Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) Functional Capacities Assessments

I have always valued IVRS counselors as members of the Transition team as they are involved daily in assisting individuals to be competitively employed.  Recently, IVRS gave me permission to convert an assessment they use to determine the service needs of individuals.  I have used the assessment and the data helped me to determine the skills that need to be addressed while a student is still in high school.  My hope is that the use of the assessment by high school teachers will facilitate dialogue and cooperation with IVRS.  High Schools need to look beyond graduation to competitive employment and the skills identified by IVRS provide the target. I have divided the original assessment into Functional Capacities #1 and Functional Capacities #2.  Data from the assessments can be found at Functional Capacities #1 Data and Functional Capacities #2 Data.  Information entered in the form will automatically be recorded in the first sheet of the spreadsheet.  Formulas in the scoring and summary sheets need to be copied after the forms are completed.  Please contact me at kurtis.broeg@gmail.com if you need assistance or have suggestions for improvement.

Accommodations Surveys

Accommodations are meant to eliminate and/or reduce the effects of an individuals disability. Yet, they are often simply copied from the previous IEP and/or the same as all other student's IEPs in the district. I confess that I have been guilty of listing accommodations just in case a student might need them, but I now realize that it is best to limit accommodations to only those that significantly eliminate and/or reduce the effects of an individuals disability and that the need for accommodations should be reviewed frequently by all IEP team members. In order to have a productive dialogue, all members must have the same understanding of the various accommodations. The Nebraska Guidelines to Accommodations provides definitions of commonly used accommodations and a survey to determine accommodations. I have converted the Determining Appropriate Accommodations by Student Name from the guide verbatim. This assessment assists in specifying the disabilities of an individual. Data from the assessment can easily be shared with the IEP team through the Summary of Responses. This data can be used to determine the accommodations that should be on the student's IEP with the Accommodations Survey for Student Name.    The assessments do not limit the development of uniquely targeted accommodations but provide a shared understanding through graphs of the data from the IEP team and serve as a catalyst for efficient and effective accommodations.  To copy the spreadsheets for your own use, visit my website.

Career Connections Assessment Rubric

The Career Connections AssessmentRubric is an example of a five point rubric that has different descriptors for each criteria. Conversion to a Google Doc form allows the points to be assigned on a spreadsheet facilitating comparison among raters of the same student. In addition, the gain in efficiency makes the assessment more viable as a formative assessment for progress monitoring.  

Indicator B14 Survey Correlated with Transition Curriculum

About three weeks ago I discovered an Indicator 14 Survey from Connecticut that I felt had great potential to collect data for Indicator B14.  I converted the survey without edit to share while I immediately realized that the survey could produce easy to read results and provide information on the student reported transition skills taught in high school with post high school outcomes.  The Survey of Graduates or Exiters of High Schools is an edited version that produces correlations among skills and outcomes.  To demonstrate how the assessment works I entered ten random entries.  The Summary of Responses provides a user friendly view of the results and the spreadsheet provides correlations among the responses.  This assessment can be used to find relationships between transition curriculum and post-secondary outcomes. Please note that formulas need to be copied on the coding spreadsheet and the ranges will need to be changed to reflect the proper data ranges.

Activities for Students Based on MAP Scores

I just received links to activities based on MAP scores developed by South Washington Schools in Minnesota.  The sites  provide links to activities based on RIT scores in Reading and Math.  This is a great resource for teachers and parents to develop student skills.

Indicator B14 Survey

My journey to accumulate IEP and related forms from all states (check my progress) was interrupted by my discovery of B14 Survey developed by the state of Connecticut and made available both on survey monkey and paper.  I converted the survey to a google form, Survey of Graduates or Exiters of Connecticut High Schools, that states, area education agencies and local districts can edit.  I have experienced significantly more response with the google form versus paper.  Please check my website to copy the spreadsheet and check for updates in the data manipulation.  I plan to setup the spreadsheet to allow correlation between skills covered in high school and outcomes.

Rubrics - Qualitative and Quantitative Data using Google Doc Forms

I wanted to convert a rubric that was used to produce a score based on the selection of the descriptors. I like how rubrics provide a description of a certain behavior, however, I also like the ability to produce a numerical score. The use of the If-Then formula allows for the conversion of descriptors to a numeric value resulting in both qualitative and quantitative data. I started with the AEA 10 ServiceMatrix which is used to determine special education weightings. The form and the corresponding spreadsheet can be found on the Resource subpage on my website.  I will be searching for assessments, based on a rubric, to convert to google doc forms.  Using google docs forms, the rubric can be converted to a multiple choice assessment.  The owner of the goole doc assessment can assign points to the various descriptors.  If you have a rubric you would like to have converted please send a copy to kurtis.broeg@gmail.com