Presented by:
Mikael Snitker-Magin, PhD, CRC, LPC Ferris State University
Gavin Steiger, MS, Trinity University
Beyond Access: Self-Advocacy is a Measurable DS Outcome
(That You Need)!
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About your presenters
Mikael Snitker-Magin• 19 years working with PWD• PhD in Rehabilitation
Psychology from UW-Madison• Research interests include
youth transition & self-efficacy measures with PWD
• Asst. Professor/Counselor at Ferris State U. in Big Rapids MI
• LPC/CRC
Gavin Steiger• 10 years working with PWD• M.Ed. In Higher Ed from the
University of Georgia• Research interests include
methods of promoting self advocacy in PWD and the transition to employment
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Our Collective Interests—Old Wine?
1. Facilitating successful academic and vocational transitions
2. Effective, strategic, and innovative DS office management practices
(image of moldy wine bottles)
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BUT, HOW DO WE APPLY THESE CONCEPTS?
•Facilitating transitions-- providing accommodations, learning, and measurement•Innovative, strategic--limited resources with need to increase support for you, and students who need it!
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Interests Cut Across Strata (image of colorful artwork depicting various layers of sediment)
Students
Parents
DS Coordinators
Administrators
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Reduce Floundering
“Transition is better defined as "a period of floundering that occurs for at least the first
several years after adolescents leave school and attempt to assume a variety of
adult roles in their communities” A. Halpern, 1991
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We ask a lot from students!
From flounder to the frying pan(image of flounder fish camouflaged in sand)
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Dispense with esteem
“Self-esteem is perhaps the greatest emotional sickness known to humans”
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Assessments should be achievable (image of large jet turbine engine, partially disassembled)
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Research Problems
• You’re not in the research business, and don’t want to be (e.g. DS counselor and/or Coordinator)
• Are tasked with showing some evidence of your work, preferably to demonstrate student learning (access or success?)
• Student self-disclosure is voluntary (self-selection bias)
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Q & A: Measure What Students Learn—Self-Advocacy (SA)?
Q: How do you practically measure what students learn about Self-Advocacy?
A: Build it in.
Q: Which approach works best for your office?
A: You likely have strong insight on this.
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Q & A: Measure What Students Learn—Self-Advocacy (SA)?
Q: Is there a pre-made tool I can use?
A: Yes
Q:Do you have the time to conduct the learning assessment?
A: Most often not!
Q: Are tools valid and reliable?
A: Some are. Choose wisely!
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Self-Report Methodsof Assessment
• Satisfaction and behavior surveys• Behavior checklists• Pre/post testing• Criterion referenced tools
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Sample Questions for Behavior Checklists
Strongly Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
I understand my disability and how it affects me.
I can clearly and effectively identify my disability-related needs.
I can clearly and effectively communicate my disability-related needs to others.
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Sample Questions for Behavior Survey
How likely were you to meet with your professors and discuss your accommodation needs with them before attending this presentation?
Not Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Very Likely
How likely are you to meet with your professors and discuss your accommodation needs with them after attending this presentation?
Not Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Very Likely
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Sample Questions for Behavior Survey
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
I approached my notetaker to get the notes.
My notetaker approached me to give me the notes.
My notetaker consistently provided the notes to me.
How frequently did the following happen?
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Subjective Methods of Assessment by Staff
Systematically
• Part of the intake or accommodation renewal process
• Built in through paperwork process, cues for DS coordinator
Anecdotally
• DS staff member observations
• Discussion with student about SA
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Sample Rubric for DS Staff Observations
Advanced = 3 Intermediate = 2 Beginner = 1
Understanding of disability
Can easily and effectively explain the disability.
Has some difficulty explaining the disability.
Has significant difficulty explaining the disability.
Clearly recognizes appropriate accommodations
Has some difficulty recognizing appropriate accommodations.
Has significant difficulty recognizing appropriate accommodations.
Communication Skills
Can clearly and effectively explain disability-related needs
Has some difficulty explaining disability-related needs.
Has significant difficulty explaining disability-related needs.
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Considerations when Developing Questions
• Should have enough specificity• Should have “face validity”
– Statistical Validity and Reliability
• Shouldn’t be too wordy or technical in jargon• Consider the audience of respondents (e.g.,
reading ability, disability types, online survey sites’ compatibility with AT, etc.)
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Assessment Method ConcernsMETHOD CONCERNS
Pre/Post w-w/o intervention Attrition, confounds, cooperation
Post-only No baseline
Case studies Too time intensive
Manualized intervention Training and enforcement
Group processes Attrition, confounds, group effects
Consider Multiple Minority Group Membership
• Athletes • LGBTQ • Race• Ethnicity• Religious beliefs• National origin• Socio-economic
status• Gender identity• Age• Veterans
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Try it in your office
During your next appointment with a student, try role playing.
It takes just a moment, and is telling, even it goes poorly!
Use humor, including at yourself, to challenge potential barriers
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Assessments should relate to:
• Program goals• Needs of specific student population
(readily usable)• Ethical guidelines, best practices, and
professional standards• Any related legal standards
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Professional Standard(s)
• AHEAD 5.1: Use a service delivery model that encourages students with disabilities to develop independence—educate and assist; promote self-determination
• OCR: No Mandate for this but can be readily incorporated into your program model, and measured.
