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Coffin Assignment3

The authors identify that curriculum standards changed for students with intellectual disabilities following the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, which required their inclusion in assessment and accountability measures. This led schools to prioritize academic over functional skills teaching. However, the authors argue curriculum should balance both academic and functional skills based on individual student needs to improve post-school independence and quality of life.

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53 views1 page

Coffin Assignment3

The authors identify that curriculum standards changed for students with intellectual disabilities following the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, which required their inclusion in assessment and accountability measures. This led schools to prioritize academic over functional skills teaching. However, the authors argue curriculum should balance both academic and functional skills based on individual student needs to improve post-school independence and quality of life.

Uploaded by

Daniel Alan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What do the authors identify as the reason that curriculum standards have changed for students

with intellectual disabilities? What do they suggest as the approach that should be taken in regard
to teaching both academic and functional skills?

In the article entitled “I Can Identify Saturn but I Can’t Brush My Teeth: What Happens When
the Curricular Focus for Students with Severe Disabilities Shifts,” the authors described a shift
taking place in curricular standard for students with intellectual disabilities in the early 2000s. The
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA) was interpreted as
meaning that educators should use Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional
Performance (PLAAFP) statements to inform Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals and
outcomes with the overall desired outcome of helping students with disabilities to become as
independent and productive as they can be as they enter their adult lives.
Following the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the authors state, state
education agencies began to include students with severe intellectual disabilities in the general
education curriculum and within the accountability measures outlined by NCLB. Whereas students
with severe intellectual disabilities were not originally required to be included in the general
curriculum due to their cognitive limitations, NCLB mandated that all students, regardless of
disability, participate in the general curriculum and have their progress toward mastery of those
standards be counted toward the school’s measurement of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). This
led to the situation that the authors relate in the article and reference in the title of the article
wherein students with profound disabilities are learning academic content in school rather than
functional skills which would presumably help them to be more independent and self-sufficient
after their schooling.
The authors note that while NCLB requires that the curriculum for students with disabilities be
linked to the same academic standards, it does not preclude teaching functional skills in addition
to academic content. As such, the authors argue, there is no reason to prioritize the teaching of
academics over functional skills when the latter might be more immediately useful to better the
lives of students with disabilities outside of school. The authors note that determining the balance
of academic schooling vs. functional training should be assessed individually for each student with
disabilities as part of the PLAAFP, and that teachers should prioritize the teaching of areas which
will most increase a student’s quality of life as an adult, and seek opportunities to combine
academic and functional development within the same learning experience.

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