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Dr. Styer has worked in the field of special education for over 35 years. She received her teaching certification, M.Ed., and Ph.D. at the University of Oregon. She has developed curriculum over the last 30 years while teaching middle school through transition age students with moderate and severe disabilities.
She continues to train a number of school districts to administer the assessment and implement the curriculum. She has also trained teachers and paraprofessionals in the areas of Transition Planning, Behavior Management, and Curriculum Development. She has been an adjunct faculty member in teacher training programs at the University of Oregon, Western Washington University, and Seattle Pacific University.
In addition to her years in the classroom, she has worked as a consultant and trainer for the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) at the University of South Florida. Dr. Styer has been a Special Education Director and has worked as a case manager for the Developmental Disabilities Department.
Candice is the author of Life After School: Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities
Suzanne Fitzgerald is the president of Specially Designed Education Services (SDES) where she specializes in writing curriculum and providing functional academic training and consultation related to programming for students with disabilities.
Suzanne has worked with children and adults with developmental, physical, emotional, and behavioral disabilities in classroom, vocational, residential, and recreational settings for over 25 years. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Services from Western Washington University and her Masters in Special Education degree from the University of Washington. Suzanne was a paraeducator prior to becoming a middle and high school special education teacher.
In addition, Suzanne serves as a Project Partner with Washington Sensory Disability Services where she assists children who have significant disabilities including deaf-blindness. In that role, she provides training and other support to families and service providers. She has also been a Special Education Cadre Trainer with the Washington Education Association. As a cadre trainer, she was responsible for providing requested trainings in areas pertinent to the provision of special education services.
Suzanne is the author of Beyond Expectations, a user-friendly framework for programming and teaching students with the most complex disabilities. Beyond Expectations is a work in progress.
The Styer-Fitzgerald Program was first published in 2009 as a result of the authors’ vast and varied teaching experiences, as well as educators’ suggestions and feedback through the years.
The instructional methodologies used throughout the Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics are research based, however, the Styer-Fitzgerald Program itself has not yet undergone formal, large sample research. We do, however, have longitudinal data (Appendix A)that demonstrates gains in skill areas across a number of students in a variety of subject areas. The data clearly shows the impact of the intervention across different students in different content areas.
In addition, we have qualitative data from interviews of teachers, administrators, and families from both large urban and small rural school districts supporting the efficacy of the Styer-Fitzgerald Program. This document focuses on the research-based strategies, including curriculum-based assessments and teaching methodologies, which the authors used when developing this innovative Program. To review feedback from educators, please visit Success Stories.
The effectiveness of systematic instruction with students with learning challenges is well documented in the research (The National Institute of Direct Instruction 2017). The Styer-Fitzgerald Program is designed to maximize academic learning time, actively engage learners in meaningful activities, and emphasize proactive and positive approaches across tiers of instructional intensity.
The Styer-Fitzgerald Program integrates best practices using systematic instruction in the teaching of all skills presented in the Curriculum. The Direct Instruction (DI) format provides scripted, consistent procedures and lesson plans that are clearly outlined for teacher use. The research that supports the efficacy of the methods of DI specifically is extensive and clearly shows that these strategies significantly impact the rate at which students learn and maintain new behaviors and skills (The National Institute of Direct Instruction 2017). The Styer-Fitzgerald Program also incorporates strategies such as scaffolding and built-in supports that provide additional prompts for students when needed, as well as clear instructions for fading prompts over time so students do not become prompt dependent. The Curriculum further supports teachers with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)-driven organizational and classroom management strategies (Alberto and Troutman 2009).
The Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics utilizes curriculum-based measurements combined with ongoing progress data in order to monitor student progression. Assessment plays a foundational role in special education as teachers need tools to establish baseline for each student in order to place him or her at an appropriate level within each content area. Once students are placed in lessons, it is critical teachers have the means for monitoring progress over time. Each Styer-Fitzgerald Program lesson comes with a corresponding data sheet. This type of built-in formative assessment allows teachers to determine when students have mastered lessons and are ready to move to the next level of instruction, or need additional interventions. The Program’s progress monitoring is also helpful for parents as it provides current, week-by-week information on how their child is progressing.
