Partners & NCEO Affiliated Projects

Partners

NCEO partners with other organizations. The following are some of the partner organizations:

NCEO Projects

In addition to being the National Technical Assistance Center to Increase the Participation and Improve the Performance of Students with Disabilities on State and Districtwide Assessments, NCEO has projects that span the entire range of assessments (formative assessment processes, classroom-based tests, diagnostic assessments, interim assessments, and state and national assessments) that comprise a comprehensive assessment system. Assessment projects and research studies NCEO participates in collect data on the participation and performance of students with disabilities, as well as English learners and English learners with disabilities. Some projects address accessibility and accommodations, and alternate assessment approaches that facilitate the participation of all students in state and district assessment programs.

The following are some of the current and former NCEO projects:

Current Projects

Completed Projects

The Collaborative for the Alternate Assessment of English Language Proficiency (CAAELP) Project

NCEO is part of the four-year federally funded CAAELP Project (2019-2023) that was awarded to a consortium of nine states and the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). The project addresses the development of an alternate summative assessment system of English language proficiency (Alt ELPA), based on alternate performance expectations for English language development. This assessment will be given to English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities. As the project’s Accessibility Lead, NCEO is facilitating the development of the participation guidelines, the Accessibility and Accommodations Manual and assisting with field testing procedures.

Data Informed Accessibility - Making Optimal Needs-based Decisions (DIAMOND)

The DIAMOND project was a collaboration between Minnesota, Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Virgin Islands and the National Center on Educational Outcomes. The project's goal was to improve the validity of assessment results and interpretations for students with documented needs by developing guidelines for making informed decisions about accessibility features and accommodations. It promoted a decision-making process that moved beyond the use of a checklist approach (which often results in identifying tools and accommodations that do not provide access to the student), to an approach that relies on the use of classroom progress data and other measures charted over time to evaluate individual student needs. All students who require accessibility and accommodations supports - general education students with documented accessibility needs, students with disabilities, English learners, English learners with disabilities - are served by this project.

English Learner Companion

This project revised the Minnesota Department of Education's guidelines for special education for English learners to ensure that the guidelines reflected federal and state policies for English learners with disabilities, were grounded in current research, and were aligned with the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) consortium. The updated English Learners Companion, with additional web-based materials, delineated the special education referral process and eligibility decision making.

General Supervision Enhancement Grant Project on Behalf of Alabama State Department of Education (Alabama GSEG)

This project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), worked with the state of Alabama to develop high-quality assessment and instructional systems for students with disabilities whose progress is such that they are not likely to reach grade-level proficiency in the same time frame as other students. Activities included the development of (a) online professional development materials on accommodations decision-making, and (b) a set of strategies/guidelines for universal design for alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS).

Georgia Enhanced Assessment Grant

In the context of high expectations for all students and fully inclusive assessment and accountability systems, a consortium of States (Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky), university partners, researchers, and advocates explored and documented effects of multiple methods of assessments that met identified student needs, to ensure all children are able to show what they know in the grade-level standards-based curriculum, based on appropriate and high achievement standards. Funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), the states partnered in three separate but related investigations of assessment options to include every student appropriately in state assessment and accountability systems. Each of the states learned from the others the potential utility of a range of formative and summative methods of determining what students know and are able to do, in response to identified student needs. Findings were disseminated nationally.

IEP/LEP Large-Scale Assessment Project

This three-year project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), was designed to better understand the performance and participation of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency (LEP; also called English learners or ELs) in large-scale assessments nationwide. After completing a comprehensive policy review of all 50 states' large-scale assessment policies written for LEP students with disabilities, research activities focused on understanding and analyzing states' large-scale assessment data collected and reported for these students.

IEP Quality Project

This project assisted the University of Illinois in its development and testing of a Web-based IEP Quality Tutorial to assist educators and parents in the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that go beyond meeting procedural requirements to reach the substantive components of IEPs. The project integrated College and Career Ready standards, social/emotional/behavioral goals and related service needs, content modules for formative assessment, and online training videos and user guidance for the tutorial website.

