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TIES Center Briefs: Taking the Alternate Assessment Does NOT Mean Education in a Separate Setting! (#2)This Parent Brief describes how participation in the alternate assessment does not automatically mean that a student is in a different instructional setting from his or her same-age peers without disabilities. The brief defines who are students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, what is meant by the “least restrictive environment,” the legal provisions that support inclusion, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in general education classrooms, and next steps for parents.
Published: May 2019
CCSSO Accessibility Manual: How To Select, Administer, And Evaluate Use Of Accessibility Supports For Instruction And Assessment Of All StudentsFormats: WordThe Council of Chief State School Officers' (CCSSO's) Accessibility Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate Use of Accessibility Supports for Instruction and Assessment of All Students establishes guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accessibility supports for instruction and assessment of all students, including students with disabilities, English learners (ELs), ELs with disabilities, and students without an identified disability or EL status. Accessibility supports discussed herein include both embedded (digitally-provided) and non-embedded (non-digitally or locally provided) universal features that are available to all students as they access instructional or assessment content, designated features that are available for those students for whom the need has been identified by an informed educator or team of educators, and accommodations that are generally available for students for whom there is documentation on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 accommodation plan. Approaches to these supports may vary depending on state or assessment consortium contexts as well as nature of assessments - be they content assessments, English language proficiency (ELP) assessments, or alternate assessments.
Published: August 2016
Meeting the Needs of Special Education Students: Recommendations for the Race-to-the-Top Consortia and StatesFormats: PDFA report identifying several actions for the Race to the Top assessment consortia to take to meet the needs of special education students. The actions are consistent with standards and principles for assessments, and reflect evolving research and development activities directed toward supporting better assessments for every student. The paper was authored by staff from the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes and produced in partnership with Arabella Advisors.
Published: 2011- MIDAS Project Reports: Teachers’ Perspectives on Using Multiple Measures of Academic Achievement to Inform Instruction of Students on the Cusp Between the AA-AAAS and the General Assessment (#103)Formats: PDF
This report presents the findings of online focus groups conducted with teachers to learn more about their experiences using multiple measures to inform instructional decision making for students on the cusp between the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) and the general state assessment used for accountability.
Published: July 2024 - School Leader Series: What School Leaders Need to do Before, During, and After the Assessment Window (School Leader Series Brief #4)
This resource is designed to provide guidance on what school leaders need to do before, during, and after the assessment window. Developed in collaboration with CCSSO, the Assessment, Standards, and Education for Students with Disabilities (ASES) and School Leadership Development and Supports (SLDS) state collaboratives made important contributions to this document. This resource highlights what school leaders should do to prepare for, do during, and do after assessments for students with disabilities. It also gives talking points for school leaders to use when addressing key stakeholders on the topic.
Published: 9/28/2021 
Lessons Learned in Federally Funded Projects that Can Improve the Instruction and Assessment of Low Performing Students with DisabilitiesFormats: PDFA report detailing the work of researchers from projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education in 2006-2007 under three funding sources (General Supervision Enhancement Grants, Enhanced Assessment Grants, and Supplemental Funding) who were invited to compile their major findings and discuss the lessons they learned from their studies on alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). The intent of this publication is to carry these lessons forward to the creators of next generation assessments. The timing for this information is critical, as funding for AA-MAS research has ended, and administration of AA-MAS tests is expected to cease in many states when new assessments are ready in 2014-2015. Almost all students with disabilities who were eligible for an AA-MAS will then be participating in the new general assessments. It is imperative that the lessons learned from this group of projects about the students and the barriers they experience during assessment are well understood as these changes occur. Researchers report on 14 separate projects involving 26 states, and the report is organized into four main sections: The Students, Test Development, Technology-enhanced Assessment, and System Implications.
Published: 2013- Parent-Educator Toolkit: Working with Your Child's Teacher Using the multilingual Parent Educator ToolkitFormats: Free Video
The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The multilingual Parent-Educator Toolkit consists of several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. This video shows how parents can work with their child’s teacher to make decisions in using accessibility features for their child. This English-language video provides subtitles in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese that can be turned on in the Settings feature.
Published: 11/3/2022 - Parent-Educator Toolkit: En Español: Building Successful Communication with the School Using the Multilingual Parent Educator ToolkitFormats: Free Video
The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The multilingual Parent-Educator Toolkit consists of several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. This Spanish-language video helps parents understand what the resources are and how to use them.
Published: 11/3/2022 - CCSSO Accessibility Manual: How To Select, Administer, And Evaluate Use Of Accessibility Supports For Instruction And Assessment Of All StudentsFormats: Word
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Accessibility Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate Use of Accessibility Supports for Instruction and Assessment of All Students establishes guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accessibility supports for instruction and assessment of all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, English learners with disabilities, and students without an identified disability or English learner status. This resource serves state education agency (SEA) leaders in several ways, and it can be used as a customizable base for or extension of education-accessibility manuals.
Published: May 2021 
Assessment Principles and Guidelines for ELLs with DisabilitiesA report detailing the work of an Institute project called Improving the Validity of Assessment Results for English Language Learners with Disabilities (IVARED) that has identified essential principles of inclusive and valid assessments for English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities. These principles were developed from a review process with nationally recognized experts in special education, English as a second language or bilingual education, assessment, and accountability. Additional input was obtained through discussion of the principles at national assessment and education conferences, as well as during meetings of the Council of Chief State School Officers State Collaborative on Assessments and Student Standards (SCASS) groups. This report presents five core principles of valid assessments for this population of students, along with a brief rationale and specific guidelines that reflect each principle.
Published: 2013
Moving Your Numbers: Moving Your Numbers: Five Districts Share How They Used Assessment and Accountability to Increase Performance for Students With Disabilities as Part of District-wide ImprovementFormats: PDFA report examining how school districts can increase the performance of students with disabilities and other at-risk learners as part of whole-district reform efforts. It includes case studies of featured districts that provide evidence that students with disabilities, like all other students, can learn at higher levels when adults focus their collective efforts on improving instructional practice, consistently implement core work across the district, and use assessment and accountability as a lever for ongoing system and student learning and improvement.
Published: 2011- Understanding English Learner Accommodations : Translated Test DirectionsFormats: Free Video
The video describes one of the testing accommodations allowed for English learners on West Virginia state assessments. It describes the West Virginia policy on using translated test directions as an English-language support. The video is part of a series called “Understanding English learner accommodations,” a set of resources created for the West Virginia Department of Education.
Published: 11/3/2022 - Understanding English Learner Accommodations : Bilingual Word to Word DictionariesFormats: Free Video
The video describes one of the testing accommodations allowed for English learners on West Virginia state assessments. It describes the West Virginia policy on using bilingual word to word dictionaries as English-language supports. The video is part of a series called “Understanding English learner accommodations,” a set of resources created for the West Virginia Department of Education.
Published: 11/3/2022 - Understanding English Learner Accommodations : Electronic TranslatorsFormats: Free Video
The video describes one of the testing accommodations allowed for English learners on West Virginia state assessments. It describes the West Virginia policy on using an electronic translator as an English-language support. The video is part of a series called “Understanding English learner accommodations,” a set of resources created for the West Virginia Department of Education.
Published: 11/3/2022 - Parent-Educator Toolkit: En Español: Working with Your Child's Teacher Using the multilingual Parent Educator ToolkitFormats: Free Video
The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The multilingual Parent-Educator Toolkit consists of several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. This Spanish-language video shows how parents can work with their child’s teacher to make decisions in using accessibility features for their child.
Published: 11/3/2022 - Parent-Educator Toolkit: Building Successful Communication with the School Using the Multilingual Parent Educator ToolkitFormats: Free Video
The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The multilingual Parent-Educator Toolkit consists of several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. This video helps parents understand what the resources are and how to use them. This English-language video provides subtitles in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese that can be turned on in the Settings feature.
Published: 11/3/2022