Access Points: New tack improves disabled learning

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New tack improves disabled learning

New tack improves disabled learning

By DON JORDAN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, March 10, 2008

It may not be evolution, but for a small segment of Florida students with significant cognitive disabilities, the recently approved science standards mark a similar milestone.

Students who fall into this category - only about 1 percent of kids, or about 23,000 in the state and 1,700 in Palm Beach County - will be taught for the first time with standards called access points that closely follow the general education science curriculum.

That means when Sally in third grade is learning how to measure and compare the mass and volume of solids and liquids, ny in the third grade Exceptional Student Education class will learn to sort objects by weight or recognize which object is larger.

The result is a curriculum for severely disabled students that is more relevant and rigorous and easier for teachers to follow, said Janice , the Palm Beach County School District's ESE curriculum manager.

"It's dramatic in that now it is very clearly laid out," said. "There is a stronger alignment to the state standards."

The new access points were created last year by a 33-member team of teachers and specialists in conjunction with the general science education standards. The state Board of Education approved the blueprint Feb. 19.

In comparison to the general education curriculum, the skills required under the ESE access points are simpler, fewer and often more practical. Instead of demonstrating that the sun's radiant energy can heat objects, an access point student may need to recognize only that things get hot when left in the sun or simply distinguish between hot and cold objects.

Each general education major idea or theme - called "big ideas" in the new standards - comes with corresponding access points for students with three different levels of proficiency: independent, supported and participatory.

Students considered independent can meet many of their own needs, work jobs and live in a community as an adult without supervision or care. Supported students probably will have some independence as adults but still need ongoing assistance and supervision. Students who fall into the participatory category function at a low level and require extensive support to perform basic tasks such as eating.

"For these students, a response might be blinking an eye," said Jill Krystel, a national board certified science teacher at Polo Park Middle who worked on the access points writing team.

Krystel said the writing team worked closely with the new general education standards to weave in the access points.

"We thought, 'How can we get the essence of this information for the students with these disabilities that they can then apply to their daily lives?''" she said. "Just because their body doesn't behave doesn't mean their mind isn't working."

A student's abilities and progress are evaluated annually by teachers and their parents. State officials say teachers have been generally supportive of the new access points, especially now that their students must take the Florida Alternative Assessment. The new FCAT alternative will be administered for the first time this semester.

In past years, districts could choose from a number of alternative tests to measure student proficiency. The new statewide assessment provides a uniform standard from one county to the next. The testing does not count toward school grades but does factor into a formula to measure a school's annual progress under the federal No Child Left Behind.

The new curriculum provides "a relatively easy guide" that should help with lesson plans and "working around a student's ability," said Karimah , a teacher who works with profoundly mentally handicapped children at Royal Palm School.

The school west of Lantana is one of two in the county that specialize in children and young adults with emotional and physical disabilities. Two teachers at the other school, Indian Ridge in suburban West Palm Beach, were recommended by the principal to talk about the access points but said they were not familiar with the change and refused to comment.

State officials will offer professional training on the access points to ESE teachers this semester and over the summer.

"There is a higher level of expectation," said Bambi Lockman, chief of Florida's Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services. "It gives us more structure in the classroom ... and moves us into a different realm - into the level of expectation."

Randee

Program Coordinator

The Arc/Family to Family

1201 Australian Ave

Riviera Beach, Fl. 33404-6698

(561)842-3213 *Fax (561)863-4352

rgabriel@...

Family to Family is a program of The Arc of Palm Beach County.

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