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- Accommodations Toolkit: Tactile Graphics: ResearchFormats: Online
This fact sheet on tactile graphics is part of the Accommodations Toolkit published by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). It summarizes information and research findings on the use of tactile graphics as an accessibility feature or accommodation.
Published: 8/31/2021 - 1% Toolkit: Student Profiles for Alternate Assessment Decision Making (NCEO Tool #11)
Most states and districts provide training that aims to help individualized education program (IEP) teams make appropriate decisions about student participation in the alternate assessment. Some states include student profile examples in trainings on their alternate assessment participation criteria. Aspects of student profiles are often highlighted to indicate whether students meet or do not meet the state’s criteria. This resource includes examples provided by states participating in NCEO’s 1% Community of Practice (CoP). The profiles may be customized to align with state participation criteria and disability categories.
Published: March 2021 - Parent-Educator Toolkit: Accessibility Features and AccommodationsFormats: Online
Parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. This Toolkit created by the Improving Instruction project provides several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. Print and audio versions of these briefs are available in Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Arabic. Additional briefs for teachers and principals give advice on how to make sure parents are included and listened to.
Published: March 2021 - 1% Toolkit: IEP Team Resource: Making Decisions about Participation in the Alternate Assessment (NCEO Tool #10)
This IEP team resource is designed to support IEP team members, including teachers, school psychologists, English language development specialists, speech language therapists, occupational therapists, paraprofessionals, parents, administrators, and others who may participate in the IEP team meeting. It provides supports for the decision about whether a student with a disability should participate in a general assessment or an AA-AAAS. States can modify the tool as needed to reflect any differences in their IEPs or to link to their own guidelines for participation in the AA-AAAS.
Published: January 2021 - 1% Toolkit: Reasons Why Students with Disabilities Should Take State Tests: A Customizable Template for a Flyer for Parents and Families (NCEO Tool #9)
This resource was developed by NCEO to identify and describe reasons why students with disabilities should take state tests. The purpose of the tool is to provide a concise resource that administrators, teachers, and other educators can use when communicating with parents and families about why it is so important that their children with disabilities participate in state assessments. It also provides strategies to reduce student test anxiety.
Published: January 2021 
1% Toolkit: A Five-Step Process for Developing and Reviewing District Justifications for Exceeding 1.0% AA-AAAS Participation (NCEO Tool #8)The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), includes a 1.0% threshold on state-level participation rates in the alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). This tool presents a five-step process to address the 1.0% threshold requirements for reviewing local education agency (LEA) justifications and providing support, oversight, and technical assistance when appropriate. It includes: (a) three templates for state education agency (SEA) and LEA use; (b) a continuum of support, oversight, and technical assistance SEAs may provide; and (c) additional resources for SEAs and LEAs.
Published: June 2020
1% Toolkit: Start with the End in Mind: An Infographic to Guide Decisions about Student Participation in the Alternate Assessment (NCEO Tool #7)This Infographic to Guide Decisions about Student Participation in the Alternate Assessment tool is designed to provide guidance about IEP team decision making for a student’s participation in the state's alternate assessment on academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS), which is meant for a very small number of students with significant cognitive disabilities. Developed during NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 3 (PLG 3), the tool explains how this important decision can affect the future opportunities available to a student with a disability. The infographic may be given to teachers in IEP trainings, provided to parents and guardians to read before an IEP team meeting, and used to talk with parents and guardians during an IEP team meeting.
Published: May 2020
1% Toolkit: Who Should Participate in Your State’s Alternate Assessment? A Slide Presentation Tool for Administrators (NCEO Tool #6)This Slide Presentation tool is designed to support the needs that administrators have for brief but substantive information about who should participate in the state’s alternate assessment on academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). In addition to serving as an information resource for administrators, it may be used for in-person or webinar trainings for educators, and as a handout for educators and parents. Developed during NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 3 (PLG 3), they highlight the purpose of the AA-AAAS, the implications of a student taking the AA-AAS, strategies for talking with parents, and identification of students who should participate in this assessment. The slides may be customized.
Published: May 2020
1% Toolkit: Developing a 1% Cap Waiver or Waiver Extension Request (NCEO Tool #1)The Every Student Succeeds Act allows for states to request a waiver from the 1% cap on alternate assessment participation requirements. Waiver request requirements are described in this Tool (the first of several 1% tools NCEO is developing), along with examples of how states responded to each requirement. The Tool also includes a section on Additional Considerations (reporting on stakeholder involvement; addressing approaches to take when the 95% participation requirement for requesting a waiver is not met). This Tool was developed through a collaborative process with the 44 states participating in the 1% Cap Community of Practice (CoP) during its bi-weekly webinar calls in 2018. Although the CoP was formed at the request of states to be for private state conversations, it was with mutual agreement that this Tool should be shared publicly.
Published: September 2019
1% Toolkit: Data Analysis and Use Planning Tool for Examining AA-AAAS Participation: Addressing the Percentage of Students Participating in the Alternate Assessment (NCEO Tool #2)This Data Analysis and Use Planning Tool is designed to help states and districts develop a plan for analyzing and using their AA-AAAS data as part of their efforts to meet the 1.0% cap on state-level participation in the alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). Developed during the NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 1 (PLG 1), it presents a four-step data analysis framework that is intended to serve as an example and a starting point for states and districts.
Published: September 2019
1% Toolkit: State-District Data Display Templates: Addressing the Percentage of Students Participating in the Alternate Assessment (NCEO Tool #3)This State-District Data Display Templates tool is designed to provide states and districts with templates to display their data, with the end goal being to support an examination of the displayed data to determine whether there are any unusual results that require further examination and discussion. This tool was developed through the work of NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 1, which focused on ways to dig into state and district data as part of the states’ efforts to meet the 1.0% cap on state-level participation in the alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS).
Published: September 2019
1% Toolkit: District Dialogue Guide: Addressing the Percentage of Students Participating in the Alternate Assessment (NCEO Tool #4)As part of its efforts to meet the 1.0% cap on state-level participation in the alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS), NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 1 (PLG 1) developed this dialogue guide. It is designed to help district, school staff, and stakeholders engage in thoughtful conversations, tailored to their unique contexts, about participation in the AA-AAAS. It encourages frank discussions that can help to identify ways in which to examine a variety of data sources, use varied analysis methods, and gather relevant information, all toward the goal of ensuring that appropriate decisions are made about participation in the AA-AAAS.
Published: Sun Sep 22 2019
1% Toolkit: Frequently Asked Questions on AA-AAAS (NCEO Tool #5)The 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) 1.0% cap on state-level participation rates in the alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) generated questions answered by the U.S. Department of Education in this Frequently Asked Questions on AA-AAAS. This FAQ tool includes questions that were asked by state personnel during the October 2018 1% Cap National Convening: Supporting States in Implementing ESSA’s 1% State-level Cap on Participation of Students in the AA-AAAS held in Boston, Massachusetts, during the NCEO 1% Community of Practice (CoP) and during NCEO’s Peer Learning Group 2 (PLG 2). The questions are listed in this tool by topic, and include the date the question was answered by the U.S. Department of Education.
Published: September 2019- Guidance for examining disproportionality of student group participation in alternate assessmentsFormats: PDF
This document examines disproportionality with respect to student group participation in Alternate Assessments aligned with Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (AA-AAAS). This paper is a companion to “Guidance for Examining District Alternate Assessment Participation Rates” (Evans & Domaleski, 2018). This companion document outlines a broad framework and general principles to guide the examination of AA-AAAS participation rates, particularly in light of the challenge of small n-sizes and associated uncertainty.
Published: 2019-08-01 - Guidance for Participation and Disproportionality Video Training ModuleFormats: Online
This is a video training to help guide states in looking at disproportionality among students participating in state alternate assessments. It presents four guiding principles in making a distinction between “exceptional” vs. “expected” patterns of participation and helps identify disproportionate participation of certain groups of students taking these assessments.
Published: 2019-06-01 - Guidance for Examining District Alternate Assessment Participation RatesFormats: PDF
This document provides states with effective and technically defensible practices for monitoring participation rates for alternate assessments at the district level to comply with the federal 1% policy limit on statewide alternate assessment participation for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Published: 2018-10-01 - Multi-Attribute Consensus Building ToolFormats: PDF
This tool gives step-by-step guidance on how to conduct a Multi-Attribute Consensus Building (MACB) session with educators, administrators, parents, advocates and other stakeholders. MACB is a structured decision-making process that asks small groups to generate, discuss and prioritize a list of items.
Published: 2013-09-01 - Thinking About the Students Who May Qualify to Participate in An Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS): A Tool for Study Groups
A tool to learn more about the characteristics of students who may quality to participate in an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). This is an archived report because this assessment option is no longer allowed.
Published: 2010-12-01 - Developing and Improving Modified Achievement Level Descriptors: Rationale, Procedures, and Tools
Procedures and tools to develop and continuously improve achievement level descriptors for alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). This is an archived report because this assessment option is no longer allowed.
Published: 2010-06-01