MIDAS Teacher Module #5: Kathryn’s Educational Profile

Student: Kathryn | Grade: 7

Student Overview

Kathryn is a sociable 7th grader who enjoys school, connects well with peers, and actively participates in classes, activities, and extracurriculars. While struggling with expressive communication, she is increasingly motivated to use her AAC device when interacting with classmates. Kathryn has an intellectual disability. She thrives academically when she:

• Works in small groups with her classmates
• Is pre-taught a unit's vocabulary and key concepts
• Has visual supports to increase understanding
• Uses word-prediction software for writing her ideas

Educational History

Preschool

• Kathryn attended an inclusive neighborhood preschool with special education support
• She began using an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to enhance expressive communication and address frustrations

K-5

• Kathryn was placed in a multi-grade, self-contained special education classroom
• In 3rd grade, she began taking the state alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards
• Although the law mandates that all students receive instruction aligned with grade-level standards, during her time in 5th grade, her entire multi-grade class was taught using a 3rd-grade alternative curriculum rather than being based on the 5th-grade standards."

6th Grade

• She was enrolled in the neighborhood middle school after her parents advocated for inclusion.
• Her schedule included five general education classes and two special education resource classes (Math and ELA general education classes were co-taught by general education and special education teachers).
• Given the state’s updated guidance on who qualifies for the alternate assessment and her academic performance, her IEP team determined that Kathryn did not meet the criteria to take the alternate assessment and should take the general assessment.
• Her parents supported the change to the general assessment despite concerns about her:
  • Learning gaps from her previous instruction were not aligned with grade level standards
  • Reading/comprehension difficulties with complex text
  • Potential frustration with more difficult content and assessments without proper adaptations and instructional modifications, which could lead to an increase in avoidance and frustration behaviors
• Kathryn faced greater challenges with peer interactions in sixth grade and showed more frustration-driven behaviors as academic and social expectations increased. Her team addressed these needs as they arose and identified proactive strategies to support her, including:
  • Using social stories to help her anticipate and navigate common peer situations.
  • Facilitating peer buddy systems or peer-mediated interventions to help classmates understand how to support and engage with Kathryn in inclusive ways.
  • Reinforcing positive collaboration by providing positive reinforcement to all students when they interact respectfully and work together.
  • Scaffolding instruction and adjusting pacing, while striving to maintain alignment with grade-level standards as much as possible.

7th Grade

• Kathryn is enrolled in six general education classes (Math and ELA are co-taught classes) and one special education support class.
• With the support of the speech-language pathologist, she began learning to use a more advanced AAC system to enhance communication clarity, particularly related to expressing her feelings, and supporting academic participation.
• Her team uses the proactive intervention strategies that were identified in sixth grade to build peer relationships and reduce frustration. Kathryn is showing greater success engaging with peers and fewer frustration-driven behaviors.
• Her parents continue to advocate for inclusive education to prepare for a post-secondary program.

7th Grade Science Unit Plan

State Middle School Standard

Understand forms of energy, energy transfer and transformation, and conservation in mechanical systems.

Unit's Essential Learnings

1. Energy exists in different forms (potential and kinetic)
2. Energy transforms between forms
3. Energy transfers between objects through work
4. Energy is conserved in mechanical systems

Demonstration of Understanding

All students will show understanding by:

• Identifying examples of potential and kinetic energy in everyday situations
• Participating in hands-on experiments demonstrating energy transfer
• Creating/selecting visual representations showing energy transformation/transfer

Instructional Approach

To support Kathryn in learning based on the grade-level science standard, her team will:

• First, focus the unit’s essential learnings rather than mastering all related details for each concept. When she shows understanding of a concept, a few additional details will be added to deepen her understanding.
• Use concrete examples and illustrations to teach concepts
• Provide additional vocabulary instruction in small groups
• Support student learning through peer collaboration.
• Program her AAC device to include key academic vocabulary and concepts related to energy and its transformations
• Monitor her progress in understanding the concepts through the student learning management system, as is done for all students.

Achieving this requires collaboration across the general education and special education teachers, as well as the speech pathologist and social worker.

Assessment Data Analysis

Benchmark Assessment Data

Strength Areas

• Sight word recognition
• Understanding literal, concrete information in simple texts
• Using and applying visual information and symbols

Gap Areas

• Knowledge gaps and independent reading level
• Better comprehension when content is read aloud with visual supports
• Written expression challenges despite verbal/AAC explanation abilities

Reliability Considerations

• Strong motivation during assessments
• Uncertain if during the development of the benchmark assessment the company included students with intellectual disabilities in its sample. No information could be found either online or in the assessment manual.
• Kathryn’s K–5 education took place in multi-grade classrooms that used an alternate curriculum. This may have resulted in learning gaps that affect her ability to meet 7th-grade benchmarks.
• Kathryn’s team views the benchmark assessment results as informative for identifying gaps that she has in her content and skills areas. They are less confident about the accuracy of the scores for students with an intellectual disability.

