National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)
The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) focuses on the inclusion of students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities in instruction and assessments. The scope of NCEO’s work includes issues related to accessibility of assessments across the comprehensive assessment system including formative assessment practices, classroom-based assessments, diagnostic assessments, interim assessments, and summative assessments.
See our About page for more on NCEO.
Latest News and Publications
State Policies and Research on Alternate Assessment Accommodations (NCEO Report 446)
This report presents findings from two studies examining accommodations policies and research on alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). This policy analysis and literature review revealed several key insights about accommodations for AA-AAAS, with far-reaching implications for policy, practice, and future research.
NCEO collaborated with the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) initiative to standardize accessibility feature terms for assessments. Historically, terminology varied, so NCEO and the CEDS initiative worked with state education agencies, test vendors, and assessment consortia to create common definitions. This effort aimed to improve communication and ensure equitable assessment opportunities for students, particularly for students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities.
NCEO Newsletter: February 2025 issue
NCEO’s February 2025 newsletter focuses on providing essential resources to support decision making around assessment participation. We highlight briefs on determining appropriate assessment paths for students along with tools to help teams select and implement accessibility features that best meet individual student needs. Articles also highlight some of NCEO’s newest resources on assessment participation and accessibility features decisions and a few of NCEO’s favorite resources on accessibility features. There is also an article on NCEO's presence at several major spring conferences.