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NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Large-Scale Assessments and English Language Learners with Disabilities - A Case Study of Participation, Performance, and Perceptions: "Walking the Talk!" (#15)This year 2006 report describes issues that surround the inclusion of English learners in states' large-scale assessment systems with a focus on gathering practical information at the local school level to reflect a variety of perspectives.
Published: August 2006
NCEO Synthesis Reports: High Stakes Graduation Exams: The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Minnesota's Basic Standards Tests for Students with Disabilities (#62)This year 2006 report examines the intended and unintended consequences of Minnesota's high stakes graduation exam on students with disabilities through focus group data and interviews. The study included focus groups included parents of students with disabilities, special educators from six schools in two large urban and suburban school districts, and member of the Minnesota Association of educational Assessment and Evaluation, and interviews from building administrators, school district representatives, and a state representative. Findings include a combination of positive and negative consequences such as increasing exposure to curriculum, increased participation in testing, raising expectations, high levels of anxiety and frustration, and drop-out concerns among other findings. The author concludes that further studies are needed to document empirically whether these consequences are occurring for students with disabilities.
Published: August 2006
NCEO Technical Reports: Using the Think Aloud Method (cognitive labs) to Evaluate Test Design for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners (#44)This year 2006 report describes research on think aloud methods used to detect design issues in large scale assessments. Students included in this study were students with learning disabilities, hearing impairments, cognitive disabilities, English learners, and students without disabilities proficient in English. Findings address the ability of specific student groups to participate in the think aloud procedure and the level of mathematics items with most informative data.
Published: August 2006
NCLB and IDEA: What Parents of Students with Disabilities Need to Know and DoFormats: PDFA guide informing parents of students with disabilities about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These are two of the nation's most important federal laws relating to public education. While NCLB seeks to improve the education of all children - especially children from low-income families - IDEA focuses on the individual child and seeks to ensure specialized services for children with disabilities so they may benefit from education. NCLB provisions apply to all students, including those whose disabilities require special education. So parents need to understand the requirements of NCLB. IDEA, in its latest update by Congress, has been more closely aligned with NCLB, making it equally important that parents know how the two laws work together to improve academic achievement of students with disabilities.
Published: August 2006
NCLB e IDEA: Lo que los Padres de Estudiantes con Discapacidades Necesitan Saber y HacerFormats: PDFA Spanish translation of a guide informing parents of students with disabilities about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These are two of the nation's most important federal laws relating to public education. While NCLB seeks to improve the education of all children - especially children from low-income families - IDEA focuses on the individual child and seeks to ensure specialized services for children with disabilities so they may benefit from education. NCLB provisions apply to all students, including those whose disabilities require special education. So parents need to understand the requirements of NCLB. IDEA, in its latest update by Congress, has been more closely aligned with NCLB, making it equally important that parents know how the two laws work together to improve academic achievement of students with disabilities. Content is in Spanish.
Published: August 2006- Testimony of Rachel Quenemoen, Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of RepresentativesFormats: Online
This testimony was presented at the Hearing on No Child Left Behind: Ensuring High Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students and Students with Disabilities, before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives.
Published: 2006-07-26 
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Including English Language Learners with Disabilities in Large-Scale Assessments - A Case Study of Linguistically-Diverse Populations (#14)This year 2006 report describes issues surrounding the inclusion of English learners with disabilities in states' large-scale assessment systems, with a focus on gathering information at the local school level to understand a variety of perspectives.
Published: July 2006
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Effect of Minimum Cell Sizes and Confidence Interval Sizes for Special Education Subgroups on School-Level AYP Determinations (#61)This year 2006 report focuses on the potential effects of minimum cell sizes and confidence interval sizes for students in Special Education subgroups on school-level AYP determinations. The report specifically considers these effects in a comparison of all students to the Special Education subgroup, in the inclusion of data for students in Special Education in such determinations, and the potential effects on AYP of adding grades 3-8 into calculations for the 2005-2006 school year. The report includes a study using data from five states to model confidence intervals and cell-size combinations and presents the results in answer to the research questions.
Published: July 2006- How to Develop State Guidelines for Access Assistants: Scribes, Readers, and Sign Language InterpretersFormats: Online
A manual offering states a tool to assist in the development or enhancement of guidelines for access assistants. Whether a state already has guidelines or is just in the process of establishing them, this manual will provide structure to the process and many examples of criteria already included by states.
Published: 2006 - How to Develop State Guidelines for Access Assistants: Scribes, Readers, and Sign Language InterpretersFormats: PDF
A structured tool to assist in the development or enhancement of guidelines for access assistants (i.e., scribes, readers, sign language interpreters, page turners, transcribers, language translators).
Published: 2006-06-01 - NCEO Annual Performance Reports and State Performance Plans: 2003-2004 State Assessment DataFormats: PDF
A report summarizing assessment data from State Performance Plans.
Published: June 2006 
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Dealing with Flexibility in Assessments for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (#60)This year 2006 report presents an analysis of where flexibility is allowed or controlled (standardized) in the development of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The authors identify key challenges in evaluating data and technical quality given the flexibility of this population's instructional goals. Further, they address specific points for policymakers and assessment leaders to consider regarding the degree of flexibility or standardization they might design into these alternate assessment systems, including clarifying state values and goals, research and development, assessment format, and evaluating technical quality.
Published: June 2006
PARA Accessible Reading Assessment Reports: State Accommodations Policies: Implications for the Assessment of ReadingA report presenting the results of an analysis of the accommodations that are included in state accommodations policies and guidelines. The purpose of the analysis was to learn more about 10 accommodations that may have specific implications for the assessment of reading: audio-video equipment, Braille, large print, proctor/scribe, read-aloud directions, read-aloud questions, repeat/re-read/clarify directions, sign interpret directions, sign interpret questions, and sign responses to sign language interpreter. Much controversy has surrounded the use of some accommodations on statewide assessments used for accountability purposes. This report examines the variation across states for this group of accommodations.
Published: June 2006
NCEO Technical Reports: Uneven Transparency: NCLB Tests Take Precedence in Public Assessment Reporting for Students with Disabilities (#43)This year 2006 report describes the extent that states publicly reported assessment data for students with disabilities for 2003-2004. It describes the assessment systems of states, reporting practices for participation and performance, and achievement gap data. Recommendations for clear reporting are also provided.
Published: March 2006
NARAP Reports: Defining Reading Proficiency for Accessible Large-Scale Assessments: Some Guiding Principles and IssuesFormats: PDFThe National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP) is a collaboration of two projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education to conduct research and development on accessible reading assessments for students with disabilities that affect reading. One of NARAP's first tasks was to develop a definition of "reading proficiency." This paper is a synthesis of the information collected and describes a set of principles and key unresolved issues described under each principle.
Published: February 2006
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Online Survey on Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners with Disabilities (#13)This year 2006 report describes an online survey about instructional strategies educators use with English learners with disabilities in reading, mathematics, and science at the middle school level.
Published: January 2006
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Alternate Assessments Measured Against Grade-Level Achievement Standards: The Massachusetts "Competency Portfolio" (#59)This year 2006 report discusses Massachusett's alternate based on grade-level achievement standards. It describes the students who require these alternate assessments based on grade-level achievement standards (structured portfolio), and how such alternate assessments can reliably measure achievement in an equivalent manner to those students taking regular assessments for a grade level, and how the assessment may fulfill both system accountability and diploma purposes. The author also discusses how the model for a competency portfolio was developed and validated.
Published: January 2006
Educational Policy Reform Research Institute Reports: Topical Review Eight: The Role of Accommodations in Educational Accountability Systems (#8)Formats: PDFThis year 2005 topical review addresses the use of accommodations for students with disabilities on state-wide tests and their implications for educational accountability systems.
Published: December 2005
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Access Assistants for State Assessments: A Study of State Guidelines for Scribes, Readers, and Sign Language Interpreters (#58)This year 2005 report describes a national study on state guidelines provided for human access assistants that help students who use either a scribe, reader or sign language interpreter accommodation on state assessments. Overall, 22 states had guidelines for one or more of the three access assistants that were the focus of the study. Variations across state guidelines extended from breadth and depth to format and ease of access. Further, 14 states with guidelines also had described the qualifications or characteristics required of these access assistants. The report concludes with a description of several challenges to the development of state guidelines for access assistants, and recommendations for meeting those challenges.
Published: December 2005
NCEO Synthesis Reports: One State's Story: Access and Alignment to the GRADE-LEVEL Content for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (#57)This year 2005 report presents a case study from the state of Massachusetts for providing students with significant cognitive disabilities with grade-level aligned content. It addresses opportunity to learn, and emphasizes the importance of working to get these students as close as possible to the grade-level standards that typical students are learning, as this is important for the student's education and is an important statement to make about the goal of special education. The author then describes how Massachusetts equips special educators with a conceptual standards roadmap of what is expected of all students, a process for customizing that curriculum for each student., and a method of data collection to document a student's progress learning targeted skills in the student's portfolio that gets used in the school, and later submitted to the state as an alternate assessment.
Published: December 2005