Classroom Assessments

Formative Assessment Data

• Vocabulary Checks:
  • Kathryn understands the core terms related to the unit’s essential learning when the words are paired with visual supports or an example.
  • She demonstrates her understanding using manipulatives and visual matching
  • She struggles with the vocabulary meanings when there is only a written text that is not anchored with an example.

• Exit Tickets:
  • Kathryn identifies the various types of energy in simplified examples with 70-80% accuracy.
  • She needs verbal prompting to identify them in more complex examples.
• Lab Participation:
  • Kathryn actively engages in experiments when working with a peer.
  • She follows visual step-by-step procedures to guide her actions. (Note: The visual procedures area available to all students.)
  • She documents her lab work using drawings, fill-in-the-blank worksheets, and by using her AAC device to orally describe each step and the outcome.
• Class Discussions:
  • Kathryn contributes meaningfully via AAC when given adequate processing time and when the questions are given to her in advance so she and a partner can prepare their responses.
• Group Work:
  • Kathryn is more engaged with the class assignments when they are completed in pairs or small groups with her peers.
  • She will work individually for up to 10 minutes if the directions and the task is clear to her. Providing an example of the finished product helps her to complete an assignment.

Summative Assessment Data

• Unit Quizes:
  • Scores 60-70% on adapted classroom unit assessments with accommodations (e.g. more time, having the items read to her as she reads them). Without the accommodations, she often scores 30-40%.
• Hands-on Demonstration:
  • Kathryn is able to verbally explain her lab reports with promptin, sometimes using her AAC for extended vocabulary. For example, when constructing a simple roller coaster model, she can identify different types of energy with appropriate prompting.
• Visual Representations:
  • By either drawing a representations with teacher guidance or peer support or using drag and drop technology, Kathryn can illustrate her knowledge of simple energy transformations
  • Using visuals, she can identify 3-4 familiar examples of real-life energy transformations and the correct sequence of events (3-4 steps) 60%- 70% of the opportunities.

Team Analysis

Given these classroom formative and summative data, the team is confident that, with appropriate supports, Kathryn has developed a foundational understanding of 7th-grade energy concepts and can apply these essential learnings to real-life examples. The next steps are to strengthen her ability to apply these concepts more independently and to support her progression from concrete to more abstract understanding.

Instructional Plan

The goal is to maintain 7th-grade content rigor while providing the necessary instructional supports. Based on the current assessment data, the team (e.g., science teacher, special education teacher, speech pathologist, and the class paraprofessional support provided twice weekly) will:

Continue Effective Strategies

• Use multiple representation forms (tactile, visual, auditory) for whole-class and station teaching
• Pre-teach vocabulary using pictures, graphics, and short videos twice a week during science stations when the paraprofessional joins the class. Other students who need to build background knowledge will join her at this station.
• Strategic small group pairing with peers who can model academic language and the application of the energy
• principles to everyday examples, while allowing her processing time.
• Build in wait time for Kathryn to respond using her AAC device
• Continue intensive reading/writing instruction during the special education resource period

Add New Supports

• Create a personal visual vocabulary wall with sentence stems to support to help her start sentences about the terms
• Program AAC device with matching sentence stems for classroom participation
• Develop visual response cards for formative class checks
• Break lab experiments into smaller sequential steps with visual supports

Progress Monitoring

• Brief daily check-ins for concept understanding
• Simple visual chart for self-monitoring progress
• Collection of work samples across different modalities to show Kathryn’s growth in learning the content

Practical Strategies for Instructional Co-Planning:

1. Weekly Team Planning Sessions: Establish a consistent weekly meeting time (even if brief) where the team will:

• Identify the upcoming unit's focus and scope
• Determine the essential learning objectives for each lesson
• Plan specific instructional adaptations Kathryn needs to succeed
• Document and share meeting notes with any team members who cannot attend

This ensures everyone stays aligned on priorities and adaptations before instruction begins.

2. Standards-Based Co-Planning Protocol

All student learning goals and activities must align with grade-level standards. The planning process follows this sequence:

1. Start with the grade-level standard that will be the focus of instruction
2. Identify the instructional objective and overall plan for the unit or lesson
3. Determine the essential learning that all students, at a minimum, will learn
4. Design adaptations and modifications to help individual students access and demonstrate this learning

This represents a fundamental shift in planning philosophy. Instead of beginning with an individual student's perceived limitations or specialized needs and working backward, teams start with the academic expectation and work forward to ensure every student can meaningfully engage with that content.

This standards-first approach ensures that students like Kathryn receive instruction anchored in appropriate academic rigor, with supports designed to provide access rather than create separate, lower-level learning experiences. Any specialized instruction, when needed, becomes a bridge to grade-level content, not a substitution in place of it.

3. Shared Digital Access and Permissions

Ensure comprehensive digital collaboration by:

• Granting all team members full access to the school's online student instructional management system
• Providing permissions for team members to view and add instructional adaptations on the general education unit plans and lesson materials
• Enabling access to classroom performance data showing student learning progress

This eliminates information silos and ensures everyone can see the complete picture of Kathryn's academic program and progress, supporting better alignment and more informed decision-making.

Resources

The 5-15-45 Tool - Collaborative Co-Planning

https://tiescenter.org/topics/inclusive-instruction/5-15-45-tool