Information Needed by Postsecondary Education: Can We Provide It As part of the Transition Assessment Process?
Patricia L. Sitlington and Erin M. Payne
One of the challenges to the transition to postsecondary education for
students with learning disabilities is the ever-increasing gap between the
assessment information that is collected at the secondary level and the
demands for documentation prevalent at the postsecondary level. This
article discusses the: (a) differences between secondary and postsecondary
educational settings in terms of legal protections and demands placed on
students, (b) information required by postsecondary institutions, (c)
assessment information that is collected in secondary special education
programs, (d) assessment techniques that are available for gathering information,
and (e) recommendations for using existing assessment techniques
to provide the information needed by postsecondary institutions.
A Profile of Interpersonal Conflict Resolution of Children with Learning Disabilities
Ioannis Agaliotis and Dimitrios Goudiras
This study involved a comparison between 30 children with Learning
Disabilities (LD) and 30 typically developing peers, regarding their ability
to resolve interpersonal conflict problems. It was hypothesized that the
groups would show significant differences along the following parameters:
(a) understanding of the components of the problems; (b) finding of alternative
solutions; (c) determination of the consequences of the solutions;
(d) the type of solution strategies used; (e) differentiation of the strategies
in line with the different requirements of each situation; (f) level of development
of interpersonal negotiation. The results of the study indicate that
children with LD experience more difficulty than children of typical development
in appreciating the components which make up the context of
interpersonal conflict, in devising alternative solutions to resolve the conflict
and in appreciating the consequences of the solutions they propose.
With regard to the type of resolution strategy employed, the study shows
that children with LD present both similarities to and differences from
their typical peers, depending on the specific situational features, since situations
appear to vary in the type of social behavior they promote in children
with LD. Finally, in respect to the use of different strategies to meet
the special requirements of each situation, and in respect to the development
level of interpersonal negotiation, no statistically significant differences
were found between the groups. An intriguing finding of the study,
warranting further examination, is the fact that children with LD seem to
come up with strategies that are comparable to the strategies of their typical
peers and, moreover, take into consideration the situational circumstances,
despite their problems with the three first phases of the interpersonal
problem solving procedure.
Adolescents with Disabilities in High School Setting: Student Characteristics and Setting Dynamics
Donald D. Deshler1, B. Keith Lenz, Janis Bulgren, Jean B. Schumaker, Betsy Davis, Bonnie Grossen, and Janet Marquis
The purpose of this investigation was two fold: (1) to gather descriptive
information in the areas of salient student characteristics, level of participation
in general education classes, current level of functioning, and student
outcomes (e.g., GPAs, performance on state or national exams) for students
with disabilities (SWDs) in high school settings; (2) to get a day-long picture
of what life is like in the lives of high school students with disabilities.
The intention of this study was to move beyond the “one-shot,” partial view
of the kinds of data sets and information primarily available to educators
through traditional studies that generally do not consider the broader array
of contextual factors that impact student performance. Collectively, the data
from these two studies were seen as being foundational in the eventual
design of interventions to enhance student performance.
An Introduction to Differential Item Functioning Analysis
Akihito Kamata and Brandon K.Vaughn
This article provides a brief primer overview of Differential Item
Functioning (DIF) analysis. DIF analysis investigates a differential characteristic
of a test item between subpopulations of examinees and is useful
in detecting possibly biased items toward a particular subpopulation. As
demonstration, a dataset from a 40-item math test in a statewide testing
program is analyzed by two widely used approaches, namely, Mantel-
Haenszel and logistic regression methods, for the purpose of detecting DIF
items against learning disability students who received testing accommodations.
As a result, three items were found to present DIF against LD students
who received testing accommodation, while one item was found to
present DIF against typical students. Also, a discussion on future directions
of DIF analysis study is provided.
