Issues About Inclusion and Assessment, Essay Example

Effective School Practices: Issues about Inclusion and Assessment

What are some important steps in interpreting data from high stakes assessments?

High states are the district or state test of assessment given to students to gauge their academic achievement. This test has also been mooted to be helpful in determining disable students’ educational performance. However, not only that this test that is important, interpreting the data from the tests also requires utmost carefulness. Hence, the following steps are helpful in successfully analyzing the data with the hope to fashion out effective school practices:

• The very first thing to do is to look at the expected and unexpected results in the data and make necessary adjustments in the areas where the students had made some mistakes.
• The next step would be to identify what are the constituents of the tests: because different states and districts report different number of elements in the test; hence, knowing the number of students that did the test and identifying the performance of disable students in the tests.
• The last step requires that comprehension information should be dug out of the data: like how identifying the kinds of disabilities the students have and discovering whether they get accommodation or not.

What does the law say about the instruction and assessment of students with disabilities?

The law “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997” requires that students with disabilities should be allowed to enjoy similar instructional curriculum with students in general education. This does not necessarily promote inclusion strategy, but that the disable students should be allowed to enjoy similar curriculum and assessment test as the other students. The law encourages teachers and other educational experts to concentrate on how to improve the academic performance of disable students, who have been previously abandoned in special education classrooms. Therefore, the law makes it mandatory for the principals and school administrators that refuse to execute such an arrangement in their schools to be sanctioned.

Why is it important that students with disabilities have access to the general education curriculum? What are some ways to help these students to access the general education curriculum?

Until the enactment of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997, the practice in many schools was that students with disabilities are separated from the other students who are taught general education curriculum. Therefore, the special education curriculum for disable students lack enough contents that could prepare them for the challenges in life or for future educational ambitions–some special education students have reportedly gone ahead to colleges and other higher institutions. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997 has already created an avenue for schools to adopt educational practices that would benefit students with various disabilities. In order to help these students have access to general education curriculum, the following procedures should be undertaken:

• Disable students should be allowed to join general education classes, but preliminary tests are required so as to know which general education curriculum they could be comfortable with. It would be totally unproductive to send disable to classes that offer lessons that pass their understanding.
• The students in the general education classes should be enlightened that they should not isolate the disable students; rather they should interact as equals.
• Teachers would need to spend more time on monitoring the academic progress of the disable students in the classroom.
• The disable students should be motivated and praised each time they get things right.

In as much as there has been a law in support of the processes hinted above, implementing educational practices that recognized disable students as an important part of the education system would be the responsibility of school principals, administrators and state or district educational officials. The steps described above necessary to make disable students part of the entire educational establishment in a way that it would be productive and help the disable students to acquire as much contents of the general education curriculum.

What are accommodations? Modifications? Alternate assessments? When should each of these be used?

An accommodation refers to the space available for a disable student in the general education classroom. It is a known fact that disable students require more space in the classes. Not many schools have facilities that could accommodate disable students in their classrooms. There is no doubt that the IDEA 1997 has forced some states and district educational agencies to provide more accommodations to the disable students. By modifications, it means preparing the classrooms in a way that they would be comfortable for the disable students to stay in. These modifications may involve changing some structures like doors, stairs etc in the schools so that disable students could move in and out of the classroom without any hindrances. Modifications of classrooms cost a lot, and this is why IDEA 1997 was established to force educational agencies to budget enough money to deal with the issue. The concept of alternative assessment was proposed by those who believe that the assessment tests for general education students may be a little difficult for disable students. Hence, an alternative test has been put forward as the only option that they could help determine the true level of academic achievement of the disable students. On records, many schools have not been able to see their disable students measured up to the same standard as their general education counterparts; this is because the curriculum used at the special education is watered down, and they are not prepared to withstand the rigor of a general education curriculum.

What are the first steps that Ms. Flores, the school principal, and the School Improvement Team should take to support students with disabilities throughout the school system?

The first steps Ms. Flores, the school Principal, and the School Improvement Team could take are to hold fruitful discussion on the issue and fashion out the right approaches to identifying the needs of the disable students, which involves checking the accommodations available for them, making appropriate to the accommodations and preparing instructional materials that would help them to understand the general education curriculum.

What strategies can the School Improvement Team implement to help obtain their goal for improving test scores for students with disabilities by 10%?

The School Improvement Team can achieve their goal of increasing the test scores of disable students by 10% if:

• More attention is paid to their academic progress in the classrooms.
• If their parents are brought into the whole picture of their education so that they can encourage them at home.
• Modifications have to be made in both the accommodations and instructional materials to make the disable students feel at home.

How can principals encourage collaboration in their schools between school leaders and teachers, among teachers, and between school staff and parents?

Principals can work closely with their teachers and create a good rapport between teachers and parents, and among teachers themselves. They can do this by providing unique opportunities for the teachers to meet on a regular basis in order to design educational materials targeted at improving the learning abilities of the disabled students. The principals could establish a forum for parents and teachers to meet regularly about how to design appropriate curriculum, how to motivate the disabled students both at schools and at homes, and creating an avenue for parents and teachers to exchange periodical reports about how the disabled students are doing.

What are some of the positive results of a school environment in which there is collaboration and shared high expectations for all students?

Some of the positive results from a well-planned school environment include:

• Increased participation of the disabled students in educational and extracurricular activities.
• Better performance in test scores
• Encouraging academic achievement.

What are some of the important steps in implementing inclusive assessment practices in a school? How can school leaders make certain that students with disabilities are being assessed properly?

The steps necessary for inclusive assessment of disable students are:

• Discovering the level of understanding of thee subject-matters taught in the classrooms.
• Take extra precaution in explaining to do the disabled students until they understand their lessons.
• Choose the form of assessment that would be good for both the general students and the disabled students
• Relaxed the grading structure if necessary
• Monitor the disabled students performance.