MCAS Alternate Assessment
(MCAS-Alt)
Creating Portfolios that Address
Access Skills and Early Entry Points
Presented by:
Laura Hines
MCAS-Alt Teacher Consultant
October 2014
“Although a student’s IEP objectives may be
the overriding learning focus for that student,
providing him or her with the opportunity to
practice those objectives in the context of the
general classroom and to receive instruction
on those objectives in the context of general
education activities represents one
fundamental way of ensuring that students
with significant disabilities do participate in
the general curriculum.”
Kleinert,H.L. & Kearns, J.F. (2001). Measuring outcomes and supports for students with
disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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IEP as Written
“Lee will grasp a toothbrush for 2 to 4
seconds.”
WHAT’S THE CRITICAL SKILL?
“Given a tool, Lee will be able to grasp it
for 2 to 4 seconds without dropping it in
50% of sessions observed.”
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Critical skills also allow students
to access the curriculum.
Grasp materials as they are counted.
Grasp materials representing a key idea or
detail in a story, poem, folktale, or myth.
Grasp materials related to plants.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Access Skills, including language that links them to
the essence of the standards, are located in the lowest
grade level, typically in the Pre-K grade level,
but not always...
To find aligned access skills for the identified
standard:
For ELA standards (always in Pre-K–2), see Table 1
on page 7 of the Resource Guide
For Science and Tech/Engineering, use the Topic
Grids at the beginning of each strand of the
Resource Guide
For Mathematics, use the Domain and Conceptual
Categories Table of Progressions on page 7 of the
Resource Guide
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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English Language
Arts and Literacy
(ELA)
 Access skills
always located
Pre-K–2
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Mathematics
Progressions
 Access skills are located at
the lowest grade in each
Domain and Conceptual
Category
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Science and
Tech/Eng
(STE)
Topic Grid
 Access skills
located at the
lowest grade of
each topic
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Teacher-Scribed Work Sample
 For students who do not produce written work
 Documentation of a series of trials conducted at the
same time
 Contains more information than a field data chart
 Specifically describes the materials/context of the
activity
 Indicates the student’s response (accuracy,
independence) to each item/trial using his mode of
communication
 Labeled with name, date, accuracy, independence, and
other information as needed
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Asked if she wanted to preview “Glee” or
“Lion King” video she eye gazed to Glee
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Acceptable Core Set of Evidence
2) One bar or line graph summarizing
the same data shown on field data chart
1) One field data chart
+
3) One additional piece of primary evidence
(e.g. teacher-scribed work sample)
+
= core set of evidence
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Teacher-Scribed Work Sample:
Not Enough Information to Score
• What was
the activity?
• What
materials
were used?
• What was
the correct
response?
• What was the
student’s
actual
response?
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Teacher-scribed student
response on a worksheet
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
• What was
the activity?
• What
materials
were used?
Correct
Response
• What was
the correct
response?
• What was
the
student’s
actual
response?
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Teacher-scribed student
response on photos of
actual materials used
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Student Name
1/14/15
Measurable Outcome: When presented with a structured, predictable teacher –directed group and
vocabulary representations, student will attend visually to materials related to vocabulary acquisition with
70% accuracy and independence. (i.e. after initially looking at the object student will return her vision 1 or more times)
Activity Description: During a structured
group, the student was read aloud a story
about water (part of unit on weather). The
student was presented with objects that
represented the vocabulary of the water
cycle and asked to explore them visually
and tactily. Data was taken on whether the
student was able to return her visual
attention (eye gaze) back to the object 1 or
more times after her initial glance.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Teacher-scribed student
response on thumbnail
screen shots
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Student Name
Date: 2/24/15
“Screen Shots” of slides from computer program- “Shape Shifters”. Data was
taken on first 10 slides on whether she activated her switch to continue
through the program independently or with prompts. (Standard 7.G.A.1)
A=100%
I= 30%
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Teacher-scribed student
response to each material
presented to create art
project
(recorded on a Work Description
label)
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
-P
-P
-P
-P
+P
+P
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
33%
0%
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Thinking about Self-Evaluation
Student choice-making and evaluation of one’s
own work are essential components of the
concept of self-determination, which is an
important predictor of successful post school
outcomes (Wehmeyer& Palmer, 2003;
Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1998).
Kleinert,H.L. & Kearns, J.F. (2010). Alternate Assessment for
students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H.
Brookes Publishing Co.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Students Making Choices
Choices of materials, response format, order
of events
Choice of partner
Choice of continuing or terminating the activity
Do you see evidence of the “student’s voice” in
the self-evaluation? Is it authentic?
(Educator’s Manual, p. 39)
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the same access skill be used in more than
one strand?
What if the student doesn’t make progress?
Why must access skills be practiced during
standards-based (i.e., academic) activities?
Others?
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education