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- NCEO Reports: Updated Assessment Principles and Guidelines for English Learners with Disabilities (#424)
This updated report, originally published in 2013, presents five core principles of valid assessments for English learners with disabilities, along with a brief rationale and specific guidelines that reflect each principle. The principles were developed through a Delphi review involving experts in the fields of assessment, instruction of English learners, and special education. Appendices to this report describe the Delphi data collection process, and members of the expert panel. References and selected core resources related to each principle and guidelines are also included in an appendix. This update of the report recognizes the contextual changes that have occurred since 2013, but does not alter the principles themselves.
Published: August 2020 
White Paper on English Language Learners with Significant Cognitive DisabilitiesFormats: PDFThis White Paper was developed by the Administration, Accessibility, and Accommodations Task Management Team (AAA TMT) to provide the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21) states with recommendations for ways to include their English language learners (ELLs) with the most significant cognitive disabilities in an assessment of their English language proficiency. The ELPA21 states are developing a college- and career-ready assessment of English language proficiency (ELP). This assessment is designed for all ELLs except those who have the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Published: January 2016
Instructing and Assessing English Learners with Significant Cognitive DisabilitiesFormats: PDFThe purpose of this report is to identify an evidence base on best practices in English language arts instruction for English learners (ELs) with significant cognitive disabilities whose family may use another language in the home. This report also provides recommendations for important first steps to ensure that ELs with significant cognitive disabilities have access to grade-level curriculum and instruction.
Published: September, 2015
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2010-2011 APR Snapshot #5: Assessment Accommodations Use by Students Receiving Special Education Services (#5)Formats: OnlineThis year 2013 report provides information on the number of students with disabilities using accommodations and their performance on general statewide assessments used for federal accountability in 2010-2011. The report focuses on data in reading and math for grades four and eight.
Published: June 2013- Parent Video Series: Supporting the Learning of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities at Home: Helping Your Child with the Foundations of Communication at HomeFormats: Online
This video provides parents and siblings of students with disabilities with tips on how they can support the development of communication skills of their child (or sibling) at home, and provides other sources for more information.
Published: November 2020 - Accommodations for Students with Disabilities BibliographyFormats: Online
This searchable bibliographic database presents research on accommodations for students with disabilities. You can perform a basic search by keywords related to the accommodation, test content area, or student age. Brief summaries of each study are provided, and include information on the accommodation, participants, dependent variable, and major findings of the study.
Published: 2010 - Accommodations for English Learners BibliographyFormats: Online
This searchable bibliographic database presents research on English learner accommodations. You can perform a basic search by keywords related to the accommodation, test content area, or student age. Brief summaries of each study are provided, and include information on the accommodation, participants, dependent variable, and major findings of the study.
Published: 2018 
Parent Spotlight: Enfoque de los Padres de Familia en los Planes 504 y los Estándares Académicos Esenciales y las Evaluaciones del EstadoFormats: PDFEste folleto fue redactado para proveer información a los padres de familia y a otros con respecto a los planes de adaptaciones 504 y los estándares académicos recientemente adoptados llamados Estándares Académicos Esenciales del Estado.
Published: April 2014
Voices From the Field: Making State Assessment Decisions for English Language Learners With DisabilitiesFormats: PDFA report describing an activity undertaken by the Improving the Validity of Assessment Results for ELLs with Disabilities (IVARED) project, which is a consortium of the five states of Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington, led by Minnesota. In collaboration with the National Center on Educational Outcomes, these states sought to understand ways to make state accountability assessments more valid and reliable for English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities. This report describes how IVARED tried to better understand the current assessment and accommodation decision-making process, test score use practices, and issues and challenges educators face in making appropriate decisions for ELLs with disabilities. Online focus groups were conducted in each of the five states with a total of 232 school, district, and state practitioners who had expertise in working with this population of students.
Published: 2013
NCEO Technical Reports: Characteristics of Low Performing Special Education and Non-Special Education Students on Large-Scale Assessments (#60)A report investigating whether the characteristics of the lowest performing students in special education differ from the characteristics of the lowest performing students who are not in special education. The investigation in this report used data from low performing students in four states: Alabama, Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Achievement data were disaggregated by three demographic characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, and income status) for students taking the reading or mathematics assessments in fifth or eighth grade. In addition, researchers tracked data for each student over three years to identify how students moved in and out of the low performing category (low performing was defined as the tenth percentile and below for this report) across time.
Published: March 2012
NCEO Technical Reports: On the Road to Accountability: Reporting Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (#32)Formats: OnlineThis year 2001 report reviews state education documents for the year 1999-2000 to determine the public availability of important student outcome information on students with disabilities. The report describes state assessment systems, the reporting of participation and performance results, and the achievement gaps between students with disabilities and the total population for reading and math at select grades. It concludes with recommendations for public reporting.
Published: December 2001
NCEO Synthesis Reports: High School Graduation Requirements: What's Happening for Students with Disabilities? (#20)Formats: OnlineThis 1995 report examines documentation from state departments of education on high school graduation requirements for students in general, and for student with disabilities.
Published: May 1995
A Guide to Educational Acronyms: What's in the Alphabet Soup?Formats: PDFA resource guide providing a glossary of the "alphabet soup" of educational acronyms. NCEO developed this "acronym handbook" as a resource to define, clarify, or remind anyone involved legislative and policy discussions of definitions of routine educational acronyms. This pocket guide will be a useful tool for participants, whether they are state legislators, teachers, parents, or others.
Published: 2012- MIDAS Project Reports: Parents’ Perspectives on Their Child’s Move from the AA-AAAS to the General Assessment (#104)Formats: PDF
This report presents the findings of interviews that were conducted with parents of students who moved from the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) to the general state assessment used for accountability. The purpose of the interviews was to learn more about their experiences as parents of students on the cusp between the two assessments.
Published: August 2024 
NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2016-2017 APR Snapshot #20: Students in Special Education Assigned Assessment Accommodations (#20)Formats: OnlineThis brief provides information on the number of students with disabilities assigned accommodations and the performance of these students on the general statewide assessment used for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accountability. Using federally submitted data from the 2016-2017 school year, we present information on accommodations for reading and mathematics statewide assessments administered to grade 8 students (and grade 4 to show a comparison to grade 8 data).
Published: July 2019
Student Demonstrations of their Use of Accessibility Features and AccommodationsThis report presents information from a study by the Data Informed Accessibility—Making Optimal Needs-based Decisions (DIAMOND) project that examined classroom use of accessibility features and accommodations gathered through in-person interviews with teachers and in-person demonstrations with students. The report catalogs the accessibility features and accommodations used in class that were helpful to students, identifies reasons that certain accessibility features and accommodations were and were not used, and explores barriers to the effective use of accessibility features and accommodations.
Published: June 2019
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
NCEO Reports: Students with Disabilities in Educational Policy, Practice, and Professional Judgment: What Should We Expect? (#413)This report provides a cross-disciplinary look at educational policy, practice, and law related to expectations for students with disabilities. It addresses three questions critical to a discussion of expectations for students with disabilities, viewing the questions from an educational perspective and a legal perspective. The report concludes with responses to each of the questions and then provides recommendations for action based on what thoughtful, informed professional judgment of appropriate educational opportunities for students with disabilities should be.
Published: May 2019
NCEO Brief: Revisiting Expectations for Students with Disabilities (#17)The purpose of this brief is to summarize some of the past exclusionary practices that resulted from low expectations for students with disabilities, and how those were addressed in policies related to standards-based reform. The brief is based on a comprehensive paper that takes a cross-disciplinary approach to examining expectations for students with disabilities, “Students with Disabilities in Educational Policy, Practice, and Professional Judgment: What Should We Expect?” (NCEO Report 413). We highlight answers to critical questions about expectations for students with disabilities, including those with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Suggestions are provided for policymakers, states, and technical assistance providers on how to work with districts, schools, and educators to revisit expectations for students with disabilities.
Published: May 2019
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Who Are the Students Who May Qualify for an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS)? Focus Group Results (#79)A report summarizing the results of educator focus groups conducted by one state in a consortium dedicated to studying alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) eligibility issues. In 2008 and 2009, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction held three focus groups to accomplish three specific goals: (1) To help educators become familiar with federal regulatory language about students eligible for the AA-MAS; (2) to familiarize educators with issues that must be considered when determining which students might qualify for the AA-MAS; and (3) to help educators identify strategies for improving instruction and assessment practices for struggling learners.
Published: January 2011