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JJPA (Jamey, Jennie, Paula, April)
The JJPA Blog is designed to provide educators and parents with information and resources they need to help better serve students/children with behavior problems. Many sites were screened and evaluated using our rating system to ensure the comprehensive list of websites that are available. The screening process excluded sites that were too personal, too commercial, too topic specific and/or lacked sufficient content.
JJPA (Jamey, Jennie, Paula, April)
Rating System
The rating systems for the website are on a scale using the terms weak, acceptable, and strong across 4 dimensions; content, navigation, accessibility and design. For more details please visit the Rating System section below.
5 comments:
Web address: www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/
Rating:
Content: Strong
Navigation: Weak
Accessibility: Weak
Design: Acceptable
Summary: New York's Office of Vocational and Education Services for Individuals with Disabilites (VESID) website has a wealth of information. Serving one of the largest populations in special education, this site offers many resources that look to support parents, teachers and administrators of students with disabilities. VESID lays out the federal policy of special education and how that affects school districts within the state. The site also provides information for parents as their student progresses through the educational system, starting with pre-school, elementary, transition to secondary and includes vocational opportunities as well. Alternate assessment information is also given to parents to help pursue all angles of making sure students' needs are properly identified. There is a portion of the site dedicated to behavior interventions stating federal and state regulations to aversive interventions. The site also updates any changes in behavior intervention plan regulations as they occur.
Due to all the information this site offers, it may at times be difficult to access and navigate. Although the design is adequate, manipulating the site for someone new to special education and may be overwhelmed by the tidal wave of information.
Web address: htttp://ecs.org
Rating:
Content: Acceptable
Navigation: Weak
Accessibility: Weak
Design: Acceptable
Summary:
Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a site dedicated to policies concerning education. It is a national site that caters to the needs of legislators and administrators shaping the policies for their states and districts.
This site is strictly aimed at policy makers. The language used on the site is technical and difficult for the lay person to grasp. Parents would have difficulty accessing needed information which is the reason for the weak rating in accessibility. The design of the site is acceptable in the layout. It can be cumbersome to navigate with many drop down windows to work through.
Although narrow in it's scope and audience, the site does provide some great information about educational policies. There are several national databases to look through that cover many topics from secondary statistics in special education, research studies, No Child Left Behind reauthorization database to a state-by-state listing of agencies, public office and educational instruction departments. There is also an interesting section on the site devoted to overidentification of students in special education, specifically in the African American community and the challenges facing administrators/legislators.
Unfortunately, there seems to be little information provided that targets teachers. There is a section for teacher concerns in instruction, specifically in special education, however, it is focused on administrative/ legislative responses to said concerns.
Web address: www.nasdse.org
Rating:
Content: Acceptable
Navigation: Strong
Accessibility: Strong
Design: Acceptable
Summary: The National Association of Sate Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) possesses a site dedicated to meeting the educational goals of children with disabilities through education reform. This not-for-profit agency has dedicated itself to maintaining relationships for those who provide special education (administrators/teachers) while building bonds with the families of those students with disabilities.
This site is tremendously easy to use and navigate. It is the most teacher friendly site that has been rated thus far, gaining a strong rating in both accessibility and navigation. It contains many resource links for teachers at state and federal levels including the Department of Education, Western Regional Resource Center (WRRC) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The site outlines several of the projects that it is currently involved in developing. The Juvenile Justice Shared Initiative Project which focuses on students within the juvenile justice system with disabilities while also preventing students with disabilities from referrals to the juvenile system while in school is an example of NASDSE's vision to reshape public policy and education.
Though strong in presentation it is not overwhelming in information. It provides a good jumping off point for teachers/ parents but does not provide the "meat and potatoes" of policies. Overall a good place to start for teachers and parents when looking at policies being developed.
Web address: www.iser.com
Rating:
Content: Strong
Navigation: Acceptable
Accessibility: Acceptable
Design: Weak
Summary:
The site for Internet Special Education Resources (ISER) is one built for the parents of children with disabilities. ISER lays out numerous resources for parents to help with social concerns about their special needs students and their rights. Resources such as camps for students with disabilities, therapy, advocacy for families involved in special education and other professionals are identified.
This site is designed with the parent in mind, making it highly user friendly. The content is strong to that end making available software, books, and therapy options. The site also describes assessment tools for LD, ADD/ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia. It presents educational choices for parents listing special population schools, learning centers for tutoring, home school alternatives and programs to help students with college aspirations.
One can access and navigate through the website with relative ease. The areas of interest are quite visibly marked and can be identified quickly. The major flaw of this site is that it is intended to be a money maker. There are several advertisements for corresponding products, such as software and books for disabilities such as autism, that will link a person to the manufacturer. Professionals also can advertise themselves for families seeking assistance. The site does not endorse any of the persons/products on the site, rather, ISER views itself as a directory only, a possible conflict of interest. With that knowledge in hand one can locate worthy resources, with some discretion.
Web address: www.doe.mass.edu/sped
Rating:
Content: Strong
Navigation: Acceptable
Accessibility: Strong
Design: Strong
Summary:
Massachusetts' Department of Education is a sterling example to the level a state's educational website can achieve. This site contains the essential components that are helpful to parents, teachers and administrators in the area of special education. Federal and state mandates are presented in way that are comprehendible to people no matter where they fall in the educational field.
The site is quite thorough in information concerning special education making it strong in content. The site takes step-by-step in the IEP process for both families and teachers. It is highly accessible to all families no matter what their socioeconomic background maybe, offering translated brochures to parental rights in special education, access to interpreters and inclusive policies to make sure that continuity of services are maintained. One of those inclusive policies is an area devoted to complaints and compliance. There is even a parental hotline assigned to answer parent questions and to steer them in the right direction.
Navigation is acceptable but there are many choices and screens to choose that might cause one to get lost in the shuffle. The overall design of the site is strong, with an ability to search the site for topics. It also has a map of the state broken into counties and school districts with corresponding information about those areas.
The information is not just relegated to children with a section devoted to adult education as well.
Overall a great site that receives the Policy Issues department's highest recommendation.
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