher, one science teacher, one math teacher, one Language Arts teacher, one reading teacher, and one special education teacher. In eighth grade this team is expanded to include a health teacher that teaches a semester course to the students. To accommodate the inclusion of this course in 8th grade, the reading class is taught for one semester so that the health course can be taught in the opposite semester. The core team members have common planning time three days a week. During this time, the core team staff can meet to plan for upcoming activities across content areas, discuss student needs, conduct parent meetings, participate in IEP and Chapter 15 Service Agreement meetings, and meet with administrative and counseling staff on student needs. It is also time that can be used to implement professional development learning opportunities for staff. The school day for the student is made up of nine periods. These periods include instruction based on the Pennsylvania Chapter 4 regulations, PA Standards, and PA Common Core Standards. These periods include Math, Social Studies, Reading, Language Arts, Science, World Language, Unified Arts, Physical Education, and lunch. Physical Education is a course that operates every other day on a six-day rotation while the others operate every day. These are the standard courses that students typically take at school. However, many students do take part in performing arts such as band, chorus, and SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION orchestra as well. 64 These courses operate every other day on a six-day rotation and are opposite of physical education in the student’s schedule. There are students who require additional supports throughout the school day and whose schedule may look different than stated. One of the supports offered to students is Academic Assistance. This course is a structured time slot where staff can work with students on organization, study habits, reteaching of concepts, and work completion. This support is typically offered every other day in the six-day rotation. In addition to this support for regular education students, there are resource class periods available to students with an IEP to provide some of the specially designed instruction while also providing opportunity for reteaching, organizational support, and work completion. The remediation program at Independence Middle School includes coursework in reading and math. The reading remediation services are broken into two separate components based on a student’s need. The Academy of Reading is the first of these two courses. This program focuses on structured literacy programming that includes decoding and encoding, fluency, and reading comprehension. A student who may take this course is typically a student with the greatest reading skill deficits. The second of the two reading courses is entitled Read 180. This course was designed for readers who struggle with comprehension. It assumes that the foundational literacy skills are mastered such as decoding and encoding, targeting comprehension skill building almost exclusively. Math remediation also happens in two tiers at Independence Middle School. The first tier includes a course called The Academy of Math program. This program, similar SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 65 to its reading counterpart, focuses on students who have the greatest skill deficits. The course works on their individualized skill gaps. The second course is called Math Lab where the targeted group of students are close to being proficient on PSSA testing and work on extended opportunities within the grade level concepts that they are learning. These two tiers of courses are populated at the beginning of the year by looking at standardized test scores and classroom grades. Students are scheduled on teams through a variety of factors at the school. First, a student who requires special education services are partitioned by their needs onto one of the special education teacher’s caseloads who are already assigned to individual teams. Scheduling of special education student’s courses is typically one of the first things done. For the rest of the student body, they are scheduled to a team based on their math sequence primarily. Depending on the number of math sections required year to year, not every team has the same math courses available to the students. So, the first decision to be made with students’ team placement is largely based on what math they need and how many sections of that math are available on each team. Lastly, there are other factors that contribute to team placement driven by a student’s course requests. Course requests such as band, chorus, and orchestra, as well as World Language selection may push a student from one team to another. This is because combinations of classes desired by the student may not fit the team schedule. To illustrate this, if there is only one section of French for 7th grade that is period 3 and one of the teams is teaching period 3, that student would not be able to be scheduled on that team. These scheduling conflicts usually resolve themselves by changing the team assignment. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 66 The demographic make-up of the school includes a current population of 611 students. The breakdown of the student body is listed in Table 1. Table 1 Independence Middle School Demographic Data Number of Students Percent of the population Gender Female 290 students 47.70% of student pop. Male 318 students 52.30% of student pop. 1 student 0.16% of student pop. Asian or Pacific Islander 26 students 4.28% of student pop. Black 24 students 3.95% of student pop. Hispanic 10 students 1.64% of student pop. White 547 students 89.97% of student pop. Subgroups 504 41 students 6.74% of student pop. ELL 11 students 1.81% of student pop. FRL 104 students 17.11% of student pop. IEP 97 students 15.95% of student pop. Race American Indian Independence Middle School has continued to evolve in its service delivery and continuum of support in special education. At the start of the researcher’s tenure at the school in 2005, the special education delivery structure included placements such as Life Skills Support, Autistic Support, and Learning Support. Learning support services were delivered by the team special education teacher. Conversely, students in the Life Skills and Autistic Support program were included on teams for various subjects and for the purpose of team activities. However, the Life Skills and Autistic Support teachers were not attached to the team and serviced students from across the school. On the other hand, Learning Support teachers were assigned to individual teams. Content taught by the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 67 Learning Support staff included math, reading, Language Arts, and a resource class that provided back up instruction for students’ coursework throughout the day. Generally, this resulted in either 5 or 6 periods of instruction for the learning support staff member. Life Skills and Autistic Support teachers generally taught 5 or 6 periods of classes as well. Around the year 2015, a change was made to the scheduling of learning support staff. While the learning support teachers were still attached to a team for the purpose of scheduling students, the concept of content specialist became a focus in the development of the special education department. The premise behind this change was the belief that it was very difficult for the teacher to design lessons for three diverse subjects and be proficient in that content area to a high level. A fundamental belief at that time, and still held today, is that the teacher who understands the content in depth is best equipped to recognize student misunderstandings in that content area. It was also believed that the teacher could design better lessons that were more engaging and cohesive throughout the year if they had a content specialty at which they could become proficient. Special education teachers were well versed in adaptations and modifications but did not necessarily have the background in all three content areas that their team-teaching colleagues had. This was also coming on the heels of what was called “Bridge Certification”. This was an attempt by the Department of Education to push for content area proficiency. Bridge certification has since been abandoned by the state, but its impetus was to really drive the instructor proficiency piece and arguably had some merit. From the scheduling standpoint of staff at that time, the decision was made between teachers and administration to maintain a learning support teacher on each team. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 68 However, students requiring pull out instruction would receive their core instruction for that course by the learning support content specialist. As an example, the math specialist may be attached to a specific 7th grade team, provide resource support for that team, but teach all students requiring pull out math in the 7th grade. Around the year 2017 there was an increasing gap that was noticeable in the continuum of support offered to learning support students. This gap was the absence of the coteaching concept as one of the support options for students. The district started to proliferate the coteaching concept in its buildings to fill this need. This presented multiple challenges that included how to preserve content specialty in the teaching staff while also providing for coteaching opportunities for students. In working with the teaching staff, it was decided to utilize a scheduling technique that is known as “cross teaming.” This technique, while not preferred, allows students to be scheduled with teachers assigned to other teams if it met their need for a cotaught course request. This enabled the teachers to focus on one content area still, while also coteaching in that same content area, furthering their expertise. The benefit to that structure was that both teaching professionals could learn from each other. The regular education teacher could learn about modifications and accommodations while the special education teacher could learn more about their content specialty from a content specialist, trained to have a deep understanding of this area. The negative piece was that this was similar to the type of scheduling seen in a junior high where students were sent outside of their team areas. However, this was only for learning support students who required the cotaught class. All other instances students would be scheduled on the team for which they belonged. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 69 This process of scheduling was the first attempt at providing coteaching while also maintaining content specialty. As the coteaching model began to accelerate, one problem that kept coming up was the difficulty that cross teaming the students created. There were challenges for teams to flex their schedule, challenges to school and home communications now that students were on multiple teams, and the overall sense of belonging that the team concept creates, was hindered. The struggle between increasing staffs’ content expertise and preserving the middle school concept conflicted with one another. This led to additional recommendations by staff that maintained content specialization for pull out classes but asked the learning support teacher to coteach on team across the three subject areas (math, reading, Language Arts). Starting in the 2021-2022 school year this adaptation was made in the schedule making it possible for students to stay on team for their special education services in the regular classroom. In the end, this created an opportunity for a full continuum of support for students that included the regular class with supports, regular class with supports that included coteaching and paraprofessional services, as well as pull out classes in the core subjects. For this research project the student population that was included in the study was comprised of special education students receiving services in the learning support and regular education environments in both 7th and 8th grades as was described in the previous paragraphs. While they did not individually participate in the study, aggregate student grade data and MAP score data were collected for the student population by course and teacher from this targeted population. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 70 In this research study there were 16 teaching staff out of 18 eligible to be involved who agreed to participate. The invitation was based on their teaching assignment. All of the Language Arts, reading, math, and special education teachers were given this invitation. The teachers were given an explanation of the research study in a large group setting at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. An informed consent form explaining the study was given to the eligible staff after this meeting by placing the information in the staff mailboxes. The informed consent document can be found in Appendix B. As you can see, the setting for this research includes a robust continuum of support structure in the school. It also includes a targeted group of students across five teams that operate in the middle school model. This was the backdrop for this research study and should help build an understanding to the rationale for why the research questions were designed the way that they were and how data was captured. Research Plan The research plan was constructed on experiences that the educator has had over a period of 25 years as a special education teacher, principal, and director. This project evolved through the review of literature that studied the special education process, supplementary aids and services, and the reinforcement of the least restrictive environment that federal and state legislation has required. Special education legislation clearly gives guidance beyond any doubt that the school’s obligation is to provide as many opportunities in the regular education environment as is possible. The literature review also demonstrates how the process of identifying students using the multi- SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 71 disciplinary evaluation, developing the IEP with supplementary aides and services, and ultimately the students’ placement is essential to this success. Following this process provides the best means to keep the student in the least restrictive environment while progressing in the regular education curriculum. However, progress on the intent of the legislation reviewed in the literature is affected by a local school district’s capacity to implement that vision through the special education service delivery model. Staffing, as one example, is not always the same from district to district. This can include numbers of paraprofessionals available to support classrooms and the number of teachers who affect the types of services that can be offered to the students. Mindsets of the staff delivering the educational program can vary largely from district to district. So, effectiveness can be affected by budgeting challenges, local priorities, and belief systems. The research plan was set up to look at how one school implements this process, what supports have been developed and utilized in the classroom, and what results that yields. The research method that is employed with this action research project is a mixed methods approach using both qualitative and quantitative data. Perception data was collected utilizing a Likert style survey instrument on what supports are felt to be most effective for special education students in their class. This was followed by a semistructured interview of the participants for qualitative data on how these supports were implemented. The study also uses MAP data (Measure of Academic Progress) that was implemented in the ELA and math classrooms at two points in the first half of the year. Using RIT scores (Rausch Unit), which is an estimate of a student’s instructional level, the researcher analyzed what practices and perceptions may correlate to higher growth in the IEP student population. Grade information was looked at to determine, what, if any SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 72 relationships exist between perception and implementation of student supports and grade performance in the class. Low grades often lead to a change in placement during a school year, which affects the LRE, making these data points significant. Lastly, the researcher uses qualitative feedback from staff regarding changes in placement that occur throughout the year. These changes in placement to a more restrictive environment often are the result of low grades. These lower grades may come from differences in the way that specially designed instruction is implemented in the classroom and/or student’s readiness to learn the skills. It also could be in the quality of specially designed instruction that is articulated in the IEP. Answering the research questions using this data can hopefully provide direction in this way. The timeline for the collection of data took into account markers throughout the year that naturally occur. Table 2, the Research Data Collection Timeline, illustrates these markers as they occur in the school calendar. As an example, the MAP testing conducted for the district occurs during windows of time preestablished. Additional data points required for the study were inserted at moments that were logical. An example of this was collecting the teacher perception data towards the end of the first semester, after the staff had time to implement the students’ IEPs with specially designed instruction. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 73 Table 2 Research Data Collection Timeline Research Question What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP, and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? Data Tool Likert Perception Survey (Appendix C) Timeline December 2021 Semi-Structured Interview #1 (Appendix D) February 2022 What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student supports and student achievement? MAP Data Collection September 7-17, 2021 (Fall) and January 6-19, 2022 (Winter) Student Grade Data February 2022 (after 2nd marking period) *Data from research question 1 is used as well and collected as identified above What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? Semi-Structured Interview #2 (Appendix E) April 2022 at the conclusion of the 3rd nine weeks *Data from research question 1 is used here and collected as identified in question 1 From a fiscal standpoint, conducting this project has very little financial impact to the district. There are current practices that were used in this study that do come at a cost, but they already exist. As an example, the use of the MAP assessment is a practice that the school district uses to measure progress throughout the school year. The cost of this tool was $14,000 dollars. Another example is the use of our data warehouse called EdInsight. This tool, purchased by the district each year, is a repository for all data the district collects. However, for all other aspects of this study, the only cost was that of time. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 74 More importantly to the fiscal matters of conducting the study are the expenditures that occur on staffing a special education program annually. The cost of educating a special education student can cost two times as much than that of educating a regular education student. The only way to decrease costs associated with educating students under the law is to be more efficient. The hope with this project is to work at what practices increase student performance and mitigate wasted effort that has little effect on that performance. When better systems are in place, the reliance on staffing can become less. This could have much larger fiscal implications when viewed in this context. An example might be the number of paraprofessionals staffed by the district. When better supports are in place that help a student be more self-sufficient, reliance on traditional practices/supports that take up resources become less necessary. Research Design, Methods, and Data Collection Research Question Number 1: What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP, and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? To answer this question, quantitative perception data of the various supports outlined in the students’ IEP by the regular and special education teachers was collected using a Likert style survey. The survey itself had 28 questions that listed the various specially designed instruction elements most commonly found in the IEP. Supports were paraphrased in the survey to collate similar SDI’s to eliminate redundancy in questions. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 75 An example of this might be, student will be seated close to the source of instruction as compared to preferential seating which both have very similar meanings. This survey was first presented to the staff at an in-service on August 20th, 2021. During this session the researcher introduced the research project to the staff members. Informed Consent was sent to the staff officially on October 2nd, 2021. Subsequently, on December 6th, 2021 the Likert style survey was given to the staff. The staff were asked to have the survey back to the researcher by January 7th, 2022. The success in getting back the survey was high with 89% of staff eligible for the study returning the survey. These results were compiled to assist the researcher in the next step of the semi-structured interview. The Likert survey was followed by a semi-structured interview that sought to gather qualitative data on why staff felt strongly about one support and not another. Using the survey data, staff were asked 5 questions. These questions not only asked for what the most and least effective supports were, but also how the support was implemented that made it one that they valued. Staff were also asked what change could be made to make a support more effective if they did not feel strongly about the support listed. Lastly, staff were asked to think of a support that, without constraints, they would implement if they could. The semi-structured interviews were conducted on February 2nd and 3rd, 2022 during the school day at a time that the teacher selected. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 76 Research Question Number 2: What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student supports and student achievement? To answer this question the researcher gathered quantitative achievement data for students using the MAP assessment that yielded a RIT score at two intervals throughout the year. The two testing intervals used to collect the MAP data were September 7th-17th, 2021 (fall) and January 6-19th, 2022 (winter). The researcher was not able to collect the third MAP measure for this research due to the timing of the last MAP testing date and the culmination of this project. However, when using the RIT score that MAP provided in the two testing windows, a rank order for the students in the RIT score as well as percentile could be seen. Student growth between the testing windows can be seen in this way also. Remember from the literature review that RIT scores allow us to acknowledge growth from different starting points because it operates on a linear scale no matter what the age or ability of the student. Using a data warehouse for our school district called, EdInsight, a data report was constructed that pulled this information for the researcher for students in the target group. Student data for this was pulled on February 3rd, 2022 after the second testing window that occurred on January 6th-19th. To validate this starting point, one of the additional instruments used were the scaled scores for the preceding year’s PSSA testing. Students took the PSSA in the spring of 2021. This data point allowed us to see their achievement level as they entered SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 77 the 21-22 school year as indicated on this measure. The students’ scaled scores were placed in a rank order. This rank order was then able to be compared to the RIT score and percentile rank for the fall MAP testing. Using this method, the researcher was able to determine if those scores fell in line with each other, helping triangulate the validity of the starting point for students and confidence in the MAP tool itself to measure growth over the first two quarters. Finally, the researcher collected student grades in the first and second nine weeks for the targeted student population. This is an important aspect of student achievement that can be studied that adds to the broader picture of student growth with the standardized measures. Grades are also particularly important because it is one of the first indicators to dictate a student’s placement in the least restrictive environment which is one of the goals of this project. As part of the methodology for answering this question the grades were analyzed to determine if any significant differences existed across classrooms. This data was pulled at the conclusion of the second marking period on January 13th, 2022. The second method used to answer this question is coupled with the methodology for the research question number 1. Looking back at that first question, it is seeking to answer what teacher perceptions are of the various supports outlined in the student’s IEP that are used in their classrooms. The researcher can look at what general trends there are in the value placed on student supports overall as well as within the math and ELA content areas specifically. In the context of this research question, that same quantitative and qualitative data gleaned from the survey and interview are used in comparison to the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 78 student achievement data gathered for this question. The methodology includes looking at classrooms where higher growth occurred using the RIT scores and determine what similarities existed in the value placed on the student supports outlined in the student’s IEP by teacher and subject. This includes looking at trends in how the student support is implemented in the classroom. In summation, looking at the second MAP assessment, gains that a student made using the RIT scores can be seen. Combining this with the grades through the first semester it furthers the understanding of the student’s progress and success in the LRE. In classrooms where those greater gains took place, possible commonality in practices with accommodations and modifications may prove more beneficial in helping students be successful in class. Research Question Number 3: What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? The methodology used to answer this question included having the researcher track schedule changes that occurred as the year proceeded. The researcher looked at students who moved both from more restrictive to lesser restrictive environments and from lesser restrictive to more restrictive environments. The purpose of this was to gather any trends on student movement as it pertained to subject or teacher and how this related to their beliefs on the most effective student supports outlined in students’ IEPs. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 79 As was explained within the prior two questions’ methodology, the staff were asked a series of questions on a Likert survey that gathered their perceptions about student supports. The survey required the staff to place a value on a scale from 1 to 6 with one signifying “Strongly Disagree” and a six signifying “Strongly Agree” regarding their feelings on a support being “highly effective” in their class. There were a series of 28 questions for the staff to answer with one being an open-ended question about any support they felt was important that should be noted that was not included in the survey. The Likert survey was then followed up with a semi-structured interview that gathered qualitative data on the staff’s reasoning for valuing some student supports above others. This method allows staff to speak in more detail about how the support was useful or not in their classroom. The interview included feedback on those supports that were rated as strongly agree or agree and, conversely, on those rated as strongly disagree or disagree. In addition, the staff were asked to indicate any support that they feel could be implemented that would have a great impact on their students. This allowed the teachers to notate any holes that they see in student supports for their class. Finally, the special education staff were interviewed a second time for any students on their caseload that moved from one course to another. If a staff member did not have any changes within their caseload, they were not interviewed a final time. For this survey the researcher wanted to better understand what factors led to the movement from a lesser restrictive environment to a more restrictive environment, as well as from a more restrictive environment to a lesser restrictive environment. The nature of this interview asked the staff to expand on the factors that led to their movement. They were SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 80 also asked what supports, if any, the student did respond to. The staff were asked if any revisions to the IEP were made to help the student if they were struggling. Lastly, the interview sought to determine how the existing accommodations and modifications were being implemented in the class. Combining the information from the first two research questions and adding the data of the movement that occurred over the course of the year with the qualitative data point of the teacher interview allows the researcher to look for common trends that could be found to answer this question. Internal Review Board Process As a part of the planning process for this Capstone Project, a series of steps were taken to attain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Prior to conducting any research, certification modules were completed through the CITI Program. There were three specific areas of focus that included a Basic Course, Conflicts of Interest, and Responsible Conduct of Research. As a next step to the IRB process, the candidate authored a research proposal that outlined the research study in detail, citing the problem statement, a description of why the topic was worth researching, research questions, methodology, a data collection plan, and a data analysis plan. The candidate used this proposal to seek approval from the Bethel Park School District to ensure the support for the research to be conducted. This culminated in a letter of approval from the superintendent. Finally, these items were furnished to the California University IRB along with the Informed Consent notice (Appendix B), Likert Survey (Appendix C), and both semi-structured interviews (Appendix D and E). The IRB gave approval with an effective date of 8/10/21. IRB approval can be found in Appendix A. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 81 Ethical Considerations As with all research studies there exists possibilities that those that participate may experience undo stress. This research study, as indicated in the IRB approval phase, introduced the participants to the nature of the study in detail and described such risks as minimal. While there isn’t any likelihood of physical harm to those who participate in the research study, it is true that those that participate may find themselves feeling stress about the content of the survey, interview, or research study results. To offset this concern, the Informed Consent was very clear that the study was non evaluative, and that the data would remain anonymous. Data collected in the paper surveys did not have names attached, only numbers. Anonymity was maintained in the same manner when collecting responses in the interview process where the responses were tabulated with a number. In this manner, the number that is associated to a subject area is the only identifying information. Lastly, participants were made fully aware of the amount of time their participation would entail. Validity Mixed methods research is the process of using both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate a problem. Mertler (2019) states that mixed methods research provides for a deeper understanding of the problem because this approach uses the best of the two methods into one approach. Leedy and Ormrod (2013) attempts to address the validity of mixed methods research studies by asking themselves, or others engaged in research, a series of questions. Those questions are: SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 82 Are the samples used for the quantitative and qualitative components of the study sufficiently similar in order to justify comparisons between the two types of data? Are the quantitative and qualitative data equally relevant to the same or similar topics and research questions? Are the two types of data weighted equally in drawing conclusions? If not, what is the justification for prioritization of one type over the other? Are you able to use specific qualitative statements or artifacts in the study in order to support or illustrate some of the quantitative results? Can obvious discrepancies between the two types of data be resolved? (p. 262) Using Leedy & Ormrod’s (2013) validity framework question number 1, for this research study the qualitative components and quantitative components are very closely related to the types of data being sought. Looking at the research question number 1, what are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? This question draws from the quantitative survey that elicits a numeric response of importance on a Likert scale. Likewise, blending the qualitative tool that asks them to expand on these responses directly aligns with their perceptions of the specially designed instruction used in their classrooms based on the student’s IEP. The research question number 2 was, what relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student supports and student achievement? In this SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 83 question the researcher is looking at the data used to answer question one, but we are now blending that data with a look at how students performed to see if there are any trends that show a benefit to certain elements of specially designed instruction and student performance. In this case the additional quantitative data include standardized measures and grades. However, in all cases they are closely related to the purpose of the study to measure effectiveness of student supports in the classroom. Lastly, research question number 3 was what movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occurs over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? To answer this question the researcher gathered quantitative data about schedule changes and utilized a qualitative semi-structured interview to gauge reasons why the schedule change was made. The quantitative data closely related to the qualitative data that was searching for the number of schedule changes and the teachers’ thoughts on why the schedule change was necessary. This also makes use again of the data gleaned from the mixed methods data from questions 1 and 2. Again, the alignment of the data to the purpose is easily seen. The second question posed by Leedy & Ormrod (2013) to establish validity in this framework was, are the quantitative and qualitative data equally relevant to the same or similar topics and research questions? In all three questions the data that is associated with the question is equally relevant. All pieces of data represent important understandings about student supports and achievement. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 84 The third question to establish validity by Leedy & Ormrod (2013) was, Are the two types of data weighted equally in drawing conclusions? If not, what is the justification for prioritization of one type over the other? For research questions 1 and 3 the qualitative and quantitative hold equal weight in answering the question. However, in research question 2, it could be argued that there is greater weight placed on the quantitative data used to answer this question. This is due to the additional data points that demonstrate the students’ growth data through MAP scores as well as grades. In addition, the Likert survey that measures staff’s perception of the importance of specially designed instruction is used as it was in question one. This is then mixed with only the qualitative data from the semi-structured interviews to answer the question. In this case, the quantitative data piece has greater presence in answering this question. However, this is justified in that the growth data for this question takes center stage in highlighting the possible correlations between student success and support implementation. The fourth question by Leedy & Ormrod (2013) was, are you able to use specific qualitative statements or artifacts in the study in order to support or illustrate some of the quantitative results? The specific purpose of the semi-structured interview was to gather statements that validated the perception survey data from the teacher’s perspective. This data set is used throughout the three research questions. Therefore, it is believed that the qualitative statements do illustrate and support the quantitative data to a high degree. Lastly, the framework by Leedy & Ormrod (2013) seeks to answer, can obvious discrepancies between the two types of data be resolved? The process by which data was gathered both qualitatively and quantitatively did not demonstrate discrepancies in the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 85 information for any of the questions. Within the context of this study, perception data and semi-structured interview feedback was in alignment. This held true for all three questions that were studied. Hendricks (2017) also states four fundamental concepts to increase validity in research. They are credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Credibility deals with the processes used to ensure the results are accurate. Transferability is the concept of how the research has broader implications, in this case, to special education programs in other schools. Dependability is a validity consideration that, if other students and staff with similar demographics would be used, would similar results be expected. Finally, confirmability is the concept of ensuring that the results are accurate and free and clear of the researcher’s bias, motivation, or interest. Within this study the information that was pulled quantitatively was from a data warehouse used by the district. From the standpoint of credibility, all the quantitative data was presented in the research as it was mined. In addition, the qualitative semistructured interview data was compiled with the teacher’s direct statements. The coding of this information did not include any insertion of the researcher’s thoughts on behalf of the teacher. The motivation for the research is strictly on best practices for students of special needs in the regular classroom as it relates to specially designed instruction in the IEP. Using so many data points helped triangulate the data to increase its credibility. Looking at the concept of transferability, the researcher would need to consider how these results may transfer to other similar settings. The participants chosen for the research included all teacher and student stakeholders that fit the demographic identified SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 86 in the study. Those demographic items included regular education teachers who teach students with special needs in the math and ELA subject areas, special education teachers who teach students with special needs, and the entire population of students receiving learning support services in the regular classroom and learning support classroom. These demographics replicate themselves across school districts very commonly. While cited in this project that school culture is very specific to various schools including mindsets of teachers, which can influence transferability, the structural make up of what was studied is commonly found in schools. Therefore, this research does have uses beyond the context of Independence Middle School. In addition, a strategy used to increase transferability is a thorough analysis of the setting, study, and participants. It is believed that this was done and also increases the transferability to schools with similar demographics. In consideration of validity that is established through dependability, there is reasonable thought that similar results would be found in many schools having the same demographic make-up. However, as also stated in this research study, not all processes for placement of special education are similar across school districts due to different levels of staffing, mindsets of teaching staff, and local norms in the community as to the value of special education services. This is a natural part of what makes effective special education programming elusive because generalizing practices falls victim to these local differences. However, for the purposes of establishing validity, there is no reason to think that these results would not replicate themselves in other settings similar to Independence Middle School lending it to being dependable. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 87 Lastly, in consideration of confirmability, the data that was used in the study came exactly as it was found quantitatively. The use of this data fell in line with what the research questions needed to be answered. Qualitatively, the information used came directly from the semi-structured interview and was not embellished or altered in any way by the researcher. The questions asked were open ended and did not predispose the participant to a biased line of thought in the question design. Therefore, it is argued that the research conducted was valid to a high degree. Summary The function of this chapter was to look at the purpose, setting and participants, research plan, methodology, types of data collected, the timeline for that collection, and the validity of the research. As stated, the research study is meant to look at perceptions and practice regarding supports in the classroom and how those supports effect student performance and outcomes in the classroom. The three key research questions seek to find what staff value in supporting those students and how those values play out over the course of a school year using multiple student performance data points. The setting for this project was Independence Middle School that is comprised of 7th and 8th grade students. To study this the researcher included all students that fit the demographic of students receiving learning support services. In addition, the researcher was able to obtain 16 out of 18 staff members that fit the criteria for the study. The adult participants were given Informed Consent and a fully detailed breakdown of the research study. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 88 The research plan included a mixed methods approach that gathered data from a multitude of data sources. These sources included the teachers themselves through qualitative and quantitative feedback, standardized student assessment data, and student grade data. The quantitative data was collected using a tool called EdInsight. The data was pulled over the course of the first three quarters of the school year. The qualitative data was gleaned from interviews with the staff over that same time frame. The research conducted created very little fiscal impact. Data points were collected through instruments that the district already has invested in. Other than time, there wasn’t a direct cost to the research study. However, it is hoped that the outcome of the research can help guide future considerations with how IEP’s are developed, implemented, and how staff are scheduled to support this. It is well known that special education costs are much higher than the cost of educating students who do not have an IEP. Therefore, being better at supporting the students would absolutely affect the bottom-line cost of educating special education students. The validity of the research was established through the work of Leedy and Ormrod (2013), as well as Hendricks (2017) and Mertler (2019). This included a review of the alignment of the qualitative and quantitative data gathered, whether any of these were weighted more heavily than the other, and if there were any discrepancies in the data gathered. In addition, the four concepts of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were reviewed. This ensured, to the best of the researcher’s ability, that the information was not biased or influenced by the researcher and that the results SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 89 utilized multiple data points to ensure that conclusions drawn would have the highest degree of validity possible. In the next chapter the researcher will be providing an analysis of the data. The analysis of the data utilizes multiple data points as described in the methodology chapter. This will help answer the three research questions established in this research study for which conclusions can be drawn. This will inform, not only the researcher, but also the school in improving the outcomes for students in special education. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 90 Chapter IV Data Analysis and Results The purpose of this chapter is to display the data and results of the research that was conducted on supports in the classroom for students who have special education services. The data gathered attempts to capture teachers’ perceptions regarding the value of various supports in the IEP, teachers’ beliefs and methods of implementation of those supports, student performance data on standardized assessments that may indicate classrooms where greater growth may have occurred, and student movement to and from the least restrictive environment that may demonstrate patterns in the effectiveness of student supports and their implementation. This data was gathered to answer the following research questions. 1. What are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? 2. What relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student support and student achievement? 