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TARA Reports: Survey of Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments: Students Served and Their Access to State Assessments of ReadingFormats: PDFThe purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of teachers on a number of aspects related to reading. This survey targeted specifically teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs).
Published: August 2009
Training Guide for Minnesota Manual of Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in Instruction and Assessment: A Guide to Selecting, Administering, and Evaluating the Use of AccommodationsFormats: PDFThis training guide is designed as a companion to the Minnesota Manual of Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in Instruction and Assessment and the Procedures Manual for the Minnesota Assessments. Together, these documents serve to outline five key steps in making decisions about accommodations and to identify Minnesota's policies for the use of accommodations on state assessments.
Published: August 2009- NCEO Annual Performance Reports and State Performance Plans: 2006-2007 State Assessment DataFormats: PDF
A report summarizing the 2006-2007 state assessment information that was submitted by states in their Annual Performance Reports. States and other educational entities receiving Part B funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) submitted their Annual Performance Reports and Section 618 Table 6 data together to the U.S. Secretary of Education on or before February 2008. This report contains information on large-scale assessment participation and performance data for the 2006-2007 school year.
Published: July 2009 
NCEO Technical Reports: Achieving Transparency in the Public Reporting of 2006-2007 Assessment Results (#53)A report summarizing States' reports on the participation and performance of students with disabilities by (a) submitting annual performance reports (APRs) to the U.S. Department of Education, and (b) publicly reporting state assessment data via their Web sites and other communication avenues. Both APRs and public reports provide important information, although the two may be slightly different in how the data are presented. This report analyzes the public reporting of disaggregated data for students with disabilities. It is the eleventh such report by NCEO, and this analysis, for school year 2006-2007, also marks the fifth data cycle since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001.
Published: July 2009
Improving Accommodations Outcomes: Monitoring Instructional and Assessment Accommodations for Students with DisabilitiesFormats: PDFA document presenting a five-step process for schools, districts, and states to use in monitoring accommodations for instruction and assessment. It was designed to be a companion to the "Council of Chief State School Officers' Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities" (2005), which applies to students with disabilities who participate in large-scale assessments and the instruction they receive. Each step provides monitoring questions to ask, current examples from states, samples of forms that might be used, a checklist for evaluating a state's activities for each step, and space for action planning and questions. Appendices contain a glossary of terms related to monitoring and sample forms that can be adapted for use.
Published: 2009
NCEO Technical Reports: State Reports on the Participation and Performance of English Language Learners with Disabilities in 2006-2007 (#54)A report reviewing state reports on the participation and performance of English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities in 2006-2007. Previous data reports suggested that ELLs with disabilities tend to have a lower percentage of students scoring proficient than their English proficient peers on regular assessments. But in 2006-2007, ELLs with disabilities out-performed the total number of students taking alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards. This improvement surprised researchers, leading them to speculate on possible causes. However, not all states reported this data and, even among those that did, the number of students in these data is low, leading the researchers to urge caution in interpreting the practical significance of the differences in performance. On English language proficiency assessments, ELLs with disabilities usually scored lower than ELLs without disabilities on measures of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Published: May 2009
NCEO Limited English Proficiency Projects Reports: Grade-Level Standards-Based Science Outcomes for English Language Learners and Language Minority Students - A Review of the Literature (#6)This year 2009 report presents findings from a review of a peer-reviewed literature on the topic of standards-based science outcomes for ELs, as well as a broader group of students who speak a language other than English at home.
Published: April 2009
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Disabilities and Reading: Understanding the Effects of Disabilities and Their Relationship to Reading Instruction and AssessmentA report providing common ground on the issues surrounding reading and students with various disabilities to facilitate discussion of accessible reading assessment. The information in this report was obtained through a broad review of literature and Web sites of national agencies and organizations, along with input and feedback from professionals in the disability areas. It is not intended to be a comprehensive research review of disabilities or reading-related issues, but nevertheless should prove useful for understanding the effects of disabilities and their relationship to reading. Seven disabilities are discussed in the order of their prevalence: specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, intellectual disabilities, emotional/behavioral disabilities, autism, deaf or hard of hearing, and visual impairments. Although these disabilities do not comprise all of the possible disability categories or even the most common disabilities, they do represent those often considered most challenging for reading assessment. This report provides:
- An overview of the characteristics of students with each disability
- A description of common approaches to reading instruction for students with each disability
- Assessment approaches and issues that surround the assessment of reading for students with each disability.
Published: March 2009- NCEO Data ViewerFormats: Online
An interactive database allowing users to access data compiled by researchers at the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) on students with disabilities in the U.S. educational system. Two major databases are currently available:
• State policies on assessment participation and accommodations for students with disabilities.
• Annual performance reports from states and other education entities receiving Part B funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Through the database users may create customized reports - including charts and maps - based on criteria they choose.
Published: 2009 - Present 
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Exploring Factors that Affect the Accessibility of Reading Comprehension Assessments for Students with Disabilities: A Study of Segmented TextA document reporting on a study seeking to experimentally examine factors affecting accessibility of assessments for students with disabilities. This study focused on reading comprehension assessments since (1) reading is one of the primary areas of the NCLB Title I accountability requirements, and (2) reading is the underlying ability for understanding instruction and assessment in all other content areas. A randomized field trial study in which a reading comprehension assessment, designed to be potentially more accessible for students with disabilities, was administered to groups of students including students with disabilities. Three long reading comprehension passages from existing state assessments were broken down into more manageable segments with corresponding questions placed immediately after each segment. The results of the segmenting study indicated that:
- Segmenting did not affect reading performance of students without disabilities, suggesting that it does not compromise the validity of reading assessment
- Segmenting did not affect reading performance of students with disabilities
- The segmented version had a higher reliability for students with disabilities without affecting the reliability for students without disabilities
- No trends were observed for student motivation, general emotions, and moods with respect to segmented assessment in either disability or no disability groups.
Published: January 2009
NCEO Synthesis Reports: 2007 State Policies on Assessment Participation and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (#69)A 2008 report updating the National Center on Educational Outcomes' (NCEO) report from 2006 that tracked and analyzed state policies on assessment participation and accommodations since 1992. The purpose of the current analysis is to update information on these policies that was last reported by NCEO in 2006 (based on 2005 data). In this analysis, policies from all 50 states, plus 8 of the unique states, were reviewed. The current analysis of states' 2007 participation and accommodation policies found that state policies on participation and accommodation continue to evolve, and that they have become more detailed and specific than in previous years.
Published: December 2008
NCEO Synthesis Reports: A Principled Approach to Accountability Assessments for Students with Disabilities (#70)A 2008 report updating the National Center on Educational Outcomes' (NCEO) report from 2001 that identified principles and characteristics underlying inclusive assessment and accountability systems. This report on a principled approach to accountability assessments for students with disabilities reflects what the center has learned during the past seven years. The principles provide a vision for an inclusive system of assessments used for system accountability. The report addresses state and district K-12 academic content assessments designed for system accountability and focuses on all students with disabilities, including targeted groups of students within this group (e.g., English Language Learners with disabilities). Multiple stakeholders share the common goal of improving educational outcomes for all students have reviewed and commented on the principles and characteristics presented here.
Published: December 2008
NCEO Synthesis Reports: States' Participation Guidelines for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2008 (#71)A report describing an assessment option permitted by federal regulations that give states the flexibility to offer an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). This assessment option is for a small group of students with disabilities who can make significant progress but may not reach grade-level proficiency within the time period covered by their Individualized Education Program. Students who participate in an AA-MAS must have access to grade-level content. States are not required to offer this option. This report compiles, analyzes, and summarizes states' participation guidelines for the AA-MAS.
Published: December 2008
NCEO Technical Reports: An Analysis of Accommodations Issues from the Standards and Assessments Peer Review (#51)A report commissioned by the Accommodations Monitoring Study Group of the Assessing Special Education Students State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards. It is the second in a three-part series providing information to states about the monitoring of accommodations to address the question of how states meet the NCLB requirement to routinely monitor the extent to which test accommodations are consistent with those provided during instruction, specifically for students with IEPs. This technical report provides a comprehensive analysis of the peer review guidance information and the methodology used in the research, as well as summarizing themes found across multiple peer reviews of state assessment systems. The first report in the series is Hints and Tips for Addressing Accommodations Issues for Peer Review.
Published: December 2008
NCEO Technical Reports: Good News and Bad News in Disaggregated Subgroup Reporting to the Public on 2005-2006 Assessment Results (#52)A report analyzing the public reporting of disaggregated data for students with disabilities by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). This analysis, which is the 10th done by NCEO, is for school year 2005/2006 and it marks the fourth data cycle from the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. On this tenth anniversary, NCEO presents both the good news and bad news for 2005/2006 reporting and summarizes other observed trends.
Published: December 2008
NCEO Technical Reports: Trends in the Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities (#50)A report describing the first comprehensive analysis conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) of trends in the public reporting of state assessment results for students with disabilities. The study followed NCEO's four analyses of public reporting since the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. More states are reporting assessment data for students with disabilities disaggregated by grade level and content area. States have also improved their data collection systems that make this type of reporting possible but the number of states for which data were available across the four years was relatively small. Based on the states with data across years, average percentages of students with disabilities performing at the proficient or above level showed moderate increases across the four years for both reading and math in elementary and middle schools but not in high schools. Trend data also showed higher percentages of elementary school students demonstrating proficient or above performance in reading and math than their counterparts in middle and high school. Trends in the Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities is a brief summary of this report.
Published: December 2008
Trends in the Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities (NCEO Brief)A brief describing the results of an analysis of trends in the public reporting of state assessment results for students with disabilities. The analysis was conducted on a compilation of publicly reported assessment data gathered from state Web sites and personnel during the data collection for four previous analyses completed by the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). These data were supplemented with data obtained from current state education Web sites. This trend analysis covered the years 2001-02 to 2004-05, and examined both participation and performance. The goal of the analysis was to determine:
- Whether progress has been made by states in publicly reporting the participation and performance of students with disabilities on state assessments
- The nature of trends in the four years of participation and performance data for students with disabilities.
This brief is based on the 2008 report, Technical Report 50: Trends in the Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities, published by NCEO.
Published: 2008
NCEO State Surveys: 2007 Survey of States - Activities, Changes, and Challenges for Special EducationThis year 2007 report summarizes a state survey given to all states addressing participation rates, use of accommodations, the number of students achieving grade level proficiency, and more.
Published: October 2008
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Delphi Study of Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners with Disabilities: Recommendations from Educators Nationwide (#21)A report from NCEO's national research spanning seven years that has focused on identifying and validating instructional strategies for ELLs with disabilities. In recent work, educators from five states with large ELL populations and five states with small ELL populations generated sets of reading, mathematics, and science instructional strategies and weighted their importance in focus group-like settings using the Multi-Attribute Consensus Building method. The research described here is a confirmatory Delphi study of the strategies identified in an earlier study and is based on polling teachers about strategies identified in the earlier work.
Published: September 2008
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Middle School Principals' Interpretation of State Policy and Guidance on Instructional Strategies for ELLs with Disabilities (#20)A report describing how principals of successful schools translated information to teachers on designing accessible standards-based instruction for ELLs with disabilities. The study aimed to highlight promising practices that might be studied further and to identify areas where principals may need additional support in providing instructional leadership for their teachers.
Published: September 2008