Using the Read Aloud Accommodation with Students with Disabilities | Thelma Gray Smith
Program Description
The requirement that students with disabilities be full participants in the educational programs of schools has heightened the need for principals to provide instructional leadership. Participation in high-stakes testing has increased the use of testing accommodations. Does the read-aloud accommodation help students improve their test performance by removing a barrier to learning, and thus allow students to demonstrate learning when assessed? The program provides identification of barriers that students with learning disabilities face in learning content matter. The presentation discusses strategies of fluent readers that students can transfer to test-taking situations when using the read-aloud accommodation. The participants will learn how to teach students to manage their own learning by making specific requests that parallel strategies used by proficient readers. Additionally, participants will use released test items from standards-based assessments in reading to identify items in tests formats and language that create barriers to success for students with disabilities.Virginia Standard(s) Addressed
Planning and Assessment (ISLLC standard 3)Instructional Leadership (ISLLC standard 1)
Professionalism (ISLLC standards 5 & 6)
Program Goals and Objectives
By the end of this program, participants will demonstrate the ability to provide explicit instruction to students with disabilities that will assist the students in transferring strategies of proficient readers to learning content supported by the read-aloud accommodation during instruction and test administration. The audience will leave prepared to review test items and anticipate how the barriers in learning affect results.Program Format
The program will open with the disaggregation of test data of students with disabilities who used the read-aloud accommodation during standards-based testing. An overview of the characteristics of children with learning disabilities and identification of barriers to learning will be presented. Participants will experience these deficits and their impact upon learning during explicit instruction and tests administrations. The skills used by fluent readers will be discussed, and modeling provided to demonstrate how students can make specific requests that parallel strategies used by proficient readers when the content matter is read to them. Released test items from English/reading tests will be reviewed for test format and language, and examples provided where reading the tests aloud will not overcome the barriers to learning.Target Audience
The target audience is building level administrators, central office staff, and teacher leaders.Self-Selection and/or Identification Through School Division
Yes/yes. The program can be self-selected and used within the target audience at no cost. There are no materials to purchase. This program may be used by individuals or by groups. It would be beneficial for a group to discuss the barriers to learning encountered by students with learning disabilities from one's own school, review the released test items, and then form strategies from the suppositions regarding the influence the barriers had upon the test results for that school.Duration of Program
The session is designed to be one day in length (9:00 - 3:00).Outcomes Measured
The participation rate of the administrators and the types of questions resulting from the presentation will measure immediate outcomes of the program. The results of assessments after using the read-aloud accommodation with the specific requests serve as measures of outcomes by teachers/administrators. Observations of students' comfort level in making specific requests in order to manage their own learning also provide feedback regarding the utility of the strategies.Program Evaluation
Participants' evaluation forms will document program efficacy.Contact Information
Thelma Gray Smith, Principal
6111 Walnut Landing Way
Chester, Virginia 23831
Telephone: (804) 768-0642
(804) 768-6195
(804) 337-3772
Email: tgsmith3@aol.com | Thelma_Smith@ccpsnet.net