Consider This..

Adolescents are often their own best advocates. Not surprisingly, they are frequently the ones who know best what they need and want to achieve in their adult life. Unfortunately, schools have not always taken the time and effort to focus on student self-determination as a way to motivate and engage students in their own learning and future plans.

Encouraging student self-determinations is a key component of the transition services requirements for students with disabilities, age 14 and older, as defined by the federal “Individuals with Disabilities Education and Improvement Act of 2004.” These mandates require educators and parents to assist students with disabilities in planning and implementing their transition from school to post-school life.

According to Field and Hoffman (1994), self-determination is the “ability to identify and achieve goals based on a foundation of knowing and valuing oneself.” There is an emphasis on self-awareness, belief in oneself, self-advocacy, making choices, taking control, being persistent, self-reflection, and taking action to reach one’s goals.

Student self-determination is important during the transition process with adolescents for several reasons. Most importantly, self-determined students have more relevant, meaningful and useful transition plans and services because it reflects the student’s own needs, interests, preferences and post-school vision/goals. In addition, self-determined students participate in developing and setting their own post-school goals and will thus be more likely to achieve what they decide to accomplish.

Here are some ways that schools can encourage self-determination for students with disabilities. Educators can provide instruction focused on the knowledge, skills and attitudes that help students to become self-determined. They can also provide opportunities for students to practice self-determination in the school setting and create an environment where student self-determination is encouraged and support by staff.

Parents and family members play an important role in the development of student self-determination as well. Parents/guardians can foster an adolescent’s independence by allowing gradual opportunities for making choices and decisions about their activities and routines. In addition, they can encourage their young adult to ask questions, express opinions and advocate for their needs. Family members are also important role models of positive self-worth and self-confidence for their adolescent with special needs.

Research has shown that students with disabilities who are self-determined in high school are more likely to be successful employees and contributing members of a community as adults. The journey of self-determination is essential and of benefit throughout one’s lifetime, therefore, educators and families need to encourage and support students with disabilities to identify and achieve their goals based on knowledge of themselves, their strengths, capabilities and challenges.

For more information on transition services and self-determination for students with disabilities, visit the following websites:

Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.sped.org
Center for Educational Networking http://www.cenmi.org/Products.asp
National Center on Secondary Education and Transition http://www.ncset.org/topics/sdmhs
Center for Self-Determination http://www.self-determination.com

Cindy Anderson
Assistant Superintendent for Special Education
517.244.1425
canderso@inghamisd.org

For several years, federal and state mandates have continued to increase accountability for K-12 education. As a result, schools are becoming more sophisticated in using data to make decisions about how to improve achievement for all students.

Ingham Intermediate School District has been instrumental in this effort by providing relevant and targeted professional development. En el Fuego Con Datos, On Fire with Data, and Together We Can Do It are designed to help school teams learn to use data for school improvement and build a culture of data-driven decision making. In 2006-07, Ingham ISD will be offering the second year of Mas En El Fuego, More on Fire with Data for En el Fuego Con Datos alumni teams. Also, in collaboration with the Mid-Michigan Consortium, Ingham ISD is sponsoring a professional development day with Victoria Bernhardt, a well-known school improvement expert.

There are several keys factors involved in the meaningful use of data including the use of multiple types of data. For years, many schools have focused primarily on two types of data: 1) student achievement or outcome data and 2) demographic data. Schools frequently analyze achievement scores by gender, race/ethnicity, and/or socio-economic status. While this is important information, it’s just part of a complex equation. Other types of data to be used include perceptual data (staff, student, parent, and community perceptions about the school environment) and school process data (such as the types of higher-level math classes offered, the amount of non-fiction writing done per week, the amount of lecture time in classrooms, the amount of time students work in small groups, etc.)

Focusing a lens on school processes and connecting them to student achievement results is essential to create meaningful change. Looking at school processes is a way to examine the antecedents to student outcomes, rather than focusing merely on the results. The central question schools must ask is, “What student instructional and curricular experiences preceded these results, and what can we do differently in the school or classroom to help students learn what the data shows they have not yet mastered?”

As Victoria Bernhardt says, the most informative analysis comes from intersecting the four types of data: student outcome data, demographic data, perceptual data, and school processes. This type of analysis can reveal, “Are there differences in the achievement scores for eighth-grade girls and boys, who report that they like school, by the type of program in which they are enrolled?” Such analyses provide critically needed insights.

