Excerpted from Chapter 9 of Alternate Assessment: Measuring Outcomes and Supports for Students with Disabilities, by Harold L. Kleinert, Ed.D., & Jacqui Farmer Kearns, Ed.D., with invited contributors.

Copyright © 2001 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

One way to teach skills in a variety of environments, especially real-life environments, is to gain access to activities planned by the general education teacher, including regularly scheduled field trips. Most field trips are linked to the general education curriculum and require students to complete activities addressing state standards. Because all students will be addressing curriculum concerns during these times, it is very appropriate for the student with a disability to address individualized concerns as a part of the same activity. As the following examples illustrate, the use of field trips to practice targeted skills across multiple environments can be highly effective.

Incorporating an Elementary School Field Trip into the Alternate Assessment

One educator’s goal for a fourth-grade field trip to a nature academy was for students to compare the amount and type of insects at the academy with what could be found in the more suburban areas in which the students lived. Prior to the field trip, the students read an article on the effect of urban development on insects’ habitats and designed a chart to record that information. While at the academy, the students noted on their chart the type and number of insects observed. Follow-up activities included recording the type and number of insects found around their suburban-area school and using the information to answer an open-response question.

Carlos, a student with a disability, had individualized education program objectives of counting to 10, writing a complete sentence, and identifying high-frequency sight words. While the class was reading the handout on habitats, Carlos was marking familiar words in the article and using the time to work on his sight-word recognition vocabulary. During the field trip, he made a tally mark under the picture of each type of insect as he observed it; as he collected his data, he stopped several times to count “how many” types he had recorded thus far. He followed this same procedure during observation of insects on school grounds, and a peer helped him transfer the data to a final graph. Carlos’s open-ended response for this unit was to write three sentences telling how many insects he found at each place and where he observed the most insects. Included in his assessment portfolio were his record of observed insects (both at the nature academy and at school), his graph of his findings, and his open-ended response.

In order to plan for individualized skill practice on field trips, collaboration with the classroom teacher about the goals set for all students is necessary. First, the general and special education teachers should review together the student’s IEP and select skills that can be addressed within the field trip, especially those objectives that correlate best with already planned activities. For example, a student can practice money skills during a visit to a store, a gift shop, or a concession area. A location with signs posted provides opportunities for sight-word recognition. An activity in which students write their answers offers the student with a disability the opportunity to work on writing skills, too. Communication, social, physical functioning, and behavioral goals typically need to be addressed in every environment, thereby making field trip sites viable environments for instruction and practice in these goals as well.

Some skills clearly correlate with the field trip or activity; others may require more creative thinking. In addition, special in-school activities can be used to address IEP objectives including book fairs, assemblies, special interest groups, Junior Achievement, conservation activities (see the middle school example in the next section), and in-school field trips. These occur throughout the building and often have real-life connections. All offer opportunities for demonstrating skills across multiple environments.

A Middle School Field Trip Example

An eighth-grade team went to the local art museum as part of a unit focusing on literature of the European Renaissance period. During their scheduled field trip, students working in small groups were to select five art pieces that they believed evoked a variety of feelings, record information on each piece, and take snapshots.

Margaret, the student with a disability, had IEP objectives for holding her head up and operating a pressure switch. During the field trip, Margaret was prompted by peers in her group to look at selected art pieces (which reinforced the skill of holding up her head). She operated a tape recorder by holding down a pressure switch while a peer recorded the name of the piece, the artist, and a brief description of the artwork. Back at school, the students used their snapshots to create a feelings poster with one-word identifiers and brief descriptions. Margaret and a peer scanned the pictures into PowerPoint (a task for which Margaret used her switch) and added the recorded information. Margaret presented her multimedia poster by using a pressure switch to operate the computer. Included in Margaret’s assessment portfolio were the printouts of her PowerPoint slides and the instructional data on her independent switch use in both the community and classroom environments.

As these examples illustrate, to teach everywhere and anywhere only requires that one be on the lookout for every opportunity to address specific skills. Collaborating with school staff and others in planning field trips and accompanying educational activities is an important way to embed individualized student objectives within the context of enriched learning opportunities for all students.