There is an abundance of recent research on High-Leverage Practices as they pertain to assessment and instruction (McLeskey, J. et al. 2017). The Styer-Fitzgerald Program embodies many, if not all, of these practices. To provide evidence of how the Styer-Fitzgerald Program is aligned with these evidence-based practices, we have included a section taken directly out of the Styer-Fitzgerald Curriculum Teaching Guide (Appendix B) and included samples of one of our discrete trial and task analysis (Appendix C) lesson plans (both follow previously mentioned research-based strategies). This evidence is found in The Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics Curriculum manual, both Elementary and Secondary.
If you have a Review Set: Locate the Elementary and Secondary Curriculum manuals. Both have the #4 in the upper right-hand corner. The excerpt included in Appendix B can be found behind the Teaching Guide tab on page 4 in both manuals. In addition to what’s included here, you will also find a detailed explanation of the specific direct and systematic strategies incorporated throughout the Program. In Appendix C, the discrete trial lesson plan is found behind the Functional Reading tab on page 43 in the Elementary Level Curriculum manual. The task analysis lesson plan is found behind the Independent Skills tab on page 279 in the Secondary Level Curriculum manual.
References
Alberto, P.A., & A.C. Troutman. (2009). Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers (8th Edition). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Pearson.
McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Winn, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017, January). High-leverage practices in special education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center.
Snell, M. E. & F. Brown. (2011). Instruction of STUDENTS with Severe Disabilities (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
The National Institute of Direct Instruction. (2017, Spring). Writings on Direct Instruction: A Bibliography. Eugene, OR.
The Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics helps teachers create rigorous and challenging learning opportunities for students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities, including autism. The lessons from The Styer-Fitzgerald Program have been aligned with the Common Core (Dynamic Learning Maps) Essential Elements and the Michigan Alternate Content Expectations for ELA and Math and the North Carolina Extended Content Standards for ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Alignment with the Essential Elements for Science is actively underway. Currently, there are no plans for developing Essential Elements for Social Studies, so SDES is actively integrating alternate Social Studies standards from a few different states that can be used to assist with alignment in your state.
Because the Essential Elements, Michigan Alternate Content Standards, and North Carolina Extended Content Standards are nearly identical to one another, the Core Content Connectors, and other alternate state standards, districts have been using these existing alignment documents to meet other relevant standards with simple modifications. Our consultants, made up of teachers and administrators, have included suggestions for how teachers can modify lessons when needed to reach students with varying ability levels. Although these suggestions are specific to the Essential Elements, Michigan, and North Carolina, the strategies are easily used to fulfill the requirements of other specific state standards.
We have included samples to show how the lessons provided in the Styer-Fitzgerald Program have been aligned with these alternate state standards. Final alignment documents will continue to be posted as they are completed. Upon request, we are happy to provide an electronic draft of the working documents that are coming soon.
FULL: Essential Element Alignment | FULL: Michigan Alternate Content Standard Alignment | FULL: North Carolina Extended Content Standards Alignment |
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ELA | ELA | ELA |
MATH (Draft) | MATH (Draft) | MATH (Coming Soon) |
Science (Coming Soon) | Science | |
Social Studies (Draft) |
ELA | Mathematics | Science |
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Social Studies | Social Emotional | Adaptive Behavior |
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Transition |
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SDES has teamed up with Mundo Pato, Inc., our cloud publishing partner, to create a simple and affordable solution for special educators to use during this critical time.
The Virtual Teaching Materials are a separate supplemental purchase that will greatly enhance the Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics or can be used on its own.
Virtual Teaching Materials Pricing 1st year: $1000 non-recurring configuration fee plus 12 x monthly charge.
SDES has teamed up with Mundo Pato, Inc., our cloud publishing partner, to create the full Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics in the cloud. *The Styer-Fitzgerald Program in the Cloud Start-Up Fee: a $6000 non-recurring start-up fee will be added to the first year subscription only.