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Myth: If we teach legal knowledge, they will use what they know
• Generally Busted: not as likely as teaching the specific skills (low correlation)
• Confidence in knowledge of disability law isn’t a sufficient
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Myth: If we teach legal knowledge, they will use what they know
• Erroneous information doesn’t help, either!• Learning specific accommodation request
behaviors was strongly related to behavioral expectancy
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Best Predictor: Specific SkillsMediating Relationship of Task-Specific Self-Efficacy Between Confidence in Knowledge
Related to Disability Accommodations and Behavioral Expectations (Snitker-Magin, 2010)
Task-Specific Self-Efficacy
Confidence in legal
knowledge
Behavioral Expectations
β=.49
β=.11
β=.79
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You can do this!
• Technique used (verbal persuasion)• You may even like including self-advocacy
learning as part of your unit’s learning measures
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What is (and is not) self-advocacy?
It Is• Measurable• Attainable• Observable• Learnable• Formative• Dynamic• Flexible
It is (probably) Not• A panacea for all ills• Universally effective • Always well-
operationalized• Static
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Related to, but different than
• Self-determination• Self-regulation• Self-assessment• Self-esteem• Self-efficacy• Self-initiating
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But, wouldn’t it be nice?
• “One cannot be all things, which would require mastery of every realm of human life” A. Bandura, 2005
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Is measuring self-advocacy learning meaningful?
• Moral obligation to teach self-advocacy• Professional obligation (AHEAD
standards)• Ethical obligation• Not legal obligation
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Self-advocacy and program success
• Recognize that success and access are different (i.e.: self advocacy is not success, but may help lead to success!)
• Institutional #’s tracking – GPA, retention, graduation• DoE retention data= # of students who show up at the
beginning of SO year• Descriptive data from self-studies is interesting, but not
causal nor predictive.
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Self-advocacy and program success
• Success of your program should not be predicated on the absence of OCR complaints, lawsuits, etc. although avoiding these is preferable.
• Other measures are for other purposes, but maybe not yours!
• Success is difficult to attribute to a specific intervention—too many variables.
• You can not, nor should you, attempt to be something you’re not equipped for!
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Is what you do measurable?
• Yes. You probably are already teaching self-advocacy skills when you meet the students, so what not claim the credit for your good work?
• It could help you get additional resources for you and your students!
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Academy, Level II, OST Programs?
• Usually focus part of the curriculum on teaching self-advocacy
• Level II programs usually aim to teach SA skills, at added cost, and may use different title—Learning Differences,
• Teach ‘life skills’, residential
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Academy, Level II, OST Programs?
• Occupational/Voc Skills training programs may incorporate self-efficacy and advocacy efforts as part of the on site job training
• Place/train v. Train/place debate
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Program Examples and Curricula
• Academy, Level II, etc., —SA usually built into the curriculum, or stand alone courses
• May or may not be formally measured --but are usually professed
• Programs may focus on specific sub-populations—i.e., Bellevue (IQ<70), Marino (Downs Syndrome)
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2. Effective, Strategic DS Office Management
• Start at the top and bottom using the organization’s overarching mission and specific unit objectives
• Incorporate and assess learning outcomes• Don’t reinvent the wheel. Someone else
has probably already done that!• Get additional resources
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Through the hierarchy
1. Universal aim (Top)
“Ferris State University prepares students for successful careers, responsible
citizenship, and lifelong learning…[and serves] our rapidly changing global
economy and society”
(Sounds good, doesn’t it!?)
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Departmental or College level• “University College: Our purpose is to provide
developmental courses, educational counseling, and academic support services that will empower students enrolled at Ferris State University to achieve their educational and career goals”
• Reach out to developmental faculty, advisors, and other staff
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Unit Level
• Our mission is to assist Ferris students, faculty, and the community with services related to academic success and career counseling. Additionally, we provide classroom accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
• Collaborate with colleagues on developing consistent approaches within the unit
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From Thought to Action
“Having adopted an intention and an action plan, one cannot simply sit back and wait
for the appropriate [accommodations] performances to appear” A. Bandura, 2001
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• “FSU…prepares students for successful careers, responsible citizenship, and lifelong learning. Through its many partnerships and its career-oriented, broad-based education, Ferris serves our rapidly changing global economy and society.”
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• No exceptions made for students with disabilities
• Cuts across the strata of student services and academic units, including teaching modalities (on-line, hybrid, satellite campuses)
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• Accessibility and advocacy continue to make progress through accreditation bodies—Quality Matters, Learning Commission, etc.
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future: The organization’s ongoing evaluation and assessment processes provide reliable evidence of institutional effectiveness that clearly informs strategies for continuous improvement.
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• Criterion Four: Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge
• The organization assesses the usefulness of its curricula to students who will live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society.
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Getting buy-in: Mission and Accreditation
• The organization provides support to ensure that faculty, students, and staff acquire, discover, and apply knowledge responsibly.
