scholarly journals Setting Individual Goals for Pupils with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities—Engaging in the Activity Area-Based Curriculum Making

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 529
Author(s):  
Satu Peltomäki ◽  
Raija Pirttimaa ◽  
Kirsi Pyhältö ◽  
Elina K. Kontu
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Group Home ◽  
Multiple Disabilities ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Activity Area ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
The Individual

The activity area-based curriculum model (AACM) is used in the Finnish basic education to support pupils—most of whom have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD)—who could benefit more from skills that advance independent life coping. Existing studies have concentrated mainly on the Individual Education Plan (IEP) goal-setting process for pupils with milder disabilities than PIMD and have consistently demonstrated significant barriers in the process. This study explores the collaborative IEP goal-setting process for pupils with the AACM. Sixty-five Finnish special education teachers using the AACM participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were analysed with thematic network analysis. The groups involved in the IEP goal-setting process were divided into main and side mediators. The main mediators were described as significant collaborators with important knowledge of the pupil, while side mediators rarely participated in the process. The special education teachers appeared to be leading the collaboration and were positioned in the middle of the main and side mediators. Further research should focus on the implementation of parents’ collaborative positions. Furthermore, practices and methods should be developed to reinforce the positions of group home staff, special education teacher colleagues and pupils with the AACM or PIMD themselves.

Effects of Alternative Goal Structures within Curriculum-Based Measurement

1989 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 429-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn S. Fuchs ◽  
Douglas Fuchs ◽  
Carol L. Hamlett
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Curriculum Based Measurement ◽  
Goal Structures ◽  
Content Mastery ◽  
Treatment Measures ◽  
Content Coverage

This study assessed the effects of alternative goal structures within curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in the area of math. Subjects were 30 special education teachers, assigned randomly to a dynamic goal CBM, static goal CBM, or control group for 15 weeks. Each teacher selected two mildly or moderately handicapped pupils for participation. Analyses of variance conducted on fidelity of treatment measures indicated that dynamic goal teachers increased goals more frequently and, by the study's completion, employed more ambitious goals. Multivariate analyses of covariance indicated that students in the dynamic goal group had better content mastery than did control students, whereas students in the static goal group did not. Content coverage for the three groups was comparable. Implications for special education goal-setting practice are discussed.

When the Achievement Gap Becomes High Stakes for Special Education Teachers: Facing a Dilemma with Integrity

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Heinrich Mintrop ◽  
Robin Zane
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Accountability System

Context A fundamental assumption behind a high stakes accountability system is that standardized testing, proficiency goal setting for demographic student subgroups, and sanctions would motivate teachers to focus on students whose performance had heretofore lagged. Students with disabilities became one such subgroup under the No Child Left Behind system. Special education teachers faced a novel pressure: to radically narrow the achievement gap between their students with disabilities towards proficiency or incur sanctions and corrective action for their schools and districts. Purpose The study uses the concept of “integrity” to analyze public service workers’ agency in situations of strain or crisis. Integrity consists of four overlapping domains of judgment: obligations of office, personal integrity, client needs, and prudence. Research Design The study is an in-depth multiple case study of seven teachers; 21 structured interviews, and 17 observations, augmented by a number of informal contact that included invitations to observe teacher meetings and conversations with school administrators. Findings The study found that the special education teachers faced a true dilemma. Teachers adopted contradictory solutions — some embraced the new demands, some rejected them. Both seemed equally untenable. The study reveals salient dimensions of this dilemma: how teachers related to the external moral obligation to equalize, what they chose to ‘see’ when they viewed the achievement gap; how they explained, or explained away, their agency in narrowing the gap; how they strategized and muddled through with instructional maneuvers to make the gap go away; and what they regarded, and guarded, as fields of professional responsibility and autonomous decision making. Implications What kind of accountability system would enable a collective dialogue among special education teachers in which high expectations, keen diagnosis, instructional expertise, internal responsibility for individualized learning gains, openness to external challenge, and attention to results would be the poles of the discussion? At the core, such an accountability system would validate the professionalism of the most expert teachers and avoid activating their defensiveness and demoralization. It would guard against middling expectations by making the performance of a wide spectrum of high and low performing schools or special education departments transparent. It would stay away from high pressure attached to unrealistic goals in order to discourage teachers from developing blind spots about their students, or acting with mere compliance and expediency. It would motivate a dynamic of student-centered continuous improvement in reference to a common standard, but also to low-stakes metrics that may guide iterative improvement.