In addition, it’s important that educators and others do not draw conclusions about student learning from a single measure. Multiple levels of student outcome data need to be examined to help schools identify root causes of learning problems. They can also identify strengths in student outcome data and the teacher practices associated with them. Multiple levels of student outcome data include: aggregate/summary reports, disaggregated results (such as subgroup data), strand/skill analysis, item analysis, and student work. The power of examining student classroom work lies in the ability to link instructional strategies and experiences to student performance. Reviewing student work helps teachers understand student thinking, which can answer a deeper level of the question, “What led to these results?” This helps teachers find out what works and what needs to be adjusted.

Various protocols and facilitation tools exist to guide teachers’ collaboration in groups to examine student work, discuss and share possible instructional strategies, implement those strategies, and engage in reflective dialogue about what worked and what didn’t. Building collaboration through shared analysis and understanding of data builds ownership of the change process. There also has to be a foundation of trust created so that teachers can feel comfortable talking about data.

Other components of using data in the school improvement process include selecting research-based interventions to address identified student learning needs, identifying teachers’ professional development needs relative to implementing those strategies, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies that have been implemented, and making more changes as needed.

Below are a few of the myriad of useful resources available to educators regarding data-driven school improvement.
• Data Analysis for Comprehensive School wide Improvement, Victoria Bernhardt, Eye on Education, 1998.
• The School Portfolio Toolkit, Victoria Bernhardt, Eye on Education, 2002.
• http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/oe_bdg This is an archived conversation with Nancy Love, author of Using Data/Getting Results: A Practical Guide to School Improvement in Mathematics and Science, about using data effectively.

Kathy Humphrey
khumphre@inghamisd.org
517.244.1231
School Development Services

“Every tax dollar saved through cooperative effort is one more available for instruction.”

The REMC* Statewide Cooperative Acquisitions Project is provided as a service of your REMC, Intermediate School District, and the REMC Association of Michigan for all schools in the state. The Project aggregates the purchasing power of schools statewide and provides large-volume bid prices on a variety of educational resources to schools of all sizes. The motto of the Statewide Acquisitions Project is reflected in the 2006 goals:

2006 Project Goals
• Goal #1. Save schools both time and money by providing a bid that meets state bid standard, which allow schools to buy without additional bidding.
• Goal #2. Communicate usage data periodically to the REMC Centers and other Project stakeholders.
• Goal #3. Provide an effective system of outreach to all REMC Centers and constituents.
• Goal #4. Maintain a web site including an online catalog, selection tools, and informational items about the Project.

The Statewide Project Committee and Project Fiscal Agent have adopted processes for product and vendor selection. Educators and committee members recommend new products for inclusion in the Project. Product selection factors include quality, specifications, price, and customer satisfaction. Some products, such as multimedia projectors and digital cameras, are included in a comparative test and judged by participants from throughout the state. Product specifications are revised annually to address educational needs, changes in technology, and previous years’ experience with products. 

Vendor participation, vendor evaluation, and vendor selection processes have been adopted to provide schools with quality vendors. The vendor evaluations are used to record districts’ experiences with each of the REMC vendors. Vendors are selected based on product knowledge, support, price, and customer satisfaction. They are required to hold prices at the award price or lower for the entire bid period. Product specifications and related information can be accessed through the REMC bid web site. 

The Project represents the REMC centers at a variety of educational conferences and in-service training sessions and contributes to publications to make educators aware of available resources. Most REMC centers publish an annual report for their school districts providing detailed use and savings data. Please contact your REMC for specific use and savings information related to your school district. 

This Project is partially funded with State Aid funds through an annual REMC Association of Michigan Statewide Projects Application. All awarded vendors are also charged an administrative coordination/management services fee to cover the cost of managing this program. 

As a result of this project, local schools in Michigan saved more than $32 million in 2005. Schools can learn about the REMC bids through their local REMC. In addition, bids are posted on the REMC Association of Michigan web site and statewide catalogs are published.

