Many students enrolled in the Job Corps program come to the program having already experienced their fill of educational failure.

These students often arrive with a fear of repeated failure or with the hope that this program will be the "one" that can assist them in getting their GED or a high school diploma and a technical skill. That fear unchallenged and/or the experience of an early failed hope can lead to behavior problems, emotional shut down, and/or quitting the program.

Students with LD frequently do not believe that they can learn. Learning just seems too difficult or not worth it. Overcoming these initial negative thought patterns can be accomplished by assisting the student with early successes in the program and by assisting the student with developing life-long compensatory strategies. Students with LD must learn to become strategic learners-becoming aware of what strategies might be useful in particular learning situations and then using those strategies effectively.

Instructional staff must foster this process by first introducing students to specific stragegies/aids, then discuss when and how they might be used, and finally, provide opportunities for students to discuss the strategies/aids. So, the challenge is to learn as much about the student as early in the program as possible or immediately upon entry to a new vocational course or classroom to:

• Provide immediate opportunities for student to experience small successes.

• Develop instruction and training activities that incorporate individual learning preferences, skills and abilities, and/or LD.

There are multitudes of resources that offer a wide and varied perspective on classroom strategies and aids for students with and without disabilities. So how do you know what works and what does not and what is appropriate for a student with a LD as opposed to a student without a LD?

The good news is that aids/strategies and accommodations that are typically successful with students with LD are usually beneficial to students without disabilities as well. Employing the use of learning style inventories, skill assessments, and multimodal/multisensory instruction provides the core foundation for improving instruction to all students but particularly for those with LD and learning difficulties.

Historically, the Job Corps program has provided individualized, self-paced programming to students with widely diverse skills and abilities. Skill assessments are initiated during the career preparation period and used to determine educational placements. The classroom aids/strategies provided in this section build upon that foundation by offering specific programmatic and service delivery improvements for:

• Students with learning and attention disabilities
• Students with learning difficulties
• All students

In addition, this section discusses:

• Remediation vs. accommodation
• Program design models
• Assistive technology

Remember, there is no instructional design or program model that eliminates the right to accommodations for qualified individuals should they be requested and determined appropriate.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL)

Universal design is an approach to designing course instruction, materials, and content to benefit people of all learning styles without adaptation. Universal design provides equal access to learning, not simply equal access to information. Although this design enables the student to be self-sufficient, the teacher is responsible for imparting knowledge and facilitating the learning process. Universal design does not remove academic challenges; it removes barriers to access.

Universal design has its roots in architecture and urban planning. Ramps, automatic doors, and curb cuts were created to provide access to people with physical disabilities but actually ease access for everyone.

Universal design can generate unanticipated benefits for others. For example, captioning course videotapes to provide access to students who are deaf is also a benefit to students with limited English proficiency, to some students with LD, and to those distracted by watching the tape in a noisy environment, or who have auditory processing difficulties. Delivering content in redundant ways can improve instruction for everyone, including students with a variety of learning styles and central backgrounds.

For more information on UDL, visit the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) website.

PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN

Below are examples of UD instructional methods that make course content and activities accessible to people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, ethnic backgrounds, language skills, and learning styles. Employing universal design principles in instruction does not eliminate the need for specific accommodations for students with disabilities.

• Inclusiveness—Create a classroom environment that respects and values diversity. Put a statement on orientation materials inviting students to meet with you to discuss disability-related accommodations and other special learning needs. Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any student. Respect the privacy of all students.
• Physical Access—Assure that classrooms, labs, and fieldwork are accessible to individuals with a wide range of physical abilities and disabilities. Make sure equipment and activities minimize sustained physical effort, provide options for operation, and accommodate right- and left-handed students as well as those with limited physical abilities. Assure the safety of all students.
• Delivery Methods—Use multiple delivery methods, including lecture, discussion, hands-on activities, internet-based interaction, and fieldwork. Make sure each is accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, interests, and previous experiences. Face the class and speak clearly in an environment that is comfortable and free from distractions. Provide printed materials that summarize content delivered orally.
• Information Access—Use captioned videotapes. Make printed materials available in electronic format. Provide text descriptions of graphics presented on web pages. Provide printed materials early to allow students to prepare for the topic to be presented. Create printed and web-based materials in simple, intuitive, and consistent formats. Arrange content in order of importance.
• Interaction—Encourage different ways for students to interact with each other and with you. These methods may include in-class questions and discussion, group work, and Internet-based communications. Strive to make them accessible to everyone.
• Feedback—Provide effective prompting during an activity and feedback after the assignment is complete.
• Demonstration of Knowledge—Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate knowledge. For example, besides traditional tests and papers, consider group work, demonstrations, portfolios, and presentations as options for demonstrating knowledge.

