Day Two: Accommodations Awareness - Issues of Language and Learning

Welcome to day two of our conversation with Dr. Margaret Patterson.  Today we will be discussing accommodations and issues of language and learning progress.

Our colleagues from LINCS’ Adult English Language Learners Community are joining us in the conversation.  This is a perfect opportunity for us to collaborate across our communities and address the benefits and challenges of working with English language learners with disabilities.

To begin today’s conversation, we will be talking more about The Adult Learner Leadership in Education Services (ALLIES) study.  Dr. Patterson is the lead researcher on this study for ValueUSA, and is sharing her baseline data with us.

As a reminder, please share your responses by adding a comment to this discussion thread.  Please include the item number(s) (1-4) you are responding to in your comment.  You do not have to reply to each item to share your experiences.

Item 1: The Adult Learner Leadership in Education Services (ALLIES) study is an ongoing evaluation of the effects of adult learner leadership in seven states. Almost 11% of adult learners in this study reported receiving accommodations for disabilities in their learning center. Is this rate higher or lower than what you would expect, given what you know about your center?

Item 2: Nearly 18% of ALLIES adult learners believed that accommodations were not offered as a service in their learning center. How aware of accommodations do you think adult learners you work with are? How do adult learners learn about accommodation services in your center?

Item 3: English language learners had higher rates (77%) of perceiving that accommodations were not offered than native speakers. What cultural explanations may account for this high rate in English language learners? What language barriers might interfere with awareness of accommodations?

Item 4: Adults who just started in a program were more inclined to believe that accommodations were not offered in their learning centers (vs. adults who were at least halfway through the program). As adult learners become familiar with your program, what accommodations information might they learn that they didn’t know initially? What role could language play? How could your center offer information about accommodations at an earlier point in the adult’s learning experience?

We encourage you to learn from this research, and share your experiences in working with learners –  both native English speakers and English language learners - on accessing accommodations.   If you have questions, please ask them. If you are experiencing any issues with LINCS, please e-mail me directly at michaelcruse74@gmail.com

Best,

Mike Cruse  

Disabilities In Adult Education Moderator

 

 

Comments

Welcome, everyone, to Day 2 of our discussion! Today we are honing in on adult learners' awareness of accommodations. A special welcome to those of you from the AELL community who are joining us.

Here's a little bit of context for the ALLIES study: we are working with 21 centers in 7 states (CO, CT, FL, KS, NJ, PA, and TX). VALUEUSA and Research Allies for Lifelong Learning are partnering to evaluate what happens - to learner outcomes and to programs - when adult learners get involved as leaders in their adult education programs. VALUEUSA, as you may know, is a national non-profit organization, governed by and for adult learners. In fact, they consider themselves the "alumni association" of adult learners. In our first-year data collection, we got some baseline survey data, and that's where today's figures come from.

A little bit about the adult learners in the study... we are working with 306 adult learners, 2/3 of whom are English language learners. Most of them are women (7 in 10), with an average age of 35 to 39 years. Their average grade completed was 9th grade. In their adult ed programs, many were fairly new to the center: about 1/3 just started, and half were about halfway through their program. When we asked them how they rated themselves as leaders, we heard 7 out of 10, on average (with 10 being excellent). As Mike noted, the evaluation is ongoing, so we will be learning a lot more as time goes on.

For today's discussion, one of the questions we asked was about accommodations. As we looked at the baseline data, we couldn't help but notice the percentage of folks who marked "this service is not offered in my center" when it came to accommodations. That's why we wanted to bring it up for discussion today.

Looking forward to your thoughts,

Margaret 

My comments on accommodations item 2, are two-fold. As an ABE  Literacy Instructor I have had many students ask if we have accommodations for students with learning disabilities. Often the question is asked in regards to the post test students are required to take in order to progress through to the GED test prep level courses. Our program, which is offered at a community College Business and Continuing Education division, does not offer accommodations to students for these tests. However, accommodations are offered to students taking the GED exam if documentation is provided. I am not sure what accommodations are offered or if they would be the same as those  the student received in public school. Many of the students I see are older and to do not have documentation of an LD diagnosis; nor do they have school records notating an IEP. Many were simply told that "they are slow learners."

Of the students I assess for proper class placement, many tell me that they were in Special Education for behavioral reasons. These student also inform me that they were not given any remedial instruction while in Special Ed even though they requested help. I believe that this is one reason many students do not ask for accommodations nor believe that accommodations are available to them.

If accommodations were to be offered in Adult Education classes, specifically,what would that look like? 

 

Hi Dr. Patterson and all,

I have been doing adult education services for individuals with disabilities for many years and the response of the students in the survey is not surprising. Many post-secondary education institutions do not either 'advertise' their accommodations well or even offer them until some one manages to 'find' an access office and  requests them. For English language learners or others not familiar with our system, with out accommodations information in general information areas(as is the law) they might not have any idea they are available. In terms of testing accommodations, they are required to be available for all testing situations. Some industry certification  test might have specific restrictions on types of accommodations but accommodations must be offered if the student requests them and are qualified for them.

 

 

Hi, Robin -

Thanks for your comments based on your experience with adult education services for individuals with disabilities.  Can you tell us how you have advertised accommodations to learners walking through the doors of your program(s)?  What has been your experience with outreach to both learners and adult educators, who may also not be familiar with requirements to provide accommodations?

Thanks,

Mike 

 

Hi Mike,

We had a poster that read something like if you are a person who might need .....listed multiple common accommodations adults either might have had in k12 or would be helpful with testing....you may be able to get accommodations,  please see .......blank lines for individual school contact person. We had a dedicated 504 contact person at all locations. Those posters were placed in the registration area, testing area, front entrances to the buildings and any other common student areas the administration might think of. Additionally, our clerical staff in the testing registration areas and all ABE/GED instructors could recite the policy and refer to the 504person. Some centers put an accommodation sheet called rights and responsibilities of a learner with a disability in  their school manual.

 

Hi, Robin & DAE Community Members -

Thanks for answering my question about educating the students and faculty at your locations about accommodations.  It's great that you had a dedicated '504 person' at most of your program sites.  I wonder how common that is across ABE/GED programs?  Did these individuals usually have other responsibilities in addition to handling accommodations?  

I know that some post-secondary institutions have these individuals handle other responsibilities, while other institutions dedicate a person, or multiple people, to handling student accommodations.  I think it is often a sign of the value placed on welcoming and supporting learners with disabilities when there is staff dedicated to providing these services.  When programs or institutions add these job responsibilities onto other roles, it suggests to me that there may not be as great a focus on educating students, faculty and staff on the rights and responsibilities of learners with disabilities.

I am curious to hear what others think about this perception.  Does the presence of a dedicated staff person handling ADA/504 compliance suggest better services for learners?  In addition to posters and inclusion of an accommodation rights and responsibilities statement in a student manual, how else do you gauge the quality of services for learners with disabilities?

Best,

Mike

 

Hi, greneau, you brought up an interesting point about age and awareness of accommodations. Baby boomers and older adults' education experiences may pre-date disability services. If the learners you work with who were told they were "slow learners" were never diagnosed, then they don't have critical information that they need to get assistance or accommodations. If their goal is employment, their local office of state rehabilitation services could be a very useful resource. I believe earlier discussions on this list have touched on community resources for diagnosis. One useful resource is the PANDA website: http://mn.abedisabilities.org/panda. Another resource on the issues surrounding screening ABE students is by Reynolds, Johnson, & Salzman from 2012. You can access that article here: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ994285.pdf.

Thanks for sharing,

Margaret

Hi Grayla,

If you are looking for a complete system with service from the front door to graduation, at this point Broward County Public Schools runs one of the very best. You can contact their  adult ed department for information. The State of Florida has an organized system but was  honestly  impossible for me to find. If one our group members can help with a good link I would appreciate the assistance. The Broward system also ran out of Miami Dade Schools and includes informational posters, handouts, teacher and administration training. It also includes accommodation forms as well as an informal system used to create a section 504 plan for accommodations. If you are interested in the system and can not access the materials, I  can send you samples. If you are a classroom teacher and wanted to find out what type accommodations a teacher could use, the systems can help you determine what might work. 

 

 

Robin and Grayla - 

I'm not sure if these are the same resources you were referring to, Robin, but this .pdf file appears under the title, "ACCOMMODATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Career Education and Adult General Education".  The Florida DOE Publications and Resources page also has other materials specific to disability categories and special education services.  

Best,

Mike

Thank you Michael,

I continue to have difficulties with my new Surface! The resources you listed are some of the ones I was referencing. There are additional ones that may be helpful as well. I have reached out to colleagues for those specific links and will forward them as soon as I get them.  thanks to you and our guest for a great discussion!

Thank you, Robin, for sharing these resources... and for checking with your colleagues. One of the star qualities of adult educators is willingness to share ideas so we can all help each other support our learners. We appreciate this ray of light!

Margaret

Good morning, DAE Group Members -

I also want to point you to another resource to address the question of identification of Learning Disabilities (LD), since this is where the question of accommodations also really begin.  This seems to be especially true with testing services, such as the GED and the College Board.  Applicants for accommodations with these services must provide documentation of their disability, from a licensed professional, identifying specific disabilities and requesting accommodations that will address them.   

The LINCS Resource Collection document, Screening for Learning Disabilities in Adult Basic Education Students, offers information about the state of diagnostic assessments for learning disabilities among adult learners. Check out this resource to learn more about how the issues of identification impact our learners' ability to benefit from needed accommodations.

Best,

Mike

       

http://lincs.ed.gov/professional-development/resource-collections/profile-532