* Regional Educational Media Center

Nancy Corner, ncorner@inghamisd.org, 517.244.4534
Sue Schwartz, sschwart@inghamisd.org, 517.244.1477
Technology and Media Services Department

Educators and the community cannot continue the tradition of low expectations for students with disabilities, however we cannot expect significant improvement in educational performance for these students until instructional programs are realigned to give students the supports and opportunities that allow for their success. This debate which has emerged in Michigan and the nation over the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the Individuals with Disabilities Education and Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) and their effect on students with disabilities continue to challenge educators. Since 1975, special education has been a prescriptive, federally driven set of programs and services focused on procedural compliance, access to education and protections for eligible students. This direction began to change in the mid-1990s with the legislative and educational movement to raise performance standards. Policymakers were confronted with the proposition that if they were to raise standards and improve results, they could not choose which students would be affected, it would have to be all students. Thus the evolution of accountability for students with disabilities has shifted from process and procedure to educational performance results.

Research supports that adult expectations significantly impact performance and results for students. Historically, programs and services for students with disabilities were shaped during a time when special education only served those with mental impairments or multiple disabilities, resulting in lowered expectations and results. Today, special education serves an increasingly diverse population of students with disabilities to include those with average mental ability, such as learning disabled, emotionally impaired, speech and language impaired. Within the Ingham ISD service area, Sixteen and a half percent (16.5%) of students are eligible for special education with 68.3% of those students as learning disabled, emotionally impaired, speech and language impaired. The population has changed significantly however expectations did not keep pace. As a result, educators face the challenge of closing a significant achievement gap for students with disabilities. NCLB’s closing the gap theory is inconsistent with special education which was designed to focus on individual progress not peer group progress. We must acknowledge this gap will not close for all students, and that this may not be due to some failure by educators.

After all these years, students with disabilities are finally recognized as a group who, in many cases, could and should be able to meet academic standards. However, the policies and adequate yearly progress provisions designed to implement NCLB have exposed an issue concerning expectations of educators that was underneath the surface of IDEA requirements. While it is acceptable to begin to account for education performance of students with disabilities, it is less acceptable to be held accountable for continual improvement of these results.

IDEA and NCLB can co-exist through collaborative efforts between general and special education to benefit students with disabilities and can begin to close their achievement gap. Educators and the community cannot continue the tradition of low expectations for students with disabilities, however we cannot expect significant improvement in educational performance until instructional programs are realigned to give students the supports and opportunities that allow for their success. A steady course toward increased expectations and insistence on continual improvement in educational performance will define the new era of accountability for special education and students with disabilities.

Cindy Anderson
Director of Special Education
517.244.1425

In Michigan, public education is about assuring all students have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed. A big part of helping students succeed is helping them plan for their future, especially in light of Michigan’s proposed high school graduation requirements. A recent compilation of student needs obtained from reports of Ingham County eighth and tenth grade students reveals that an overwhelming majority of them need help with “planning for courses and their future.” Scores of students leave high school motivated but aimless and are often unprepared for life. Consequently, without plans for their future, students often wonder why they are in school.

We know that today’s youth need high-level “career readiness skills” if they are to be successful in school and in the workplace. Career readiness skills include planning coursework carefully and setting academic and career goals, discovering interests and strengths, exploring career possibilities, and then preparing academically and socially with a defensible career focus. Students cannot do this work alone, and families can play an important role in this process. Strong planning skills will help prepare students for a labor market that is fast changing, highly competitive, and global.

What Families Can Do
The family influence can range from helping a young child to understand his or her strengths and talents, to later offering support and advice in negotiating the complex world of postsecondary planning and decision-making, to even helping with marketing their student effectively in today’s highly competitive environment. The importance of family involvement in a child’s career development cannot be minimized and, in fact, is more important than ever.

Current estimates are that one in six workers will change jobs in any given year. Families must communicate a value for rigorous education and encourage their child to take advanced coursework especially in mathematics, science, and technology. In order to thrive in the 21st century workplace, a young person will need up-to-date and reliable information and know-how to make informed and well-considered career decisions.

Students within the Ingham Intermediate School District service area have access to an exciting career development and planning tool called Career Cruising. This web-based system contains career information, labor market information, suggested school subjects, college information, interest and skill inventories, and much more. Research shows connecting students to their interest areas and envisioning their future helps them set more realistic academic and career goals, thus making school more relevant. Starting in the eighth grade, students begin to document the results of their work in an Educational Development Plan (EDP) at school, connecting interests and abilities with the realities of a global marketplace. Families can also use Career Cruising with their children, modeling the importance of planning.

Whether your child is in the elementary grades or in high school, your involvement in career planning will help ensure your child is prepared for the future.

For more information on parental involvement activities, visit Amercia’s Career Resource Network.

Kathy Tomlanovich
Director of Career Services and Technical Education
517.244.4536