REMEDIATION vs. ACCOMMODATION

There are generally two schools of thought regarding remediation vs. accommodation:

1. Adult students with LD will primarily need accommodations rather than opportunities for remediation in order to acquire the life skills they need for successful independent living.

2. The mind has tremendous capabilities for developing compensatory strategies and remapping its wiring, even in adults; therefore, adults can benefit from remedial instruction.

Remedial instruction, which is an integral component of the Job Corps program, is combined with the use of accommodations for those who meet the legal qualification requirements. Students with learning or attention disabilities who do not benefit from remedial instruction after appropriate instruction has been provided should continue to be accommodated.

PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE FOR USE WITH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Although every program methodology must be evaluated for appropriateness based upon its own core components, there are some generalized characteristics typically found in programs that are more successful for students with learning disabilities. These programs make use of multimodal and multisensory strategies, are flexible in design, incorporate varied and ongoing assessment tools, and most importantly, allow for individualization of activities based on each student's needs.

The following programs are highlighted as they exhibit varying combinations of the above characteristics.

Maximizing Academic Potential (MAP) Program

The MAP program was introduced into the Job Corps education program in the early 1990s. Although the MAP program is not a mandatory academic program, its core concepts and principles are appropriate for both learners with LD as well as those with learning difficulties.

"MAP operates under the principle that because no two brains are alike, students cannot all be expected to learn in the same way. It recognizes that the pace, approach, and presentation in most class settings do not match the learning patterns of all students. MAP serves much like a road map by assessing their needs, identifying resources to assist them, selecting instructional designs, and guiding them. The recommended materials and teaching strategies are designed to maximize the learning potential of students through lessons that focus on attention, memory, thinking, and communication skills. MAP builds self-esteem and gives students the tools to understand what they cannot change but that they can learn — just differently." Dr. Craig Sudbury, Management and Training Corporation

The MAP program is well suited to small group instruction for those students needing intensive remediation and group support; however, it can easily be adapted to meet individual student needs as well as applied to group classroom activities comprised of students of varying skills and abilities. It does not have to be taught within a self-contained (e.g., a classroom with only students that have low reading skills, etc.) classroom.

The materials and information used in the MAP program are highly recommended for use with students with LD.

Bridges to Practice

Bridges to Practice: A Research-based Guide for Literacy Practitioners Serving Adults with Learning Disabilities consists of five guidebooks designed to help literacy programs and their practitioners (teachers, tutors, volunteers, and program leaders) learn how to develop or improve services to adults with LD.

Guidebook 1: Preparing to Serve Adults with Learning Disabilities
Guidebook 2: The Assessment Process
Guidebook 3: The Planning Process
Guidebook 4: The Teaching/Learning Process
Guidebook 5: Training Manual

Charter Schools

Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The "charter" establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school's contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor-usually a state or local school board-to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability.

Since 1991, almost all states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signed into law charter school legislation. Several Job Corps centers have established charter school relationships to offer high school diploma programs and assist with improved service delivery to students with disabilities.

Visualizing and Verbalizing^®

The Nancibell^>® Visualizing and Verbalizing^® for Language Comprehension and Thinking (V/V™) Program stimulates concept imagery. The program applies concept imagery to reading comprehension, oral language comprehension, following directions, higher order thinking skills, expressive language, and writing.

Orton-Gillingham

The Orton-Gillingham approach is diagnostic-prescriptive in nature. The teacher seeks to understand how an individual learns and to devise appropriate teaching strategies. In every lesson, the student experiences a high degree of success and gains confidence as well as skill. Learning becomes a rewarding and happy experience.

• Language-based. The Orton-Gillingham approach is based on a technique of studying and teaching language, understanding the nature of human language, the mechanisms involved in learning, and the language-learning processes in individuals.
• Multisensory. Orton-Gillingham teaching sessions are action oriented with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements reinforcing each other for optimal learning. The student learns spelling simultaneously with reading.
• Structured, Sequential, Cumulative. The Orton-Gillingham teacher introduces the elements of the language systematically. Students begin by reading and writing sounds in isolation. Then they blend the sounds into syllables and words. Students learn the elements of language, e.g., consonants, vowels, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs, in an orderly fashion. They then proceed to advanced structural elements such as syllable types, roots, and affixes. As students learn new material, they continue to review old material to the level of automaticity. The teacher addresses vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension in a similar structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.
• Cognitive. Students learn about the history of the English language and study the many generalizations and rules that govern its structure. They also learn how best they can learn and apply the language knowledge necessary for achieving reading and writing competencies.

High School Programs

High school programs may be an option for students with significant learning difficulties who are not diagnosed or who will not qualify for accommodations on state GED examinations and yet need to demonstrate mastery of skills in alternative formats or methods (e.g., portfolio assessments, using word processors). Care should be taken to ensure:

• Student has enough existing high school credits to reasonably complete a high school program while in Job Corps.

• Job Corps instructional support, planning, guidance, and progress monitoring is provided.

TYPES OF LEARNING STRATEGIES AND SUPPORTS: COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE

Learning aids/strategies facilitate the acquisition, manipulation, integration, storage, and retrieval of information across situations and settings. They help us understand and learn new material or skills, integrate this new information with what we already know in ways that makes sense, and recall the information or skill later. There are two types of learning strategies: cognitive and metacognitive.

Cognitive Strategies

These assist a student with processing and manipulating information (i.e., taking notes, asking questions); in other words, these strategies function to produce learning. The list below contains examples of cognitive strategies.

• Strategy: Rehearsal
  Definition: Reciting items to be learned from a list
  Benefit: Believed to influence the attention and encoding process. It does not seem to help students connect current information with prior knowledge

• Strategy: Elaboration
  Definition: Summarizing or paraphrasing
  Benefit: Believed to improve a student's ability to store information into the long-term memory by building internal connections between items to be learned and assisting with the integration of new information with prior knowledge

• Strategy: Organization
  Definition: Outlining
  Benefit: Helps learners select appropriate information and construct the connections to be learned

• Strategy: Analyzing
  Definition: Problem solving, critical thinking
  Benefit: Assists students with applying previous knowledge to new situations in order to solve problems and/or reach decisions

Metacognition Strategies

These strategies assist students in thinking about thinking. Metacognition is an important concept in cognitive theory. It consists of two basic processes occurring simultaneously:

• Monitoring your progress as you learn.

• Making changes and adapting your strategies if you perceive you are not doing so well.

Metacognition, or awareness of the process of learning, is a critical ingredient to successful learning. Learning how to learn and developing thinking processes that can be applied to solve problems, is a major goal of education. When life presents situations that cannot be solved by learned responses, metacognitive behavior is brought into play. Guidance in recognizing and applying metacognitive strategies will help students successfully solve problems throughout their lives. Metacognitives learners ask themselves and answer questions like:

• How much time do I need to set aside to learn this? (planning)

• Do I understand what I am reading or hearing? (self-monitoring)

• How can I measure my success? (self-evaluation)

Over time, the acquisition and use of metacognitive strategies help students build confidence about their ability to learn. As this confidence builds, independent learning is fostered.

It is important to understand the relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies. The metacognitive activities like self-questioning usually occur before or after a cognitive activity. An example of the relationship between the metacognitive and cognitive strategies is a learner who uses self-monitoring when reading. He/she knows that they do not comprehend what they have read (metacognitive) and recognize that they will understand the text better if they create an outline (cognitive).

Strategies to develop metacognition include:

• Share and model self-monitoring processes (e.g., proofreading, etc.)

• Explain and provide handouts regarding particular strategies that may be helpful

• Clarify and model when particular strategies are appropriate

• Clarify why particular strategies are helpful and useful

FRAMEWORKS FOR INSTRUCTING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

The two most common approaches to teach students with LD are:

• Direct instruction approach

• Information processing approach

Direct Instruction

Direct instruction provides a framework with which to teach basic skills and is primarily used in the learning of skills and procedures.

The steps for providing direct instruction are:

• Provide objectives for the learner, establish expectations, and introduce the skill to be taught.
• Introduce and model the skill through a step-by-step process. The learner watches as the instructor visually and verbally demonstrates what he/she is to do.
• Provide guided practice with feedback where the learner tries the skill while the instructor monitors what is being done. Initially, the instructor should help at each step so that the learner does not become frustrated.
• Provide opportunities and experiences for independent practice and their applicability to workplace or real life.

Information Processing

Information processing theories suggest that there are limits to the amount of information that learners can pay attention to and process effectively. So care must be taken to break lessons and assignments down into a variety of activities to maximize learner attention, focus, and alertness.

Applying information processing in the classroom includes:

• Emphasizing key terms during teaching (e.g., by stating this is an "important" term to know and/or writing terms on board as they are being discussed).

