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- NCEO Brief: Understanding the Characteristics of English Learners with Disabilities to Meet Their Needs During State and Districtwide Assessments (#24)
The purpose of this Brief is to highlight available federal data about the characteristics of English learners with disabilities, including how the population has changed over time. Understanding the characteristics of English learners with disabilities is critical to ensuring that their needs are met appropriately during the assessment process. Three characteristics are highlighted: (a) percentage of all students with disabilities identified as English learners, (b) disability categories of English learners with disabilities, and (c) classroom placements of English learners with disabilities. The implications of these characteristics for assessment are discussed in this Brief.
Published: 10/26/2021 - 1% Toolkit: Student Profiles for Alternate Assessment Decision Making (NCEO Tool #11)
Most states and districts provide training that aims to help individualized education program (IEP) teams make appropriate decisions about student participation in the alternate assessment. Some states include student profile examples in trainings on their alternate assessment participation criteria. Aspects of student profiles are often highlighted to indicate whether students meet or do not meet the state’s criteria. This resource includes examples provided by states participating in NCEO’s 1% Community of Practice (CoP). The profiles may be customized to align with state participation criteria and disability categories.
Published: March 2021 - 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 - 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 
NCEO Brief: Five Formative Assessment Strategies to Improve Distance Learning Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (#20)The purpose of this Brief is to describe the use of formative assessment processes with students with disabilities during distance learning. Formative assessment is important for all kinds of learning, and especially focuses students on learning and evidence of learning. This Brief presents five strategies that can be used to support student understanding of their own learning. This has the potential to be a powerful antidote to the “check-box” approach some students may bring to online learning where they focus on compliance with following directions and completing a list of assignments.
Published: May 2020
TIES Center Briefs: Taking the Alternate Assessment Does NOT Mean Education in a Separate Setting! (#2)This Parent Brief describes how participation in the alternate assessment does not automatically mean that a student is in a different instructional setting from his or her same-age peers without disabilities. The brief defines who are students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, what is meant by the “least restrictive environment,” the legal provisions that support inclusion, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in general education classrooms, and next steps for parents.
Published: May 2019
NCEO Reports: Students with Disabilities in Educational Policy, Practice, and Professional Judgment: What Should We Expect? (#413)This report provides a cross-disciplinary look at educational policy, practice, and law related to expectations for students with disabilities. It addresses three questions critical to a discussion of expectations for students with disabilities, viewing the questions from an educational perspective and a legal perspective. The report concludes with responses to each of the questions and then provides recommendations for action based on what thoughtful, informed professional judgment of appropriate educational opportunities for students with disabilities should be.
Published: May 2019
TIES Center Reports: How States Interpret the LRE Clause of IDEA: A Policy Analysis (#101)The purpose of this report is to analyze how states interpret special education regulations associated with the Individuals with Disabilities (IDEA) regulations, specifically around least restrictive environment (LRE), the continuum of alternative placements, and placement for students with disabilities. Findings indicate that there was variation in how states organized the regulations. The interaction between policy and practice presents an on-going need for reevaluation of intent and praxis that has the potential to spotlight issues that may need to be addressed improve education and outcomes for students with disabilities.
Published: November 2018
Considerations for Developing State-Defined Alternate Diplomas for Students with Significant Cognitive DisabilitiesThis Brief describes the criteria that must be met for a State-defined alternate diploma to meet federal requirements for inclusion in the Title I Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR). It includes considerations for states contemplating the development of a State-defined alternate diploma, and recommends steps for those deciding to adopt a State-defined alternate diploma.
Published: November 2016
The Focused Approach Planning Guide: Tools to Improve Student AccessA report describing an activity conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to refine and pilot a set of planning tools that can be used to improve access of all students, including low-performing students with disabilities, to grade-level content. Wisconsin conducted this work as part of the Multi-state GSEG Consortium Toward a Defensible AA-MAS. The intent of this publication is to provide information about such tools so that other educators and planning teams can use them to develop plans that will lead to better access to academic content for all learners.
Published: September 2012
NCEO Brief: Don't Forget Accommodations! Five Questions To Ask When Moving to Technology-based Assessments (#1)A brief -- the first in a series for the Race to the Top Assessment Consortia -- addressing the need to think carefully about accommodations when moving from paper-based assessments to technology-based assessments. It highlights questions to ask and introduces topics needing clarification by the Consortia. Among the topics are determining which embedded features are available and to whom, which embedded features are to be called accommodations, and which accommodations are still needed that cannot be embedded.
Published: April 2011
NCEO Synthesis Reports: Accommodations: Results of a Survey of Alabama Special Education Teachers (#81)A report containing the findings from a survey of 2,336 special education teachers in the state of Alabama on making and implementing decisions about accommodations. A number of areas of strength were noted in the survey responses provided by this large sample of Alabama special education teachers. The special education teachers who responded to the survey demonstrated overall knowledge of accommodations use, despite the challenging items presented to them. Nevertheless, there is an evident need for professional development on making accommodations decisions and on implementing accommodations for instruction and assessment.
Published: November 2010
NCEO Technical Reports: A Summary of the Research on the Effects of Test Accommodations: 2007-2008 (#56)The use of accommodations for both instruction and assessment continues to be of great importance for students with disabilities. Numerous efforts are underway to ensure that students with disabilities participate meaningfully in more inclusive classrooms and large-scale assessments. Still, there is a need for greater understanding of the ways in which accommodations are selected and implemented during classroom instruction and assessments. The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the state of the research on testing accommodations, as well as to identify promising areas of research likely to contribute to understanding of current and emerging issues.
Published: May 2010
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
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 Technical Reports: Nearing the Target in Disaggregated Subgroup Reporting to the Public on 2004-2005 Assessment Results (#46)This year 2007 report describes the public reporting of participation and performance data for students with disabilities published on state department of education web sites for the 2004-2005 school year. It describes the state assessment systems, how data were reported, and achievement gaps. It concludes with recommendations for public reporting.
Published: April 2007
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Use of Chunking and Questioning Aloud to Improve the Reading Comprehension of English Language Learners with Disabilities (#17)This year 2006 report provides details about a series of single-subject research studies examining how chunking and questioning aloud could be used to improve grade-level standards-based reading achievement of English learners with learning disabilities.
Published: December 2006
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 Technical Reports: Considerations for the Development and Review of Universally Designed Assessments (#42)This year 2005 report describes the development of a form for assessment designers to use to incorporate universal design considerations into assessments. It describes the Delphi validation process undertaken with the original design considerations of the Universal Design Project and includes commentary from assessment and content area experts. Several recommendations are provided on the use of the considerations at all stages of assessment development.
Published: November 2005
NCEO English Language Learners (ELLs) with Disabilities Reports: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Including English Language Learners with Disabilities in Statewide Assessments (#9)This year 2005 report examines the challenges that state educational agencies face when including English learners with disabilities in statewide assessments and the solutions they have identified. The study involved telephone interviews with state department personnel in areas of assessment, English learner programs, and special education in 14 states.
Published: June 2005