scholarly journals Educação Inclusiva para Surdos: Reflexões de Intérpretes de Libras e Professores de Física dos Municípios de Nova Mutum e Tangará da Serra - MT

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-169
Author(s):  
Marciele Keyla Heidmann ◽  
Sumaya Ferreira Guedes
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sign Language Interpreters ◽  
Deaf Student ◽  
Brazilian Sign Language

ResumoA Política Nacional de Educação Especial dispõe sobre formas de incluir a pessoa surda no Ensino Regular. Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar a conceituação do termo inclusão na visão de professores, que ministram o componente curricular de Física e Tradutores Intérpretes de Língua de Sinais (TILS), e verificar se a formação acadêmica, entre outras, tem influência na inter-relação com o estudante surdo em sala de aula comum. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, de abordagem qualitativa, com tratamento baseado na análise de conteúdo, por meio de três categorias. Os resultados apontam para o despreparo dos professores de Física, perante a ausência de algum tipo de formação direcionada para Libras, seja essa inicial, ou contínua, dificultando o acesso às informações pertinentes, como a conceituação do termo inclusão, inferindo na interação direta com o estudante surdo e na promoção da Educação Inclusiva. Portanto, reflexões acerca da obrigatoriedade do componente curricular de Libras, em conformidade com o Decreto 5.626/2005, pelas Instituições de Ensino Superior, que ofertam cursos de Licenciaturas se faz necessário, assim como a formação continuada de intérpretes de Libras e professores de Física da Educação Básica, em prol a um ensino de qualidade diante da inclusão de estudantes surdos. Palavras-chave: Língua Brasileira de Sinais. Educação Especial. Educação Inclusiva.AbstractThe National Special Education Policy provides for ways to include the deaf in regular education. This study aims to analyze the conceptualization of the term inclusion in the view of teachers who teach the curricular component of Physics and Brazilian Sign Language Interpreters (TILS) and to verify whether academic training, among others, influences the inter-relationship with the deaf student in a common classroom. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted, with a qualitative approach, with treatment based on content analysis, through three categories. The results point to the unpreparedness of physics teachers, in the absence of some type of training directed to Brazilian Sign Language, be it initial or continuous, making it difficult to access relevant information, such as the concept of the term inclusion, inferring in the direct interaction with the deaf student and promoting Inclusive Education. Therefore, reflections on the compulsory nature of the Brazilian Sign Language component, in accordance with Decree 5.626 / 2005, by Higher Education institutions, which offer undergraduate courses, are necessary, as well as the continued training of Brazilian Sign Language interpreters and teachers of Basic education physics, in favor of quality teaching in view of the deaf students inclusion. Keywords: Brazilian Sign Language. Special Education. Inclusive Education.

scholarly journals Setting goals with patients living with multimorbidity: qualitative analysis of general practice consultations

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (684) ◽  
pp. e479-e488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Salter ◽  
Alice Shiner ◽  
Elizabeth Lenaghan ◽  
Jamie Murdoch ◽  
John A Ford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Feasibility Trial ◽  
Patient Goals ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Time And Energy

BackgroundEstablishing patient goals is widely recommended as a way to deliver care that matters to the individual patient with multimorbidity, who may not be well served by single-disease guidelines. Though multimorbidity is now normal in general practice, little is known about how doctors and patients should set goals together.AimTo determine the key components of the goal-setting process in general practice.Design and settingIn-depth qualitative analysis of goal-setting consultations in three UK general practices, as part of a larger feasibility trial. Focus groups with participating GPs and patients. The study took place between November 2016 and July 2018.MethodActivity analysis was applied to 10 hours of video-recorded doctor–patient interactions to explore key themes relating to how goal setting was attempted and achieved. Core challenges were identified and focus groups were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 22 patients and five GPs participated. Four main themes emerged around the goal-setting process: patient preparedness and engagement; eliciting and legitimising goals; collaborative action planning; and GP engagement. GPs were unanimously positive about their experience of goal setting and viewed it as a collaborative process. Patients liked having time to talk about what was most important to them. Challenges included eliciting goals from unprepared patients, and GPs taking control of the goal rather than working through it with the patient.ConclusionGoal setting required time and energy from both parties. GPs had an important role in listening and bearing witness to their patients’ goals. Goal setting worked best when both GP and patient were prepared in advance.

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