Disability Resources

1. Disability Resources Development and Evaluation: Keys to Growth and Change

2. Topics: Development and Evaluation of DRS • Assessment practices • Forms of assessment: students, operational, programmatic • Data collection • Programmatic evaluation – internal & external review • Packaging findings: reports, memos, budget proposals

3. Assessment Practices • Strategic and Operational Goals • Drive the institution and the department • Assessment • Creating a measurement in relation to a goal • Collecting, organizing and analyzing data • Evaluation – met or progressed toward goals? • Sharing findings • Changing processes • Revising goals

4. Graphic representation

5. Strategic Goal • Institutional goal: Improve fall to fall retention to 66% • Departmental goal: Determine current retention rate for students with disabilities • Assessment: Identify cohort of swd for “x” years and calculate retention rate, fall to fall re-enrollment • Evaluation: compare swd to general college cohort • Reporting: what to do with your findings and what to do next? Are interventions needed and available?

6. Departmental Goal • Issue – operationally, note taking is problematic • Assess & identify problems with current system. Propose solutions for this accommodation. • Assessment: gather data on usage, delivery system: time effectiveness, cost. What are best practices? • Evaluate: what is working, not working – why? Propose changes: smart pens, UDL approach • Reporting: Share findings and changes – benefits!

7. Design an assessment • What to focus on: strategic or departmental goal? • How will you assess? Who can assist? • Who will evaluate and report the findings? How? To whom?

8. Departmental Assessments • Focus on students • Satisfaction, impact, learning, academic outcomes • Surveys, focus groups, research project • Focus on operations • E-text and alt media, use of contractual services, reviewing new student processes • Focus on entire departmental • Programmatic review: internal and external • Use of standards: CAS as an example

9. CAS Standards for DRS • Contain 12 key elements: Mission, Program, Organization, Human Resources, Ethics, Governance, Diversity/Access, Institutional/External Relations, Finances, Technology, Facilities and Assessment/Evaluation • CAS - Mission should focus on: • Institution-wide advisement and training on disability-related topics, UD and disability scholarship • Collaborating with partners to identify and remove barriers to foster an all-inclusive campus • Providing individual services and facilitating accommodations

10. Data Collection • Data collected will related directly to the type of assessment • General data collection practices to implement • Demographics, accommodations provided, other supports; budget expenditures • Commercial data bases – advantages • http://microscience.on.ca/clockwork/ • http://accessiblelearning.com • Clockwork and AIM are both excellent

11. Data Collection – your assessment • Assessment for: • Departmental goal • Strategic goal • Describe your process/activities for this assessment. • Can you emulate someone else’s practices? • What data will you collect, when, by whom? • How will you use the findings?

12. Findings of Assessment • Generate multiple products • Memos – brief and focused on one topic • Reports – include Executive Summary and details • Fact Sheets – snapshots of DRS • Use results to re-design processes, create revised goals • Missed opportunity – assessment results NOT used to make positive/necessary changes • No one knows what you know about students with disabilities

13. Development & Evaluation • Contact information: • Tom L. Thompson • tltharper30@yahoo.com • 630-533-1709 mobile