• Presenting information in an organized manner. Go from simple to complex when presenting new material.

• Providing opportunities for students to elaborate on new information.

• Scheduling periodic reviews of previously learned concepts and skills.

WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER?

The most effective teachers incorporate learning styles into their teaching methodologies. They provide opportunities for students to observe, engage in, discuss, reflect upon, practice, and personalize strategies that can be used now and in the future. See the following links for additional information.

Teaching Students to Use Learning Aids

One of the most well-known instructional approaches is known as the Strategies Integration Model (SIM). The basics of this model start with the teacher/instructor selecting the strategy that he/she wishes to teach (finding the main idea, note taking, etc.). The strategy should be linked to the task(s) that the students must complete and not be selected arbitrarily. Then the teacher may follow the basic steps of the SIM model to teach students the new strategy.

1. Pretest Students and Get Them Interested in Learning the Aid/Strategy

Letting students know that gains in learning can occur when the strategy is used effectively is one of the keys to motivating them. Studies have shown that it is important to tell students directly that they are going to learn a strategy that can help them in their reading, writing, or whatever skill is being addressed through the strategy.

The pretest can be instrumental in helping students see the need to learn the strategy. To this end, it is critical that the teacher pretest students using materials and tasks that are similar to the materials and tasks that the students actually encounter in their classes. The strategy should also be useful when working with those materials and tasks-- in other words, students will find it easier to work with those materials or perform those tasks if they apply the strategy.

The pretest should be primarily focused on completing the task (e.g., reading a passage and answering questions). Following the pretest, the class should discuss results. How did students do? Were they able to perform the task successfully? What types of errors did they make? What did they do, or think about, to help themselves while taking the pretest? What difficulties did they have, and how did they address those difficulties? If students did not perform particularly well, the teacher then indicates that he or she knows of a strategy or technique that will help students perform that task more successfully in the future.

2. Describe the Aid/Strategy

A clear definition of the strategy must be given, as well as some of the benefits to learning the strategy. The teacher should also identify real assignments in specific classes where students can apply the strategy and ask students if they can think of other work where the strategy might be useful. Students should also be told the various stages involved in learning the strategy, so they know what to expect.

Once this type of overview is provided and the teacher feels that students are ready to delve more deeply into hearing about and using the strategy, instruction must become more specific. Each separate step of the strategy must be described in detail. It is important that the strategy is presented in such a way that students can easily remember its steps. Many strategies have been given an acronym to help students remember the various steps involved. Students may also benefit from having a poster or chart about the strategy and its steps displayed in plain view. During the description stage, the class may also discuss how this new approach to a specific task differs from what students are currently using. The stage should conclude with a review of what has been said.

3. Model the Aid/Strategy

Modeling the strategy for students is an essential component of strategy instruction. In this stage, teachers overtly use the strategy to help them perform a relevant classroom or authentic task, talking aloud as they work so that students can observe how a person thinks and what a person does while using the strategy, including: deciding which strategy to use to perform the task at hand, working through the task using that strategy, monitoring performance (i.e., is the strategy being applied correctly, and is it helping the learner complete the work well?), revising one's strategic approach, and making positive self-statements.

4. Practice the Aid/Strategy

Repeated opportunities to practice the strategy are important as well. The more students and teachers collaborate to use the strategy, the more internalized the strategy will become in students' strategic repertoire. Initial practice may be largely teacher-directed, with teachers continuing to model appropriate ways of thinking about the task at hand and deciding (with increasing student direction) which strategy or action is needed to work through whatever problems arise in completing the task.

5. Provide Feedback

The feedback that teachers give students on their strategy use is a critical component in helping students learn how to use a strategy effectively and how to change what they are doing when a particular approach is not working. Much of the feedback can be offered as students become involved in thinking aloud about the task and about strategy use, in the modeling and practice steps described above. It is also important to provide opportunities for students to reflect upon their approach to and completion of the task. What aspects of the task did they complete well? What aspects were hard? Did any problems arise, and what did they do to solve the problems? What might they do differently the next time they have to complete a similar task?

6. Promote Generalization

It is important for students to be able to apply the strategy in novel situations and with novel tasks. Teachers need to discuss with students what generalization is and how and when students might use the strategy in other settings. An important part of this discussion will be looking at the actual work that students have in other classes and discussing with students how the strategy might be useful in completing that work. Being specific-actually going through the steps of the strategy with that work-is highly beneficial. Students can also be called upon to generate their own lists of instances where they might apply the strategy in other classes.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY