Tool

Applying the Framework: A Matrix for Educators to Address Students’ Language and Disability Needs

A. Madison Leech, Vitaliy V. Shyyan, and Laurene L. Christensen
March 2022 | Advancing ALTELLA and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)

This toolkit, developed by the Advancing ALTELLA: Alternate Assessment Redesign project housed within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, introduces the Language and Disability Needs Framework and Learning Matrix to meet the needs of English learners with disabilities. This resource rejects the notion that the skills of English learners with disabilities are static and instead acknowledges the shifting nature of their development through four quadrants within the framework (low to high English language needs and low to high disability-related needs). Further, the toolkit offers examples of student composite profiles (i.e., high English language needs, low disability-related needs) through implementing the Learning Matrix. Through a set of rings, similar to Bloom’s Taxonomy in increasing the complexity of tasks, the Learning Matrix offers an instructional design practice that teachers may implement in their lessons that adjusts for students’ growth in language and learning abilities. The resource shares sample lesson plans, accommodations, and intentional instructional design, which teacher educators and teachers may find useful.

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