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NCEO Technical Reports: State Literacy Standards, Practice, and Testing: Exploring Accessibility (#38)This year 2004 report reviews state reading standards, addresses alternative modes for student interaction with print, and analyzes the correspondence between reading standard requirements and the modes of interaction with print. It concludes by identifying implications for instruction, assessment and related issues. The authors consider this paper to be a first step in exploring how students can access print in order to more widely promote student access to standards, instruction and assessments.
Published: May 2004- Testimony of Martha Thurlow, Director, National Center on Educational Outcomes Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of RepresentativesFormats: PDF
This testimony was presented at the Hearing on NCLB and the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in the Accountability and Assessment Systems, before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives.
Published: 2004-03-03 
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Progress Monitoring in an Inclusive Standards-Based Assessment and Accountability System (#53)This year 2004 report describes how progress monitoring--a set of techniques for assessing student performance on a regular and frequent basis--can be an essential and integral part of an inclusive standards-based assessment and accountability system This report discusses contextual challenges that affect its implementation for students with disabilities including: historical limited access to challenging curriculum, instruction, and assessment; concerns about the target of measurement (i.e., only basic skills or a full range of challenging content); and limited use of data for effective provision of instructional strategies, interventions, and supports. Further, the authors discuss the benefits and uses of progress monitoring methods and formative data sources in four general categories: (1) Curriculum-Based Measurement; (2) Classroom assessments (system or teacher-developed); (3) Adaptive assessments; and (4) Large-scale assessments used during the year to monitor growth of individual students and groups of students. Several recommendations for practice are also offered.
Published: February 2004
NCEO State Surveys: 2003 State Special Education Outcomes - Marching OnThis year 2003 report summarizes findings of a survey given to all states that addresses new initiatives, trends, accomplishments, and emerging issues as states document the academic achievement of students with disabilities.
Published: December 2003
NCEO Technical Reports: Improving Validity of Large-Scale Tests: Universal Design and Student Performance (#37)This year 2003 report presents the theoretical background and research results of an experimental study conducted using universally designed assessment features. A sample of 231 sixth graders from underperforming schools participated in two versions of a large scale assessment in randomized order. Students took both the traditionally designed version, and a second version that measured the same constructs as the first but with features of Universal Design elements. Results showed significant increases in performance for students taking the universally designed form of the assessment, and this was confirmed by student perceptions in post-test interviews on their performance and preference for assessment format with the features. Findings have implications for students with disabilities and English Learners.
Published: December 2003
NCEO Policy Directions: Rethinking Basic Assumptions of Test Development - Assessment Frameworks for Inclusive Accountability Tests (#17)This year 2003 report discusses how to incorporate new assumptions about teaching and learning coming out of standards-based reform so that assessments can both meet the requirements of NCLB accountability and give better information about performance of students in prescribed content. This includes compatible classroom diagnostic assessments and clarification and articulation of content standards.
Published: November 2003
NCEO Out-of-Level Testing Project Reports: Reporting Out-of-Level Test Scores: Are These Students Included in Accountability Programs? (#10)This year 2003 report describes the extent to which scores for students with disabilities tested out-of-level were reported publicly in state accountability documents for the years 1999-2001. The report includes results of follow-up telephone calls with state personnel to clarify the results of the document review. The report concludes with three challenges to reporting out-of-level testing data.
Published: October 2003
Literature on Early Literacy Instruction in Four Languages (Chinese, Korean, Navajo, Russian)Formats: PDFThis year 2003 report summarizes evidence-based research on teacher reading to Chinese, Korean, Navajo, and Russian children. The literature reviewed focuses on the linguistic background of several of the largest subgroups found in the K-12 English learner population nationwide.
Published: October 2003- NCEO Out-of-Level Testing Project Reports: Testing Students with Disabilities Out of Level: State Prevalence and Performance Results (#9)Formats: Online
This year 2003 report describes the prevalence and performance results of students participating in out-of-level testing in 3 states of 14 invited to participate in the research study. Among study findings, were wide variability in percentage of students taking tests out-of-level, and at least in one state, larger numbers performing at high levels on below-level tests, suggesting a more difficult test should have been administered.
Published: October 2003 
NCEO Policy Directions: Putting it All Together - Including Students with Disabilities in Assessment and Accountability Systems (#16)This year 2003 report provides an overview of key components of inclusive assessment and accountability systems and to highlight how they fit together to form a cohesive whole that facilitates the intended benefits of standards-based reform.
Published: October 2003
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Washington Alternate Assessment System Technical Report on Standard Setting for the 2002 Portfolio (#52)This year 2003 report presents information on Washington's standard setting procedure for its portfolio alternate assessment for students with significant disabilities. It also gives information on the perception of the standard setting panel regarding the decisions that were made, thereby providing documentation and validation of the standard setting process to establish alternate academic achievement standards for this population.
Published: October 2003
NCEO Technical Reports: A National Study on Graduation Requirements and Diploma Options for Youth with Disabilities (#36)This 2003 report updates the status of states' graduation requirements and diploma options for students with disabilities after the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. This report also examines state perspectives on intended and unintended consequences of various graduation policies, including exit exams and multiple diploma options, for students with disabilities.
Published: October 2003
Educational Policy Reform Research Institute Reports: Topical Review Five: Preparing Educators to Teach Students with Disabilities in an Era of Standards-based Reform and Accountability (#5)Formats: PDFThis year 2003 topical review addresses the knowledge and skills needed by teachers to effectively promote the achievement of students with disabilities within the current era of standards-based reform and accountability.
Published: July 2003
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Measuring Academic Achievement of Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: Building Understanding of Alternate Assessment Scoring Criteria (#50)This year 2003 report, compares and contrasts the assumptions and values embedded in scoring criteria used in five states for their alternate assessments. It discusses how the selected states are addressed the challenge of defining successful outcomes for students with significant disabilities as reflected in state criteria for scoring alternate assessment responses or evidence and how these definitions of successful outcomes have been refined over time. The five states use different alternate assessment approaches, including portfolio assessment, performance assessment, IEP linked body of evidence, and traditional test formats. Findings showed a great deal of overlap across the alternate assessment approaches, as they tended to represent a continuum of approaches as opposed to discrete categories.
Published: June 2003
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Varied Opinions on How to Report Accommodated Test Scores: Findings Based on CTB/McGraw-Hill's Framework for Classifying Accommodations (#49)This year 2003 report outlines the challenges of state education agencies determining the most appropriate way to report test scores of students receiving accommodations. These three ways are to (1) report all scores in the aggregate (i.e., do not differentiate between accommodated and non-accommodated test scores), (2) report accommodated scores separately, and (3) report accommodated scores both in the aggregate as well as separately. These approaches reflect different beliefs on how accommodations influence test scores, and the perceived need for future accommodations research. Survey results include perceptions held by people familiar with policy or research on the way in which test scores are influenced by accommodations and how scores obtained under accommodated conditions are to be treated in reporting. The results show that the extent of agreement about how accommodated scores should be treated depends on the accommodation. The study also shows how deep-seated beliefs lead some respondents to consider almost no accommodation as changing the construct, whereas other respondents consider almost all accommodations as influencing the construct being measured.
Published: April 2003
NCEO Technical Reports: Going public: What 2000-2001 Reports Tell Us about the Performance of Students with Disabilities (#35)This year 2003 report examines the extent to which states publicly reported information about students with disabilities in statewide assessments in 2000-2001. The report describes state assessment systems and examines published state department of education reports for participation and performance data disaggregated by students with disabilities. It also includes analyses of achievement gaps by content area for grades 4, 8 and 10. Recommendations on reporting are also provided.
Published: April 2003
NCEO Policy Directions: Using Computer-based Tests with Students with Disabilities (#15)This year 2003 report presents factors to consider in the design of computer-based testing for all students, including students with disabilities and English learners. It also provides a process for initial transformation of paper/pencil assessments to inclusive computer-based testing.
Published: January 2003- NCEO Annual Performance Reports and State Performance Plans: Biennial Performance Reports: 2000-2001 State Assessment DataFormats: PDF
A report summarizing assessment data from State Performance Plans.
Published: December 2002 
NCEO Technical Reports: A Summary of Research on the Effects of Test Accommodations: 1999 through 2001 (#34)This year 2002 report summarizes 46 empirical research studies on accommodations published between 1999 through 2001. The report describes the characteristics of the studies: purpose, type of assessment and content, participants, research design, findings, and limitations. Observations from the analysis are given with recommendations for future research, including considerations in assessment design and standardization (i.e., universal design) to reduce the need for accommodations.
Published: December 2002
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Massachusetts: One State's Approach to Setting Performance Levels on the Alternate Assessment (#48)This year 2002 report describes Massachusetts' approach to setting performance levels on its Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Alternate Assessment. The state's portfolio approach was based on "expanded" state standards describing academic outcomes appropriate for students with significant disabilities. The report explains the technical phase of standard setting and describes the context of earlier conversations and theoretical debates that came before their decisions in the development process of the alternate assessment. The report further describes how performance levels were calibrated between the alternate and general assessments, due to the alternate being used for high school diploma requirements, and the ways performance levels in each strand were combined to produce an overall performance level.
Published: November 2002