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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
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Middle School Principals' Perspectives on Academic Standards-Based Instruction and Programming for English Language Learners with Disabilities (#22)A report from a study following up on the findings of earlier NCEO research on instructional services and leadership for English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities. This study looked at a group of principals of middle schools making adequate yearly progress with ELLS and students with disabilities, and addressed three issues: (1) services and programs offered for ELLs with disabilities, (2) sources of instructional strategy information specific to ELLs with disabilities, and (3) the principal's role in supporting teachers' use of instructional strategies for ELLs with disabilities.
Published: September 2008
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Reading, Mathematics, and Science Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners with Disabilities - Insights from Educators Nationwide (#19)A report studying instructional strategies at middle and junior high schools. Middle school teaching and learning is especially challenging, perhaps because the curriculum places greater cognitive demands on emerging adolescents at a developmental stage when students, especially those who have already been struggling, can be at higher risk for academic failure. ELLs with disabilities could be at particular risk, given the combination of learning challenges they may encounter in middle school. The study aimed to identify teacher-initiated instructional strategies that are preferred by practitioners who work daily with ELLs with disabilities.
Published: September 2008
NCEO Synthesis Reports: A Brief History of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (#68)A 2008 report reviewing the previous 15 years of alternate assessment development, from the early 1990s through the mid-2000s, as reported by state directors of special education on the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) state surveys, and augmented by other research and policy reports published by NCEO and related organizations during that timeframe. This is a resource for state and federal policymakers and staff, researchers, test companies, and the public and it helps explain the evolution of alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Published: September 2008- NCEO Annual Performance Reports and State Performance Plans: 2005-2006 State Assessment DataFormats: PDF
A report summarizing assessment data from State Performance Plans.
Published: April 2008 
NCEO Synthesis Reports: English Language Learners with Disabilities in State English Language Proficiency Assessments: A Review of State Accommodation Policies (#66)Formats: PDFThis year 2007 report documents states' participation and accommodations policies for English learners (ELs) with disabilities on their English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessments for 2005-06. Findings show 31 states addressed accommodations for ELs with disabilities. Of these 31 states, 13 states allowed the exclusion of a student based on his or her disability characteristics for one or more domains of the ELP assessment. Other participation findings show exclusion based on severity of disability, such as for students needing to participate in an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards. Of the accommodation findings, the most controversial accommodation was spellchecker/ assistance /dictionary use. The authors note that continued attention to the participation and performance of ELLs with disabilities in ELP and other state assessments is essential.
Published: December 2007
NCEO Synthesis Reports: States' Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2007 (#67)This year 2007 report summarizes the publicly available information about alternates based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). It describes the formats and eligibility criteria for five states with an AA-MAS, and further information on another state intending to administer one in the 2008-09 school year. It also describes how states' AA-MAS differ from states' regular assessments, including assessment characteristics and incorporated accommodations.
Published: December 2007
NCEO Technical Reports: Revisiting Graduation Requirements and Diploma Options for Youth with Disabilities: A National Study (#49)A document reporting on National Center on Educational Outcomes' (NCEO) fourth study of state graduation requirements for students with disabilities. This national study was designed to describe current variations across states in high school exit exam practices and the use of alternative diploma/credentialing options. The study also examines the intended and unintended consequences for students when they are required to pass exit exams to receive a high school diploma, and the intended and unintended consequences of using single or multiple diploma options for students with disabilities.
Published: December 2007
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: Examining DIF, DDF, and Omit Rate by Discrete Disability CategoriesA report describing a study of differential item functioning (DIF), differential distractor functioning (DDF), and differential omission frequency (DOF) for one third grade and one fifth grade statewide reading test for three disability groupings: students with speech/language impairments, learning disabilities, and emotional/behavioral disorders. The study found substantive DIF/DDF only for students with learning disabilities, not for students with speech/language impairments or emotional/behavioral disorders. Furthermore, examination of response characteristic curve graphs showed that DIF/DDF did not necessarily indicate an item had statistical bias against students with learning disabilities. Rather, low-performing students with learning disabilities more often than low-performing students without disabilities appeared to choose wrong answers randomly rather than selecting the most appealing wrong answers. The researchers concluded that there was no evidence of test bias for students with disabilities in the state reading tests examined in the study.
Published: December 2007
NCEO Policy Directions: Aligning Alternate Assessments to Grade Level Content Standards - Issues and Considerations for Alternates Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (#19)This year 2007 report provides states with information on issues that complicate alignment of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards. It also provides information on existing alignment models that can be used for alignment studies.
Published: November 2007
NCEO Policy Directions: Planning Alignment Studies For Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (#20)A report providing states with information on the components to consider with an external vendor when planning a study of the alignment of alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) with grade-level content standards. It also addresses guidance for maximizing resources spent to determine alignment of the AA-AAS.
Published: November 2007
Parent Training & Information Center Webinar on Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement StandardsA Webinar providing information about Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) to Parent Training and Information Centers & Community Parent Resource Centers. AA-MAS are assessments that some states use to evaluate the performance of a small group of students with disabilities. Most states offering AA-MAS had phased it out by 2014.
Federal legislation requires that all students be included in accountability systems, but some students with disabilities need accommodations to access assessments. AA-MAS is an assessment option for some students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) whose progress to date, in response to appropriate instruction, is unlikely to achieve grade-level proficiency within the school year covered by the IEP. Students who are assessed with this option are required to have instruction in grade-level content. Students qualifying for an AA-MAS may be from any disability category.
Published: October 9, 2007