Classroom Environment and Teaching Assessment (CETA)

Observer:__________________________________________________Date / Time: ___________­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­______________________

District / Building: ___________________________________________Teacher / Grade: _____________________________

The purpose of this tool is to assess the implementation of evidence-based classroom practices that provide a solid foundation for learning for students with ASD. Instructional teams should use the tool in a collaborative manner by having the classroom staff complete a self-assessment and a qualified observer complete an assessment based on observation.Teams can then discuss items of disagreement and identify areas for classroom improvement.This tool is not intended to be used to evaluate teachers nor should it be the sole source for program or classroom evaluation or decision making.A combination of other information including progress monitoring of IEPs, other program assessment tools, and program outcome data should be used for a total program evaluation.

3 = Evident: Quality indicator in place (>90% / of opportunities) with strong implementation fidelity:Coaching support needed for sustainability only.

2 = Inconsistent: Quality indicator partially in place (50-90% / of opportunities) and needs improvements in implementation fidelity / consistency.

1 = Emerging: Quality indicator minimally in place (20-50% / of opportunities). The effective practice is not occurring systematically enough to impact learning.

0 = Not Evident:Quality indicator is not in place (<20% of opportunities).

R = Reported:Items was not observed but rather reported by staff

N = No opportunity to observe for this quality indicator.

Evidence-Based

Practice Area

Quality Indicator / Performance Target

Check One

Evident (3)

Inconsistent (2)

Emerging (1)

Not Evident (0)

Reported (R)

No opportunity (N)

Visual and Organizational Supports

• Classroom Arrangement and Routines cue expected behavior (e.g. arrival, lunch and dismissal procedures, homework bin, reading area, agenda on the whiteboard).
• Daily Schedule is clear (i.e. easy to understand), consistent, predictable and posted and includes a mix of independent and interactive activities.
• Individual Visual Schedules reflect student skills, needs, and abilities (e.g. icons are used if student doesn’t read) and include preferred interests or activities (e.g. embedded in the schedule and/or a part of the schedule (e.g., background is a preferred cartoon character)); Schedules are reviewed at the beginning of the day and used at each transition.
• Schedule Changes are highlighted with as much advance notice as possible to prepare students for change; Students are actively taught coping strategies to manage change and reduce anxiety during changes (e.g., use of a change card, calming strategies).
• Transitions in the Classroom: Students are prepared for classroom transitions with predictable activities, signals, or cues, and staff either has materials ready for each activity to minimize wait time and/or they use wait time to explicitly teach and practice skills.
• Individualized Visual Supports, Prompts, and Systems (e.g. work / task systems, visual timers, procedure lists, checklists, self-management systems) are used to enhance understanding of verbal instruction, increase independence in task completion and reduce problem behavior.
• Positively Stated Behavioral Expectations are clear (i.e. easy to understand), posted, pre-taught and regularly reviewed; Error correction procedures are used when expectations are not followed (e.g. model the appropriate behavior; have student practice correct behavior).
• Positive Feedback for acceptable behavior is provided more frequently than negative or corrective feedback.
• Reinforcers:Individualized, varied reinforcers are used to promote student motivation, engagement, and independence in task routines and activities.
• Proactive and Preventive Strategies are used to prevent negative behaviors (e.g. visual prompts and supports, consistent visual schedule, seating arrangements, choice-making opportunities, first-then charts).
• Taking a Break:Break procedures are clearly specified and students are explicitly taught to take a break when needed; A break card is used to prompt and assist students to initiate and independently take a break; Break activities serve to calm the student, but are not inherently reinforcing.
• Response to Inappropriate Behavior:Adults consistently and promptly follow-through with planned non-reinforcing responses for challenging behavior using non-emotional, and non-punitive interventions; Adults limit talking when students are stressed or agitated.
• Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support Plans and crisis plan strategies are identified and implemented as written; Plans are developed based on functional behavioral assessment data and include proactive strategies to prevent challenging behavior, strategies for teaching alternative behaviors (e.g. coping and communication skills), and response strategies for challenging behavior.
• General Education Access:Students with ASD have daily core-content academic opportunities in general education.
• General Education Participation:
• Engagement and Active Learning:Multiple strategies, including differentiated instruction and output, embedded preferred interests, and accommodations are used to enhance student engagement and active learning within meaningful instructional activities.
• IEP Goals are embedded within daily activities and are targeted in multiple environments to assure generalization and maintenance; Progress on goals is regularly assessed; Goals address life-long skills that promote independence and quality of life including participation in routines, social-communication skills, leisure, community access, organizational skills, and self-management.
• Age-Appropriate Activities: Classroom activities and materials are age-appropriate and consistent with those used for typical peers.
• Academic Progress is regularly monitored and changes to programming are based on data.
• Learning Opportunities are integrated across subjects and assignments; Time is used efficiently (e.g., students may begin other activities if they finish an assignment early; repetitive tasks are minimized and used only for developing fluency).
• Communication Systems: Students have access to and are supported in utilizing a functional communication system in all school environments; Communication occurs across the day with a variety of partners (adults and peers).
• Communicative Interactions:Adults create and expand opportunities for conversation and other communicative interactions with adults and peers in all activities.
• Behavior as Communication: Adults consistently respond to both conventional and unconventional (e.g., yelling) communication attempts; Unconventional communication attempts are paired with a functional communication equivalent.
• Forms of Communication:Active teaching and prompting of various forms of communication is used throughout the day during each activity, including initiation, responding, commenting, requesting, choice-making, and answering “yes” / “no.”
• Peer Training & Support:
• Peer Interactions: Students with ASD have frequent, meaningful interactions with peers in instructional activities (e.g., group activities in the classroom, P.E. class) and non-instructional activities (lunchtime, clubs, passing time in the hallway).
• Case Conferences:Peers have weekly opportunities to discuss their experiences with students with ASD and develop solutions to challenging situations.
• Medium of Exchange:Mediums of exchange (preferred interests of students with ASD) are used to promote effective interaction with typical peers.
• Social Skills Instruction:
• Adult Interactions: Adult interactions with students are positive and enthusiastic.
• Respectful Communication: Adults communicate respect for students by interacting in a chronologically age-appropriate manner; Staff members do not talk about students in front of them, but rather include them in conversations or have their conversations in private.
• Adults Focus on Students:Adult time in the classroom is spent teaching and supporting students; Unnecessary and irrelevant social conversation between adults is minimal.
• Adults Support Independence and Engagement:Adults actively teach and promote independence in all routines and activities and communicate high academic and behavioral expectations that promote student engagement.
• Adults Support Participation and Learning:Adults use clear and concise verbal language paired with visual supports to convey essential instructional information, make requests, give directions, redirect off-task behavior, and encourage participation.
• Systematic Data Collection:A systematic data collection process is utilized and includes data on engagement, independence, socialization, communication, and behavioral challenges.
• Progress on IEP Goals:A data collection system is used to regularly collect data on IEP goal progress.
• Training: Staff members are trained to accurately collect and analyze data on goals and behaviors.
• Data-Based Decision-Making:Data is used to make changes to classroom or student interventions.
• Data Analysis:Data is organized, visually depicted (e.g. graphed) and reviewed at regularly scheduled meetings.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

Evidence-Based

Practice Area

Quality Indicator / Performance Target

Check One

Evident (3)

Inconsistent (2)

Emerging (1)

Not Evident (0)

Reported (R)

No opportunity (N)

Positive Behavioral Interventions

and Supports, cont.

Educational Strategies and Supports

• Students with ASD are active participants in the general education classroom;
• As the instructional leader, the classroom teacher includes students with ASD in classroom activities by initiating and directing questions and providing feedback;
• Students with ASD follow classroom routines alongside typical peers.

Functional Communication Systems & Supports

Evidence-Based

Practice Area

Quality Indicator / Performance Target

Check One

Evident (3)

Inconsistent (2)

Emerging (1)

Not Evident (0)

Reported (R)

No opportunity (N)

Peer to Peer & Social Supports

• Peers receive information about ASD and are supported to develop appropriate, respectful interactions with their classmates with ASD;
• Staff members may prompt or support initiations by peers, but interactions are not directed by adults, and staff is not an intermediary or voice for the student with ASD.

• A range of evidence-based strategies ( e.g. visual supports, imitation, prompting) are used to teach social skill development based on individual student needs;
• Staff assures that skills are taught and maintained in natural environments.

Adult / Student Interactions

Data Collection

Teacher:

Date:

Course:Per.

Learning Target:As a result of today’s class, students will be able to:

CCSS:

Sub-Objectives: Will the learning target to be “chunked” into sub-objective?

Modifications /Accommodations in Objectives for Struggling Students:

Modifications /Accommodations in Objectives for High Achieving Students:

Formative Assessment:How will students be expected to demonstrate mastery of the learning target during in-class checks for understanding?

(embedded assessments, checking for understanding activities in order to assess if the students are meeting the stated learning targets (objective) and sub-objectives.)

Student Self-Assessment: What form of self-assessment and goal-setting will be used?

Probing Questions for Differentiation on ELA Tasks

CCSS Practice:Which student instructional practice(s) will be targeted for proficiency development during this lesson?

• Build strong content knowledge.
• Comprehend as well as critique.
• Value evidence.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments & critique reasoning of others.
• Engage in arguments from evidence.
• Construct explanations and design solutions.
• Obtain, evaluate and communicate information.
• Use technology and digital media.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.

Literacy Practice:How will your lesson improve literacy for students?

□ Will ask students to read text frequently; 50% of which will be informational

□ Students will identify explicit and inferential text to support analyses or claims in writing or in discussions

□ Will give students chance to wrestle with complex text

□Will provide guided reading strategies for struggling readers

What and Academic Vocabulary will be introduced or reinforced in this lesson? How will that occur?

How will students connect learning to Real-World applications or experiences?

How will students connect learning to Interdisciplinary applications or experiences?

What misconceptions may need to be addressed? How will you do so?

Activity/Tasks

What will you be doing?

What will the students be doing? How will you differentiate?

Middle LevelStruggling or Higher Achieving?

What assessing or advancing questions will you ask?

Beginning of class routines:Warm-up activity connecting to prior knowledge, real-world, and/or inter-disciplinary applications.

Activity/Tasks

What will you be doing?

What will the students be doing? How will you differentiate?

Middle LevelStruggling or Higher Achieving?

What assessing or advancing questions will you ask?

Activity/Task 1:

How will the students be engaged in understanding and applying the learning targets?

Check for Understanding

Task 1

Activity/Task 2:

How will the students be engaged in understanding and applying the learning targets?

Check for Understanding

Task2

Activity/Task 3:

How will the students be engaged in understanding and applying the learning targets?

Check for Understanding

Task 3

CLOSURE

Student-led closure and checking for understanding of the learning target. SSA with shared goal

Materials Needed:

Technology Tips: