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This module overviews instructional and testing accommodations for students with disabilities, explains how accommodations differ from other kinds of instructional adaptations, defines the four categories of accommodations, and describes how to implement accommodations and evaluate their effectiveness for individual students (est. completion time: 2 hours).

A Professional Development Certificate for this module is available.

Work through the sections of this module in the order presented in the STAR graphic above.

Related to this module

Copyright 2023 Vanderbilt University. All rights reserved.

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Accommodations: Instructional and Testing Supports for Students with Disabilities

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This module overviews instructional and testing accommodations for students with disabilities, explains how accommodations differ from other kinds of instructional adaptations, defines the four categories of accommodations, and describes how to implement accommodations and evaluate their effectiveness for individual students (est. completion time: 2 hours). A Professional Development Certificate for this module is available.

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Class Testing Accom Matrix Blank and Example

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Page 7: Differentiate Product

When teachers differentiate product, they assess the same concept or skill for each student at the end of a unit of study; however, teachers offer their students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge (e.g., video, written report). When doing so, the teacher strives to:

Make the product assignment challenging but not so difficult or complex that the students are unable to complete it on their own.

Provide clear directions.

Create a task that reflects real-world application.

Teachers should also include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (i.e., involving movement or hands-on activities) options as well as analytic, creative, and practical ones. They might also allow the students to complete the product alone or as a group. Although teachers typically allow students to choose the type of product they complete, they need to make clear that their students cannot always choose to complete the same type of product assignment. The table below highlights a few strategies for differentiating product. Click on each link to learn detailed information about implementing these strategies.
Tiered Products
Keep in Mind

To design and match the product assignments to the students' readiness levels, teachers should refer to the pre-assessment and ongoing assessments results.

As activities can be tiered to differentiate the learning process, so too can products be tiered to differentiate how students demonstrate their learning. When teachers assess students' knowledge in this way, they design a range of products that are challenging for students at different levels of readiness (in general low, middle, and high groups).

The example below illustrates the use of tiered products. By being aware of her students' readiness levels, the teacher has developed a different assignment for each level of learner: Group 1, below grade-level learners; Group 2, grade-level learners; and Group 3, above grade-level learners.

Key Concept: Make and Revise Predictions.
Lesson: Students have been reading a novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. They have just finished the first chapter and will make predictions based on the events that have transpired. Their predictions will come in written form and will be turned in at the end of class.

These students need to understand the events of the first chapter of the novel. They will have read the chapter but will answer questions given to them to check on their comprehension of the facts of the chapter first. After understanding the facts, they will write a letter from Kit to her friend in Barbados telling what she expects will happen next. The letter needs to be turned in at the end of the class.

These students will analyze the events in chapter one. They will analyze according to Kit's thoughts concerning her "disappointment in America." They will focus on analysis of why America would be disappointing to a person who was coming from Barbados. Do a prewriting exercise of creating a Venn diagram that shows a comparison of America (as Kit sees it) and Barbados (as Kit remembers it). Then use your information to write a journal entry from Kit's point of view that explains why she is so disappointed and predicts what she thinks will happen next. Turn in your journal entry at the end of the class.

These students will synthesize the words used in chapter one according to what the words help them learn about Kit. They will then predict what will happen next from a synthesis of the words used to tell the events in the first chapter. Important words to present to them to begin their search are embarrassment (p.6), dour-looking (p.7), impulsively (p.8), Heathen Island (p.11), Puritans (p.12), humiliation (p.13), respectable woman (p. 13), and nonchalance (p. 14). If they do not know word meanings, they should begin their search in a dictionary. Then they should write Kit's explanation (in any form they choose) of what has happened and what she predicts next. Turn in the piece at the end of class.

Adapted from http://www.doe.in.gov/exceptional/gt/tiered_curriculum/languagearts/la5r.htm
Tic Tac Toe
Tic-tac-toe, sometimes referred to as Think-tac-toe, is a method of offering students choices in the type of products they complete to demonstrate their knowledge. As in a traditional tic-tac-toe game, students are presented with a nine-cell table of options. The teacher should make sure that all options address the key concept or skill being learned. There are several variations on this method:

Students choose three product options that form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line.

Students choose one product choice from each row or from each column (without forming a straight line).

The teacher can create two or more versions to address the different readiness levels.

In the example below, a high-school teacher creates a Tic-tac-toe assignment for a unit on Romeo and Juliet. The teacher wants the students to complete assignments for three categories: characters, setting, and theme. Notice that the teacher creates three assignments for each of these categories, resulting in a total of nine tasks from which students can choose.

Example

Directions: Complete one activity from each row.

Write an essay comparing and contrasting yourself to one of the major characters.

Create a list of at least five interview questions to ask Romeo or Juliet about what the reader should learn from their experiences. Create an audio including the questions and answers.

Now that you've read Romeo and Juliet and watched Westside Story, create a play that contains these two major characters and is set in modern times.

Choose your favorite scene and describe how the setting affects the mood of the play.

Choose your favorite scene and create a detailed scaled model of it.

Choose your favorite scene and write an essay describing the differences in the settings of Romeo and Juliet and Westside Story.

List five well-known quotes from the play. List the character who said the quote and describe how each quote relates to a major theme of the play.

Create a table that compares and contrasts the Montagues and Capulets with the Hatfields and McCoys.

Create a video trailer for a new version of the movie Romeo and Juliet.

Learning Menus
When teachers use learning menus, or choice boards, they offer students four to six options for producing a final product. Each choice should be challenging and should require approximately the same amount of time to complete. Below are some examples of product choices that teachers can include in a menu.

Although there are a number of ways to offer these choices, some teachers present them as a dinner menu. For this method, students often select one "entree" task and two "side-dish" tasks. Additionally, students may elect to complete a "dessert" task for enrichment. Below is an example of one such dinner menu.

The School Diner - Idioms

Appetizer (You must do this)

With a partner, select one idiom from the bulletin board. Discuss what you think the idiom means. Then look up the idiom in the book In a Pickle: And Other Funny Idioms, Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms, or Super Silly Sayings That Are Over Your Head: A Children's Illustrated Book of Idioms. You can find copies in the class library.

Entrees (You must do all)

Read one of the following books provided by the teacher:

Any Amelia Bedelia book

Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards

Reach for the Stars and Other Advice for Life's Journey

You Are What You Eat and Other Mealtime Hazards

Make a list of all of the idioms in the book and write their meaning.

Side Dishes (Select at least two)

Write an idiom you have heard used in your life and explain what it means. Draw a picture of what the main character of the story you read might do if he or she heard it.

Select an idiom from the bulletin board or one that you have heard used and add it to the story you read. Write at least 6 sentences.

With a partner, create a short skit using an idiom from the bulletin board or one that you have heard used.

Learn more about idioms from other cultures.

Read I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World

Use the bookmarks on the computer to visit several websites that illustrate idioms from other cultures.

RAFT
Teachers can offer students product choices by using a RAFT (role, audience, format, topic). Each column specifies the role the student will adopt, the audience he will address, the format of the work, and the topic to be addressed. Sometimes, students are asked to choose a row, and sometimes they are asked to make a selection from each column. In other instances, the teacher may assign students a row that matches their readiness levels. Typically, RAFTs can be completed in a relatively short amount of time and can be assigned as classwork or homework.
Example
A fourth-grade social studies class is studying the colonization of America. The teacher creates the following RAFT for this unit.

Tip

Teachers often find Bloom's taxonomy helpful when differentiating product based on student readiness.

Bloom's taxonomy identifies six levels of learning, from the most basic (i.e., recalling facts) to the most complex (i.e., evaluating information). For instance, when she creates a tiered assignment, the teacher often develops three levels of activities. For the lowest level, she might develop activities that assess students' knowledge and comprehension; for the middle group, she might assess their ability to apply and analyze information; for the high group, she might require them to synthesize and evaluate the information. The tables below present the hierarchy of six levels of learning. For each level of learning, the table provides verbs teachers often use when designing product assignments or test questions.

Knowledge

identify, list, arrange, define, describe, label, match, order

Comprehension

classify, summarize, predict, locate, discuss

Application

compute, demonstrate, show, solve, write

Analysis

compare, contrast, experiment, model, separate

Synthesis

arrange, combine, formulate, revise, propose

Evaluation

argue, defend, justify, appraise

Remembering

identify, list

Understanding

categorize, summarize, compare, explain, give examples, predict

Applying

perform lab test, solve a math problem, write an essay using correct grammar and punctuation

Analyzing

differentiate, draw conclusions, organize

Evaluating

determine, judge, critique, test

Creating

generate, plan, construct, design

For Your Information

Differentiating product contrasts with how teachers in a traditional classroom typically assess their students' knowledge-administering a written test at the end of a unit of study. Teachers in a traditional classroom often assume that a written test is an accurate indication of what their students have learned. However, issues such as a student's ability to read and comprehend text sometimes interfere with accurately assessing what the student knows. Although they should continue to administer written tests, teachers should redesign or build their tests so that they are differentiated.

When they create written tests to use in a differentiated classroom, teachers should keep a number of factors in mind:

Using a variety of question types. In addition to using traditional question types (see table below), teachers should include nontraditional question types such as analogies, demonstrations, drawings, and real-world applications. This allows teachers to determine which students have mastered the content or skill. Different students perform better on certain types of question types than on others, so having a variety of question types maximizes the probability that each student will have the opportunity to demonstrate his or her knowledge. Teachers should also use a combination of forced-choice items (e.g., matching, multiple choice) and constructed response items (e.g., create a timeline, write a short essay).

Write in simple language and use as few words as possible.

Avoid negatives (e.g., Which of these is not an example of an insect?).

Make sure the construction of the stem or answers does not give the answer away (e.g., The stem ends with "an" and only one answer begins with a vowel).

Write the definitions on the left and list the words on the right so that students read a definition and then scan the list of words instead of vice versa.

Keep all matching items on the same page.

Include no more than eight items.

Note: This type of question is good for struggling readers because it requires minimal reading.

Provide answer blanks and adequate space for written responses.

Understand that students' handwriting is often difficult to decipher.

Write sentences so that the blanks are near the end to minimize issues with reading comprehension.

Provide adequate space for the students to label.

Understand that students' handwriting is often difficult to decipher.

Note: This type of question works well for literature, history, science, and math.

Grade only the content being tested and not the students' writing skills (e.g., grammar, punctuation); an exception is the spelling of content area vocabulary.

Allow students to convey their knowledge in the most efficient manner (e.g., bulleted items, diagrams). Requiring them to write complete sentences may impede their ability to fully demonstrate their knowledge.

Teachers may want to avoid true/ false questions because they often involve the use of negatives, which are difficult for many students (e.g., Plants do not need sunlight to produce chlorophyll). Additionally, this test format is typically a difficult one for struggling readers and for students who experience test anxiety.

Provide a "T" and "F" for true/ false questions for the student to circle. This avoids the misinterpretation of a student's illegible written T's and F's. It also prevents students with handwriting challenges from tiring during the tests when they are required to write out "true" and "false."

Preteaching test-related vocabulary. Teachers should preteach unfamiliar words or phrases included in test items such as "compare" or "contrast."

Making the format efficient for students. This allows students to demonstrate their knowledge without having to spend time and energy navigating the layout of the test.

Highlighting key words. When words such as four, most, least, and excluding are highlighted, students are less likely to forget the criteria while formulating their answers.

Making test items straightforward. The test items should assess the students' knowledge of the content or skill. Items that include negatives or require overly complicated logic interfere with students' ability to accurately demonstrate their knowledge.

Specifying the criteria for constructed response items. Items that require the students to formulate responses (e.g., essays, short answers) should specify the criteria (e.g., length of essay, number of examples).

Using authentic assessment. Test students in the same way they were taught. For example, if students have been working on the addition of two-digit numbers using only computation problems, the test should not include word problems.

Adapted in part from Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, by R. Wormeli, 2006.

Teachers are sometimes concerned that if they allow their students to demonstrate their knowledge in ways other than written tests, these students will not be prepared to take standardized tests. Carol Ann Tomlinson discusses why this is not the case (time: 0:49).

Carol Ann Tomlinson, EdD
Professor of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy
The University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA

Transcript: Carol Ann Tomlinson, EdD

A lot of times, teachers will feel like the standardized test is not going to be differentiated, so I can't differentiate now because they won't be prepared for that test. Teaching is not the test. The test is one moment in a time. You can give kids hints on how to take tests. They can take a couple of dry runs. But to teach them in ways that are ineffective for nine months before the test comes is not likely to benefit them much. What some research suggests to us is that kids do better on standardized tests when the teaching-learning process is a fit for them, even if the standardized test is not in their preferred way of learning. And probably the two reasons for that is that they learn more on the way to the test, and they also develop more confidence as a learner.

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When teachers differentiate product, they assess the same concept or skill for each student at the end of a unit of study; however, teachers offer their students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge (e.g., video, written report).

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Understanding the Different Types of Scaffolds: How & When to Use Each

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Katie Novak shares the 3 types of scaffolds, how and when to use them, and strategies for teachers and educators looking to enhance student learning

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Turn Any Content Into a Podcast Students Will Love - Brisk Teaching Blog

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Brisk Teaching’s newest feature makes creating podcasts from any material effortless. Whether you want to bring a lesson to life, support multilingual learners, or give students more ways to access content, this tool is about to become a go-to in your teaching toolkit.

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Tool for making adapted materials to enable SWD to access grade level content at their individual levels

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Use existing curriculum, or generate standards-aligned content with real, cited sources.

Choose a grade level and language, and watch Diffit create complete, differentiated resources. ✅

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Use existing curriculum, or generate standards-aligned content with real, cited sources. Choose a grade level and language, and watch Diffit create complete, differentiated resources. ✅

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IEP Accommodations vs. Modifications: What’s the Difference?

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If you’re a general education teacher, the IEP accommodations and modifications page is for you!

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The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications

In this Video

In this video, special education expert Lee Ann Jung outlines the essential difference between accommodations and modifications. Dr. Jung explains that accommodations change how different students learn the same content, while modifications change what students are expected to learn, thereby altering the learning goal

Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms

Your Students, My Students, Our Students explores the hard truths of current special education practice and outlines five essential disruptions to the status quo. Authors Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener show you how to

Social-emotional learning

ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Sign up for our newsletter

Questions?

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The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications - ASCD

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In this video, special education expert Lee Ann Jung outlines the essential difference between accommodations and modifications. Dr. Jung explains that accommodations change how different students learn the same content, while modifications change what students are expected to learn, thereby alterin

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Calculation Flipbooks allow children to see written methods for calculation modelled step-by-step. By clicking through the pages, each new step of a calculation is shown.

The video below shows the calculation flipbooks being used:

Calculation Flipbooks from I See Maths on Vimeo.

Coloured 100-squares help children to count in 2s, 5s or recognise the size of numbers.

Base-5/10 Number Tracks help children to recognise the size of numbers around the sub-base 5.

Number Rack is an adjustable online abacus with base-5 colouring, helping children to instantly recognise quantities.

The Fractions Cards can be printed used used to compare fractions, show equivalence and model adding and subtracting fractions.

Visual Representations Map outlines how images and resources can be used to build understanding in Reception-Y6.

Big Ideas of Mathematics outlines the key concepts and ideas that can be explored in each curriculum strand for Y1-Y6.

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Calculation Flipbooks allow children to see written methods for calculation modelled step-by-step. By clicking through the pages, each new step of a calculation is shown. The video below shows the calculation flipbooks being used: Calculation Flipbooks from I See Maths on Vimeo. Coloured 100-squares help children to count in 2s, 5s or recognise the size of numbers.

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Introduction and definition of each HLP

Brief review of the research

Several brief videos of general education and special education teachers implementing the practice

What the videos are:

A resource to augment training/professional learning

A demonstration of HLP practice across degrees of intensity

A portrayal of teachers' implementation of an HLP

A demonstration of practices that can be used with all students, not only those with disabilities

What the videos are not:

A complete resource for training/professional learning

A demonstration of each tier across various settings

A depiction of all features of quality instruction/student engagement

Promoting the use of practices that would replace the need for intense, data-driven decisions and interventions provided by special educators or other specialists

This content was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Award No. H325A170003 & S283B120021-12A . David Guardino serves as the project officer. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any project, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this website is intended or should be inferred.

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Clarifying the Relationship Between HLPs and EBPs

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A video about Clarifying the Relationship Between HLPs and EBPs

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What is the purpose of this website?

This website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs (CCN) such as:

Autism spectrum disorders

Cerebral palsy

Down syndrome

Developmental apraxia

Multiple disabilities

This website provides information on:

What skills to teach

How to teach these skills

Videotaped examples of instruction with learners with special needs

Meet one of our students
Krista

Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment. She also has a tracheostomy.

Krista has a dynamic personality. She makes everyone smile.

Like many of her peers, she loves Zac Efron from High School Musical and Zack and Cody from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

She uses sign approximations and a computer with speech output (a Mercury with Speaking Dynamically Pro software). Because of her hearing impairment, she does best when others sign as they talk.

We started to work with Krista when she was 8 years old. At that time, she was in a special education class at school and was not receiving literacy instruction.

