Running Header: Standards Based Instruction Learner Analysis

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JNT2 Instructional Design Analysis Task 2

Learner Analysis: Standards Based Instruction for Students with Significant Cognitive
Disabilities

Yvonne M Field
Student ID: 000364252

Western Governors University

Mentor: Kevin Branch

September, 2014

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Table of Contents
Instructional Problem...3
Background
Discussion of the Instructional Problem
Discussion of the Instructional Goal Statement
Learner Analysis..5
Requisite Entry Level Skills
Prior Knowledge and Skills
Demographic Information
Educational and ability levels
Motivation and attitudes towards content and delivery
Learning preferences
Performance Context...8
Supervisor, Administrator, and Peer Support and Attitudes towards Topic
Support for Inclusion, Collaboration, and Co-teaching in the Local Context
Physical Aspects of the Site
Social Aspects of the Site
Learner Group Characteristics and Implications for Design of Instruction...10
References..12

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Learner Analysis: Standards Based Instruction for Students with Significant Cognitive
Disabilities
Instructional Problem
Background
Montana has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and consequently joined
the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC), a project supported by a GSEG grant that is
working on creating an alternate assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards
for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. In Montana, we have created a
community of practice to advise on the implementation of the new alternate assessment and have
presented basic information to teachers, test coordinators, and administrators at several
conferences in the state over the past year. We have also piloted training on the new assessment
system and on standards based instruction utilizing the alternate standards developed by the
NCSC project.
Discussion of the Instructional Problem
Many Special Education teachers in Montana have indicated that they do not have the
knowledge and skills necessary to implement standards based instruction for their students with
the most significant cognitive disabilities who participate in alternate assessments. IDEA 2004
requires that students with disabilities have access to, participate in, and progress in the general
education curriculum (Hitchcock, 2009). There is a gap between teachers understanding of the
intent of IDEA and the possession of the necessary skills to masterfully implement instruction
that supports access to the general education curriculum for these students. This is especially true
for teachers of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who represent about 1%
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of the nations public school population and participate in alternate assessments based on
alternate achievement standards. Our states implementation of the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) and a new alternate assessment system aligned to the CCSS have served to
highlight and heighten the urgency to address this gap for the teachers of our students with the
most significant cognitive disabilities. The goal of the CCSS and the standards based reform
movement is that all students be ready for college and careers when they graduate high school.
To many this seems like a high bar for students who participate in alternate assessments, yet
across the country more and more students in this population are accessing one of the 227 post-
secondary programs existing in the United States today (Think College, 2014). Research on the
important elements for post-secondary success for all students including this population, indicate
that academic skills are an important factor in success (Kleinert, H., Kearns, J., Quenemoen, R.,
& Thurlow, M., 2013). It is essential to successful implementation of the CCSS that includes
students with significant cognitive disabilities, that teachers receive professional development to
help them to implement standards based instruction so that this population can be ensured equal
access to a free and appropriate public education and higher post-secondary outcomes.
Discussion of the Instructional Goal Statement
An analysis of the instructional problem detailed above, led this designer to
identify that though teachers have had access to basic training that addresses standards based
instruction, they have not had training that provides an explicit and systematic approach to apply
that knowledge to successfully implement standards based instruction for students who
participate in alternate assessment, nor have they previously had instruction on how to access
quality research based resources that can be utilized (such as the resources created as a part of
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the NCSC alternate assessment project) to understand and implement practices that work in their
local contexts. An instructional unit that is
Based on the results of the needs analysis, the following goal statement was developed to
address the instructional problem:
When provided with instruction on the NCSC Core Content Connectors, NCSC
interim and formative assessment tools, NCSC instructional resources,
systematic planning and implementation of standards based IEPs and instruction,
and universal design for learning for inclusion, the learners (special education
teachers who work with students who participate in the NCSC Alternate
Assessment) will be able to utilize the NCSC curricular and instructional
resources; applying knowledge of the NCSC AA-AAS System, the Common Core
State Standards and Standards Based Instruction, to successfully implement
instruction in both the resource and general education settings to ensure that all
students who participate in alternate assessments on their case load are--to the
fullest extent possible--able to access , participate in, and progress in the
general education curriculum (Hitchcock, 2009). Subsequently students will
achieve higher academic outcomes, as measured by the NCSC Alternate
Assessment and have higher rates of participation in post-secondary programs,
higher rates of employment, and greater access to their local communities.
Learner Analysis
Requisite Entry Level Skills
The requisite entry level knowledge and skills for participation in the instructional topic
are a basic understanding of standards based instruction, writing standards based IEPs and
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Collaboration/Co-teaching. Basic understanding in the content areas of reading foundations,
reading comprehension, and mathematics are also required. Familiarity with the Common Core
State Standards (CCSS) and the Montana Common Core Standards (MCCS)
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are also need to be
able to access the instructional topic.
Prior Knowledge and Skills
According to the needs analysis (Field, 2014), the target learners in the state have
indicated that they have participated in professional development and have a moderate
understanding of the following topics related to standards based instruction: Writing Standards
Based IEPs, Standards Based Instruction, Common Core State Standards, and Co-
Teaching/Collaboration. Teachers rated their ability to apply their knowledge of Co-
teaching/Collaboration the highest and indicated that they did not require further instruction to
implement this teaching model in their schools. The tryout learners also have some basic
understanding of the NCSC project and have participated in a pilot of the NCSC Summative
Assessment. The learners are lacking in a basic knowledge about the NCSC Instructional and
Curriculum resources and how those resources can be used to teach the CCSS to their students.
Demographic Information
The target learners are special education teachers in Montana who teach students
with the most significant cognitive disabilities who participate in alternate assessment and
alternate curriculum aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These teachers work
with students across the grades from Kindergarten to 12th grade. This instructional unit will be
delivered to a tryout group of learners in one district in Northwest Montana. The school district
has 3 special education teachers each assigned to a different grade cluster: elementary, middle

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The MCCS are Montanas version of the CCSS. In Montana our state has adopted Indian Education for
All Standards and this Montana specific curriculum has been added to the CCSS to create the MCCS.
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school, and high school. The learners are special education teachers who work with students
with the most significant cognitive disabilities who participate in alternate assessments.
Educational and ability levels.
A survey of the learners indicated all of the learners have Masters degrees in the field of
education, most specializing in special education with one of the learners specializing in teaching
students with severe disabilities. Most of the teachers also have studied content areas in
addition to special education including: science, elementary education, theatre, and English. Five
of the six teachers have greater than nine years experience teaching in public schools. One
teacher has taught between 4 and 8 years. One teacher has experience working with students in
all grades, the other teachers specialize in either 7-12 or K-6.
Motivation and attitudes towards content and delivery.
The designers general impression of the learners is that they are highly motived to
participate in the instructional topic. This impression is based in interaction from previous
professional development offerings and the teachers participation in alternate assessment pilots
the learners have shown that they have a high interest in piloting and adopting new practices that
can benefit and promote greater inclusion and access to academic content for their students.
Based on comments from open ended responses and learners indication of level of
interest in the topic of instruction from the needs analysis survey (Field, 2014), attitudes toward
the content is positive, the learners believe that given proper instruction on the topic that is
relevant to their student population and their local context they will be successful in
implementing standards based instruction for their students.
Comments from the survey indicated that the type of delivery is very important in
ensuring success. Teachers of students who participate in alternate assessments and their
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supervisor commented that they need to be able to practice putting standards based instruction
and the NCSC resources into action by working with case studies and their own student
information.
Learning Preferences
Each of the tryout learners indicated face-to-face training as their preferred method to
participate in professional development. They also have indicated that Professional Learning
Communities at the district and school level, on-site coaching, and webinars are successful ways
to learn. Comments indicated that trainings where learners have the opportunity to engage in
group work and apply the instructional topic to their work context is most useful.
Performance Context
Supervisor, Administrator, and Peer Support and Attitudes towards Topic
The supervisor of the learners is the special education director for the district. She is
highly supportive of efforts to implement standards based instruction in the district where the
learners work. She is a subject matter expert on standards based instruction and inclusive
practices. In the needs analysis survey learners indicated that they feel they need more support
from administrators, general education teachers in their settings in order for implementation of
the instructional topic in the performance context to be successful.
Support for Inclusion, Collaboration, and Co-teaching in the Local Context
The learner group identified areas of need for successful implementation of the topic of
instruction are the attitudes of administration and general education and content teachers towards
greater inclusion of students with significant cognitive disabilities and differentiation. In looking
at individual comments to this open ended question (Appendix B), it was clear that teachers felt
that administration and general education/content teachers need to be included in instruction to
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change attitudes about the value of greater inclusion and the ability of students who participate in
alternate assessments to learn academic content.
The special education director in the focus district identified a similar concern but
focused on including instruction for the learner group that would allow them to know how to
collaborate with the general education teacher and know how to assuage the general education
teachers discomfort teaching students with significant cognitive disabilities the CCSS.
Physical Aspects Performance Context
The performance context for the target population can be varied from teachers who work
in larger population areas and only work with students who participate in alternate assessment to
rural settings where there is one special education teacher shared within a district or even across
a region. A teacher in a low population area may be serving the full range of special education
students from mild to severe disabilities. These teachers most often serve students across a grade
level cluster or all grade levels depending on the size of the student population. The majority of
these teachers have access to resource room with internet access and computers, iPads and other
augmentative communication devices are available to students. Some teachers travel from site to
site and have a remote office.
Social Aspects of the Site
The learners will be the working with other staff in their schools to build
understanding of the topic of instruction. They will be the experts and first implementers in their
local setting. The learners may consult with content specialists to access subject matter expertise
that will help the special education teacher create content for the resource setting that is related to
and supports activities in the general education setting. These teachers also work with
administration and non-tested content teachers to help to ensure that appropriate inclusion and
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differentiation is taking place in the school setting and in classes like art, music, and physical
education.
The learners work alone to create instruction that takes place inside the resource room
setting and spend some part of their day providing one to one instruction to students or
supervising paraprofessionals who will implement instruction and support when students are not
working directly with the special education teacher. The learners will also need to work
collaboratively with general education and/or content teachers to create instruction for their
students to participate in academic content in the general education setting. Ideally collaboration
between special education teachers and content teachers will also include co-teaching where for
some portion of their day the special education students can be included in the general education
setting accessing grade level academic content with typical peers.
Learner Group Characteristics and Implications for Design of the Instruction
The learners have a skill set that includes basic understanding of the standards based
instruction, IEPs and the CCSS, and strong background in special education and collaborative
teaching, but the learners have limited basic understanding of the NCSC instructional and
curriculum resources and how those can be applied to teach the CCSS and increase inclusion in
the general education setting for their students For the design of instruction this indicates that
NCSC topics related to standards based instruction will need to be a part of instruction as new
information. Once the informational understanding of NCSC is in place the instruction should
focus on case studies and creation of instruction for both the resource room and the general
education setting.
These are adult learners and teachers who have a need for any time away from their high
needs students to yield actions that can be immediately implemented in the classroom. A
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constructivist approach to planning instruction would be best for this set of learners, with
performance tasks that ask teachers to apply knowledge to their students and instruction.
Dividing the face to face component of the instruction into 2-3 meetings would also be indicated
to allow teachers to practice researching, creating, and implementing instruction in their
classrooms in between sessions. The teachers have indicated that having access to the instructor
for individual coaching opportunities is important. Splitting the instruction into sessions over
time with opportunities to interact via email, live webinar meetings, and an online community
would meet this need for coaching.
Teachers also indicate that though they have support from their supervisor there is not
enough support from other colleagues in the work environment. This designer would
recommend inclusion of general education and content teachers and administrators in a
component of the instruction with an attitudinal goal around changing perceptions of students
who participate in alternate assessment. General education teachers would also be included in
the component of instruction related to Universal Design for Learning. A performance task in
the unit would require collaboration between the general education or content teacher and the
special education teacher to adapt or create a unit for the general education setting that includes
students with significant cognitive disabilities.
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References
Field, Yvonne M., (September, 2014) Needs Analysis: Standards Based Instruction for Students
with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (PDF). Accessed September 10, 2014, from
http://yvonnefieldinstructionswscds.weebly.com/the-needs-analysis.html

Hitchcock, C., Meyer, A., Rose, D., Jackson, R., (November 2009). Technical Brief: Access,
Participation, and Progress in the General Curriculum (PDF). Accessed September 4, 2014
http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/NCACTechBriefNov3.pdf