K-12 students with disabilities, English learners (ELs), and ELs with disabilities participate in state assessment systems. Most of these students take the same general assessment that has been created for fluent English speaking students without disabilities, but some students with significant cognitive disabilities and ELs with significant cognitive disabilities take an alternate assessment.
Federal laws require that the general assessment measures student achievement of grade-level academic content standards in reading, mathematics, and science at specific grade levels. Scores show what students at a particular grade level are expected to know and how well schools are helping them learn the knowledge and skills contained in the standards.
Quick Links to the General Assessment Consortia:
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)
Educators' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Accessibility Features and Accommodations
NCEO State Surveys: 2016 Survey of States: State Activities Amid Evolving Educational Policies
Forum on Text Readers for Everyone on All Tests: Getting a Handle on What This Means
NCEO Reports: 2014-15 Publicly Reported Assessment Results for Students with Disabilities and ELs with Disabilities (#405)
NCEO Data Analytics: State Assessment Participation and Performance of Students with IEPs 2013-2014 (#5)
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2013-2014 APR Snapshot #11: Assessment Accommodations Use by Students Receiving Special Education Services (#11)
CCSSO Accessibility Manual: How To Select, Administer, And Evaluate Use Of Accessibility Supports For Instruction And Assessment Of All Students
Forum on Common Language for States and Assessment Vendors
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2013-2014 APR Snapshot #10: State Assessment Participation and Performance of Students Receiving Special Education Services (#10)
NCEO Reports: 2015-16 High School Assessment Accommodations Policies: An Analysis of ACT, SAT, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced (#403)
NCEO Reports: A Summary of the Research on the Effects of Test Accommodations: 2013-2014 (#402)
White Paper on Common Accessibility Language for States and Assessment Vendors
NCEO Reports: Principios y Características de Sistemas Inclusivos de Evaluación en un Escenario de Evaluación Cambiante (#400 Spanish)
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2011-2012 APR Snapshot #8: Assessment Accommodations Use by Students Receiving Special Education Services (#8)
Lessons Learned About Assessment from Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in College and Career Ready Assessments
NCEO Reports: 2013-14 Publicly Reported Assessment Results for Students with Disabilities and ELLs with Disabilities (#401)
NCEO Reports: Principles and Characteristics of Inclusive Assessment Systems in a Changing Assessment Landscape (#400)
Lessons Learned About Instruction from Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in College and Career Ready Assessments
Forum on Implementing Accessibility Frameworks for ALL Students
NCEO State Surveys: 2014 Survey of States: Initiatives, Trends, and Accomplishments
NCEO Brief: Making Accessibility Decisions for ALL Students (#11)
NCEO Technical Reports: 2012-13 Publicly Reported Assessment Results for Students with Disabilities and ELLs with Disabilities (#70)
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2011-2012 APR Snapshot #7: State Assessment Participation and Performance of Students Receiving Special Education Services (#7)
NCEO Brief: State Assessment Decision-Making Processes for ELLs with Disabilities (#9)
Forum on Addressing Performance Gaps of Low-performing Students: Implications for Assessment and Instruction
NCEO State Surveys: 2012 Survey of States: Successes and Challenges During a Time of Change
Assessment Principles and Guidelines for ELLs with Disabilities
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Studying Less-Accurately Measured Students
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Science Assessments for Students with Disabilities in School Year 2006-2007: What We Know about Participation, Performance, and Accommodations (#77)
NCEO Synthesis Reports: 2007 State Policies on Assessment Participation and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (#69)
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Examining DIF, DDF, and Omit Rate by Discrete Disability Categories
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Examining Differential Distractor Functioning in Reading Assessments for Students with Disabilities
NCEO State Surveys: 2005 State Special Education Outcomes - Steps Forward in a Decade of Change
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Policymaker Perspectives on the Inclusion of English Language Learners with Disabilities in Statewide Assessments (#8)
NCEO Synthesis Reports: 2003 State Policies on Assessment Participation and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (#56)
NCEO Policy Directions: Rethinking Basic Assumptions of Test Development - Assessment Frameworks for Inclusive Accountability Tests (#17)
NCEO Technical Reports: A Summary of Research on the Effects of Test Accommodations: 1999 through 2001 (#34)
NCEO Synthesis Reports: 2001 State Policies on Assessment Participation and Accommodations (#46)
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Access to Computer-Based Testing for Students with Disabilities (#45)
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Empirical Support for Accommodations Most Often Allowed in State Policy (#41)
NCEO State Surveys: 2001 State Special Education Outcomes - A Report on State Activities at the Beginning of a New Decade
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Students with Disabilities in Standards-Based Assessment and Accountability Systems: Emerging Issues, Strategies, and Recommendations (#37)
NCEO Technical Reports: Effects of a Reading Accommodation on the Validity of a Reading Test (#28)
NCEO Technical Reports: Assessment Accommodations Research: Considerations for Design and Analysis (#26)
NCEO Minnesota Assessment Project Reports: Participation and Performance of Limited English Proficient Students During Second Attempts on a Graduation Exam (#28)