Watch this video of Krista at 9 years of age. She is independently reading a personalized book about a summer adventure with Zac Efron.

She is so excited to be a reader!

Visit the rest of the website to learn more about how Krista learned to read stories independently.

Krista reading about Zac Efron from AAC Learning Center - Penn State on Vimeo.

Last Updated: December 21, 2018

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This website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs (CCN) such as: Autism spectrum disorders Cerebral palsy Down syndrome Developmental apraxia Multiple disabilities This website provides information on: What skills to teach How to teach these skills Videotaped examples of instruction with learners with special needs Krista Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment.

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Bookshare | An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities

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Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

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Welcome

Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

You may write your own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr or pictures you upload. All books should be complete, edited, and revised to the best of your ability before publishing them to the site. While you are working on them, please save them as drafts.

Note the little well icon in the upper left corner of the page; clicking it will allow you to access the main menu. You can also click the settings icon to change settings on some pages.

Your browser is unsupported. The site should work for finding and reading books but you will not have switch access or the ability to write books. We recommend that you upgrade to a modern browser or install Chrome Frame.
You are in Classic mode. You will not have access to all of the features of the site but it may work better on older computers and web browsers. Click this text to leave Classic mode.
Ready to get started?

This site is also available in other languages. To help with translation, contact us.

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Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

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Welcome

Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

You may write your own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr or pictures you upload. All books should be complete, edited, and revised to the best of your ability before publishing them to the site. While you are working on them, please save them as drafts.

Note the little well icon in the upper left corner of the page; clicking it will allow you to access the main menu. You can also click the settings icon to change settings on some pages.

Your browser is unsupported. The site should work for finding and reading books but you will not have switch access or the ability to write books. We recommend that you upgrade to a modern browser or install Chrome Frame.
You are in Classic mode. You will not have access to all of the features of the site but it may work better on older computers and web browsers. Click this text to leave Classic mode.
Ready to get started?

This site is also available in other languages. To help with translation, contact us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches. Click here to learn more about alternative access methods.

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Wordwall - Create better lessons quicker

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Need a fresh teaching resource that fits your class and teaching style? Create a customized pack of interactive and printable activities in just one minute.

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Inclusion thru Innovation Tech Resource Links

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Removing the Barriers: Planning for ALL!

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36 - Accomodations and Modifications Fact Sheet

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J acqueline is a sixth-grade special education teacher whose school district recently decided to implement an inclusive approach to teaching and learning. Now special and general educators collaborate to provide a stronger system of instructional supports based on their analysis of students' data. Jacqueline and her colleagues are systematically supporting students with disabilities and others who are struggling in one or more academic or behavioral domains. After months of online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, they now have a hybrid model in which students are on staggered schedules, coming to school two days a week. While some families have been able to adjust, many are experiencing a great deal of stress. More students than ever are slipping behind, acting out, and withdrawing. The whole sixth-grade instructional team has been searching for more effective practices to foster academic, social, and emotional development.
Jacqueline's sixth-grade general education colleagues have started to teach using modeling with think-alouds and strategies like summarizing text. They are also using specific scaffolds, including graphic organizers, to better accommodate students' learning needs. When working with students in small groups, Jacqueline reteaches strategies, models foundational skills necessary for successful participation in the general education curriculum, and helps her students learn to use accommodations that will support learning in both settings (such as text-to-speech software so that students who are still developing reading skills have access to grade-level content). The changes Jacqueline and her colleagues are making seem to be working. Almost all the students with disabilities and the students who have been struggling during the pandemic are securing better grades and seem more motivated to participate in instruction. Many are even beginning to show their peers how to use strategies they learned in Jacqueline's small groups.
Jacqueline and her general education colleagues have always worked hard and been dedicated to their students, but in the past their instructional strategies were not well coordinated. As they started working together more closely to adopt the inclusive model, they also dug into research on how to accelerate learning. They found that agreeing on some foundational ideas-like collaborating so that core and supplemental instruction are tightly connected and being more specific about students' learning goals and the scaffolds the team would use to meet them-made a big difference in their team's day-to-day work and their students' development.

Jacqueline's experience is in keeping with what research has established: students with disabilities can achieve content-area standards and meet social and emotional milestones when they are consistently provided the instructional practices and accommodations that best support their learning. Decades of research have defined effective instructional practices that general and special education teachers can use to help students with disabilities, and students without disabilities who need additional supports, achieve better academic and social-emotional outcomes. ¹ These well-researched, trustworthy instructional practices are freely available through national centers like the IRIS Center and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center, and in publications like Practice Guides published through the Institute of Education Sciences.

The challenge for teachers, however, is translating the many research-based instructional practices that exist into daily classroom instruction. Classrooms are complex environments, and teachers must attend to many demands. Time to study, try out, and reflect on new practices is in short supply. And time to do so collaboratively as an instructional team is all too rare. To address this problem, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and CEEDAR convened scholars, researchers, practitioners, teacher preparation faculty, and advocates to carefully review the literature and identify high-leverage practices that improve instruction across different content domains and grade levels for students with disabilities and for other students with learning differences. These practices, when used over time, are designed to support and enhance teachers' implementation of content-specific, research-based practices in such areas as reading, writing, mathematics, and social-emotional learning. (To learn more about these practices and the professional learning system that states, teacher preparation programs, and school districts ought to provide for general and special education teachers, see the companion article, "Systemic Support for Special Education: Making It a More Integral Part of General Teacher Preparation.")

What Are High-Leverage Practices?

High-leverage practices (HLPs) are instructional approaches educators in K-12 can use to teach different types of learners and content. ² The working group convened by CEC and CEEDAR identified 22 such practices after spending 18 months engaged in the following process: discussing research on effective instruction, distilling that research into a manageable set of practices, incorporating feedback from several focus groups, presenting practices to the CEC representative assembly, and finalizing the HLPs with the CEC executive board. The group deemed the selected practices "high leverage" because they are foundational to effective instruction, they help with managing and intervening in students' behavior, and they support successful implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (the legislation guaranteeing that students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education with their nondisabled peers to the extent that is possible ³). The 22 practices are organized into four essential aspects of teachers' work: collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral, and instruction. (For the complete list of practices, see the box on the top right.)

In this article, we describe two HLPs that are foundational for delivering effective instruction: (1) use explicit instruction, and (2) provide high-quality feedback. Research shows that teachers can use these two practices in general and special education classrooms to improve student outcomes. In addition, they are a great starting place for implementing other HLPs. In describing these two HLPs, we provide examples of how teachers might use them. We also provide a list of resources teachers can use to support their implementation (see the lower box on the right).

Explicit Instruction

Explicit instruction (HLP 16) is one of the most well-researched HLPs for teaching students with disabilities in grades K-12. When teachers provide explicit instruction, they make clear for students how to engage in a particular skill, how to be strategic when they approach a task (such as solving a mathematics problem or summarizing a paragraph), or how to define a concept using examples and nonexamples. Explicit instruction has been shown repeatedly to promote skill learning in many domains, problem-solving approaches in mathematics, and strategic thinking in disciplinary literacy instruction. ⁴

Most educators agree that explicit instruction includes the following components:⁵

Break down (or segment) the learning task.

Set clear, measurable, and feasible lesson objectives.

Provide numerous opportunities for students to respond to prompts of varying difficulty, and deliver immediate feedback.

Model by demonstrating and thinking aloud.

Provide guided and engaging practice.

Promote student independence.

In the following sections, we describe each component of explicit instruction and provide examples to support implementation. We suggest that teachers spend extra time learning how to engage in the explicit instruction component of modeling, as researchers have found that many teachers find modeling difficult and could benefit from additional professional development. ⁶

Break down (or segment) the learning task. During planning, teachers break down a learning task by analyzing the concept, strategy, or skill and listing key steps needed to teach it. For concepts, they think carefully about an appropriate definition and select examples and nonexamples that will elucidate the critical features or dimensions of the concept when teaching.

Here's an example from Jacqueline and one of the general education teachers, Tanisha; they want to use a graphic organizer to help students write persuasive essays. During a joint planning session, they list steps students need to learn in order to use a graphic organizer to map out ideas before writing. Jacqueline and Tanisha (1) decide how they will explain the graphic organizer's purpose; (2) set a measurable learning objective for each lesson; (3) script what they will say while thinking aloud-including the specific topic, examples, and nonexamples-when they model how to map out ideas with a graphic organizer; and (4) choose guided practice and independent practice activities to help students learn to use the graphic organizer. Jacqueline and Tanisha also consider scaffolds, such as speech-to-text software, that some of their students with disabilities may need to record their ideas.

Set clear, measurable, and feasible lesson objectives. This aspect of explicit instruction has been widely adopted. Many teachers begin every lesson by presenting an objective. The most effective approach is to provide a specific and measurable objective that can be accomplished in the time allocated for the lesson; they display the objective (e.g., on a dry-erase board), read it to the students, and discuss its importance. They also conclude each lesson by reviewing those aspects of the objective that were accomplished.

When introducing the graphic organizer for persuasive writing, Jacqueline and Tanisha explain to students that they will learn how to use a graphic organizer to develop a persuasive essay. They display and discuss the lesson objective: "Students will correctly explain to a partner the purpose of writing to persuade as well as how a graphic organizer can be used to organize key ideas and plan before we write." After introducing and discussing real-world examples of the genre and the purpose of persuasive writing, they explain each part of the graphic organizer, along with its function. Tanisha and Jacqueline provide several writing samples that include a graphic organizer and several others that do not. They then ask students to "explain to a partner the purpose of writing to persuade as well as how this particular graphic organizer will be used to organize ideas and plan before we write." To see if their learning objective has been met or if additional teaching is needed, Tanisha and Jacqueline close the lesson by assigning student pairs to report back on what they discussed.

Provide numerous opportunities for students to respond to prompts of varying difficulty, and deliver immediate feedback. A key element of explicit instruction is to provide students with numerous opportunities to respond to prompts. This both engages students in the learning process and enables teachers to assess understanding and learning. Teachers should be deliberate in terms of crafting opportunities to respond so they reflect the spectrum of difficulty (e.g., rote or deep/probing questions) and modalities (e.g., responses that are choral, gestural, individual, or written). Jacqueline and Tanisha use planning time to make decisions about what types of opportunities to respond each lesson will feature, and which individual students Jacqueline will focus on to demonstrate their learning. Wanting to ensure that Tanisha calls on many different students while she facilitates a whole-group discussion of which writing samples are or are not examples of persuasive essays, they decide she will use a system that helps keep students engaged: drawing popsicle sticks with students' names on them from a cup. Jacqueline and Tanisha also plan how they will provide students with immediate and specific feedback (the second high-leverage practice we discuss in this article). Feedback reinforces students' efforts and prevents them from unintentionally learning incorrect information.

Model by demonstrating and thinking aloud. Modeling includes the following steps: (1) demonstrating, (2) thinking aloud while demonstrating, and sometimes (3) presenting examples and nonexamples to reinforce learning. Although some educators assume that modeling is more applicable to elementary school, modeling is also relevant in grades 6-12, as well as in college and the workplace.* For instance, a 10th-grade history teacher can use modeling with a think-aloud to demonstrate some strategies for detecting bias in documents from a website. Steps may include demonstrating how to navigate to and within a website, describing the criteria he uses to evaluate a document for bias (such as looking for funding sources, for representation of multiple perspectives, or for acknowledgements of limitations of the work), and thinking aloud while he applies that criteria to evaluate the credibility of different documents (e.g., news articles, speeches, or policy papers). Time spent in the modeling phase is determined by skill complexity (e.g., modeling a cursive letter for third-graders versus a multistep algorithm for students in precalculus).

Jacqueline and Tanisha model with a think-aloud to show students how to use their notes from the graphic organizer to compose sentences for their persuasive essays. Jacqueline begins the model by showing students how to take two words from her graphic organizer, "vegan options," to write an introductory sentence. Jacqueline states, "My notes are brief, but contain good ideas. My notes say 'vegan options' for the introduction to my paragraph. Hmm, how will I turn this into a great sentence? Well, what I believe is that there should be at least one vegan option each day. I'll write, 'I believe the time has come for students to have a daily vegan option for lunch.' I like my sentence because it conveys to readers where I stand!" To demonstrate, Jacqueline writes the sentence on the board as she talks through the process.

Provide guided and engaging practice. In this component of explicit instruction, teachers plan highly interactive practice activities to build students' proficiency. Teachers ask students multiple questions to assess understanding or provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they are learning by showing their work. Teachers then provide quality feedback on students' responses.

Tanisha and Jacqueline realize that many students will require considerable support to independently write a persuasive essay. Along with breaking down lessons for each step-use a graphic organizer to plan ideas, convert notes into an essay, and revise and publish their essays-they also conduct guided practice for each step. In one guided practice session, Jacqueline, Tanisha, and their students generate ideas and notes for the graphic organizer based on the prompt: "Should the voting age be lowered to 17?" Through discussion, the class decides that 17 years old is appropriate. They then brainstorm reasons to support their position. To give students more opportunities to respond, Tanisha and Jacqueline divide the students into two groups, with each teacher facilitating one group. (Once the pandemic is over and it is safe for students to sit close to each other, they plan to pair students for "turn and talk" brainstorming.) In Tanisha's group, two students argue that 17-year-olds are responsible enough to vote because they had obtained drivers' licenses at age 16, and doing so demonstrated responsibility. As the students talk, Tanisha provides suggestions to help limit how many words they use during note taking. The students then choose the following words for their notes, "license shows responsibility."

To support three students whose graphic organizers are only partially completed, Jacqueline breaks a few of the group's ideas into more specific questions to improve their understanding of and participation in the task. For example, one student says her older brother, who is 17, has a job and that means he is responsible enough to vote; she then argues for being able to vote as soon as you get a job or turn 18, whichever comes first. To engage the three students in considering that assertion, Jacqueline asks a series of brief questions (starting with "Does having a job mean you are responsible?") and helps the students write their notes after each question. Once the class completes the graphic organizers, Jacqueline and Tanisha bring the whole class back together and provide feedback on ideas they generated. In their next planning period, they agree to create additional modeling and guided practice activities to help students learn how to generate text using ideas in their graphic organizers.

Promote student independence. Teachers gradually remove support during the guided practice phase and plan continued practice opportunities for students to increase their proficiency and their ability to apply what they have learned in new situations. ⁷ Independent practice activities vary in length and format (e.g., independent practice with solving mathematics word problems versus with writing chemistry lab reports), and include immediate and corrective feedback, a return to modeling as necessary, or additional examples and nonexamples if a review is warranted.

Tanisha and Jacqueline allot 30-minute periods spread over several days for independent practice. Students choose a topic to plan and compose a persuasive response. Topics include (1) whether the local government should install solar panels on government buildings, (2) whether the local library should add a computer lab or an art studio, and (3) which historical figure should be honored with a statue at a local park. Jacqueline conferences with students based on their needs. For instance, one student watches Jacqueline model and share examples of using transition words like furthermore, another reason, and besides when introducing a new idea. Jacqueline teaches another student to improve his writing by using the thesaurus on his laptop. Noting that he used the word obviously twice in one paragraph, Jacqueline models using the thesaurus to choose a new word. He then practices using the thesaurus independently.

Importantly, Jacqueline and Tanisha recognize that some students benefit from ongoing review as the school year advances, including repeated modeling of the steps in writing persuasive essays and other instructional scaffolds. After several months, the process of using explicit instruction to specify how to use a graphic organizer for writing a persuasive essay resulted in increased performance and greater confidence among the students, including those with disabilities. When the students with disabilities used the graphic organizer combined with speech-to-text software to support their spelling and handwriting issues, their writing improved substantially.

Feedback

Feedback (HLP 8, under social/emotional/behavioral, and HLP 22, under instruction) is a powerful research-based practice teachers can use to improve students' learning and development-from understanding concepts to mastering skills to enhancing social interactions. ⁸ Feedback is a key feature of explicit instruction that occurs after a teacher has provided an opportunity to practice a concept, skill, or strategy that the teacher has modeled and explained. When used effectively, feedback can increase student motivation and effort toward a learning task and improve performance.

To be effective, teachers' feedback must be specific. Specific feedback incorporates these qualities:⁹

Goal directed

Constructive

Immediate or timely

Positive and respectful

Goal directed. Goal-directed feedback focuses on the academic or behavioral target students are working toward. The learning target should be important for student growth, based on assessment of student performance, explained to the student clearly, and, when possible, developed collaboratively with the student.

Two of Jacqueline's students have not yet been able to write a cohesive essay. To support them, she and the students are working toward writing strong, well-organized paragraphs that include a topic sentence and three to four supporting details. When providing feedback to one of her students, Sam, she notes he has developed a strong topic sentence because it introduces what the paragraph will be about, and he has two details that support it. Jacqueline also points out that the remaining two sentences contain details that are not related to the topic sentence and helps Sam generate two related details that he can write about. In addition to focusing on Sam's writing, Jacqueline tells him that he did a good job of working independently, a skill she has been trying to promote. Being more specific, Jacqueline tells Sam that she appreciates that he first asked his peers for ideas and also looked up information on the computer before asking her for help. She emphasizes that it will be important for Sam to continue to seek help on his own to continue growing as an independent learner.

Constructive. Constructive feedback helps students understand specific aspects of performance that are effective and specific aspects that need to be improved. In Jacqueline's work with Sam, she helps him understand what he has done to meet his learning and behavior targets-such as writing the topic sentence, adding two related details, and improving his work through independent strategies. Then, Jacqueline specifies what he needs to do to improve (replacing the unrelated details in his paragraph). Building on the initiative Sam took by trying to look up information on the computer, Jacqueline later follows up to help Sam learn more about online research. Such support and clarity usually motivate all students, especially those who have been struggling to learn.

Immediate or timely. Immediate feedback is ideal in supporting student learning, whether instruction is focused on academic content or behavior. For example, while Jacqueline is teaching a small group of students to capitalize proper nouns in their essays, she draws attention immediately to the students' errors. Jacqueline offers this real-time feedback in a helpful manner, with an encouraging tone, such as pointing to a lowercased name in a student's paragraph and asking what is missing. The same is true for improving behavior. Quickly pointing out that a student engaged in an appropriate behavior is a positive way to increase prosocial interactions. For instance, right after Marcel helped Sam with his writing, Jacqueline tells him that she liked how helpful he was being-and she notices over the next week that Marcel is more frequently helping other students in the class.

Immediate feedback is not always possible, especially in general education classrooms where teachers are working with a large group of students on tasks such as extended writing or applying a summary strategy while reading with their peers. In these instances, teachers will want to provide feedback as soon as possible.

For the general education students' persuasive essays, Tanisha chooses to provide written feedback on their long-term learning goals: organization, use of details, capitalization, and appropriate punctuation. Tanisha also provides written feedback when her students are honing their ability to summarize. Once her students are ready for independent practice, Tanisha has them underline the topic sentence and then highlight ideas that supported it before writing a 10- to 15-word summary. That approach gives Tanisha insights into the students' thinking, allowing her to provide written feedback on whether they were able to identify the topic sentence and related ideas before they write their summaries. It also helps Tanisha identify what additional instruction the students need (such as a repeated modeling lesson or additional background knowledge and vocabulary).

Positive and respectful. Positive and respectful feedback helps students feel that their efforts are worthwhile and appreciated by the teacher. Teachers should acknowledge students' efforts as well as their correct answers and prosocial behaviors. For instance, Jacqueline often tells students she notices they are working well with their peers to read a passage; she appreciates the way they are taking turns and praising each other for reading carefully. Likewise, when students are decoding multisyllabic words but need additional help, Jacqueline is careful to focus on their efforts. She often makes remarks like, "Oh, that was an interesting way to sound out the word, let me show you what I would do."

To provide constructive feedback, it is most effective to focus only on what students did well and what they need to do to improve-and to avoid criticizing the quality of their efforts. For instance, when a student, Zara, gets stuck solving a word problem, Jacqueline tells her that she did a fine job of reading the mathematics problem aloud and then paraphrasing the question; Jacqueline then reminds Zara that she would find it easier to solve the problem if she drew a picture representing it, as Jacqueline taught the class to do earlier that week. Seeing that Zara looks confused, Jacqueline remodels how to represent the problem in a picture.

These high-leverage practices provide an excellent road map for K-12 educators to consider when designing and implementing instruction for students with disabilities and others who need additional supports. Although all HLPs are important for teachers' tool belts, use of explicit instruction and feedback stand out as must-have practices to produce strong outcomes for the broadest possible range of students-including large numbers of students who have fallen behind as a result of the pandemic. As noted above, educators can use explicit instruction and feedback across the day to teach just about any content, and then give students positive, timely information about the extent to which they are meeting expectations. But explicit instruction and feedback are not standalone practices.

To implement explicit instruction, teachers must also be able to establish consistent, organized, and respectful learning environments (HLP 7); otherwise, they will be unable to accomplish any instruction. They also must be able to identify and prioritize long- and short-term learning goals (HLP 11), if they are to focus their explicit instruction, and be able to promote active student engagement (HLP 18), if they are to create highly interactive instruction that helps students learn. Because all 22 HLPs reinforce each other but cannot be learned simultaneously, we recommend that educators looking for a logical entry point to adopt the HLPs begin with explicit instruction and feedback. These key practices serve as a strong foundation for other HLPs and are essential elements of many content-focused, research-based practices, such as teaching decoding in a systematic manner and encouraging positive behaviors.
Mary T. Brownell is a distinguished professor of special education at the University of Florida and director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center. Stephen Ciullo is an associate professor of special education at Texas State University. Michael J. Kennedy is an associate professor of education in the Curry School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia and head of the STORMED (Supporting Teachers through cOaching, obseRvations, and Multimedia to Educate students with Disabilities) Lab. The content of this manuscript was produced under US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Award No. H325A170003. David Guardino serves as the project officer. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the US Department of Education. No official endorsement by the US Department of Education is intended or should be inferred.
*For more on the importance of modeling in schooling, see "'Cognitive Apprenticeship' Revisited" in the Fall 2020 issue of American Educator. ( return to article)

Endnotes

1. R. Gersten et al., Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools, NCEE 2009-4060 (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, 2009). See also S. Graham et al., "Reading for Writing: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Reading Interventions on Writing," Review of Educational Research 88 (2018): 243-284.
2. J. McLeskey et al., High-Leverage Practices in Special Education (Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children and CEEDAR Center, January 2017).
3. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004).
4. A. L. Archer and C. A. Hughes, Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching (New York: Guilford Press, 2010); and S. De La Paz et al., "A Historical Writing Apprenticeship for Adolescents: Integrating Disciplinary Learning with Cognitive Strategies," Reading Research Quarterly 52, no. 1 (2017): 31-52.
5. Archer and Hughes, Explicit Instruction; and C. A. Hughes et al., "Explicit Instruction: Historical and Contemporary Contexts," Learning Disabilities Research & Practice 32, no. 3 (2017): 140-148.
6. D. L. Coker Jr. et al., "Writing Instruction in First Grade: An Observational Study," Reading and Writing 29, no. 5 (2016): 793-832.
7. Hughes et al., "Explicit Instruction."
8. J. Hattie and H. Timperley, "The Power of Feedback," Review of Educational Research 77 (2007): 81-112.
9. M. Kennedy et al., "High-Leverage Practices #8 & #22: Provide Positive and Constructive Feedback to Guide Students' Learning and Behavior," 2018, highleveragepractices.org/701-2-3; and McLeskey et al., High-Leverage Practices.

[illustrated by Rachel Sender]

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J acqueline is a sixth-grade special education teacher whose school district recently decided to implement an inclusive approach to teaching and learning. Now special and general educators collaborate to provide a stronger system of instructional supports based on their analysis of students' data.

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Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities

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Modifications for Special Education Students

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NCEO - National Center on Educational Outcomes

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V2-1: Discussing Common Misperceptions about Accommodations

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A special education teacher and math teacher discuss common misperceptions about accommodations. The special education teacher explains how accommodations "level the playing field" for students with disabilities rather than giving them an unfair advantage. The teachers then discuss which accommodations may be useful for the student.

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NCEO - National Center on Educational Outcomes

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NCEO - National Center on Educational Outcomes

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V2-2: Identifying Students' Accommodation Needs

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Introduction

High Leverage Practices (HLPs) are strategies every teacher should know and use. Both general education (TeachingWorks, 2020) and special education (Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform [CEEDAR] Center, n.d.) fields have outlined specific HLPs that pertain to the respective populations of students. In the context of inclusive classrooms, both sets of HLPs must be optimized to support students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The purpose of this TIPs Sheet is to provide ideas for inclusive general education classroom implementation of those HLPs that are common to both general and special education.

High Leverage Practice Crosswalk

TeachingWorks (2020) at the University of Michigan designed the original set of HLPs for teachers. In response, experts from the CEEDAR Center at the University of Florida and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) outlined corresponding HLPs for special education. In addition, CEEDAR Center (n.d.) created a crosswalk which focuses on the similarities and connections between the two sets of High Leverage Practices. This TIP Sheet provides an extension of the crosswalk developed by CEEDAR and provides practical application for the inclusive classroom.

Implementation

In the CEEDAR Center crosswalk (n.d.), each general education HLP is listed with the coordinating special education HLPs that align with the instructional strategy. In the tables that follow we provide groups of common HLPs for special education and general education. We then illustrate each set of shared HLPs with a vignette from an inclusive classroom. In this inclusive classroom Mr. Carter is the general education teacher. He collaborates frequently with Ms. Salcido, the special education teacher, and Ms. Cardoso, the speech-language pathologist, so they can best support DJ, a student with significant cognitive disabilities and complex communication needs.

Participating in Group Discussions

1) Leading a group discussion

9) Teach social behaviors

14) Teach cognitive and metacognitive strategies to support learning and independence

18) Use strategies to promote active student engagement

Mr. Carter often starts class with a group discussion but notices that DJ does not seem to participate. He knows that DJ can use his communication device to greet his peers and ask for things he needs, but notices that DJ rarely uses it in class. Mr. Carter decides to ask Ms. Cardoso for advice. Together, they discover that DJ does not have the right words programmed on his device, which makes participating in group discussions downright impossible! They create a list of all the relevant words for the next unit and program his device so that DJ can participate with his peers. Ms. Cardoso also does some pre-teaching with DJ on the unit content and relevant words as well as teaching him to raise his hand to participate.

Fading Supports for Answering Comprehension Questions

2) Explaining and modeling content, practices, and strategies

14) Teach cognitive and metacognitive strategies to support learning and independence

9) Teach social behaviors

16) Use explicit instruction

20) Provide intensive instruction

Mr. Carter knows that all his students benefit from modeling, especially when it is time to learn a new concept. He uses the "I Do, We Do, You Do" method to introduce the skill, practice it together, and then give students the opportunity to practice on their own. DJ is not always ready for independent practice, so Mr. Carter decides to use that time to work intensively with DJ on the skills he needs to be successful in class. For example, the class is working on referring back to the text to answer a comprehension question. Mr. Carter models how to look back in the text to answer a question with the whole class while he points to the text on DJ's desk (I Do). Next, Mr. Carter leads the class through a second example where Mr. Carter frames where DJ should be looking in the text by outlining around the text (We Do). Lastly, Mr. Carter will ask DJ step-by-step questions to guide him through the process while DJ works to respond to each question (You Do).

Each student in Mr. Carter's class knows they are expected to share their thinking and that it is a safe place to do so. Mr. Carter loves how much DJ has been participating now that his communication device includes the relevant words, but sometimes DJ can be off-topic. Both Mr. Carter and Ms. Salcido help shape DJ's contribution through positive and constructive feedback. An example of this is acknowledging DJ's response to a question and providing support to go to the text to verify (or revise) DJ's response, based upon what is found in the text.

Reviewing Complex Concepts

Over the years, Mr. Carter has realized that he needs to do a quick review of division before introducing fractions. This makes him wonder if there are any other skills that he needs to "break-down" for DJ. He works with Ms. Salcido to create a plan to teach some of those more complex skills in smaller "chunks" so DJ can be successful in class.

Creating a Respectful Learning Environment

At the start of each year, Mr. Carter reviews the rules for respectful discussions in his class. It is an excellent opportunity to address social skills for all participants. He makes sure to include information this year about "think and response time," as DJ takes a little longer than his peers to share his thoughts using his communication device.

Responding to Student Learning with Scaffolded Supports

Mr. Carter knows the value of formative assessment and he uses it throughout his lessons to ensure student understanding, adjusting his instruction when necessary. More complex and abstract skills are typically difficult for DJ, so he scaffolds the skills when needed by breaking the task into small chunks so that DJ can access them. One strategy that Mr. Carter often uses is a graphic organizer to break down and illustrate key points. This approach benefits all students in the class.

Managing Challenging Behavior

DJ has begun to show some task refusal during math time, and Mr. Carter hypothesizes that it is because the work is challenging. In collaboration with Ms. Salcido, they develop a functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention support plan for DJ. Mr. Carter always phrases his feedback to students in a positive way, indicating what they should do, instead of focusing on what they should not do, so he recognizes the importance of a replacement behavior. He and Ms. Salcido decide to teach DJ to ask for help when he becomes frustrated.

Establishing Routines

In Mr. Carter's classroom, everything has its place. He uses color coding, labels, and visual cue cards to show where things go and what the expectations are. This not only helps DJ, but all of his students to become more independent learners.

Using Small Group Instruction

It can be hard to find time in his schedule to include small group activities, but Mr. Carter knows how important it is. Not only does it give his students time to collaborate and discuss concepts more in depth, it also gives him the time to sit with each small group and check for understanding. Mr. Carter switches up the small groups frequently, to ensure everybody gets a chance to work with people with different personalities, skill levels, and interests. Whenever he starts a new group, he checks in with DJ's group first, to make sure everybody in the group is including him in the conversation, and that DJ has a meaningful way to engage with his peers. Ms. Salcido frequently supports small group instruction as well, providing additional support to Mr. Carter and all students and learning more about the curriculum and DJ's access and progress in grade level content.

Building Rapport

Mr. Carter has a special greeting that he uses with each student. Some students give a high five, others a handshake, and others do a little dance. Whatever the form, Mr. Carter teaches each student the power of a greeting. This works great for DJ because one of his IEP goals is to initiate greetings with familiar adults and peers, so Mr. Carter has lots of data to share with the speech teacher, Ms. Cardoso.

Communicating with Parents

Mr. Carter communicates with all his parents on a regular basis. He sends home weekly newsletters, and makes "good news" calls home as often as he can. Mr. Carter knows that DJ's parents appreciate any information he can give them because DJ does not communicate the same way his peers do. He also takes care during IEP meetings to emphasize DJ's strengths, before moving on to discuss areas of need.

Collaborating with Families

At the beginning of the year, Mr. Carter sent home a "Need to Know?" form for families to fill out, where they could tell him anything they thought was important for him to know about their child. Some parents included information about their religious beliefs, some about custody arrangements, and some about past experiences that they believed were relevant to their child's education. He also included a place for parents to indicate whether they wanted to speak with him more in depth. DJ's parents checked this, and so they met as a team at the beginning of the year. DJ's parents really appreciated the opportunity to meet with Mr. Carter, and to share information about their son's strengths, needs, medical concerns, and more.

Setting Goals

At the beginning of the year, Ms. Salcido met with Mr. Carter to go over DJ's IEP goals. This was really helpful, because it helped Mr. Carter be aware of what DJ needed to work on. Although DJ's goals are standards-based, they do not cover all of the standards. Mr. Carter does need to cover all the standards in his teaching. So now, when he is writing his unit plans, Mr. Carter collaborates with Ms. Salcido and includes long- and short-term goals for DJ and his classmates. They are written succinctly and without jargon; but it is something that Mr. Carter believes has helped all of his students!

Sequencing Lessons

Mr. Carter likes to look to the end goal when he is writing his lesson plan. He always starts with a unit plan, and then develops single lesson plans. Mr. Carter has noticed that the lessons are still a little too complex for DJ. He decides to collaborate with Ms. Salcido, and together they use the principals of systematically designed instruction to develop task analyses and mini-lessons to help address any knowledge or skill gaps or priority concepts. Ms. Salcido also supports instruction via co-teaching, working with small groups of students, and delivering individualized instruction for DJ and others who need additional support prior to, during, or following unit completion.

Checking for Understanding

Mr. Carter keeps a data sheet to help guide his formative assessment. He walks around the room while the students are doing independent or partner work and checks off whether they can demonstrate the skill of the day (which he gets from his lesson plans). If they cannot, he gives them additional instruction during small group time. Because DJ does not show his understanding the same way as his peers, Mr. Carter always has a modified quick-check for him. For example, sometimes he uses response cards and has DJ identify the appropriate one to determine whether he is making progress toward his short-term goals. Ms. Salcido engages in this formative assessment as well and often creates the modified quick-checks for DJ.

Utilizing Assessments

Mr. Carter feels that it is very important that DJ is included in all aspects of the classroom community, including assessments. He meets with Ms. Salcido a week before the assessment to review the unit goals and skills. Together, they develop a differentiated assessment so DJ can show what he knows.

Responding to Progress

17) Interpreting the results of student work, including routine assignments, quizzes, tests, projects, and standardized assessments

1) Collaborate with professionals to increase student success

4) Use multiple sources of information to develop a comprehensive understanding of a student's strengths and needs

5) Interpret and communicate assessment information with stakeholders to collaboratively design and implement educational programs

Once DJ takes his differentiated assessment, Mr. Carter reviews it with Ms. Salcido. Together, they consider any areas where DJ may have made errors and determine how they will respond. Some skills are extremely important for DJ to make progress in future units, but others may not need to be a priority.

Providing Feedback

Mr. Carter uses descriptive verbal praise whenever providing feedback with his students. He has found that it increases their learning and motivation. It is no different with DJ, who absolutely loves social praise! Mr. Carter teaches his students to provide feedback to each other as well, using scripted phrases, response cards, and more.

Reflecting on Instructional Practices

DJ is the first student with significant cognitive disabilities that Mr. Carter has taught. And Ms. Salcido is not an expert in the general education curriculum. Although they have learned a lot this year, there is still more to learn. Mr. Carter and Ms. Salcido continuously evaluate their own teaching, ask for help from other teachers, and visit the TIES website for more resources. Mr. Carter and Ms. Salcido are well on their way to becoming great co-teachers for all students!

Summary

In summary, High Leverage Practices are really just best practices. Although separate HLPs have been developed for general education and special education teachers, there is a significant amount of crossover. These are strategies and practices that are effective for all students! By incorporating these practices into daily instruction in inclusive settings, students will have increased opportunities to succeed.

TIPS Series: Tip #8, April 2020

All rights reserved. Any or all portions of this document may be reproduced without prior permission, provided the source is cited as:

Clausen, A., Reyes, E. N., & Wakeman, S. (2020). High-Leverage Practices Crosswalk (TIPS Series: Tip #8). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, TIES Center.

TIES Center is the national technical assistance center on inclusive practices and policies. Its purpose is to create sustainable changes in kindergarten-grade 8 school and district educational systems so that students with significant cognitive disabilities can fully engage in the same instructional and non-instructional activities as their general education peers, while being instructed in a way that meets individual learning needs. TIES Center is led by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, and includes the following additional collaborating partners: Arizona Department of Education, CAST, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of North Carolina - Charlotte, and University of North Carolina - Greensboro.

TIES Center is supported through a Cooperative Agreement (#H326Y170004) with the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Education or Offices within it. Project Officer: Susan Weigert

TIES Center

University of Minnesota

Institute on Community Integration

2025 East River Parkway

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Phone: 612-626-1530
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TIES TIPS | Foundations of Inclusion | TIP #8: High Leverage Practices Crosswalk

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High Leverage Practices (HLPs) are strategies every teacher should know and use. Both general education (TeachingWorks, 2020) and special education (Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform [CEEDAR] Center, n.d.) fields have outlined specific HLPs that pertain to the respective populations of students.

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Study Carrel to Help Students Concentrate

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Learn more about using study carrels to help students concentrate and reduce visual distractions in the classroom.

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Here are some examples of modifications. Remember, that a modified lesson in an inclusive classroom is a lesson where the objective and/or learning materials have been changed to meet the needs of a special learner. However, the overall concept or activity remains the same so that the learner can experience the curriculum alongside his or her classmates.

In addition, you can modify a lesson by using the following strategies:

Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, feel free to share any modified activities you may have!

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Examples of Modified Assignments for Students with Special Needs

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Here are some examples of modifications. Remember, that a modified lesson in an inclusive classroom is a lesson where the objective and/or learning materials have been changed to meet the needs of a special learner. However, the overall concept or activity remains the same so that the learner can experience the curriculum alongside his or her classmates.

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May 20, 2007

The development of modified academic achievement standards for some students with disabilities and their use for making adequate yearly progress (AYP) decisions is authorized under Department regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 200) published on April 9, 2007. These regulations build on flexibility that was previously available under the Title I regulations in 34 C.F.R. Part 200 for measuring the achievement of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Those Title I regulations permit a State to develop alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and to include those students' proficient and advanced scores on alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards in measuring AYP, subject to a cap of 1.0 percent of all students assessed at the State and district levels.

A copy of the final regulations on modified academic achievement standards has been posted on the Department's Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/finrule/2007-2/
040907a.html. Guidance is also available at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/nclb/twopercent.doc.

Since the regulations on alternate academic achievement standards were published in December 2003, the experiences of many States, as well as recent research, indicate that, in addition to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, there is a small group of students whose disability has precluded them from achieving grade-level proficiency and whose progress is such that they will not reach grade-level proficiency in the same time frame as other students. These students had the option of taking either the grade-level assessment, with or without accommodations, or an alternate assessment based on grade-level or alternate academic achievement standards. Neither of these options provides an accurate assessment of what these students know and can do. The assessments based on grade-level achievement standards are too difficult and, therefore, do not provide data about a student's abilities or information that would be helpful to guide instruction. The alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards is too easy and is not intended to assess a student's achievement across the full range of grade-level content. Such an assessment, therefore, would not provide teachers and parents with information to help these students continue to progress toward grade-level achievement. Modified academic achievement standards, and assessments based on those standards, are intended to fill this gap and provide a more appropriate measure of these students' performance against academic content standards for the grade in which they are enrolled, as well as provide teachers and parents with information that will help guide instruction.

A modified academic achievement standard is an expectation of performance that is challenging for eligible students, but is less difficult than a grade-level academic achievement standard. Modified academic achievement standards must be aligned with a State's academic content standards for the grade in which an eligible student is enrolled. Thus, only the academic achievement standards are modified, not the content standards on which those modified academic achievement standards are based. Although the assessment and modified academic achievement standards for a particular grade must be challenging for eligible students, they may be less difficult when compared with the general test and grade-level academic achievement standards. (See Questions B-1 and D-1 of the Guidance)

A student eligible to participate in an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards must be a student with a disability under section 602(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and may be in any of the disability categories listed in the IDEA. A student's individualized education program (IEP) team (IEP Team), which includes the student's parent, determines how the student will participate in State and district-wide assessments. If a State chooses to develop modified academic achievement standards, the State must establish clear and appropriate criteria for IEP Teams to apply in determining whether a student should be assessed based on modified academic achievement standards in one or more subjects. These criteria must include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. There must be objective evidence demonstrating that the student's disability has precluded the student from achieving grade-level proficiency. Such evidence may include the student's performance on State assessments or other assessments that can validly document academic achievement.

2. The student's progress to date in response to appropriate instruction, including special education and related services designed to address the student's individual needs, is such that, even if significant growth occurs, the IEP Team is reasonably certain that the student will not achieve grade-level proficiency within the year covered by the student's IEP. The IEP Team must use multiple valid measures of the student's progress over time in making this determination.

3. The student's IEP must include goals that are based on grade-level academic content standards. It is a State's responsibility to establish and monitor implementation of clear and appropriate guidelines for IEP Teams to use when deciding if an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards is appropriate for an individual student. These guidelines should provide parameters and direction to ensure that students are not assessed based on modified academic achievement standards merely because of their disability category or their racial or economic background or the lack of appropriate instruction. (See Question C-1 of the Guidance.)

Alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards are intended to be challenging for a limited group of students whose disability has prevented them from attaining grade-level proficiency. These students must have access to a curriculum based on grade-level content standards and, therefore, must be assessed with a measure that also is based on grade-level content standards, although the assessment may be less difficult than the general assessment. The content standards are not modified, but the achievement expectations are less difficult than those on the general assessment. This means that the same content is covered in the test, but with less difficult questions overall.

A State may modify an existing assessment or develop a new assessment. An out-of-level assessment may not be used as an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards because it is, by definition, not aligned with grade-level content standards. Out-of-level testing means assessing students enrolled at a specific grade level with tests designed for students enrolled at lower grade levels. By definition, an out-of-level assessment does not meet the requirements of an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards because it does not measure grade-level content standards for the grade in which a student is enrolled. (See Part D of the Guidance)

IEP goals based on grade-level academic content standards are goals that address the skills specified in the academic content standards for the grade in which an eligible student is enrolled. Incorporating State standards in IEP goals is not a new idea. Many educators have been working toward incorporating State content standards in IEP goals since enactment of the 1997 reauthorization of the IDEA, which first required that the IEPs of students with disabilities support their involvement and progress in the general curriculum. Some States already require standards-based IEP goals and have developed extensive training materials and professional development opportunities for staff to learn how to write IEP goals that are tied to State academic content standards. (See Question E-1 of the Guidance.)

The primary reason for requiring IEP goals based on grade-level academic content standards is to ensure that students who participate in an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards receive instruction in grade-level content so that they can make progress towards meeting grade-level proficiency. The requirement focuses the IEP Team and the student on grade-level content and the student's achievement level relative to those academic content standards, as well as the educational supports and services that the student needs to reach those standards. McLaughlin, Nolet, Rhim, and Henderson (1999) reported that special education teachers indicated that, when IEPs were aligned with State academic content standards, students with disabilities had improved exposure to subject matter and received focused instruction to meet challenging goals. In addition, they noted that collaboration between special and general education teachers was greater when they worked with a student whose IEP goals were aligned with State academic content standards. (See Question E-2 of the Guidance.)

The regulations on modified academic achievement standards include a number of safeguards to ensure that a student with disabilities who is assessed based on modified academic achievement standards has access to grade-level content so that the student has the opportunity, over time, to reach grade-level academic achievement standards. The safeguards for the student that are included in the regulations include the following:

Modified academic achievement standards must be aligned with a State's academic content standards and a student must be assessed on the content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled (§200.1(e)(1)(i)).

A student's IEP must include goals that are based on the academic content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled and be designed to monitor the student's progress in achieving the standards-based goals (§200.1(e)(2)(iii) and (f)(2)(ii)).

A State must establish and monitor implementation of clear and appropriate guidelines for an IEP Team to apply in developing and implementing the IEP of a student who is assessed based on modified academic achievement standards (§200.1(f)(2)(ii)).

A State must ensure that a student who is assessed based on modified academic achievement standards has access to curriculum, including instruction, for the grade in which the student is enrolled (§200.1(f)(2)(iii)).

A State must ensure that a student who takes an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards is not precluded from attempting to complete the requirements, as defined by the State, for a regular diploma (§200.1(f)(2)(iv)). (See Question F-4 of the Guidance.)

Under the final regulations, States and local educational agencies (LEAs) may include in AYP determinations the proficient and advanced scores from alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards, subject to a cap at the district and State levels based on the total number of students assessed. The experience of many States and the best available research indicate that 2.0 percent of all students assessed, or approximately 20 percent of students with disabilities, is a reasonable and sufficient cap. (See Section G of the Guidance.)

The 2.0 percent cap is based on the number of students enrolled in the tested grades for which there is an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards. This means that, if a State provides an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards in only three grades, the 2.0 percent calculation is based on the number of students in those three grades. The number of students in a tested grade is based on enrollment at the time of testing, including students who are publicly placed in a private school to receive special education services.

The following table, included in the final regulations, summarizes the policy. (See Questions G-3 and G-7 of the Guidance for an explanation of when it may be appropriate for States and LEAs to exceed the caps.)

Alternate academic achievement standards-1% Cap

Modified academic achievement standards-2% Cap

Alternate and modified academic achievement standards - 3%

State

Not permitted.

Only if State is below 1% cap, but cannot exceed 3%.

Not permitted.

LEA

Only if granted an exception by the SEA.

Only if LEA is below 1% cap, but cannot exceed 3%.

Only if granted an exception to the 1% cap by the SEA, and only by the amount of the exception

No. Under the final regulations, regardless of whether a State chooses to develop modified academic achievement standards, it may no longer establish different group sizes for separate subgroups or the "all student" group (§200.7(a)(2)(ii)), beginning in the 2007-08 school year. Because of ongoing concerns about how accurately State assessments measure the achievement of a very heterogeneous subgroup of students (many of whom were assessed with a range of accommodations to the regular assessment), some States requested permission to use a larger group size for their students with disabilities and limited English proficient (LEP) subgroups. In support of their requests, States argued that a larger group size for these subgroups of students would take into consideration the challenges of measuring their achievement.

With the implementation of these final regulations on modified academic achievement standards, the Title I regulations on alternate academic achievement standards (68 FR 68698, Dec. 9, 2003), and the Title I regulations on assessment and accountability for recently arrived and former LEP students (71 FR 54187, Sept. 13, 2006), we believe that States now have sufficient flexibility to measure the achievement of students with disabilities and LEP students appropriately and, therefore, no longer need a different group size for these subgroups. In addition, all States now test in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school as opposed to just once per grade span, thereby decreasing the sampling error associated with smaller tested populations. With these additional test scores to include in AYP determinations, the argument for a larger group size for these two subgroups is no longer statistically justified. Setting a different subgroup size also may lead to unintended consequences, such as manipulating the number of students with disabilities in a particular school to ensure that the school will not be held accountable for those students.

The final regulations in §200.20(f)(2) provide additional flexibility in calculating AYP for the students with disabilities subgroup. Under the final regulations, a State may include, for a period of up to two years, the scores of students who were previously identified with a disability under the IDEA, but who no longer receive special education services. A State, however, would not be able to include the scores of former students with disabilities as part of the students with disabilities subgroup in reporting any other information (e.g., participation rates) under Title I.

Yes. The final regulations add language to the IDEA regulations that includes the option to develop modified academic achievement standards and to further align the IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. For example, the regulations require that State (or, in the case of a districtwide assessment, district) guidelines for IEP Teams identify for the IEP Teams any accommodations that would result in an invalid score and instruct IEP Teams to select only accommodations that do not invalidate a student's score. Under Title I, a student must receive a valid score on an assessment in order to be considered a participant. Another change to the IDEA regulations ensures that public reports on participation of students with disabilities under the IDEA include only students who were provided accommodations that did not result in an invalid score, further conforming the requirements of Title I and the IDEA.

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Final Regulations on Modified Academic Achievement Standards

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May 20, 2007 The development of modified academic achievement standards for some students with disabilities and their use for making adequate yearly progress (AYP) decisions is authorized under Department regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 200) published on April 9, 2007. These regulations build on flexibility that was previously available under the Title I regulations in 34 C.F.R.

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Is your child's IQ is well below average? Does your child's IEP exempt your child from standardized tests or note that she should take modified assessments? Is she "pulled out" into a resource room for any academic subject, such as Math or Language Arts? Is it clear from her homework that she is unable to learn at the same depth or speed as her typical peers? If your answer to any of these questions is "Yes," then ask the IEP Team if your child should be receiving a modified curriculum, and then ask them to identify what grade level curriculum she should be receiving.

What is a Modified Curriculum?
A modified curriculum is changing what the student is expected to learn, not the manner in which it is presented. For example, if the typical peers in 3rd grade are learning double digit multiplication, perhaps a modification for this child would be to teach (and hold her responsible for learning) only single digit modification. Modifications can be slight and they can be large- it's all what the team decides is appropriate to meet YOUR child's needs.

Modifying the curriculum is different from modifying the manner of presentation. The latter would be more of an accommodation. For example, if a student has difficulty concentrating for long periods or difficulty with writing, the team may decide that she should have shortened assignments, i.e. giving her only three math problems instead of 10. She is still learning the same thing, double digit multiplication, but she is doing fewer problems to accommodate her disability.

Keeping the Curriculum Modifications at Grade Level
Some school districts want to use a modified curriculum, but they don't want to identify the curriculum or the grade level of the curriculum. We fight to get the district to keep the student on grade level whenever possible and to identify the specific grade level on the IEP, such as "modified 3rd grade curriculum," "Ohio extended standards based upon current grade level," etc. We all want our kids to learn to the best of their ability and to learn as much of their typical grade level curriculum as possible. The IEP needs to reflect, in detail, any modification to the curriculum (noting which subjects and what grade level).

Latest Word on Modified Curriculum from the US Department of Education
Now we have the support of the US Department of Education behind us! On November 17th, 2015, the USDOE issued guidance that says a student's IEP must be aligned to state grade level academic content standards, and that this alignment is a component of FAPE (free appropriate public education required by federal IDEA and state law). The USDOE's "guidance" letter gives us their interpretation of federal IDEA law. While the guidance is not legally binding, it is a useful tool and a persuasive source to site in communications with school officials.

The guidance letter explains that IEPs should be written to help close the gap where a child is performing well below grade level. It reads, "...In a case where a child's present levels of academic performance are significantly below the grade in which the child is enrolled, in order to align the IEP with grade-level content standards, the IEP Team should estimate the growth toward the State academic content standards for the grade in which the child is enrolled that the child is expected to achieve in the year covered by the IEP. In a situation where a child is performing significantly below the level of the grade in which the child is enrolled, an IEP Team should determine annual goals that are ambitious but achievable. In other words, the annual goals need not necessarily result in the child's reaching grade-level within the year covered by the IEP, but the goals should be sufficiently ambitious to help close the gap..."

In Conclusion
Remember: Discuss your child's curriculum with the IEP Team. Every decision should be made based on YOUR child and YOUR child's specific needs and abilities! Team decisions on curriculum should be specifically stated on the IEP and aligned with the child's grade level curriculum.

Click here to read the full USDOE Guidance Letter.

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When Is Modified Curriculum Appropriate and How Modified Should It Be? - Hickman & Lowder Co., LPA

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Is your child's IQ is well below average? Does your child's IEP exempt your child from standardized tests or note that she should take modified assessments? Is she "pulled out" into a resource room for any academic subject, such as Math or Language Arts? Is it clear from her homework that she is unable to ...

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See how students would open a foldable book and how an image or text can be cropped to encourage student thinking.

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Our online teacher tools include a wide range of interactive manipulatives and assessment tools to teach and assess basic math concepts. Additional teacher tools help teach literacy and reading skills. Plus, check out our online timers, spinners, and dice that assist with classroom management.

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Teacher Tools " Toy Theater | Learn * Create * Play

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Our online teacher tools include a wide range of interactive manipulatives and assessment tools to teach and assess basic math concepts. Additional teacher tools help teach literacy and reading skills. Plus, check out our online timers, spinners, and dice that assist with classroom management.