Improving Instruction for English Learners Through Accessibility Decision Making

This project, which is funded by the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) at the U.S. Department of Education, will develop two professional development modules on accessibility and accommodations decision making for instruction and assessment for English learners. One module is for educators and the other is for parents/guardians and families. NCEO is working with the West Virginia Department of Education on this project. The project will also examine the efficacy of these modules by conducting several pre- and post-module administration analyses.

Improving the Validity of Assessment Results for English Language Learners with Disabilities

IVARED represented a consortium of states (Arizona, Minnesota, Maine, Michigan, and Washington) working in partnership with NCEO to address the validity of assessment results of English learners with disabilities in statewide accountability assessments. The project, funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), examined the characteristics of the students and their performance. It sought to improve the process for making decisions about participation and accommodations via expert panel input and studies of decision making, and developed principles to guide the assessment of English learners with disabilities. Through these activities, states will be able to develop validity arguments for their assessments and assessment practices for English learners with disabilities, and by doing so will enhance the quality of their assessment systems for measuring the achievement of English learners with disabilities.

LEP/IEP Instruction Project

The goal of this project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), was to investigate ways that limited English proficient (LEP) students (also called English learners or ELs) with disabilities can participate meaningfully in, and benefit from, grade-level, standards-based instruction. The results of this project promote effective practice for successful participation of students with disabilities who are English learners by improving the alignment of instructional interventions for these students with a standards-based curriculum.

LEP/IEP Strategies Project

The primary goal of this project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), was to provide research-based knowledge to educators on the topic of instructional strategies that help middle school limited English proficient (LEP) students (also called English Learners or ELs) achieve in standards-based content classrooms. Specifically, this project examined instructional strategy use at the school level and the knowledge that teachers possess, placed within the context of specific state standards.

LEP Parents Project

Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), this project studied the participation of linguistically diverse parents in making informed large-scale assessment decisions for their children with disabilities. Three studies were implemented to: (a) describe the content of the Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency (LEP) (also called English Learners or ELs); (b) develop principles that educators can use to support parents in making appropriate large-scale assessment decisions for their children; and (c) connect students' large-scale assessment performance to their parents' level of participation in making informed assessment decisions.

Making Improved Decisions for Students on the Cusp of Alternate Assessment Participation Using Multiple Measures of Academic Achievement from Multiple Sources (MIDAS) Project

The Making Improved Decisions for Students on the Cusp of Alternate Assessment Participation Using Multiple Measures of Academic Achievement from Multiple Sources (MIDAS) project is a collaboration between Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia and NCEO. The purpose of the project is to help educators better use data from multiple measures of academic achievement to inform instructional decision making for students with disabilities, including English learners with disabilities, who move from the statewide alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) to the general assessment. This project will develop materials that will support educators such as customizable templates, professional learning modules, and supporting materials. The project is funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).

Minnesota Accommodations Project

NCEO worked with the state department of education in Minnesota, through funding provided by an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) grant to the state, to create training materials and processes on accommodations for instruction and assessment.

Multi-state GSEG Toward a Defensible AA-MAS

NCEO joined with five states (Alabama, Hawaii, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin) to form a consortium whose members shared a common interest in investigating the characteristics of students who may qualify for an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). This project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), aimed to develop high-quality assessment and instructional systems that improve not only the accountability system, but also the learning of those students whose disability has precluded them from achieving grade-level proficiency and whose progress is such that they are not likely to reach grade-level proficiency in the same time frame as other students.

National Alternate Assessment Center (NAAC)

The National Alternate Assessment Center (NAAC) was a research center based at the University of Kentucky, in collaboration with the National Center on Educational Outcomes, the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, CAST, and state partners Connecticut, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The primary objectives of NAAC, which was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) were to: (a) bring together and build on the current research base on high quality, technically sound alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards and alternate assessments based on grade-level achievement standards; (b) provide technical assistance to states as they endeavor to design or redesign their alternate assessments; and (c) demonstrate through the center's partnerships with states high quality design and administration of alternate assessments.

National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC)

NCEO led a partnership of national centers and more that 20 states to develop innovative approaches to alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in grades 3-12. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), NCSC built a comprehensive assessment system based on the Common Core State Standards. It also developed instructional materials, tools, and processes to support educators as they plan and provide appropriate instruction for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. NCSC partners included NCEO as the host and fiscal agent, the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, the University of Kentucky's Human Development Institute, the College of Education at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte, and edCount.

National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Education

This project assists the University of Texas, Austin's National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, which is working to improve the educational outcomes of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. A primary goal of the center is to increase the numbers of deaf individuals in postsecondary education or training who: (a) are admitted without remedial coursework required, (b) persist in the education or training program, and (c) complete the education or training program. The NCEO contribution is to lead the Assessment Task Force. The purpose of the task force is to identify and address issues that arise in the assessment of individuals who are deaf. Task Force members work together to clarify the issues and suggest ways to address them.

National Study on Alternate Assessments

This study, conducted in collaboration with SRI and funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), described the status of the development and implementation of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

New Hampshire Enhanced Assessment Initiative

The New Hampshire Collaborative Enhanced Assessment Grant was a consortium of nine states (Connecticut, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and South Carolina) and four primary organizational partners (National Center on Educational Outcomes, National Center on Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inclusive Large Scale Standards and Assessment Center at the University of Kentucky, and Measured Progress). The project, funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), had three primary goals: (a) to address practical challenges each state faced in documenting the technical adequacy of its alternate assessment; (b) to enhance fundamental knowledge of what the results of good teaching and learning look like for students with significant disabilities; and (c) to capture lessons learned that will help define areas for improvement of entire assessment systems.

Partnership for Accessible Reading Assessment (PARA)

PARA, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), engaged in research on and development of accessible reading assessments that provide a valid demonstration of reading proficiency for increasingly diverse populations of students in public schools, and particularly for those students who have disabilities that affect reading. It was operated by a consortium consisting of NCEO; the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST); and Westat. This project worked in collaboration with the Designing Accessible Reading Assessment (DARA) and the Technology Assisted Reading Assessments (TARA) projects at ETS through a collaboration known as the National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP).

Technology Assisted Reading Assessments (TARA)

This project, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), engaged in research and development to improve reading assessments for students with visual impairments or blindness. NCEO collaborated with Educational Testing Service (ETS) to examine the properties of existing assessments for these students and develop an assessment of reading with a particular focus on independent technology assisted reading.

TIES Center: Increasing Time, Instructional Effectiveness, Engagement, and State Support for Inclusive Practices for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

TIES Center is a collaboration between the National Center on Educational Outcomes, Arizona Department of Education, CAST, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and University of North Carolina- Greensboro. The purpose of the TIES Center is to create sustainable changes in school and district educational systems so that students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can fully engage in the same instructional and non-instructional activities as their general education peers while being instructed in a way that meets individual learning needs. Project activities support increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

Universal Design Project

This project, originally named "Development Techniques for Universally Designed Assessments, and funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), conducted research on elements of universally designed assessments. The research was conducted in three parts: (a) protocol analysis of students with disabilities participating in state assessments; (b) item analysis of results of a state assessment; and (c) development of a guide for the development of universally designed assessments.

NCEO Partner Organizations

NCEO partners with other organizations, including:

AEM Corporation

AEM's Education Services Group is one of the U.S. Departments of Education's technical assistance and data management partners. AEM is the current prime contractor for the Center for the Integration of IDEA Data (CIID) and both the EDFacts and the State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) programs.

Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR)

CPIR provides universal technical assistance and support to the network of Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) by serving as a central hub of information to provide evidence-based products created to support Parent Centers in their work.

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

CCSSO is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. CCSSO organizes State Collaboratives on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) that strive to develop and implement high standards and valid assessment systems that maximize educational achievement for all children. NCEO participates in several of these SCASS groups, including Assessment, Standards, and Education for Students with Disabilities (ASES), English Learners (EL), and Technical Issues in Large Scale Assessment (TILSA).

National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)

NASDSE is a not-for-profit organization established to promote and support education programs and related services for children and youth with disabilities in the United States and outlying areas. NASDSE accomplishes its goals by establishing and maintaining relations between those responsible for the development of statewide and federal special education programs and those responsible for general curriculum planning at the local, state, and national levels.

WestEd

WestEd is an educational research, development, and service organization that provides training and technical assistance, and works with policymakers and practitioners to carry out large-scale education improvement and change efforts. It operates the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI).