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- Empowering Families Toolkit - Tool 3 Video: What is the SSIP, and why do it?Formats: Free Video
This video provides a family-friendly definition of the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) and explains how states, educators, and families can work together to ensure their SSIP addresses the needs of students with disabilities in order to improve their educational outcomes. This video is part of the Empowering Families Toolkit developed by NCEO to provide accessible materials for parents about assessment topics.
Published: 9/5/2023 - 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 - Empowering Families Toolkit - Tool 4 Video: Understanding Test Data at SSIP Stakeholder MeetingsFormats: Free Video
This video explains how the review of test data at State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) stakeholder meetings by parents and other stakeholders can support the development and implementation of plans that lead to improved outcomes for their children and all students with disabilities. The video also provides tips on how to be active participants in stakeholder meetings. This video is part of the Empowering Families Toolkit developed by NCEO to provide accessible materials for parents about assessment topics.
Published: 9/5/2023 - Empowering Families Toolkit - Tool 2 Video: What are the purposes of different tests, and how are they used in the SSIP?Formats: Free Video
This video discusses different types of tests and their objectives. It describes various test purposes, and their role in improving instruction and outcomes for students with disabilities through the state’s State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). This video is part of the Empowering Families Toolkit developed by NCEO to provide accessible materials for parents about assessment topics.
Published: 9/5/2023 
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: 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: 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- 1% Toolkit: Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities (NCEO Tool #15)
The purpose of this tool is to provide information on the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities for parents in the form of (a) a fact sheet, and (b) a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that provide additional details about MTSS. These parent resources are available for states to adapt to share with districts, parent organizations, and parents. This resource was developed through a collaborative process with members of the TASH Inclusive Education Community of Practice (CoP) and staff from forty-nine states and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) who participated in the 1% CoP.
Published: November 2023 
NCEO Minnesota Assessment Project Reports: Feasibility and Practicality of a Decision Making Tool for Standards Testing of Students with Limited English Proficiency (#22)Formats: OnlineThis year 1999 report describes a decision-making tool to provide educators of English learner and bilingual students with the most current participation and test accommodation guidelines for informed decisions. The report describes the tool and reports on the results of a study examining the tool's feasibility.
Published: December 1999- NCEO Brief: Getting Ready for the 2021-22 School Year: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Testing Children with Disabilities (#26)
As states, districts, and schools plan to return for the 2021-22 school year, questions are raised about whether and how to test children with disabilities, including children with the most significant cognitive disabilities and English learners with disabilities. This FAQ addresses some common questions and provides links to useful resources.
Published: August 2021 - NCEO Brief: Interim Assessment Practices for Students with Disabilities (#22)
This Brief contains a scan of the interim assessment landscape, and is focused on the availability of documentation supporting the appropriateness of these assessments for students with disabilities. The purpose of this Brief is to advise the development of guidance that facilitates improved practices related to the use of interim assessments for students with disabilities.
Published: April 2021 - 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 Policy Directions: Successfully Transitioning from the AA-MAS to the General Assessment (#22)A report exploring how federal policy initiatives such as the flexibility waivers for accountability are requiring that states transition away from the use of an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). It is expected that those students who had participated in that assessment will instead participate in the state's general assessment (or a Race-to-the-Top consortium assessment if the state belongs to one). It is important that this transition be successful. Much has been learned through the development of the AA-MAS and its implementation. These lessons learned form the basis for ensuring the successful transition from the AA-MAS to the general assessment. Indeed, the lessons learned from the AA-MAS provide important information for all states as they strive to ensure that their general assessments are appropriate for a broad range of students. This Policy Directions offers suggestions for strategies to move the students currently participating in the AA-MAS to the general assessment.
Published: February 2014- 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 - 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 
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
NCEO Data Analytics: AA-AAS Participation Rate from 2007-08 to 2016-2017 (#12)Formats: OnlineThis interactive report presents data on the participation rate and percent proficient on the alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) by grade and content across years. This report provides the data with an interactive performance map, trends over time, and state profiles.
Published: 2020-01-22- 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 - NCEO APR Snapshot Briefs: 2021-2022 APR Snapshot #31: Assessment Participation, Performance, and Assigned Accommodations for Students Receiving Special Education Services (#31)Formats: Online
This report provides a snapshot of the participation and performance of students receiving special education services on statewide reading/language arts and mathematics assessments for 2021-22. Data are provided for mathematics and reading/language arts for general and alternate assessments. This report also summarizes data on the percentage of students assigned accommodations for general assessments.
Published: 6/25/2024 
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