My background in teaching isn’t in the typical classroom but
it’s actually in the dojo. I taught martial arts to kids of all ages, and
needs, for 4 years while I got my undergraduate degree. It was through teaching
martial arts that I discovered my passion for teaching. So, while I feel
confident getting up in front of a group of students, I
already know that one of my weaknesses as a future educator is understanding legislation
and acronyms and how they affect my students. It’s not something that ever
really had much impact on my classroom before.
Obviously there were certain standards a child had to meet
before moving up in rank or belt level, but there was no pressure (created by standardized
testing) for me or them to perform. I think that without this added pressure,
there was a lot more opportunity for genuine learning and fun in the class. The main concern of my teaching was to help
them all succeed, in martial arts or in life, given whatever tools or help they
needed.
My main point is: I want to be able to take that same
approach to teaching in an inclusive classroom, while also making sure the
reality of standardized assessment is addressed.
I can literally feel myself wanting to shy away from this
topic, just because it seems like murky waters. There isn’t to much that seems
clear cut, and what is clear cut seems mostly unfair. However, I think one
element of good pedagogy is having a firm grasp on all levels (federal, state,
local) of legislation that affect the district, school, classroom and student. Maybe
it’s not as daunting as it seems to me, but I just want to make sure I do the
right thing by my future students and it doesn’t seem like the legislation has
that entirely covered.
After searching for teacher blogs on the topic of inclusive
classroom assessment, the first few articles I found were really broad and
mostly focused on clarifying terms and legislation. Can I blame them? There is
a lot to clarify, for example the difference between accommodations and
modifications.
The article “Accommodations,
modifications, and alternate assessments: How they affect instruction and
assessment”, provided by the non-profit organization GreatSchools, is aimed for parents, but
I think it does a really good job of explaining the difference. Using the
information available at GreatSchools,
I made this chart:
However, after reading further, the article mentioned that “modifications”
is a term that is no longer used and that the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) actually requires students with special needs services to
be tested using the same standards. The article briefly mentions “alternative
assessment”. Just as I was starting to think I understood. Definitely a topic
for a future blog post.
Anyway, I’m liking the way accommodations sound because they
consider information from the IEP, as well as the classroom teacher’s judgment.
Accommodations give every student the same access to the information.
So, if given the proper amount and correct accommodations,
will a student in an inclusive classroom succeed on a test without
modifications?
I want to believe yes. Why should the standards be changed
just because the student has different learning needs? Even if it takes extra
effort, better planning, or more strategies, that student deserves every opportunity
to learn and succeed just as much as any other student.
That sounds great on paper, but I’m not sure about it in
practice. If a student isn’t getting a certain skill because it is too
advanced, they need more time, or they need more learning support, is it fair
to test them on it anyway? How long can a teacher spend before they have to
move on?
I wonder if scaffolding assessments could help a student
prepare. Maybe starting with a variety of formative assessments that thoroughly
cover the material, and allow the student plenty of practice with the skills
they will need for the test. This way the student is very prepared for the test
and less accommodations will be needed. It’s really similar to what I used to
do in martial arts. Three stripe tests preceded every belt test. If a student
needed help to earn a stripe, I identified what they needed help with and made
sure they knew it before the test. If they couldn’t do it on the test, we took
the test again until they did. Making sure each student earned a stripe allowed
me to make sure that they were ready for the belt test. If they weren’t ready,
they didn’t take the test. In school there is only so much flexibility with
tests, however maybe being more flexible, and scaffolding small assessments
leading up to a larger one with lots of practice could be a great way to incorporate
modifications without changing the actual exam.
Topics for future blog
posts that I would like to explore further:
- list of accommodations that won’t interfere with test validity made available by test makers
- alternate authentic assessments
No comments:
Post a Comment