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- NCEO Reports: The Relationship between Student Placement and AA-AAAS Participation Rates (#439)
This report presents the findings of a study that looked at the relationship between states’ percentage of students participating in the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) and the percentage of students in more restrictive learning environments. The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), placed a 1% cap for states on student participation in the AA-AAAS. This meant that states, districts, and individualized education program (IEP) teams need to carefully consider which students should be included in these assessments. Data used in this analysis were for 2018-19. This study found that states with higher percentages of students in more restrictive environments tended to have higher percentages of students participating in the AA-AAAS for both mathematics and reading.
Published: June 2023 - NCEO Reports: 2021-22 Participation Guidelines and Definitions for Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (#440)
This report provides an update to previous analyses of the guidelines, definitions, and criteria states have developed for making decisions about alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) participation. This report provides an analysis of the 2021-22 policies of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. We analyzed criteria that should be used and factors that should not be used to determine participation, the state definitions of “most significant cognitive disabilities,” the information provided to parents about the AA-AAAS, mentions of English learners in materials related to the AA-AAAS, exemption and non-exemption materials regarding participation, and the content areas for which participation decisions are made.
Published: June 2023 - NCEO Newsletter: June 2023 issueFormats: Online
In this issue, we highlight some new NCEO products, as well as several upcoming events. The first article is about two new tools that can be used to develop state and district assessment participation action plans. Next is an article about gaps in the accommodations research literature. This issue includes a summary of all the sessions in which NCEO is participating during the National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA). Finally, there is an article on the forum on What Does Meaningful Accessibility Really Mean? that follows NCSA. The article includes information on how to register for the forum.
Published: June 2023 - 1% Toolkit: Developing an Assessment Participation Action Plan: A Tool for District Leaders (NCEO Tool #14)
The purpose of this resource is to provide a tool for districts that wish to improve student assessment participation. The tool provides guidance on how district leaders can develop an assessment participation action plan and describes a series of steps that support the development of the action plan. States may customize the tool as needed to meet their needs. This resource was developed through a collaborative process with the 49 states participating in NCEO’s 1% Cap Community of Practice (CoP) during its bi-weekly webinar calls in 2021 and 2022.
Published: April 2023 - 1% Toolkit: Developing an Assessment Participation Action Plan: A Tool for State Leaders (NCEO Tool #13)
The purpose of this resource is to provide a tool for states that wish to improve student assessment participation. The tool provides guidance on how state leaders can develop an assessment participation action plan and describes a series of steps that support the development of the action plan. States may customize the tool as needed to meet their needs. This resource was developed through a collaborative process with the 49 states participating in NCEO’s 1% Cap Community of Practice (CoP) during its bi-weekly webinar calls in 2021 and 2022.
Published: April 2023 - NCEO Newsletter: February 2023 issueFormats: Online
This issue highlights a disproportionality calculator tool that can be used to examine disproportionality with respect to student subgroup participation in the alternate assessment; a brief on including students with disabilities in K-2 assessments; a brief on involving students with disabilities in selecting accessibility features and accommodations; and a policy analysis of how states’ policies address the qualifications and training requirements for test administrators, proctors, and accommodations providers. This issue also contains an updated list of accommodations included in the NCEO Accommodations Toolkit. And we provide information on upcoming conferences NCEO staff will present at.
Published: 1/30/2023 - NCEO Data Analytics: State Assessment Participation and Performance of Students with IEPs, 2018-2019 (#16)Formats: Online
This interactive report presents data on the participation and performance of students receiving special education services in statewide assessments used for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accountability. Using federally submitted data from the 2018-19 school year, this report presents information on participation and performance in reading and mathematics statewide assessments. This report also includes state profiles for students with disabilities’ participation rates and performance.
Published: January 2023 - NCEO Data Analytics: State Assessment Participation and Performance of Students with IEPs, 2017-2018 (#15)Formats: Online
This interactive report presents data on the participation and performance of students receiving special education services in statewide assessments used for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accountability. Using federally submitted data from the 2017-18 school year, this report presents information on participation and performance in reading and mathematics statewide assessments. This report also includes state profiles for students with disabilities’ participation rates and performance.
Published: January 2023 - 1% Toolkit: Disproportionality in the Alternate Assessment Calculator: A Tool for State and Local Education Agencies (NCEO Tool #12)
This Brief explains a tool that State and Local Education Agencies (SEAs and LEAs) can use to examine disproportionality with respect to student group participation in their alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). Examining disproportionality with regard to alternate assessment participation is essentially an inquiry into whether certain groups are over- or under-identified as having a most significant cognitive disability. Participation data for groups of interest (e.g., race/ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, English learner status, chronic absenteeism) can be entered for a SEA or LEA. The tool then calculates the risk ratio, which is a way to describe the relationship of observed versus expected proportions.
Published: January 2023 - NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2018-2019 APR Snapshot #27: AA-AAAS Participation and PerformanceFormats: Online
This report summarizes Alternate Assessment based on Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (AA-AAAS) data used for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accountability. Using federally submitted data for the 2018-2019 school year, we present information on the number of students participating in the AA-AAAS and the performance of those students. An AA-AAAS has been developed by each state to measure the academic achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities. We present data for the 50 regular states as well as the 10 unique states (American Samoa, Bureau of Indian Education, District of Columbia, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Virgin Islands).
Published: December 2022 - NCEO Brief: Including Students with Disabilities in K-2 Academic Assessments (#28)
This Brief provides an overview of issues related to the inclusion of students with disabilities and English learners with disabilities in early grade (i.e., K-2) assessments. State academic assessments are required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) starting in grade 3. Academic assessments administered in earlier grades often are used to measure progress or growth, for instructional decision making, to predict grade 3 summative assessment performance, and for tracking literacy for reading guarantees. Even though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities participate in state and district-wide assessments administered before grade 3, these students have sometimes been excluded. This Brief also suggests strategies for improved practices.
Published: November 2022 - NCEO Newsletter: October 2022 issueFormats: Online
This issue highlights several new NCEO activities and products. The first is a toolkit for new state special education directors that is designed to be easy to use and help new directors (and their staff) become experts on how to include students with disabilities in assessments. Next is NCEO’s presence on TikTok. There is also recently published proceedings of the forum on assistive technology interoperability with online assessment platforms and other technology and services. Additionally, there is an article about a recent scan of the national landscape of formative assessment definitions and how students with disabilities are included in them, as well as articles about NCEO presentations at the recent National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) conference and at the upcoming Conference on Test Security (COTS).
Published: 10/3/2022 - Assistive Technology Interoperability with Online Assessment Platforms and Other Technology Products and Services: Making it All Work!
This report contains the proceedings of a forum held on June 29, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia to discuss issues surrounding the use of personal student assistive technology and online assessment participation. A specific goal of the forum was to gather representatives from state departments of education, assessment vendors, and technology companies to discuss challenges students face when using their personal assistive technology supports to participate in online assessments and to identify possible solutions. The forum was a post-session to the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) and was a collaboration of the Assessment, Standards, and Education for Students with Disabilities (ASES) Collaborative and the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO).
Published: September 2022 - TIES Center Briefs: Communication Supports for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: What Parents Need to Know (TIES Center Brief #9)
This Brief describes how families and other members of Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams can help students get the supports they need to build their communicative competence in inclusive classrooms. All students communicate, but some students may need options other than oral speech, or in addition to oral speech. Being able to communicate is an important skill for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Communication does not need to be oral. But it should be sufficient for conveying messages to others.
Published: June 2022 - What New Special Education Directors Need to Know about Academic AssessmentsFormats: Online
The purpose of this toolkit is to provide easy access to information that will help special education directors fulfill their role in ensuring the participation of students with disabilities in assessments. The toolkit is meant to assist directors in locating information and resources on the website of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) . The information and resources highlighted in this resource can help support special education directors in ensuring that all students with disabilities are included in state, district, and school assessments and accountability systems in a manner that is appropriate for each student based on their specific instructional and assessment needs.
Published: June 2022 - NCEO Reports: State Approaches to Monitoring AA-AAAS Participation Decisions (#432)
This report presents the findings of a survey of states that examined the policies, practices, and procedures State Education Agencies (SEAs) used to monitor IEPs for participation decision making in alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). It is imperative that only students with the most significant cognitive disabilities participate in the AA-AAAS because it has short- and long-term implications. The instruction of students taking the AA-AAAS may be reduced in depth, breadth, or complexity, and this may have implications for graduation as well as reduce post-secondary options.
Published: April 2022 - TIES Center Briefs: Debunking Myths about Inclusive Education for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities (TIES Center Brief #8)
Controversy often surrounds the inclusion of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the general education classroom and curriculum. This is the case even though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is clear in its Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) provisions that the presumed education setting for all students with disabilities is the general education classroom. There are many myths about including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in general education classrooms. This Brief debunks six of them. At the end of each myth there is a short list of related resources.
Published: 2/22/2022 - NCEO Reports: Test Security and Students with Disabilities: An Analysis of States’ 2020-21 Test Security Policies (#434)
This report provides a snapshot of how accommodated tests for students with disabilities, accessibility, alternate assessments, and other related issues were addressed in states’ test security policies for 2020-21. Strong test security policies and procedures are needed to help ensure the integrity and validity of state assessments, yet some test security measures may affect accessibility. There is a need for thoughtful consideration of ways in which possible test security measures may affect accessibility, and how to balance test security and accessibility. This report is an update of an analysis NCEO of 2013-14 test security policies.
Published: December 2021 - Proceedings of the NCEO Interim Assessment Convening: Measuring What Students with Disabilities Know and Can Do Using Interim Assessments
This report contains the proceeding of the Interim Assessment Convening on Measuring What Students with Disabilities Know and Can Do Using Interim Assessments that was hosted by NCEO, and held on July 26 and 27, 2021. The purpose of the Convening was to share information about how to enable the participation of all students with disabilities, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and English learners with disabilities, in interim assessments in ways that support obtaining valid results of what they know and can do. The Convening also provided an opportunity for State education agency (SEA) teams to develop goals and action items, based on the opportunities and challenges identified, that would result in more valid measurement of what students with disabilities know and can do at both the SEA and local education agency (LEA) levels. This Proceedings document was developed to provide a summary of the Convening. It includes appendices and links to resources that were shared by states and others at the Convening.
Published: December 2021 - A Framework for Making Decisions about Participation in a State’s Alternate ELP Assessment (NCEO Report 426)
This report provides information on how to identify which English learners who may have a most significant cognitive disability are eligible to take an alternate English language proficiency (alt-ELP) assessment. It does so by summarizing federal assessment requirements for English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities, describing characteristics of students in this population, offering a framework for identifying students who are eligible to participate in the alt-ELP assessment, and incorporating a list of recommended resources for more information.
Published: 10/28/2021