Transition Assessment and Goal Generator TAGG Overview

1. Transition Assessment and Goal Generator TAGG Overview Transition Network Kathryn Schallmo kschallmo@misd.net September 28, 2016

2. Creating a Culture of Collaboration • Demonstrate respect for one another and for our mutual learning • Listen fully with the intention to understand • Participate actively in learning and seeking possibilities • Set aside judgments • Share air-time • Be responsible for assuring that our norms are followed

3. The Purpose of SPED . . . a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet students’ unique needs and to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. 2004 IDEA Changed Secondary SPED

4. IDEA 2004 Goals • IEPs must include postsecondary and annual transition goals • based upon age-appropriate transition assessments • related to training, education, employment, and independent living (when needed) • Consider independent living is always needed unless data say otherwise

5. Goals of Transition Assessment • Make informed choices and identify needed skills • Provides opportunity for students to become actively involved • Students and families can learn to understand the skills needed for post-school environments

6. Transition & The Courts • Prince, Plotner, & Yell (2014) examined district court findings • Use multiple assessments across transition domains • DO not solely use informal assessments • This means one assessments need supporting validity evidence • Maximize student participation in the transition planning process

7. Case Law Decision Case involved not conducting adequate transition assessments. Decision: • Told school to focus on meaningful non-academic goals to prepare students for post-school life. • Ordered two additional years of meaningful transition services despite the fact the student had passed exams and was eligible for his high school diploma. Massachusetts Bureau Of Special Education Appeals And Currently Under Appeal In Federal Court, Dracut Public Schools, BSEA #08-5330, 15 MSER 78 (2009).

8. Basic Validity and Reliability Assessment Questions • What is the purpose? • Who was it designed for? • Where did items come from? • Does ample evidence exist for • Firm factor structure • Internal reliability • Test-retest reliability • No or minimal bias by gender, placement, GPA, grade, disability category, SES • Predictive validity

9. Facing Reality • Law requiring use of transition assessments still fairly recent • Only a few transition assessments or assessment processes have ample validity evidence to support use • If using assessment without ample validity evidence should acknowledge this limitation when discussing results with IEP team. • Need to develop a Transition Assessment Guide for school or district

10. TAGG Purpose • Assess non-academic skills associated with and predictive of post-school further education and employment • Provide IEP team lists of greatest and relative student strengths and needs, a written summary, and annual transition goals matched to common core standards to facilitate writing I-13 compliant IEPs • Common Core can also be turned off

11. Whom? • TAGG Designed to Assess • Secondary-aged students with IEPs who plan to be competitively employed and/or enrolled in further education after graduation • Each TAGG set includes 3 versions • Student • Family • Professional

12. Versions and Format • On-line written English • May be printed and taken by hand, but item scores must be entered into website to produce results • In next few months TAGG versions in Spanish will be added • If needed now we have paper versions • Users may choose to listen to audio or watch ASL videos for TAGG instructions and items

13. TAGG Web Site Location • The OU Zarrow Center’s Web Page http://zarrowcenter.ou.edu • The TAGG Section of the ZC Web Page https://tagg.ou.edu/tagg/

14. TAGG Constructs • Strengths and Limitations • Disability Awareness • Student Involvement in the IEP • Persistence • Goal setting and attainment • Interacting with Others • Employment • Support Community

15. Reading Level Professional 10.4 grade level Family 5.7 grade level Student 4.8 grade level

16. Development of TAGG Items TAGG items derived from research studies that identified behaviors of former students with disabilities engaged in post-high school employment and/or further education 15 iterative TAGG versions were created before field testing began

17. Internal Reliability • Generally, a score between .7 and .8 is considered “good” • Each TAGG version has great overall internal consistency and satisfactory subscale consistency (ranging from α = .89 to α = .95)

18. Test-Retest Reliability • Scores of .7 or higher represent good or satisfactory test-retest reliability • 14 weeks after the first TAGG was completed, same users completed the TAGG again • A large correlation was found between the first and second administrations • .80 for professional TAGG • .70 for family TAGG • .70 for student TAGG

19. Fairness Validity Evidence: Gender • Do differences exist by gender? • No overall difference by gender on TAGG-P, TAGG-S • On TAGG-F small overall differences • Some construct differences exist. On TAGG-S • females rated themselves higher on student involvement in IEP than males • males rated higher on employment

20. Fairness Validity Evidence: SES • Free/reduced lunch eligibility • No significant differences for construct scores on TAGG-P or TAGG-S. Only small differences for TAGG-F scores. • Family employment • No significant differences for construct scores • Family education • Significant differences- Highest family education lower TAGG scores

21. How Close Are Students, Professionals, and Family TAGG Scores? • How closely do the different TAGG versions assess the same student? • Medium correlations across Parent, Educator, and Student versions when assessing the same student • This is excellent for this type of assessment

22. TAGG Web-Generated Results Profile Graphic results by constructs Written summary Relative and greatest strengths Relative and greatest needs Annual transition goals Components may be copied and pasted into IEP

23. Predictive Validity Process • Follow-up of 297 former high school students who completed the TAGG while in high school • Logistic regressions examined relations between TAGG non-academic behavior constructs and postsecondary education and employment

24. Constructs Predicting Further Education • Interacting with Others Construct • Student Involvement in the IEP Construct • Support Community Construct • Goal Setting and Attainment Construct

25. Employment Predictors • Employment Construct • Student Involvement in IEP Construct • Support Community Construct • Interacting with Others Construct

26. Item Response Theory • Advantages of IRT include • The ability to scale different item types • Provides a common metric for scales with different number of items • Weights items differentially by their validity for assessing the construct of interest

27. TAGG Details • $3 per set (Professional, Student, Family versions) • Used to pay for on-going TAGG development and operational costs • TAGG profiles saved for 7 years • Data kept on OU high-speed secure cloud servers • Purchased credits may be transferred to other registered TAGG users

35. TAGG.OU.EDU/TAGG • For more information, please view the TAGG User’s Guide and Technical Manual at TAGG.OU.EDU/TAGG OU Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment (405)325-8951 TAGG@ou.edu

36. TAGG Resources

37. Resources for low incidencedisabilities- • http://www.ou.edu/content/education/centers-and-partnerships/zarrow/transition-assessment---severe-disabilities.html • https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/cclc/transition_matrix/transition_matrix.html

38. Table Talk- current practices • What does transition assessment look like in your district/setting? • Is one person in charge? • How does the team plan assessment activities? • What kind of assessments have typically been done? • What happens with results? What’s share at IEP meetings?