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Standards of Service
• Align with CRCC, ACA, and APA ethical guidelines to foster independence and autonomy
• Consistent with AHEAD Program Standards and Performance Indicators
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Trinity’s Division of Student Affairs’ Mission
• As educators in the spirit of the liberal arts tradition, the members of the Division of Student Affairs are committed to serving, supporting, and challenging students in their development as individuals and as responsible global citizens.
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TU Student Affairs Strategic Plan
4 Goals1. Integrate curricular and co-curricular
learning through programs and services.
2. Develop global citizenship via intercultural competency and a commitment to service.
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TU Student Affairs Strategic Plan
4 Goals3. Nurture leadership development through
programming that is rooted in the theoretical framework of the Social Change Model of Leadership Development.
4. Develop Common Learning Outcomes and utilize assessment techniques to measure student learning.
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TU Common Learning Outcomes
4 ClustersA. Personal and Leadership Development
B. Health & Wellness
C. Intercultural Understanding and Diversity
D. Social Responsibility
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Trinity DSS Departmental Mission
“Disability Services for Students (DSS) supports Trinity University’s mission to promote human and intellectual diversity by providing equal access and equal opportunity through fostering an inclusive environment for all students with disabilities within the Trinity community…Through collaboration and support of the entire Trinity community, DSS promotes self-understanding and self-advocacy within students with disabilities…”
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Trinity DSS Departmental Goals• Assist students with disabilities in recognizing their
disability as one of many important demographic characteristics which will shape their identities and influence how they perceive the world.
• Promote self-advocacy skills within students with disabilities.
• Create a diverse, inclusive, and pluralistic campus climate which fosters respect for and appreciation of the inherent worth of all individuals, at all times, and in all ways.
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Teaching students SA, 1977)
Mastery
Vicarious
Verbal Persuasion
Anxiety
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Teaching & Mastering SA
• Mastery experiences—demonstrating the desired behavior
• Vicarious Experiences—peer modeling• Verbal persuasion-from peers, faculty, or
staff• Anxiety produced—most likely to create
avoidance behaviors
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Mastery of some tasks is important—but which ones?
• Different than intentions because intentions don’t account for unforeseen events, problems, etc.
• Efficacy can help re-shape the future behavior in light of new feedback (failures)
• Helps shape pro-social behavior• Future behavior motivated by ‘projected goals’ and
‘anticipated outcomes’, rather than just along for the ride to an undefined future
Using Bloom’s TaxonomyBloom et al (1956) categorized cognitive skills to develop learning objectives, goals, and outcomes to guide instruction and assessment. Revised in 2001 by Krathwohl and Anderson.
Anderson, L.W. & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Defining Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes or “learning objectives” are statements describing the changes in behavior or performance that are the desired outcome of the learning interaction between the students and the facilitator of the learning process.
Classifying Outcomes
Primary– The core learning of a program; of central or
dominant importance; gives meaning, clarity, and unity to all learning activities in the unit or program
Enabling– Help in attainment of the primary objective;
contributory knowledge, sub-skills, principles or elements of the larger primary skill
Categorizing Outcomes
Information: require learner to recall knowledge
Mental Skills: require learner to analyze, classify or solve problems that involve cognitive processes
Physical Skills: require learner to perform a physical or manipulative activity involving fine or gross motor skills
Attitudes: require learners to make choices reflecting beliefs such as ethical behavior
Constructing Learning Outcomes
• Audience – who are the learners?
• Behavior – what should they know, do, or believe?
• Condition – under what conditions should they perform?
• Degree – what standard is successful?
SMART Learning Outcomes
• Specific• Measurable• Aggressive but Attainable• Results-oriented • Time bound
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Verbs for each levelLevel Example verbs
Creating Assess, critique, evaluate, prioritize, verify
Evaluating Combine, construct, generate, prepare, synthesize
Analyzing Calculate, compare, differentiate, examine, solve
Applying Apply, develop, perform, produce, use
Understanding Compare, describe, explain, illustrate, summarize,
Remembering Choose, identify, match, name, repeat
Outcome Example
Behavior: Learners will be able to…
Conditions: Given the tools, materials, environment….
Criterion: So that… (consistent with standards or measures)
Behavior: Write learning objectives
Conditions: Given access to the appropriate subject matter expert(s), access to task analysis data, and criteria for success
Criterion: So that the objectives are specific, behaviorally- based and measurable.
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Program-related Outcomes
• Students (A) who participate in the DSS New Student Orientation (C) will: – become interdependent and utilize campus
resources (B&D). [DO]– Identify (B) one (D) new method of advocating
for themselves. [KNOW]
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Service-related Outcome
• Students (A) who have received individual academic counseling (C) will report they have gained knowledge of test-taking strategies (B&D) which they can utilize in the future.
Assessing Outcomes• Student assessment
involves the evaluation of student learning through assignments, exams, and portfolios.
• Begin your assessment with careful planning, followed by gathering data and then reporting results .
http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/assessment/iar/
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Contact
Contact information:
Mikael Snitker-Magin, [email protected], 231.591.3057 (voice)
Gavin Steiger, [email protected]
210.999-7411 (voice)