3. What movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? The study focused on the specific specially designed instruction (SDI) elements that can be found in the students’ IEPs. These are most commonly known as accommodations and modifications. Through a listing of the 27 commonly found SDI’s in the IEP staff were asked, using a Likert scale from 1-6, what supports they most strongly agreed or disagreed with being effective in the classroom. This was followed by SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 91 a semi-structured interview in which staff were asked to give feedback on why they felt this way and how these supports were implemented in their classroom. This information was gathered to answer the first research question regarding the value of supports in the IEP and their implementation. The researcher also gathered performance data for students that had IEPs. This performance data included MAP assessments from the fall and winter of the 21-22 school year. These are regularly administered assessments in the school. Most importantly the MAP assessment is given multiple times during the year and demonstrates growth between testing windows. This data point allows us to see growth over time and the possible effect student supports in the IEP may have had on student growth. Grades were gathered as another achievement measurement that may demonstrate student success and growth. This information was used in conjunction with the qualitative data gathered for question one about staff perception of the value of supports in the IEP in their classroom to answer research question number two. Lastly, qualitative data was gathered using a semi-structured interview with staff regarding the movement of students from the LRE to a pull-out environment. This data was meant to help answer the third research question about student movement and the relationship to perceptions of student supports in the IEP and the implementation of those supports. The purpose was to identify factors or patterns that may exist that could potentially lead to a student’s movement from the regular education classroom environment to more restrictive pull-out settings. As stated in the literature review, the LRE mandate from the federal government states plainly that the regular education SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 92 environment is the starting point for students with disabilities and that is why it is important to understand the context of movement throughout the year. Participant Description There were 18 eligible teachers that could participate in this research study. Out of the 18 eligible candidates, 16 agreed to participate. The eligibility criteria for the group required that the staff member taught either Language Arts, Math, Reading, or Special Education. Table 3 demonstrates how many teachers in each content area participated. Table 3 Staff Participation Demographic Discipline Number of staff Language Arts 4 Staff Reading 3 Staff Math 5 Staff Special Education 4 Staff These teachers, as explained in the methodology chapter of this Doctoral Research Capstone Project, are a part of middle school teams. Each team shares the same students amongst themselves, which is a hallmark of the middle school model. While there were not any individual students invited to participate in this study, aggregate data was collected for students who receive supports outlined in the student’s IEP. Table 4 demonstrates the number of students for which the aggregate data is represented in each subject area. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 93 Table 4 Number of Students by Subject Subject Area Number of Students Language Arts 77 Reading 73 Math 78 Data Analysis The first research question gathered perception data using a Likert style survey. The survey asked the staff to rate their agreement with SDIs listed in the IEP and whether they Strongly Agree, Agree, Slightly Agree, Slightly Disagree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree that the support was helpful in the class. This was then followed up with a semi-structured interview that yielded qualitative data regarding why they felt this way and how the support was implemented in their classroom. The method of analysis used to analyze the data included ranking the 27 most commonly listed SDI’s in the IEP as most valued to the least valued as rated by the staff on the Likert survey. This ranking was found by averaging the staff members scored responses on each SDI collectively. This data was then broken out by content area to see what patterns existed, which could potentially vary based on course demands. Also, the qualitative data from the semistructured interview was added to the analysis of the SDI’s that demonstrate staff’s beliefs on why the various supports were valued, and how that support might be implemented in the classroom. The second question required the gathering of MAP testing data from the fall and winter testing sessions as described in the methods chapter of this Doctoral Research Capstone Project. The data was tabulated by each respondent in each content area. This SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 94 tabulation was done by calculating the average growth using the change in RIT scores for all learning support students the teacher has. The mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and percent of students making gains in the class were calculated. In addition, the students average first semester grade was also calculated to see any trends in student achievement that exist across classrooms. The second part of the research question looked at the perception data that was gathered in the Likert survey. However, for this question, it is the importance of supports as identified by the teaching staff whose learning support students demonstrated the highest growth that we are focused on. This is done to see what consistencies there may be in the value placed on student supports that may lead to higher achievement in each content area. The third question required collecting data on student movement from the LRE (regular classroom) to pull out settings and from pull out settings to the LRE. However, the question requires a focus on students who leave the LRE for more restrictive pull-out classroom settings. After collecting this data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff to gain insight as to why the change was initiated, any SDI’s that proved effective for the student and any changes to the IEP that may have occurred when these changes were being considered. This information was used to analyze any commonality between perception of student supports and student movement. Results Research Question Number 1 The first research question asked, what are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 95 classrooms? Using the Likert survey, the researcher looked at the average score from 1-6 for the SDIs as identified by the 16 staff members who participated. Looking at Table 5, the following results were reported by all staff that participated in the research regarding their perceptions of the value of SDIs that could be found in the IEP. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 5 Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs in their Classrooms Accommodation/Modification Average Score of Teacher Responses Paraprofessional Support 5.88 Extended Time for Testing 5.44 Adapted Tests 5.31 Small Group Testing 5.06 Tests Read Aloud 5.00 Preferential Seating 4.94 Coteaching 4.81 Crisis Pass 4.81 Use of Graphic Organizer 4.67 Audio Books 4.67 Use of a Calculator 4.54 Organization Support 4.53 Getting Student Attention Prior to Giving Instruction 4.44 Allow Movement in the Classroom 4.44 Modifying Homework 4.38 Positive Reinforcement 4.38 Study Guides 4.33 Pairing Visual and Verbal Directions 4.31 Extended Time for Assignments 4.25 96 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Checks for Understanding 4.25 Directions Repeated and Restated 4.13 Providing Visual Instructions 4.06 Chunking Assignments 3.86 Voice to Text 3.86 Opportunity to Retake Tests 3.63 Copy of Class Notes 3.50 Assignment Book Checks 3.33 97 As you can see from the survey results, the top five valued SDIs when averaged for all staff taking the survey included Paraprofessional Support, Extended Time for Testing, Adapted Tests, Small Group Testing, and Tests Read Aloud. In contrast, the five least most valued supports for students were Chunking Assignments, Voice to Text, Opportunity to Retake Tests, Copy of Class Notes, and Assignment Book Checks. The perception data was also broken out by content area to see what trends may exist that differ when compared to the average of all teacher responses. This helps us put a lens on supports that may be felt to be more beneficial or less beneficial based on the subject/content demands. Table 6 illustrates the feedback for the top five supports and bottom five supports that Language Arts staff rated as most important and least important. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 6 Language Arts Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs Top 5 Language Arts Staff Responses Bottom 5 Language Arts Staff Responses Type of Support, Average Score Type of Support, Average Score Paraprofessional Support, 5.75 Assignment Book Checks, 4.0 Organization Support, 5.5 Extended Time for Assignments, 3.75 Crisis Pass, 5.0 Modifying Homework, 3.75 Preferential Seating, 5.25 Copy of Class Notes, 3.5 Small Group Testing, 5 Opportunity to Retake Tests, 3.25 In Table 7 we can see the reading teachers’ results as to the five most valued supports and the five least valued supports in their content area. Table 7 Reading Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs Top 5 Reading Staff Responses Bottom 5 Reading Staff Responses Type of Support, Average Score Type of Support, Average Score Preferential Seating, 6 Opportunity to Retake Tests, 3.67 Paraprofessional Support, 6 Copy of Class Notes, 3.67 Tests Read Aloud, 5.67 Use of a Calculator, 3.5 Adapted Tests, 5.67 Assignment Book Checks, 3.33 Extended Time for Testing, 5.3 Coteaching, 2.67 In Table 8, we can see the math teachers results as to the five most valued supports and the five least valued supports. 98 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 8 Math Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs Top 5 Math Staff Responses Bottom 5 Math Staff Responses Type of Support, Average Score Type of Support, Average Score Paraprofessional Support, 5.8 Study Guides, 3.2 Coteaching, 5.8 Copy of Class Notes, 3.2 Extended Time for Testing, 5.6 Voice to Text, 2.75 Tests Read Aloud, 5 Chunking Assignments, 2.33 Adapted Tests, 5 Assignment Book Checks, 1.5 In Table 9 we can see the special education teachers results as to the five most valued supports and the five least valued supports. Table 9 Special Education Staff Perceptions of the Importance of SDIs Top 5 Special Ed. Staff Responses Bottom 5 Special Ed. Staff Responses Type of Support, Average Score Type of Support, Average Score Adapted Tests, 6 Voice to Text, 4 Paraprofessional Support, 6 Crisis Pass, 4 Extended Time for Testing, 5.75 Allow Movement in Classroom, 3.75 Study Guides, 5.67 Copy of Class Notes, 3.75 Small Group Testing, 5.5 Opportunity to Retake Tests, 3 The second part of research question number one asked staff their beliefs about SDIs and how supports are implemented in the classroom. Each teacher was asked to 99 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 100 give feedback in a semi-structured interview to expand on the supports that they had responded about being most important to them on the Likert survey by selecting Strongly Agree. The following summation of information was gleaned from the staff and is grouped by content area that expands on the trends noted in Tables 6, 7, 8, and 9. An abridged listing of staff feedback by respondent can be found in Appendix F. Language Arts Staff Beliefs Multiple Language Arts staff had rated chunking assignments as an important SDI in the IEP. The rationale behind this being an important support from their perspective included the idea that writing assignments, which is what students spend a lot of time doing in the LA classroom, need broken up so that students can put the pieces together on longer term assignments and grammar units effectively. The decision of where to chunk an assignment is very purposeful on the teacher’s part by their account. Staff also report that chunking allows them to take advantage of the attention span of the students, getting better quality work in finite periods of time is, for them, a best practice. Language Arts staff also placed high value on coteaching as an SDI that students benefit from. The staff members report that the students benefit from the strengths of each teacher in this classroom situation. These strengths include both the understanding of content and the understanding of accommodations and modifications that best suit students. The staff can both bring these qualifications to the table that help the student be successful in the classroom. These interactions are felt to be important when staff push back on one another in positive discourse, expanding each other’s thinking on best serving students. However, as stated by staff, it is important for teachers to have the ability to plan together as an essential ingredient to a healthy coteaching relationship. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 101 Multiple LA staff members rated directions repeated and restated as an important SDI in student’s IEP’s. Being mindful of a student not getting directions the first time is important. Additionally, staff feel it is simply a good teaching practice. Staff also report that they make sure that they make frequent visits to a student’s desk who they know will struggle with directions or will call on students at important moments of understanding to make sure that the comprehension is there for what the students are doing. One member of the LA staff had rated extended time on assignments as being very important. This staff member made a comment where they said, “processing delays are real” and that getting their best work requires some flexibility on timelines. This same teacher did say that they particularly believe in giving students extended time when they can see the effort that the students are putting into the assignment. It was interesting that there was only one staff member that rated this SDI as highly important in the LA staff group. Another single LA teacher had noted their strong belief in allowing for movement in the classroom. They felt as though kinesthetic opportunities help students “galvanize” their thoughts and understanding of concepts. Also, the teacher felt that students’ attention is supported through acceptable movement in the classroom. Students with these opportunities can better attend to the task at hand. Organizational support shared agreement between multiple staff members. In the Language Arts classroom, it was noted that systems of organization are essential for student success. This was noted as especially important for executive functioning needs students at the middle level have. The staff has noted that these organizational structures have needed to change over time where students now have digital files that outnumber SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 102 papers students may receive. Conscious effort has had to be made in making sure that there is organization in this area because digital files can be lost just the same as hard copy papers. In essence, students knowing where to find things is essential to follow through and success. Paraprofessional support was recognized as one of the most important supports available to a student in the LA classroom by multiple staff. The role that a para plays is reported to be multifaceted. Within the classroom the para can cue for attention as well as provide more feedback to students throughout the class, correcting misunderstandings. Paras also provide 1:1 opportunity as needed during the instructional portion of class. However, an important piece of para support as reported by the staff included what the paraprofessional brings back to the resource room as being a very important function. Because resource acts as an important backup to the regular class environment, the precious minutes that staff have are optimized when the para knows what the student needs to accomplish or where the misunderstandings were for the student on the content to further aid the student in their comprehension of the subject matter. Lastly, staff appreciate the timely support for items like small group testing that paras assist with. Also, small group testing is an SDI that one of the LA staff also strongly agreed with, making it understandable the para’s importance to staff in meeting this need. Finally, a support that the LA staff valued was preferential seating. This support was felt to have high return for very little effort on the teacher’s part. The staff noted that preferential seating could mean different things for different students. Some students need to be closer to the source of instruction while other students need a spot where they can be provided room for movement. Still other students may respond by being near the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 103 teacher’s desk where redirection may be more frequently necessary during seatwork time. The opportunity to sit near a peer role model was another example of what the best use of preferential seating might be. The Language Arts staff clearly have many approaches when it comes to preferential seating in the classroom. Math Staff Beliefs The math staff had expanded upon their Likert survey feedback in the semistructured interview process as well. One of the SDIs that the staff valued was that of adapted tests. Staff feedback states that changing the format of tests, such as bolding essential words or providing simple hints to help the student access their prior understandings, help them be successful and is a good strategy. Staff also report that this helps in getting the student started so that they are not behind as the testing session moves on due to being stuck. Teachers also report that the elimination of distracting information supports students and their success on tests. Finally, the reading level of tests can be difficult for some students, which is another method of adapting tests so that reading is not a barrier to student success on the assessment. Coteaching was a widely recognized support that staff valued as important to student success. Staff cite that the students benefit from receiving more facetime throughout the class period. The ability to group and regroup students between the two staff is helpful in meeting the diverse needs that the students may have while also giving students varied viewpoints on the content at hand. While challenges were noted by staff such as overcoming egos and matching personalities, the benefit of playing off one another and utilizing each of the staff member’s strengths and expertise was felt to be an SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 104 advantage to the students. Staff report that this comes by employing the various coteaching models flexibly in the classroom. Math staff expanded on directions repeated and restated as being essential elements in an effective classroom due to student struggles with focus. They state that this is good to do as a general teaching practice and not just with students who have IEP’s. Sometimes staff note that the directions may need rephrased in clearer language for students as a part of this process. Staff knowing their students helps target this intervention according to feedback from the teachers. Extended time on tests and assignments was an accommodation that was felt to be important for students in the math classroom, particularly on tests. Staff note that allowing more processing time for students is important, and with assignments, doing the work is the most important thing, not strictly the time that it is done in. A word of caution for extended time from staff is keeping it within reason so that there isn’t a snowball effect for the student where work and tests compile on one another. Interestingly, one teacher cited the importance for this accommodation for all students, so that the accommodation is a natural part of the fabric of instruction in the classroom. Paraprofessional support was expanded upon in the semi-structured interview for math teachers based on their feedback on the Likert survey. Similar to other subject areas, staff report that the value extends beyond their classroom and to the information brought back to the resource room. In this environment, the paraprofessional having a strong grasp of what students need extra help on or what pieces of work need finished is very beneficial. Importance was placed on the quality of the para that is in the math classroom due to the complexity of content that needs to be understood well by the staff SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 105 member to support the student. Still other benefits include variation on the way things are explained to the students. These beliefs are cited by math staff as important points to effective para support. While not as widely supported by math staff, but by one staff member was the importance of retaking tests. The value system placed on this was because it was more important for the teacher to know that the student could do it in order to move forward. Related to testing, one other staff member had stated that small group testing was highly valued as well. This was for the purposes of reading the test aloud and allowing for clarifications that supported students who just need a little boost to get started. Reading Staff Beliefs Reading staff feedback on their beliefs varied more than most other subject areas. Three staff provided feedback through the semi-structured interview regarding the supports that they valued as most important. One staff member had given feedback about adapted tests and its importance saying it “really makes a difference”. The strategies that the staff member employed included use of graphic organizers, adapting written portions that are often hard for students, and reducing volume of content, focusing in on the key information. Also related to testing was the value placed on extended time for tests by another staff member. This particular staff member cited that students who are anxious benefit from extended time a great deal because they often work slower than most of the other students and struggle to demonstrate all that they know. Also associated with testing was the importance of tests being read aloud because of the auditory modality was felt to be very effective for students. Other singleton responses rated highly by staff members included checking for understanding, especially as the lesson ends to make sure SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 106 that they are “concluding” with the correct information. Movement in the classroom was felt to be important by another staff member who stated that they purposefully create these opportunities, often off to the side for students who have attention difficulties. Lastly, pairing visual and verbal directions was targeted by a staff member as important because they state that this improves the chances that the student will give back what it is that the staff member is looking for. There was more agreement amongst staff when it came to paraprofessional support and preferential seating. Regarding paraprofessional support, similar to other subject areas, staff state that it matters who that paraprofessional is. However, as a function, paras support redirecting students when they are off task by using proximity control or verbalizations. Staff also cite the importance of being able to pull students together in small groups to help with misunderstandings of content. A similar theme that played out in other subject areas about this support was the importance that the para played in bringing the information back to the resource room where additional time could be given to the student on concepts that were not understood or to complete tasks. Finally, preferential seating was in agreement with multiple staff members as being effective. Like other subject areas, this was not merely putting a student in the front of the room but in the place that most benefited the student. This included away from distractors, near the source of instruction, near the board, or where students could be easily accessed throughout the class period. Special Education Staff Beliefs Special education staff had given feedback in the semi-structured interview with regard to their beliefs and implementation of the most important supports to them as rated SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 107 on the Likert survey. There were multiple staff who rated adapted tests as very important but that each class required different adaptations. Subjects such as social studies, that had the potential for a lot of content, may need paired down. Whereas math may require the opportunity to reteach and retest as a primary consideration. Staff also state the importance of having students zero in on the most essential information to improve the outcome where they know what the essential information is going into a testing situation. Still other more traditional thoughts included eliminating responses from multiple choice items. Directions repeated and restated was felt by multiple special education staff as being important. Staff feedback included the importance of students knowing how to get started. Eliminating this problem is supported by rephrasing or restating directions to ensure that the student isn’t stuck, being unproductive. Staff report that students don’t always get it the first time, particularly those who have attention difficulties. Restating and repeating is an effective way for staff to be sure that students who have attention difficulties are on task. Paraprofessional support was broadly supported by special education staff as benefiting students. Again, like the other subject areas, staff cite paraprofessionals bringing the information back to the resource room with information about what students need help with and what work needs completed is felt to be paramount. They go on to report that the natural communication that occurs in this dynamic is what is so helpful. One quote from special education staff states that they are the “bridge to success” for students in the least restrictive environment. Other time periods where paraprofessional support is valued are in classrooms that require a lot of classroom notes. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 108 Paraprofessionals keeping copies of notes for students and assisting students with notetaking is felt to be a helpful role. There were also some singleton supports that staff valued and gave feedback on. One staff member cited the importance of audio books as being important for their students. Because so many students have reading levels that are below grade level that have IEP’s, materials that can’t be adapted for one reason or another benefit students when they are in an audio format. The teacher states that students have the ability to access/understand much of the material. However, reading is often a barrier for them in a class such as social studies as an example. Another staff cited extended time on assignments as being essential. Feedback from staff included the idea that workload can ebb and flow. Students with special needs sometimes require that flexibility that comes with extended time when the ebb and flow becomes overwhelming. This is another way resource is helpful for students in completing items that they owe where the paraprofessional communicates those needs. Other singleton supports included guided notes that were stated by a staff member as being important to student success. This staff member articulated that this is especially important in a class like social studies where a lot of notes are given. A barrier for students is often the legibility of their writing when taking notes. Therefore students often do not find the notes helpful to them after they take them, which is a primary function of notetaking. Having guided notes eliminates some of the intensive writing that notetaking requires, letting them key in on essential information. Closely related to guided notes are study guides that one staff member also felt was very important. The SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 109 emphasis from the staff member was the narrowing of information so that the student was getting the greatest benefit from their study time on what content was most essential. Additionally, a staff member held small group testing and tests read aloud as two important SDIs. This staff member stated that both help students who are easily distracted or who have anxiety. Students who have decoding concerns also benefit from having tests read aloud. Finally, a staff member stated that use of a calculator was very important saying that students need to understand process and concepts at this stage and not focus on the calculation skills of the student. Research Question Number 2 The second research question asked, what relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student support and student achievement? To answer this question, data was gathered on student growth using the MAP assessment. Students were assessed in the fall of the 2021-2022 school year and again in January of the 2021-2022 school year. The MAP test by NWEA, as referenced in the literature review, is an adaptive test, which means it responds to the test taker based on their success at answering questions. This is done to find the student’s instructional level for the content area being assessed. This data was used to try and isolate the highest performing classrooms where we could then pair those staff members’ perceptions of student supports to see if any correlations may exist in their beliefs and implementation of those supports. The Language Arts staff had four participants in this research study. Table 10 displays the mean, median, and mode for students in the class regarding their MAP 110 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION growth scores. It also includes the standard deviation, the percent of students making gains, number of students with data, and the average first semester grade. Table 10 Language Arts Performance Results Respondent Subject Mean Median Mode Standard Deviation Percent of Students Making Gains 15 11 13 5 LA LA LA LA 0.85 1.3 3.4 3.73 0 2.5 3 2 0 -5, 3 3, 9 0 9.67 5.8 7.53 7.9 43 70 70 64 Number of Students 7 10 10 11 Average 1st Semester Grade 84 86.5 82.6 81.5 The second research question sought to find any relationships that exist between achievement and perceptions of student supports in the IEP. For the purposes of answering this question, respondents 5 and 13 demonstrated a mean growth of more than 3 points, showing the highest growth by the learning support students in their classes. Looking at the survey results regarding perceptions of supports, Table 11 shows the supports rated as Strongly Agree by each respondent with the highest growth to see what, if any, common beliefs the staff had regarding supports in the classroom. Common responses are listed first. We see that only one support was shared between them that was rated as Strongly Agree, which was Organization Support. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 111 Table 11 Language Arts Teacher Perceptions for Staff with the Highest Growth Respondent 5 Respondent 13 Organization Support Organization Support Chunking Assignments Small Group Testing Directions Repeated Preferential Seating Extended Time for Assignments Allow Movement in the Classroom Use of Graphic Organizer Paraprofessional Support Study Guides Coteaching Positive Reinforcement Crisis Pass Checks for Checks for Understanding Going one step further in this line of inquiry, we can look at the top 5 rated supports as reported by these staff members where there was agreement between the staff, rating the support Strongly Agree OR Agree. In doing so, we can draw some additional comparisons in what staff value as strong supports for their students as seen in Table 12. 112 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 12 Top 5 Most Commonly Valued Supports for High Achieving LA Staff Support Respondent 5 Respondent 13 Organization Support Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Small Group Testing Agree Strongly Agree Preferential Seating Agree Strongly Agree Allow Movement in the Classroom Agree Strongly Agree Paraprofessional Support Agree Strongly Agree The Math staff had four participants in this research study. Table 13 displays the mean, median, and mode for students in the class regarding their MAP growth scores. It also includes the standard deviation, the percent of students making gains, number of students with data, and the average first semester grade. Table 13 Math Performance Results Respondent 9 8 2 17 Subject Math Math Math Math Mean 1.4 3.3 4.92 6.6 Median 1.5 4 4.5 6 Mode -2, 1, 4, 7 -5 1 Standard Deviation Percent of Students Making Gains Number of Students 5.1 6.97 7.11 3 57 56 75 100 14 9 12 5 Average 1st Semester Grade 76 79.4 78.4 83.5 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 113 Using the results in Table 13, respondents 2, 8, and 17 demonstrated a mean growth of more than 3 points, showing the highest growth by the learning support students in their classes. Looking at the survey results regarding perceptions of supports, Table 14 shows the supports rated as Strongly Agree by each respondent to see what, if any, common beliefs they have regarding support in the classroom. Common supports are displayed in order for ease of reference. Table 14 Math Teacher Perceptions for Staff with the Highest Growth Respondent 2 Respondent 8 Respondent 17 Extended Time for Testing Extended Time for Testing Extended Time for Testing Coteaching Coteaching Coteaching Paraprofessional Support Paraprofessional Support Paraprofessional Support Adapted Tests Adapted Tests Opportunity to Retake Tests Tests Read Aloud Positive Reinforcement Allow Movement in the Classroom Going one step further in this line of inquiry we can look at the top-rated supports as reported by these staff members where there was agreement between the staff, rating the support Strongly Agree OR Agree. In doing so we can draw some additional comparisons in what staff do value that are most in common between the staff as seen in Table 15. 114 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 15 Math Most Common Supports Rated Agree or Strongly Agree Support Respondent 2 Respondent 8 Respondent 17 Extended Time for Testing Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Paraprofessional Support Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Coteaching Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Adapted Tests Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Agree Crisis Pass Agree Agree Agree The reading staff had three participants in this research study. Table 16 displays the mean, median, and mode for students in the class regarding their MAP growth scores. It also includes the standard deviation, the percent of students making gains, number of students with data, and the average first semester grade. Table 16 Reading Performance Results Respondent Subject Mean Median Mode Standard Deviation Percent of Students Making Gains 12 7 16 Rdg. Rdg. Rdg. -2.25 3.67 4.5 3 3.5 3 3 0, 14 3, 9 12.05 8.92 6 66 58 73 Number of Students 12 12 11 Average 1st Semester Grade 81 79 84 Using the results in Table 16, respondents 7 and16 demonstrated a mean growth of more than 3 points, showing the highest growth by the learning support students in SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 115 their classes. Looking at the survey results regarding perceptions of supports, Table 17 shows the supports rated as Strongly Agree by respondents 7 and 16 to see what, if any, common beliefs they have regarding support in the classroom. Common supports have been listed together for ease of reference. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 17 Reading Teacher Perceptions for Staff with the Highest Growth Respondent 7 Respondent 16 Tests Read Aloud Tests Read Aloud Preferential Seating Preferential Seating Adapted Tests Adapted Tests Paraprofessional Support Paraprofessional Support Directions Repeated and Restated Extended Time for Assignments Extended Time for Testing Small Group Testing Organization Support Providing Visual Instructions Chunking Assignments Getting Student Attention Prior to Instruction Pairing Visual and Verbal Directions Modifying Homework Voice to Text Crisis Pass Use of a Calculator Positive Reinforcement Checks for Understanding 116 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 117 Going one step further in this line of inquiry we can look at the top-rated supports as reported by these staff members where there was agreement between the staff, rating the support Strongly Agree OR Agree. In doing so we can draw some comparisons in what these staff do value that are most in common as seen in Table 18. Table 18 Reading Most Common Supports Rated as Agree or Strongly Agree Support Respondent 7 Respondent 16 Tests Read Aloud Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Preferential Seating Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Adapted Tests Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Paraprofessional Support Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Extended Time for Testing Agree Strongly Agree Crisis Pass Agree Strongly Agree Use of Graphic Organizer Agree Agree Audio Books Agree Agree The Special Education staff had four participants in this research study. Table 19 displays the mean, median, and mode for students in the class regarding their MAP growth scores. It also includes the standard deviation, the percent of students making gains, number of students with data, and the average first semester grade. 118 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Table 19 Special Education Performance Results Respondent Subject Mean Median 4 SpEd -0.06 0 10 6 SpEd SpEd 0.45 0.56 1 1 18 SpEd 2.63 2 Mode -5, 1, 1, 2 -9, 2, 14 -5 0, 1, 2, 8 Standard Deviation Percent of Students Making Gains Number of Students Average 1st Semester Grade 7.1 47 17 78 9.1 5.25 45 56 11 9 73.2 79.2 7.33 69 16 89 Using the results in Table 19, the respondents that demonstrated a mean growth of more than 3 points did not exist as it did in the other content areas. The respondent whose learning support students achieved the highest growth was respondent 18 with a mean growth of 2.63 points. Looking at the survey results regarding perceptions of supports, Table 20 shows the supports rated as Strongly Agree by this respondent. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 119 Table 20 Special Education Teacher Perceptions for Staff with the Highest Growth Respondent 18 Small Group Testing Tests Read Aloud Extended Time for Assignments Extended Time for Testing Adapted Tests Use of Graphic Organizer Paraprofessional Support Coteaching In the case of the Special Education staff, because there aren’t any other staff with significant evidence of progress, we do not have the ability to show the top supports where staff agree as either Strongly Agree OR Agree. Research Question Number 3 The third question asked, what movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? As mentioned, in the Data Analysis section, the focus was on students who moved from the LRE to more restrictive pull-out class settings. However, in analyzing the data, it was apparent that there was value to look at how many students moved from pull-out settings to the regular classroom environment, as this was more frequent in its occurrence than was movement to pull-out settings. The data is represented accordingly in the following paragraphs and tables. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 120 Table 21 represents the number of students who had a change in placement throughout the school year. This includes students moving from the LRE to pull-out classes and from pull-out to the LRE. This table includes the respondents where the movement occurred to look at perceptions for student supports in the classroom and what, if any common themes there were as to the reason for the movement. Table 21 Student Movement Throughout the Year Reg Ed. Respondent 15 16 5 7 8 5 7 8 Special Ed. Respondent 18 6 4 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Number of Students 1 Student Exited Special Education 2 Students Moved to Reg. LA 1 Student Moved to Reg. Reading 4 Students Moved to Reg. LA 4 Students Moved to Reg. Reading 2 Students Moved to Reg. Math 1 Student Moved to Pull-Out LA 3 Students to Pull-Out Reading 1 Student to Pull-Out Math 1 Student Moved from LS Reading to LSS Reading Looking at the table we can see that there were 13 movements from pull-out classes to regular education environments throughout the year. There were 6 movements that occurred where students went from regular education settings to more restrictive pull-out settings. It is also important to note that students can count for multiple moves. In the examples given, the total number of movements were attributed to 11 different students. In fact, the total number of moves from the LRE to pull-out settings did not involve more than 4 total students. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 121 Teachers were interviewed in a semi-structured interview and were asked to respond to four questions regarding the movement of students to and from their classrooms. When asked, what the factors were that led to the student’s change in placement in their class, staff responded by stating that students who moved from pullout classes to the regular education classroom were consistently outscoring their peers on assessments and classroom performance tasks in the pull-out setting. Respondents also had similarities in their description of these students as hard workers. This compelled staff to communicate with parents as to moving the student up the continuum of support. These same staff state that students who had moved to a more restrictive setting were noted as having additional factors that led to the change in placement. Staff reported that attendance was a primary factor for one of the students that moved to pull-out classes and that mental health concerns was a primary factor in the movement of another student to a smaller learning environment. Ability, in and of itself, was not a primary factor in the movement of these students. However, in the two other cases, the factors were academic. Staff had agreement that they felt they had modified the curriculum to such an extent, with the students still not meeting with success, that a change in placement was warranted to provide a smaller learning environment that might benefit the students with pacing and curriculum modifications. Another factor that was also common in the reported cases was the Lexile level of the students moved to pull-out classes. They were noted as being lower than their other special education peers. The staff were also asked if there were any supports that were in place that the students did respond to, and if so, what they were. For those students who moved from regular education settings to more restrictive environments, staff stated that the extent of SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 122 the struggle for the student after modifications and accommodations was the primary factor in their decision making. Despite having adapted tests, adapted homework assignments, extended time for assessments, and coteaching models the students were still underperforming. In one case, a staff member had explained that a student was given a graphic organizer as a modification for a writing assignment. The teacher was willing to grade the student on the thoughts in the graphic organizer rather than the paper itself. As the respondent stated, “Often the thoughts are there for the student but getting those thoughts to paper in paragraph form can be a challenge.” However, the student was still not on topic with the thoughts in the graphic organizer. In this example, it was an indicator that, despite the modification, the student still was struggling with the concepts and would require smaller group support. In yet another example, the teacher allowed for a retest and the special education staff member went back through the material with the student to try and reteach the content. Even after this modification the student could not perform on the adapted assessment. This was, again, another example of a decision made to pull the student back to a more restrictive setting based on the consistent lack of response to modifications being made such as this. Staff cited that it does take time to make these decisions and that it shouldn’t be rushed so that an accurate placement can be recommended. One teacher cited that originally, with one of the students that was moved back, that it seemed like a motivation issue. However, after consistent review and changes to the modifications being done in the LRE, it became clear that what seemed like a motivation issue was really a lack of understanding. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 123 Staff did report the importance of some of the remediation coursework that occurred to improve students’ reading levels as an important factor to success as well. The remediation coursework is done above and beyond the coursework done in the regular or pull-out class, occupying a different slot in the schedule. This supported the students in not losing time on grade level topics in the learning support environment because the remediation class took care of the remediation need. In addition to remediation classes, one teacher stated that the inclusion of two resource periods to allow for more individualized attention and back up instruction also was a positive support for the students. This increase in individual attention allowed the teacher to attack misunderstandings, helping the student keep up. On the other hand, though, students who demonstrated readiness for the regular education environment were responding to the adaptations being put in place. All the students, except for one, had the use of adapted tests that made the transition manageable for them to the regular education classroom. For the student who did not have adapted tests, they had demonstrated that they did not need this modification to their program and could perform using the regular classroom assessment. In an interesting case, a student consistently demonstrated delays in processing speed. However, given extended time, the student could demonstrate understanding. This same student had the highest grade in the class after being given the accommodation of extended time on a recent test. The staff noted that it is sometimes difficult balancing how much extended time is acceptable, where sometimes it is time to move on for the sake of the new learning. Still in other examples, staff reported modifications to the length of written work as a primary SDI implemented that supported students in the regular education environment. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 124 Staff were also asked if there were any revisions to the IEP that could be recalled, and if so, what they were. Staff commonly cited that the SDI’s that come from the preceding school are often very robust and that there aren’t many more to add to IEP’s once they get to Independence Middle School. In the examples of students moving backwards, it was more a question of trying different aspects of modifications on assignments and tests since this SDI was already listed in the IEP. Staff cited that the real benefit in these situations has been the co-teacher’s ability to make changes as instruction unfolds based on how students are responding to the situation beyond what was already planned for by the staff. In another comment, a regular education teacher stated that “in 17 years this year was the best year that I have had in supporting students” due to the continuum of support that is provided. It appeared that most staff felt that the SDI’s as listed were not in need of changing, but that the implementation was what was being examined based on student needs. In a different example, a staff member reported that the initial placement in the regular classroom did not start well. The teacher stated that the student was not willing to use the tools that had been provided, even though they had shown a readiness for being in the regular class. The teacher revised the IEP to provide for the student taking pictures of their assignments and directions on the board. This was to help with the student’s reading disability and executive functioning needs. The teacher did report that over time there was improvement in the student’s performance in class. Finally, staff were also asked to look at the student’s supports in the IEP and explain how the accommodations were implemented for students who had moved from SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 125 the LRE to pull out settings. As stated in the previous question, many staff cited that changes in the way modifications were made on tests and assignments were what was refined for the student since the SDI existed allowing for the modifications. Examples of these changes included the complexity of problems being answered, or the length of the assignment being further reduced, or the amount of time given to complete a task. Also, as explained previously, one teacher was willing to adapt the grading of the student who was eventually moved to a pull-out class based on her ability to put forward thoughts in a graphic organizer rather than in paragraph form. However, in all of these cases, modifications could not be made that provided for a level of understanding and success that made remaining in the LRE a viable option. Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 1 Research question number one, what are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms, was supported by the data that was returned on the Likert survey and subsequent semi-structured interview. This revealed that there are trends by subject for SDI’s that are found to be most effective by staff. Staff overall felt as though the top 5 supports available to students in the IEP were Paraprofessional Support, Extended Time for Testing, Adapted Tests, Small Group Testing, and Tests Read Aloud. One immediately can note that there is a common word in four out of the five supports in this case, that is “tests”. This may be the case because this is where students earn much of their grade and where success and failure in the class is mostly hinged upon. However, when we look at the various subjects there is not necessarily agreement with the top 5, SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 126 which would be logical based on the type of content that you teach and how those SDI’s effect your content area. Let us take a closer look at this. As seen in Table 6, the top five SDIs in Language Arts were Paraprofessional Support, Organization Support, Crisis Pass, Preferential Seating, and Small Group Testing. These valued supports are shared by small group testing and paraprofessional support with the overall feelings of the staff on the survey. It also highlights three supports not in agreement with the overall feelings of the staff that include the use of a crisis pass, preferential seating, and organization support. Looking at the feedback for organizational support, it is apparent that the nature of Language Arts requires a high level of organization due to longer term projects and writing assignments. The staff seem to value the purposeful effort placed into organizational structures in the class that help students be successful due to the many parts that writing projects contain. This is a natural place where students with special needs do tend to falter due to executive functioning deficits and is logical to have higher value placed upon it. When looking at the implementation and beliefs by the Language Arts staff, we see statements for Paraprofessional Support that indicate the importance of providing 1:1 support as needed, providing back up instruction, assisting with small group testing, and providing redirection to students. As stated in the previous paragraph, looking at the SDI of Organizational Support the staff reports that having structure helps with executive functioning and finding the items that are needed for the class. Staff also report the importance of digital organization support in a digital age as a key consideration for organizational support. The use of a Crisis Pass was ranked high on the list for Language Arts teachers but was not commented on in regard to the reasons for why in the interview SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 127 process. However, preferential seating was noted by staff to provide a large return for something that is easy to do. Staff report that there are different ways in which preferential seating is implemented based on what the student needs in the class. This could include sitting close to the teacher, near the board, away from distractions, or in a spot that allows for movement. Lastly, Small Group testing was noted as being a good opportunity to clarify for students while also providing for scaffolding to access what they know about the content when testing. Looking at the math staff responses, the top five responses included paraprofessional support, coteaching, extended time for testing, tests read aloud, and adapted tests. In contrast to the overall list, the math staff shared agreement with four out of the five with paraprofessional support, extended time for testing, adapted tests and tests read aloud being the common items. The SDI that the math department felt strongly about that was not in complete alignment with some of the other subject areas was coteaching, which had strong agreement amongst the math staff as a top five support. Looking at the overall list of supports and their value, coteaching was number seven on the list when averaged by all staff. This would indicate that there is some agreement amongst staff of its value overall but still was not in the top five as it was for the math staff. When looking at the beliefs and implementation of these supports the math staff gave feedback regarding paraprofessional support stating that in many cases the support is best in the resource class to provide back up to what the student was learning in class. Teachers also report that the support is best when it is present throughout the class if it is available, where the para can serve as an extra set of eyes on the situation as well as SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 128 provide a different perspective of the work that needs done. Lastly, staff report that it is beneficial to have the additional voice of encouragement for the students in the class. Coteaching was a support that the staff felt was important. Their beliefs and implementation of this support included comments such as the increased face time that is allotted the students in the class, the ability to group students and work with them based on their needs, and the ability to employ different coteaching delivery options. Face time was the most prevalent similarity in how the staff describe this support being effective. Staff also see value in the co-teacher’s presence to make adaptations for the students. Math staff supported the importance of extended time for testing. Words and phrases that describe the beliefs and implementation of this support include that this is something that needs to be afforded all students in the classroom. Staff report that students need to be given time for processing purposes, as not all students are as fast as each other. Staff do cite that it is important to put limitations on this accommodation as well though, so that the student can eventually “move forward” from the assessment. Test read aloud was considered an important SDI by the math staff. The feedback regarding this support however was not commented on in the interview as to why. Adapted Tests were commented on, though. Those comments included that adapted tests are given to students that include a change in reading level, formatting of the tests such as bolding key words, and giving a simple hint to help them access what they know. Still other practices include eliminating distractor responses on the test. Looking at the reading staff feedback, the top 5 supports listed were preferential seating, paraprofessional support, tests read aloud, adapted tests, and extended time for SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 129 testing. In contrast to the overall feedback of staff, the common SDI’s were paraprofessional support, tests read aloud, adapted tests, and extended time for testing. The only SDI that varied was preferential seating that the reading staff felt was important. So, there was strong agreement with the reading staff to the overall feeling of teachers regarding SDIs found in the IEP. When we look at the feedback from reading staff about their beliefs and implementation of preferential seating teachers report that there are many ways in which this support is implemented. Like what is reported by other staff who value this support, the ability to move a student away from distractors, near the source of instruction, or near the board all can mean preferential seating. Sometimes teachers report that it is important for them to have easy access to the students, which constitutes preferential seating. Paraprofessional support was, again, one of the most popular supports in the SDI section of the IEP as reported by the reading teachers and shared with the other staff members. Feedback from the staff include the quality of the para being a primary determining factor to the effectiveness of this support as well as knowing the students they are working with. The reading staff value the ability to have paras use proximity control to keep students on task. Some state that this is even the number one purpose to having the paraprofessional in the room. Staff also state that the ability to pull the students into small groups is also helpful. Lastly, the staff report that the para is really important in the communication area to the resource teacher in order to help students’ complete assignments. Tests read aloud, while rated highly by the staff on the Likert survey, was not commented on by the staff in the semi-structured interview. However, adapted tests were SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 130 discussed, and staff reported that this makes a difference for students. One reading teacher states that written portions are in special need of adaptations, with graphic organizers being helpful. Staff also report the reduction of multiple-choice options as a valuable strategy when adapting tests. Additionally, reading teachers report that extended time for testing is an important accommodation for students. Staff report that this is important for students who are having anxiety about testing that slows them down and which requires that additional time. The special education staff has as their top 5 rated SDIs adapted tests, paraprofessional support, extended time for testing, study guides, and small group testing. When compared with the results of the overall staff there are four in common that include paraprofessional support, extended time for testing, small group testing, and adapted tests. One SDI that was different included the use of study guides. This was not in the top five for all staff. In fact, this was one of the lower rated supports by staff where it ranked at number 17. Special Education staff feedback with regard to adapted tests included the importance of acknowledging the differences between the content areas and the types of modifications that were necessary due to course demands. As an example, math often requires reteaching and retesting, whereas science and social studies require a reduction in the amount of content. This also requires being very clear in what content will be tested. Another teacher noted the importance of minimizing the amount of content on the assessment to help keep the student motivated and minimizing distraction. Common with other staff member reports, the importance of eliminating some response items from tests was also valued. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 131 Paraprofessional Support was again a top choice for the special education staff members as it was for all staff. Special education staff feedback regarding this support draws from their experiences as resource teachers as well. This is reflected in the comments that the para is crucial in bringing back information about student needs to the special education teacher. There is natural communication that occurs between the special education teacher and the para that eliminates delay in communicating needs to the teacher. This is a common report by special education staff. They also report that this support helps with getting copies of notes given where note taking is often a struggle for students. One staff member went as far as to say they are the “bridge to success in the regular classroom”. Staff did not provide feedback on extended time for testing even though it was a top-rated support collectively. However, they did provide feedback on study guides as an important SDI. Staff who provided feedback on this support indicated the importance of narrowing the information for the students. They report the importance of having a predefined outline because the students can learn the information but need to know what is essential to help with their focus. Lastly, staff placed value on small group testing as a support that they value. Feedback on the beliefs and implementation of this support were stated as providing focus and reducing anxiety through the testing session. Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 2 Looking at the data returned from the MAP testing, the Likert survey, and the semi-structured interview feedback on the beliefs and implementation of student supports, we can look at any similarities by subject that exist based on student performance and the perception/implementation of supports in the highest performing SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 132 classrooms. It makes the most sense to look at these similarities and differences by content area since we have already established that there are sometimes differences in how each content area values SDI’s. We will first look at Language Arts. Two Language Arts respondents had a mean RIT growth of more than 3 points from the fall to winter testing. In analyzing the similarities that exist for these two respondents based on the value placed on SDI’s in the classroom there was very little agreement on SDI’s that were rated as strongly agree on the Likert survey. The one in common was organizational support. This support was stated as important due to the lengthy assignments that can exist in Language Arts, including digital structures that are important with the proliferation of digital technologies. In addition, highlighting key information for students to help them focus was also stated as important for organizational purposes. One additional step that was taken in this research included the top-rated SDI’s where the highest performing staff had agreement on the support as strongly agree OR agree. This creates a broader picture of common feelings regarding supports in the Language Arts classroom where greater growth was measured. Using this lens as a backdrop, we can see that the highest performing Language Arts staff, in addition to organizational support, value small group testing, preferential seating, allowing for movement in the classroom, and paraprofessional support. These supports were reported as agree or strongly agree by the staff. However, the semi-structured interview, at the time it was given, focused on qualitative feedback on supports rated as strongly agree. There were three math staff that had a mean RIT growth greater than 3 points. In analyzing the similarities that exist for these three respondents based on the value placed SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 133 on SDI’s in the classroom, there was much agreement on SDI’s that were rated as Strongly Agree on the Likert survey. These common SDI’s were extended time for tests, adapted tests, paraprofessional support, and coteaching. The staff’s comments regarding adapted tests in these higher performing classes included changing the format of tests such as bolding essential words, simple hints to remind students of what they had learned, eliminating responses, and changing the reading level on the test. Staff comments about coteaching included the ability to group and regroup students, increase in facetime with the students, help with adaptations in the classroom, importance of additional viewpoints, and varying instruction/models of coteaching. Extended time for tests was an area that the three staff rated highly as well. Comments regarding this SDI included the importance of understanding differences in students’ processing times, keeping extended time within reason, and that this support is important for all students, not just students with IEP’s. Finally, paraprofessional support shared agreement amongst the highest performing staff where comments included the importance of carryover by the paraprofessional to the resource class of information from math class, the ability to support repetition, the importance of a qualified para, and the ability to vary what is said to students to help them comprehend information. In table 19, one additional support that shared a rating of Agree was the use of a Crisis Pass. This support was rated as Agree by all three staff members. However, it was not commented on by the respondents in the interview. Two reading teachers had an increase in mean RIT score of more than 3 points. These staff had responded similarly on the SDI’s tests read aloud, preferential seating, adapted tests and paraprofessional support. Staff had commented regarding adapted tests SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 134 that they use graphic organizers for students and reduce multiple choice options on tests. Also, these two staff report that they use paraprofessional support for proximity control of students during class, the ability to work individually as needed with students, the importance of the para knowing the student in depth, paras regrouping students during independent time, and the importance of paras bringing information back to the resource room. Two additional supports were rated as either agree or strongly agree. Those two supports were extended time for testing and crisis pass. The only comment made by the staff regarding these additional two supports was for the use of extended time where the respondent had stated the importance of this for students who get anxious with testing. Finally, the special education staff did not have any respondents whose students had a mean RIT score gain over 3 points. The closest respondent to this was a staff member whose students had a mean gain of 2.63 points. As seen in table 20, this staff member rated small group testing, tests read aloud, extended time for assignments, extended time for testing, adapted tests, use of graphic organizers, paraprofessional support, and coteaching as strongly agree. This teacher stated that for extended time on assignments that workload can come and go, making this important at times when the student has a heavy load of work to do. For paraprofessional support, the staff member sites this as the most important afforded to students as it brings back vital information to resource class where students get support for their core classes. For small group testing the teacher expressed the importance of providing focus and reducing test anxiety. For tests read aloud the staff member felt it was essential to eliminate decoding concerns and distractions. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 135 Interpretation of Data for Research Question Number 3 The third research question asked, what movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? When we look at the data that came back in analyzing movement to and from the LRE it was reassuring to see that the trend was to move students up the continuum towards the LRE. In fact, there were 19 moves made this past school year to and from the LRE. 13 of those moves were to the regular classroom and 6 of those moves were to pull out settings. This is more than double the amount of movement up the continuum in fulfillment of the federal mandate for reinforcing the least restrictive environment. In addition, only 4 of the 11 students were involved in the 6 moves to pull-out settings. That means that 7 students moved up the continuum to lesser restrictive settings. What we also find in this scenario is that the majority of moves to and from the LRE were with teachers who had students that displayed some of the highest growth in their classrooms. It is important to note that the vast number of these moves came within one team of teachers. This team of teachers, throughout the semi-structured interview, mentioned that they regularly look at placements, accommodations, and modifications in order to find a best fit for the students on the team. The second part of research question number 3 asked if there was any correlation between student movement and perception of student supports. Looking at the data, the movement from the LRE to pull-out classes was relegated to one team as mentioned. However, the vast majority of moves from this same team were to the LRE. Also, these moves were across subject areas making it harder to draw a correlation since we already SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 136 have established that the various disciplines’ view supports differently at times based on the content taught. However, a correlation could be made using the Likert survey when looking at the highest rated supports that the staff had in common when responding agree and strongly agree. Looking at Table 22 you can see that the only supports that were in common with one another where staff said strongly agree to the importance of the SDI were adapted tests and paraprofessional support. However, this was only for respondents 7 and 8. Only when you take into account Table 23 for those supports that the staff agree OR strongly agree do you begin to get agreement on what supports are most important. Those supports were paraprofessional support, adapted tests, audiobooks, and crisis pass. It was very evident in the interview process that the staff puts a great deal of effort into adapting tests for their students based on need. It was also evident that the staff values the support of the paraprofessional, not only in the classroom but more importantly in the bringing back of information to the resource room where students receive backup instruction and support. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 137 Table 22 Supports Rated as Strongly Agree for Staff with Student Movement Respondent 5 Lang. Arts Respondent 7 Reading Respondent 8 Math Chunking Assignments Adapted Tests Adapted Tests Directions Repeated Paraprofessional Support Paraprofessional Support Extended Time for Assignments Preferential Seating Extended Time for Tests Organization Support Tests Read Aloud Coteaching Use of Graphic Organizer Study Guides Positive Reinforcement Checks for Understanding Table 23 Supports Rated as Strongly Agree and Agree for Staff with Student Movement SDI Respondent 5 Respondent 7 Respondent 8 Adapted Tests Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Audiobooks Agree Agree Agree Paraprofessional Support Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Crisis Pass Agree Agree Agree Looking at the semi-structured interview feedback, the consistent themes that were obtained by staff where students moved from the LRE to pull-out environments that were not related to non-academic factors such as attendance or mental health concerns were relegated to the lack of response that students had when modifications were made to SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 138 assignments and tests. Staff feedback gave examples as to how assignments and tests were modified, how extensions to time were given, and modifications to grading were made with little results. This showed a correlation when considering student movement and the implementation of supports rated as agree and Strongly Agree, however, there was not broad agreement to supports where staff Strongly Agree with the importance of those supports. Discussion The data analysis process that was followed for the three research questions to draw conclusions for the next chapter required the researcher to blend the various data points as was described in the methods chapter of this Doctoral Capstone Research Project and as given in its raw form in this chapter. Specifically, question number 1 took into account two data points that included the Likert survey and the semi-structured interview. In taking those two pieces of data into account, the researcher first analyzed the Likert survey feedback by averaging all respondents scores for each SDI that was measured. These SDI’s were then placed in rank order so that they could be viewed from most important to least important. Additionally, the Likert survey data was broken out by subject area in the same way, averaging the feedback from each respondent by subject area and ranking those 27 supports. In this way, the researcher could look at differences that demonstrate themselves in staff perceptions about supports by subject area when compared to the whole group. The second piece of data was qualitative from the semi-structured interview regarding their beliefs and implementation of their top-rated supports. The researcher compiled this information into a grid based on the notes from the interview in order to SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 139 code the information, looking for familiar themes that came from staff regarding the SDIs. The researcher broke out the qualitative data by subject area so that, again, any trends by content could be noted. The first research question really seeks to find staff perceptions and beliefs about the most important specially designed instruction elements. This was presented in narrative form in this chapter. However, in the conclusions portion, we will look at pairing the top-rated supports on the Likert scale with the qualitative feedback by subject area. For research question number 2, the researcher compiled the information from three data points, that being the Likert survey, the semi-structured interview, and performance data on the MAP assessment in the fall and winter testing sessions. The data analysis process for this question was to first determine what staff, who had learning support students in their class, saw the most growth in their students based off the MAP testing. This included looking at the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, percent of students making gains, and average first semester grades. Then, identifying those classrooms, the Likert survey data was pulled for only those respondents to determine what commonality existed. In addition, an added layer was done to look at supports that were in common where the teacher rated them as agree and not only strongly agree. This allowed the researcher to look at any additional belief systems that the teachers shared where there was generally strong agreement on effective specially designed instruction. Lastly, the data analysis process for this question pulled the comments made about the supports rated as strongly agree by those staff members with the highest performance. The third research question utilized the tracking of student movement throughout the year from least restrictive to more restrictive environments and vice versa. The SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 140 researcher looked at trends in where this student movement occurred. Where this movement occurred, a follow up interview was conducted with the staff members to gather feedback on various aspects of IEP implementation, looking for any common feedback that could be found. This led to some encouraging trends with student movement to lesser restrictive environments while also highlighting some of the practices that were proving effective for students. Summary This Doctoral Research Capstone Project was meant to look at teacher perception of the importance of SDI’s written into the IEP’s of students as well as insight into their beliefs and practices with those supports. Also, the project sought to find any similarities that could be found in teachers’ perceptions, beliefs, and practices for those classrooms where students show greater growth. Lastly, the project sought to identify student movement to and from the LRE and what correlation to perception, beliefs, and practices might be found amongst teachers where student movement occurs. Utilizing a series of datapoints that included a Likert survey, semi-structured interviews, standardized testing data, and grades, insight into teacher perception, beliefs and practices could be analyzed. The perceptions and practices were found to vary from content area to content area slightly due to the nature of what students are asked to do. However, when you look at content areas in isolation, there are patterns of value systems that begin to emerge in both beliefs and implementation. Furthermore, when you look at how staff who have students that demonstrate higher growth and compare their perception, beliefs, and practice other patterns emerge, particularly if you consider specially designed instruction that the staff rated as Agree or Strongly Agree in their perceptions. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 141 Lastly, when looking at student movement to and from the LRE, it was gratifying to see that the overall trend of student movement was from more restrictive to lesser restrictive environments. Themes that emerged with staff where student movement went to more restrictive settings centered around the lack of response to accommodations and modifications that were made for the student, sometimes significant modifications that did not result in the type of progress that one would want to see when such adjustments are made. The movement that occurred to more restrictive environments also happened with some of the staff whose students showed the highest growth overall. On one hand one could suggest that this could account for some of the increase in the mean average RIT gain of the class. However, we should be quick to remember that these same staff members moved other students from more restrictive placements to their class. So, it is unlikely that this movement had significant impact on the mean scores. However, there was correlation between the staff’s feedback on SDIs and movement to more restrictive environments. In the next chapter we will attempt to draw some conclusions regarding the data for the research questions that were framed for this project. These conclusions can hopefully be used to influence future in-service for staff on the types of SDI’s and their implementation that has the greatest effect on student performance. We will also attempt to address the fiscal implications of the research, as well as identify areas that may need further investigation due to the findings. Lastly, we will attempt to identify any limitations that may have existed in the design or implementation of this research project that could have affected the results. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 142 Chapter V Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter is designed to bring together the data into conclusions and recommendations regarding the three research questions proposed in this Doctoral Research Capstone Project. This mixed methods research project was constructed to shed light on the practices and beliefs of staff about specially designed instruction for students with IEPs. The conclusions are drawn from varied sources of data that involve both qualitative and quantitative points including Likert survey results, semi-structured interviews, and contemporary and historical student performance data. This chapter will also look at potential implications for future practice at Independence Middle School and what fiscal implications that this may entail. As with all research there are limitations to the design and implementation of the project. This chapter will also look at those limitations to transparently put forward the conclusions and recommendations, taking the shortcomings into account. This will give way to thoughts about future research topics surrounding students with IEPs and structures meant to support the mandate of Least Restrictive Environment. The review of literature that was provided in this research project clearly demonstrates the evolution of legal mandates that started with the inclusion of special education students in schools themselves, to a much more inclusive environment of students with special needs in the regular education classroom in the modern day. The literature review also demonstrated the special education process being structured in a way that strives for inclusion in the least restrictive environment, starting with a multidisciplinary evaluation, culminating in an Individualized Education Program meant to SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 143 make use of supplementary aides and services written in the form of specially designed instruction that have both accommodations and modifications to the educational program targeted for the students’ success. This chapter ties these concepts together, along with the results, to paint a picture of the status of inclusion and LRE at Independence Middle School as well as what next steps may entail. Conclusions There were three research questions that the researcher was attempting to answer in this project. Those research questions will be listed in order followed by conclusions drawn from the data for each. Research Question Number One The first question was, what are teachers’ perceptions about student supports outlined in a student’s IEP and how are those supports implemented in their classrooms? This question looks to simply find what the value system and implementation of supports looks like for staff. The Likert survey and first semi-structured interview were used to answer this question. It was clear early on that there was great value in looking at the supports as grouped by the various content areas in addition to the overall responses. This was because the structure of the disciplines affected teacher response in various content areas making it important to acknowledge this line of inquiry rather than at a macro level for the entire group of teachers’ view on accommodations and modifications. However, the focus on the overall staff’s thoughts for these supports was still felt to be important as it allowed us to see what was common and what was different. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 144 Looking at all staff first we see that, almost universally, paraprofessional support was rated as a key inclusion in a student’s IEP regardless of discipline. This support was the only SDI that was included in the top 5 of the aggregate scores in each of the content areas as well as in the overall top 5. Staff clearly desire the flexibility that another adult in the room provides. The staff feedback demonstrates the multi-faceted role that the paraprofessional provides in their eyes, both in real time while the class is unfolding and outside of the classroom during backup instructional time. During classroom time, staff report the importance of having another point of view, an additional set of eyes on the needs of the students, providing 1:1 or small group support during the class, support for small group testing, tests read aloud, and in helping focus the students during class. Outside of class, multiple staff report the importance that the paraprofessional plays in communicating student needs to the resource room where backup instruction and organizational support are provided. Additionally, for all staff, was the importance placed on supports surrounding testing. Four of the top five supports that were rated highest by the staff overall included extended time for testing, adapted tests, small group testing, and tests read aloud. While the type of support valued by staff around testing may vary, all disciplines valued some sort of support in a student’s IEP around this subject. It seems apparent that this focus on testing parallels the barriers that sometimes arise with the LRE when students are not “passing”. In other words, when students are not achieving the grades in the regular classroom, a more restrictive environment is often the result. Hence, any accommodation or modification that affects the most impactful factor for placement in the LRE (grades) is given a lot of attention. Language Arts was the only real exception to this because a SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 145 larger portion of the assessment practices in this class involve written work more often than formal testing. This is an example of a content area that diverges from the overall trend in perception data measured by the survey where test accommodations and modifications are so highly rated. As stated, staff by content area varied sometimes slightly and sometimes largely from the overall list. Language Arts staff varied the most from the overall feelings of the staff sharing only paraprofessional support and small group testing with the feelings of the collective group. The other supports that they felt were important were preferential seating, organization support, and the use of the crisis pass. When you look at the qualitative data for these supports that diverge from the overall feelings of the group, you understand the staffs’ focus on practices that keep the students focused and engaged through organizational structures in their classrooms, including digital structures due to the project type content that occurs in their area. While there are certainly organizational structures in other content areas, learning is largely compartmentalized to isolated pieces of work. In a persuasive essay, as an example, if you have lost your prewriting work and graphic organizer it is hard to start your rough draft. However, homework for math class is not viewed in that same way where once the assignment is done, a student can be successful without finding that homework assignment again or referring to it directly in many cases. So, one can understand the divergence in the feelings of the Language Arts staff in this way. Also, the importance placed on a crisis pass and preferential seating by the Language Arts staff were not far off from the top 5 supports for all staff. They were number 6 and number 8 respectively in the list of 27. This indicates that the feelings of SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 146 the overall staff are similar in this regard but are more strongly felt by the Language Arts staff. The math content area was predominantly in line with the feedback from the staff. The exception to this was the higher value that the staff had placed on the coteaching support. The overall feelings of the staff were that coteaching ranked 7th in the list of 27 SDIs. There is some agreement amongst staff overall for this support. However, the fact that the math staff felt this support was in the top 5 was notable. In looking at the qualitative feedback from the staff it was apparent that the staff looked upon this support favorably due to the additional support it gives the classroom, where constant formative assessment is even more essential. Having the extra set of trained eyes is valued by the staff. Staff report valuing the ability to group and regroup students, increased facetime, provide different perspectives to students, and assistance with adaptations for the work that is assigned or tests that are taken. Reading staff were also largely in agreement with the overall feelings of the group. The value placed on preferential seating practices was the only difference in the top 5 supports as rated by the reading staff. However, overall, preferential seating was rated sixth by all staff. The reading staff’s value placed on supports that help with testing as well as paraprofessional support also indicate the acknowledgement that, at the end of the day, the grade is the validating factor that keeps students in the LRE and why they value this support so much. Lastly, the special education staff was also largely in agreement with the feelings of the rest of the staff. The SDI that varied for the special education staff was the use of study guides. This was the real outlier when answering research question one for the four SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 147 content areas. Study guides as ranked by the entire staff was seventeenth out of the 27 SDIs. In the cases of the other content areas, any variability in the value placed on SDIs in their top 5 list was generally found to be ranked very close to the top in the overall standings. When looking at the special education staff feedback about this support it is not hard to understand why special education staff value this, though. In their world it is important to know what students need to be successful on a test. Also, staff indicate that they need their students to be able to focus in on the need-to-know content using a predefined outline so that they can be efficient in their studying, increasing their chances for a higher grade. It would be interesting to know why content area staff do not feel the same way about this item since it directly affects success on tests, which, as indicated on the Likert survey feedback, is where the most value is placed. There are multiple implications to answering research question number one as it relates to future practice at Independence Middle School. First, it is important to have a starting point for current realities surrounding student supports in the school. When students are not doing well in class, knowing the type of supports that are valued by staff can help an IEP team ask essential questions to improve that situation for the student. As an example, knowing that organizational support is of high importance in the Language Arts classroom will assist the IEP team in looking into how that system is working or not working for the student, if implicit instruction is needed in the organizational framework, or if tweaks to the framework are needed. Additionally, seeing how coteaching ranks so highly for math and Language Arts staff, but not as much in reading, enables us to ask the question why and to potentially divert more support to the development of this SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 148 relationship. So, understanding the perceptions, beliefs and practices in this area has important information we can learn from to generate conversation for growth. In summary, supports found in the IEP and their value to staff carried many similarities from content area to content area with a few exceptions. The staff places a high degree of value on supports that are meant to accommodate or modify testing for students with disabilities, which has the greatest effect on a student’s grade and placement in the least restrictive environment. Staff also universally support the use of a paraprofessional to support students across settings, including the resource room where backup instruction occurs. In places where the staff varied in their responses it seemed tied to the constraints of the subject area such as organizational support for Language Arts and study guides for special education staff. Finally, the implication to the school in answering this question is that it provides a necessary understanding of “what is” in regard to the value of supports by staff. This allows the IEP team to better understand how that support may affect the student in the classroom and how that support may need explicit instruction or modified to better meet the needs of the student in the LRE. Research Question Number Two The second research question asked, what relationship, if any, is there between teacher perceptions/implementation of student support and student achievement? The purpose of this question was to find if there was any correlation in perception and implementation of SDIs so that, if a correlation existed, the practice could be replicated across classroom settings. Looking at Language Arts you can see that there was not agreement in the most highly rated supports on the Likert survey by the two staff members that showed more than 3 points of growth. Organization support was the only SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 149 SDI that the staff shared as strongly agree. However, when we looked at the supports that the two staff members rated as agree we do see that there are some common shared values. Those supports were small group testing, preferential seating, allowing for movement in the classroom, and paraprofessional support. While the interview of the staff focused on those supports that were rated as strongly agree the commonality between supports rated as agree still has importance and would benefit from future lines of inquiry about why those staff members feel the way that they do about those supports and how those supports are implemented. There were three staff members that showed growth of more than three points in the math content area. There was agreement between the three staff members that shared values on extended time for tests, paraprofessional support, and coteaching. These supports were all rated as strongly agree by the three staff members. If you also consider supports rated as agree you would add adapted tests and crisis pass to the list. Qualitative feedback from staff with these supports demonstrate common patterns of thought with coteaching where staff note that the students benefit from having multiple perspectives and increased facetime with students to correct misunderstandings. Paraprofessional support, that was rated so highly by all staff, ranked highly with math staff as well. It was stated by the highest performing math teachers that the importance of having a qualified paraprofessional was paramount due to the technical nature of their content area. However, divergent in the qualitative feedback was the value that some had placed on the para support in the class vs. support that is provided in the resource room. In either case, the complexity of math content seems to have an “all hands-on deck” approach when it comes to coteaching and paraprofessional support. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 150 A common theme as well with the math staff is the willingness to adapt tests for the students. The method of the adaptations may vary slightly, but the flexibility that the staff are willing to make for students in adapting the tests is notable. Lastly, the staff’s flexibility is further noted in their willingness to extend time on the testing. Common themes for this from staff include the understanding that not all students process in the same amount of time and that what you really want to know is what students can do, not how fast they can do it. This approach is different than more traditional math teacher mindsets when it comes to belief systems on test taking procedures. There were two reading staff that had demonstrated growth of greater than 3 points in their classrooms with their students with IEPs. Those two staff members shared a high degree of commonality in values placed on SDIs. Those two staff rated 4 supports as Strongly Agree on the Likert survey which included tests read aloud, preferential seating, adapted tests, and paraprofessional support. Additionally, extended time for testing and crisis pass were rated as either strongly agree or agree by the reading staff as important to student success. Common themes that come out in staff feedback regarding these supports include flexibility for tests, in not only adapting them, but also in extending time for students when needed. Staff also talk about the importance of the ways in which preferential seating is conducted in their classes. This practice is based on needs of the student and is not synonymous with sitting in the front of the classroom as many people might first assume. This approach seems to highlight that a lot of thought on what students need to be successful in the classroom occurs with these staff and is not a one size fits all approach. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 151 Special education staff, when looking at the growth data, showed one staff member whose students achieved a growth score of almost three points. The other staff were not close in this area. While we can’t come to conclusions about common practices in a special education teacher’s classroom as it relates to SDIs, we can take the highest performing staff member’s thoughts in this case at face value. The staff member with the highest growth had indicated that they valued small group testing, tests read aloud, extended time for assignments, extended time for testing, and adapted tests. When we look at the qualitative data surrounding these supports, we find that the teacher is flexible in extending time on assignments and needs this flexibility for the staff teaching students on their caseload. The respondent also commented on the importance of the paraprofessional stating it is “the most important afforded to students” of all the supports listed in the IEP. The paraprofessional is noted as being a key communicator between those involved with the student. The respondent also uses words and phrases such as focus, reduce anxiety, and keeping students from distraction as the reason for the importance of testing supports such as small group and reading tests aloud. This, as it does for the other highest performing teachers, demonstrates intensive thought about each student’s needs. The implication for answering this question is perhaps the most important of the three that this Doctoral Research Capstone Project sought to answer. In knowing what the highest performing teachers value and what their beliefs and implementations are for those supports, we can potentially look to mirror that in other classrooms where students are not making the same gains. This has a direct effect on the student’s placement in the LRE and improves outcomes for students with IEP’s when we can define or demonstrate SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 152 best practices. As was seen in the data surrounding this question, the highest performing staff afford a lot of flexibility in how they handle students regarding accommodations and modifications on tests as well as assignments. It was also clear that staff levy resources such as coteaching and paraprofessional support to provide an umbrella of support throughout the school day. In summary, except for Language Arts, there was much agreement on the supports that were rated as Strongly Agree on the Likert Survey amongst the highest achieving staff in the study. In most cases, three or four out of the top five supports were common amongst the respondents. However, when you add supports that the staff also rated as Agree a broader picture of commonly valued supports reveals itself. In addition to what those supports are by name are the beliefs and implementation of those practices in the classroom. Staff in this higher performing category seem to commonly make adjustments for students on assignments and tests in order to achieve best results and feelings of success in their students. This is important for the implications for this research that can attempt to support the replication of those practices in the other classrooms where growth is not as prevalent. Building on the consistency of these practices across classrooms provides for more consistent success in the LRE. Research Question Number 3 The third research questions asked, what movement from regular education classes to more restrictive pull-out classes occur over the course of a year and is there any correlation to perception and implementation of student supports? This question was put into the line of inquiry due to the federal mandate of the LRE and our responsibility to keep this movement in the forefront of our minds as a school. In addition, the District, in SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 153 prior years had been noted as being higher than the state average in their placement of students outside of the LRE. This led to initiatives such as coteaching to try and support the LRE as the first consideration for students with special education needs. The encouraging information that came back from this question was the limited movement that had occurred for students moving from the LRE to more restrictive pull-out settings. In fact, it was quite the opposite where students moved from more restrictive settings to the LRE. The data captured made it clear that the trends in belief systems where students moved up the continuum included a lot of flexibility. What was also important to recognize in this case was that most of the student movement happened within one middle school team. In fact, they were the only team that moved students down the continuum with a total of 6 moves to a more restrictive environment that affected 4 different students. This same team had 10 moves to the regular education classroom that included 4 different students as well i.e. one student moving to regular education Language Arts and regular education math counts as two moves by one student. So, the net movement was zero when looking at numbers of students on this team that had moved down or up the continuum of support. What was also evident in the faculty feedback where students made a backwards move was the fact that the staff had put a lot of effort into adapting work and tests to help the students be successful in the LRE, to little effect. This is important because it documents effort made to prevent the movement which validates to a higher degree the need for the change in placement. The one thing that we also see with student movement to more restrictive environments include non-academic factors such as attendance and mental health concerns. While attendance has often been associated with lower SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 154 achievement, the effects of the pandemic on mental health have led to greater concerns for student success in school to a degree not felt before. When looking at the correlation for beliefs and practice of student supports in the IEP where student movement to and from the LRE exists, it was apparent that student movement to more restrictive environments were grounded in the fact that students were not responding to accommodations and modifications made in the classroom. In all instances, the staff were able to name ways in which they modified homework and tests. Some went so far as to admit that they had misread student misunderstanding for laziness, but through constant reflection and modifications concluded that the student was having comprehension difficulties that could not be met in the regular education classroom and a change was made. Conversely, on the other side of student movement, students who moved from the pull out setting to the LRE were noted as far outpacing their peers in the pull-out classroom. Correlation could also be found in the staff feedback that students were responding to adapted tests to the extent that they could be successful in the regular education environment. Staff also reported that the use of extended time for testing and modifications to written work were helpful in assisting students transition to the regular education environment. Lastly, staff reported the support of co-teachers and paraprofessionals in the role they play in supporting students in the LRE as being consistent factors that help students remain in the regular classroom. So, what started out as an attempt to see if there was any correlation to SDI implementation for students who moved down the continuum, quickly became a parallel inquiry to see what correlations there were for students moving up the continuum. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 155 The implications for the school regarding this question deal with the practices that occur when a student is being considered for movement from the LRE. The increased focus on keeping students in the LRE has had positive effect with the proliferation of coteaching and the focus on adaptations to tests and assignments. The fact that the pace of movement into the LRE outpaces movement to more restrictive environments is very favorable. The implication is that the school is meeting the federal mandate of LRE to a higher degree with the practices outlined. In summary, student movement to the LRE far outpaced movement to more restrictive environments. This is a positive trend in meeting the federal legislation of inclusive practices of students in the least restrictive environment. Correlation could be found in the belief systems of staff in movement to more restrictive environments where adaptations had been made to the content and to testing where students still showed high degrees of lack of progress. Conversely, students moving to the LRE were showing the highest grades in the pull-out class as well as responding to the adapted tests and work in the regular education environment. The implication to these outcomes is a school that seemingly is moving students up the continuum of support rather than in the other direction. This is due, in part, to a willingness of staff to review supports and adapt or modify work and tests. The continuation of this practice should yield positive results for the school. From a fiscal perspective, the results of this study may help us refine practices and uses of resources that affect the financial expenditures for the school and district. The single biggest cost in the budget is personnel costs associated with salary and benefits. When we are more efficient in educating students with special education needs, SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 156 our costs for salary and benefits could theoretically be less over time (not counting inflation factors). However, an important thought that came from this research project is the importance that staff place on the human capital that is needed to support students in the LRE. However, when we build consistency in how supports are implemented based in data that highlights successful practice, we most assuredly will decrease the demand on personnel, including exiting students from special education as a possible outcome. The results of this study that show progress in pushing students up the continuum of services illustrates how this could be possible. In fact, we saw one student exited from special education this year during the study. Ideally, we will hit critical mass movement when our exiting students outpace our placed students in the school. This will undoubtedly affect the budget in a positive way. Limitations There are always factors that create limitations in the research design and methodology. Often these factors are unforeseen or don’t become readily as clear when the researcher first designs the project. One such factor that is noted in this project was that there were two long terms substitutes in core content positions at the onset of this study. One of the classrooms was not used for the study at all due to this factor. However, not having this class could have influenced some of the data to a certain extent. In addition to this, one of the teachers involved in the study, whose classroom was originally staffed by a long-term substitute, was not directly responsible for all of the student content that was taught and initially tested using the MAP data. This teacher’s student scores did not show enough growth to be used in research question number 2. It is possible that the teacher’s data, if they were the teacher of record for the entire time of SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 157 the study, could have yielded additional feedback to consider. I would quickly say, though, that the data was not used in determining an answer to the second research question and therefore did not negatively impact the use of data where staff did show the greatest growth. This is simply an acknowledgement of the fact that the classrooms could have contributed more information to the research had that staffing been intact. Another aspect of this project that one must consider is the role that the art of teaching plays on student skill acquisition. Certainly, the implementation of SDIs in the student’s IEP is important, and the merit of the work is obvious. However, student growth in classrooms are also greatly attributable to the skills of the teacher, the engagement that they provide, the depth of knowledge of their content area, and the design of the lesson. Therefore, when we measure student progress and draw correlations to teacher perception, beliefs, and implementation of student supports we need to also consider the role that the art of teaching plays in student achievement. One last factor to consider regarding this study is the mere fact that I was the principal of the building for almost 17 years. While great care was taken to be objective about the study and what I know about teachers and the students there, having relationships and knowing the inner workings of the school can certainly influence thinking, processes, and conclusions, not always for the worse. However, again, great care was taken so that this knowledge did not affect any results. The staff were given numbers so that when data was analyzed, anonymity was there so that the researcher did not know who had responded in what way to protect against assumptions and predetermined thoughts. This was an effective safeguard against making assumptions that could bleed their way into the findings. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 158 Recommendations for Future Research This Doctoral Research Capstone Project led the researcher to ponder many concepts for further review. First and foremost, the majority of student supports that were discussed involved accommodations and modifications surrounding testing. One of the areas that would have great benefit to students is looking in greater detail how student assessments are modified. Staff did go into some detail about how they implement adapted tests certainly. However, this topic could certainly warrant a research study in and of itself to understand how modifications such as these affect student performance and what modifications help teachers the most in getting students to produce what they know on formal assessments. Also, with so much focus on testing accommodations and the fact that the majority of supports in the IEP are accommodation driven, greater research could be done on the modifications of day-to-day learning that leads up to the assessment, or even the use of different methods of demonstrating competency. The effects of Universal Design for Learning principles and their effect on the day-to-day engagement and learning of material would certainly be a topic that would place in greater detail how modifications or rethinking learning could support students rather than focusing on “the test” within the specially designed instruction framework. Another aspect of future research would be to look more in depth at how the MAP assessment data can inform instruction for students with IEP’s and how to use the information to flexibly group students, perhaps making better use of coteaching supports and paraprofessional supports. The MAP assessment process is still new to the staff at Bethel Park School District. There is a wealth of information in the assessment that is SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 159 given three times throughout the year. The assessment itself does much more than just measure growth and predict proficiency. The assessment gives feedback on the readiness level for various skills that groups of students can be instructed upon. This tool allows staff to think about flexible grouping and pre-teaching strategies when approaching units of instruction. Certainly, this tool has much promise that can be used to improve planning and instruction for students with IEPs and would be worthy of greater research. Lastly, a great deal of credibility was given to paraprofessional support and coteaching from the staff in this research study as a meaningful SDI for students. Additional research would be very worthwhile to study the function of these individuals in the classroom in greater detail to highlight the best practices to assist in training for staff. The literature is rich in the area of coteaching and the modalities of coteaching. The literature is much less substantial in the effect of paraprofessional practice. However, regardless of the extent of the literature, local norms and belief systems can affect the implementation of these supports. In addition to this, the reading staff in this research study did not rate coteaching highly in their Likert survey results. Time spent investigating the relationship that exists in this situation and what is happening in other scenarios where coteaching is highly rated and supported would be time well spent. The nuances of successfully integrating individuals into the support structure at school is complex. Relationships, training, skills, and mindsets all play roles in the success of this integration. However, highlighting things going well within the local context can be helpful. Lastly, regarding paraprofessional support, there is a constant struggle in the district as to the number of paraprofessionals needed. This struggle occurs from all angles including parent desire to have para support, teacher desire for para support, and SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 160 administration trying to sort through the merit of the financial outlay with ever more complex funding constraints. This additional research could help support best practices for implementation of this support to try and relieve some of this strain. Summary Chapter V has presented the conclusions that were found in the data for the three research questions. The findings reveal the perceptions, beliefs and implementation of specially designed instruction that supports students in the least restrictive environment. These perceptions are affected to some extent by the content that the staff member teaches and what constraints their subject may present. Additionally, the data revealed staff who have fostered a learning environment that has yielded greater results in their learning support population. In highlighting these classrooms, correlations were noted that named the supports and practices that were similar and could be considered local best practices to support students with special needs. While there were some variabilities in some of the subjects, the highest performing staff by content area did share many common ideas about support implementation. Lastly, the data revealed that movement from the LRE to more restrictive environments was not pervasive. In fact, movement from pull-out settings to the LRE outpaced movement to pull-out settings. In answering the third research question there were correlations that could be made regarding teacher perceptions, beliefs, and implementation of student supports when movement is made to more restrictive environments and when movement is made to the LRE. These perceptions and beliefs centered around adapting tests and assignments, and how students responded to these SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 161 accommodations and modifications as determining factors for movement. It was important to note that modifications were experimented with prior to student movement being made. One can imagine that this is not always the case in a traditional classroom where the mindset may be rigid in what a student must be able to do to be successful in the classroom. The results and conclusions made in this research study allow us to understand where staff are in their perceptions, beliefs, and implementation of student supports. This is helpful to a school in establishing what the status is in support implementation. The results also help us determine what practices are getting better results in classrooms by content area and how to structure future discussions with staff that drive support implementation. Lastly, it is important to understand what effect student movement to and from the LRE has on the learning environment of a school and fulfillment of state mandates. Understanding how structures affect this movement helps administration move supports and structure conversations that help the school in its fulfillment of federal mandates to educate students in the LRE. It is my hope that the school and District will continue its focus on practices that support students equitably across settings. This requires focus and data mining so that the correct determinations can be made for a process of continuous growth. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 162 References Albrecht, S. F., & Joles, C. 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National Center for Learning Disabilities. https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/What-a-Specific-LearningDisability-Is-Not-Examining-Exclusionary-Factors.12192019.pdf SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Appendices 170 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 171 Appendix A IRB Letter of Approval Institutional Review Board California University of Pennsylvania Morgan Hall, 310 250 University Avenue California, PA 15419 instreviewboard@calu.edu Melissa Sovak, Ph.D. Dear David, Please consider this email as official notification that your proposal titled “ Establishing Effective Supports Across Classrooms that Allow Equity and Access to High Quality Instruction” (Proposal #20-038) has been approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board as submitted. The effective date of approval is 8/10/21 and the expiration date is 8/9/22. These dates must appear on the consent form. Please note that Federal Policy requires that you notify the IRB promptly regarding any of the following: (1) Any additions or changes in procedures you might wish for your study (additions or changes must be approved by the IRB before they are implemented) (2) Any events that affect the safety or well-being of subjects (3) Any modifications of your study or other responses that are necessitated by any events reported in (2). (4) To continue your research beyond the approval expiration date of 8/9/22 you must file additional information to be considered for continuing review. Please contact instreviewboard@calu.edu Please notify the Board when data collection is complete. Regards, Melissa Sovak, PhD. Chair, Institutional Review Board SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 172 Appendix B Informed Consent TITLE OF STUDY Establishing Effective Supports Across Classrooms that Allow Equity and Access to High Quality Instruction PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR David Michael Muench California University of Pennsylvania School of Education Administration and Leadership 3282 Forest Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102 412-760-9443 mue6400@calu.edu INTERNAL COMMITTEE CHAIR Dr. Kevin Lordon Professor at California University of Pennsylvania School of Education Administration and Leadership lordon@calu.edu PURPOSE OF STUDY You are being asked to take part in a research study. The reason why you are being asked is that you are a teacher of either ELA, Math, or a special education teacher. Before you decide to participate in this study, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please read the following information carefully. Please ask the researcher if there is anything that is not clear or if you need more information. The purpose of this study is to look at student supports outlined in IEP’s and their effect on success in the regular classroom, specifically in ELA and math. The researcher is specifically looking at teachers’ perceptions and thoughts on what supports are most helpful and how they are implemented in the classroom. The purpose would be to build upon this feedback to better build supports for special education students at Independence Middle School. This study has been approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board. This approval is effective 08/10/21 and expires 08/09/22 STUDY PROCEDURES The first step for this study will be for staff to complete a survey regarding student supports in the IEP and their perceived effectiveness in their classroom. The researcher will then follow up with a semi-structured interview to gather additional insight into the feelings that made the staff member feel this way about those supports. Third, the researcher will be looking at how students perform and grow over the year to see how the SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 173 supports were helpful or not. Lastly, when students are moved between regular education and pull-out classrooms, a follow up interview may be conducted to gather thoughts on what was not working in the IEP to support this placement decision. The amount of time for this study will be approximately 60-90 minutes over the course of the school year. The majority of this time will take place in the first quarter of the year. The initial survey should take approximately 20-30 minutes and the follow up interview should take approximately 30 minutes. If a follow up interview is to be conducted regarding a student change in placement, that interview would take approximately 10-15 minutes. Interviews will be dictated by the interviewer and at no time will video or audio recording be used in the interview process. RISKS There are minimal risks in taking part in this study. As with any research study, no matter how minimal the risks, there are unforeseen outcomes that participants may feel. To be clear, this study is not evaluative of teachers and in no way is incorporated in any evaluation instrument. In step one of the study, your answers will not be shared with anyone and remain anonymous throughout except to the researcher. Your survey will be given a number and not a name. In step 2 of the research study, the interview data will also remain anonymous to all but the researcher, applying the same number used in step one to analyze the data. In step 3 of the research study, the students will be supplied a number in order to analyze the data. Finally, in step 4, where a follow up interview may exist, the same staff number will be applied to the interview form. Please remember that you may decline to answer any or all questions and you may terminate your involvement at any time if you choose. Should the participant feel any distress be it physical or emotional, the researcher would be fully supportive of discontinuing participation. BENEFITS The benefits of this study include a better understanding of how supports help the educational process for students in our school and in what content areas they may be most effectively done. This will help us replicate the most effective supports while also potentially eliminating or changing supports that are less effective. To you as the teacher, the benefit would be a more supportive IEP in your classroom that helps you serve the student population to the best of your ability. The potential benefit to the student would be replicating services that have the most benefit in supporting their academic achievement in the ELA and math content areas, keeping them in the richest educational placement possible, that is also the least restrictive as defined by the law. CONFIDENTIALITY Your responses to the perception survey will be kept confidential. Please do not write any identifying information on your perception survey. Again, your survey will be supplied a number in order to maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent possible. This number will also be applied to the interview form, and any follow up interview form. Every SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 174 effort will be made by the researcher to preserve your confidentiality including the following: • • • Never including the participant’s name in any document other than the initial number association document. Reporting data in the research report will never list any identifiable information. Keeping notes, interview transcriptions, and any other identifying participant information in a locked file cabinet in the personal possession of the researcher as well as password protecting any digital files. COMPENSATION There isn’t any compensation in participating in this study. CONTACT INFORMATION If you have questions at any time about this study, or you experience adverse effects as the result of participating in this study, you may contact the researcher whose contact information is provided on the first page. If you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, or if problems arise which you do not feel you can discuss with the Primary Investigator, please contact the Institutional Review Board at instreviewboard@calu.edu . VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION Your participation in this study is voluntary. It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you decide to take part in this study, you will be asked to sign a consent form. After you sign the consent form, you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason. Withdrawing from this study will not affect the relationship you have, if any, with the researcher. If you withdraw from the study before data collection is completed, your data will be returned to you or destroyed. To withdraw from the study simply email the researcher at mue6400@calu.edu with your withdrawal. CONSENT I have read and I understand the provided information and have had the opportunity to ask questions. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason and without cost. I understand that I will be given a copy of this consent form. I voluntarily agree to take part in this study. Participant's signature ______________________________ Date __________ Investigator's signature _____________________________ Date __________ 175 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Appendix C Likert Survey Participant #_____________ Thank you for agreeing to take this survey. Remember that you are not obligated to answer all of the questions in this survey, and you are able to opt out of the research project at any time. Please also remember that any responses are not evaluative of the teacher. Please do not write any identifying information on the form. The following 27 items are accommodations/modifications listed in various IEP’s in the building. Please rate each accommodation/modification on how helpful they are in keeping students successful in your classroom. The scale ranges from a numeric value of 1 which equals “Strongly Disagree” to 6 which equals “Strongly Agree”. The last question is open-ended and would include any accommodation not listed that you think is important to your students’ success. 1. The accommodation of “small group testing” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 2. The accommodation of having “tests read aloud” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 3. The modification of “chunking assignments” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 4. The accommodation of having “Directions Repeated and Restated” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 5. The accommodation of having “extended time for assignments” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 2 3 4 5 6 SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Strongly Disagree Disagree Slightly Disagree Slightly Agree Agree 176 Strongly Agree 6. The accommodation of having “extended time for testing” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 7. The accommodation of “preferential seating” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 8. The accommodation of “Organization Support” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 9. The accommodation of “providing visual instructions” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 10. The modification of “Adapted Tests” are highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 11. The accommodation of “getting student attention prior to giving instruction” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 12. The accommodation to “allow movement in the classroom” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 177 6 Strongly Agree 13. The accommodation of “pairing visual and verbal directions” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 14. The modification of “modifying homework” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 15. The accommodation of “Use of graphic organizer” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 16. The accommodation of “assignment book checks” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 17. The accommodation of “audio books” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 18. The accommodation of “Paraprofessional Support” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 19. The accommodation of allowing students the “Opportunity to retake tests” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 178 6 Strongly Agree 20. The accommodation of “Co-teaching” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 21. The accommodation of allowing “Voice to Text” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 22. The accommodation of having “Study Guides” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 23. The accommodation of giving a “copy of class notes” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 24. The accommodation of students having a “Crisis Pass” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 25. The accommodation to allow “use of a calculator" is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 26. The accommodation of using “positive reinforcement” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 179 6 Strongly Agree 27. The accommodation of using “checks for understanding” is highly effective in helping my students be successful in my class. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Slightly Agree 5 Agree 6 Strongly Agree 28. Are there any accommodations that you feel are helpful to your students that were not listed above? Please list any that you find helpful. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 180 Appendix D Semi-Structured Interview #1 Participant # ______ Read to participant: Today, I am conducting an interview based off of your responses on the perception survey that you filled out previously on student supports in your classroom. Participation in this study and in this interview are completely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time from the study. Also, you are not obligated to answer all the questions being asked if you are not comfortable doing so. Remember that no identifying information will be noted on this form by the researcher. Please also remember that none of your responses are evaluative in any way. The interview will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Question 1: You had noted that the following accommodations were the most effective for you and your students in the classroom. Please discuss with me why you place these as the most effective supports for you and your content area. (List one at a time, the strongest supported items from the perception survey) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 2: In looking at the supports that are most effective, can you explain how they are implemented? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 181 ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Question 3: You had noted that the following accommodations are the least effective for you and your students in the classroom. Please discuss with me why you place these as the least effective supports for you and your content area. (List one at a time, the least supported items from the perception survey) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 4: In looking at the least effective supports, are there any changes to them that you think would make them more effective for your students? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 182 ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 5: If you could develop one support for students but can’t due to some limitation whether its personnel, time, resources, support, etc. what would it be? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 183 Appendix E Semi-Structured Interview #2 Participant # ______ Read to participant: Today, I am conducting an interview to look at some of the factors that led to a change in placement for students in your class. Please remember that participation in this study and in this interview are completely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time. Also, you are not obligated to answer all the questions being asked if you are not comfortable doing so. Remember that no identifying information will be noted on this form by the researcher and that none of your responses are evaluative. The interview will take approximately 10 to 20 minutes. Question 1: What were the factors that led to the student’s change in placement in your class? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 2: Were there any supports that were in place that the student did respond to, if so, what were they? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 3: Were there any revisions to the IEP that you can recall, and if so, what were they? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 184 ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Question 4: Looking at the student’s supports in the IEP can you explain how the following accommodations were implemented? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 185 Appendix F Abridged Qualitative Feedback Interview #1 Language Arts Staff Beliefs and Implementation of Supports Respondent Subject SDI 11 LA Chunking Assignments 5 LA Chunking Assignments 13 LA Coteaching 15 LA Coteaching 5 LA Directions Repeated and Restated 11 LA Directions Repeated and Restated 5 LA Extended Time for Assignments 13 LA Movement in the classroom Teacher Implementation/Beliefs Really essential for writing assignments, extremely important to do this on longer term assignments and grammar units Making conscious decisions of where to break an assignment apart, increased use of short attention spans when chunking is done Enhances classroom through strengths and weaknesses of each other, important to push back on one another for the benefit of the students Important to have someone who understands the content, really places value on common planning time to address needs of learners One of the keys to success, repetition is very necessary and helpful for the students Target students that need called on for this purpose, purposefully go to a student's desk who struggles with directions to help them get started Important especially when you see the effort to produce best work, processing delays are real Believes in kinesthetic learning to galvanize concepts for students SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 11 LA Organization Support 13 LA Organization Support 11 LA Paraprofessional Support 15 LA Paraprofessional Support 13 LA Preferential Seating 15 LA Preferential Seating 13 LA Small Group Testing 186 Important to have a system of organization so that they know where everything can be found Really focus on executive functioning, Digital structure has taken a top priority compared to when students were asked to fill out agendas, highlighting of key information is very important to focus the student Para support is important to make sure the students are with the rest of the class. Can provide 1:1 at times, Important to bring the backup instruction to resource class, provide small group testing Easy to do with a high return, means different things for different students, an example is a student who needs to be able to move vs. a student who needs to be close to source of instruction Student dependent on what is needed, near the board vs near a peer role model vs towards source of instruction Students need some clarification, and this provides some scaffolding to help them access what they know Math Staff Beliefs and Implementation of Supports Respondent Subject 2 Math SDI Adapted Tests Teacher Implementation/Beliefs Format of test such as bolding essential words, simple hint to remind students of skills they know but need to get a start on, eliminate responses that are distracting SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 8 Math Adapted Tests 2 Math Coteaching 3 Math Coteaching 8 Math Coteaching 9 Math Coteaching 17 Math Coteaching 3 Math Directions Repeated and Restated 9 Math Directions Repeated and Restated 3 Math Extended time on assignments 2 Math Extended Time on Tests 8 Math Extended Time on Tests 187 Having coteaching has really helped with this, more adaptations than in the past with this support, taking out distractors, changing reading level Kids get a lot out of it, ability to group and regroup, facetime with students is increased each class. Must overcome egos, very beneficial to students, opportunity to give different perspectives, employ various coteaching models based on the need Really think this is helpful to increase facetime, helpful for adaptation support Increase of facetime with students, being able to allow the two teachers play off one another Personality is very important to match, having the additional viewpoint is helpful for students, more facetime with students Absolutely necessary for students who struggle with focus, good to do as a general practice and not just an SDI. Kids that you know are struggling benefit from the teacher knowing the students so that directions can be targeted and restated Allow for more processing time when needed, importance placed on actually doing the work, eliminate barriers when “life happens” Keep within reason so that the student can move forward, but recognize the importance of students needing this at times Teacher believes this is important for all kids in her 7th grade math class but not in pre-algebra or Algebra SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 17 Math Extended Time on Tests 2 Math Paraprofessional Support 8 Math Paraprofessional Support 17 Math Paraprofessional Support 17 Math Retake tests 9 Math Small Group Testing 188 Students process differently, allowing for different thinking speeds is important to supporting different types of learners Not as beneficial in class as it is during the resource period to provide repetition, really matters who the para is Qualified para makes the difference, most beneficial when they are there from beginning to end of the period Encouragement and enthusiasm are key with support persons, extra set of eyes is really helpful during class along with a little variation on explaining things Ultimate point is that the student should be able to show what they know, should be universal for all students Most important for reading purposes, allows for clarifications which supports students who know what to do but struggle with the start Reading Staff Beliefs and Implementation of Supports Respondent Subject SDI 7 Reading Adapted Tests 12 Reading Check for Understanding 16 Reading Extended Time on Tests Teacher Implementation/Beliefs Really makes a difference for students, written portions especially need adaptation with graphic organizers, multiple choice reduction Comprehension checks with specific groups making sure they are "concluding" the lesson with the right information Particularly important for students who are having a lot of anxiety that is slowing them down SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION 16 Reading Movement in the classroom 12 Reading Pairing Visual and Verbal Directions 7 Reading Paraprofessional Support 12 Reading Paraprofessional Support 16 Reading Paraprofessional Support 7 Reading Preferential Seating 12 Reading Preferential Seating 7 Reading Tests Read Aloud 189 Teacher purposefully creates these opportunities off to the side of the class How information is presented is key to the students giving you what you want Really depends on the person you have, really need the para to know the student individually, proximity control support Important to have the right person, expect them to work with all students, keeping students on task is the number one thing, small group support for students who need caught up Para is really helpful in keeping students on task, on the lookout for the glazed looks, regroup students during independent time between teacher and student, para brings information back to resource which is very helpful Not just putting a student in the front of the room, seating really needs to be based on what the student needs for example away from distractors, near source of instruction, near the board Important in order to access the student quickly for needs, could mean closer to the projector, could mean closer to the board or closer to the teacher Auditory modality is very helpful for the students, assists students who have processing speed problems, Special Education Staff Beliefs and Implementation of Support Respondent Subject SDI Teacher Implementation/Beliefs SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Special 6 Ed. Adapted Tests Special 10 Ed. Adapted Tests Special 10 Ed. Audio Books Special 4 Ed. Directions Repeated and Restated Special 6 Ed. Directions Repeated and Restated Special 18 Ed. Extended time on assignments Special 6 Ed. Guided Notes Special 4 Ed. Paraprofessional Support 190 Different need for adaptation in each class, math reteach and retest, science and social studies reduce content, being very clear on what is being tested. Important to minimize the amount of information the student needs to look at, eliminate some response items from the test Students are not at grade level but can still understand content, Important across subjects so that students can access information Important for students to eliminate the barrier to understanding how to start, purposefully getting students attention to minimize difficulties starting Students struggle getting started, making sure they understand what they are doing is key Important to be flexible so students can be successful with the workload, Resource is a very valuable time to keeping the students caught up and allowing for the extended time This is especially important in social studies, giving them a completed study guide is helpful because they can't read what they write often when completing the study guide. The number one thing is bringing the information back to resource class for backup instruction, provides natural daily discussion that eliminates delay in communicating needs to special education teacher SUPPORTS THAT ALLOW EQUITY AND ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION Special 6 Ed. Paraprofessional Support Special 10 Ed. Paraprofessional Support Special 18 Ed. Special 18 Ed. Paraprofessional Support Special 4 Ed. Small Group Testing Study Guides Special 18 Ed. Tests Read Aloud Special 10 Ed. Use of Calculator 191 SS has a lot of lecture and para support that helps keep the student on task, in science student need support with labs, biggest help is in resource class for backup instruction. The support in resource is invaluable for what is brought back from the regular classroom, keep students moving forward on assignments, they are the bridge to success in the regular ed classroom This support is felt to be one of the most important afforded to students, important to bring the information back to resource Provide focus and reduce test anxiety Important to narrow the information for the student, students must have a predefined outline because they can learn the information but need to know what the essential information is Essential to keep students from getting distracted, eliminate decoding concerns The important thing is understanding process and concepts, not memorizing facts, focus needs to be on how to do the math.