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Author: Rachel Quenemoen Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 38
Book Description
This synthesis report provides a historical look back over the past 15 years of alternate assessment, from the early 1990s through the mid 2000s, as reported by state directors of special education on the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) state surveys, and augmented by other research and policy reports published by NCEO and related organizations during that time frame. It is meant to be a resource to state and federal policymakers and staff, researchers, test companies, and the public to help us understand why and where we have come from and where we may be going in the challenging of work of alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The work of the National Alternate Assessment Center and related projects and centers has focused on a validity framework as a heuristic for state practice, and that work is described here. The report ends with four recommendations to guide state practices at this point. Because of the number of uncertainties still in play, we need: (Transparency) We need to know what varying practices and targets yield for student outcomes, and the only way to build that knowledge base is to ensure that assessment development, implementation, and results are transparent and open to scrutiny; (Integrity) Building on the need for transparency is the need for integrity. The amount of flexibility needed to ensure that all students can demonstrate what they know and can do is higher in alternate assessments for this group of students than in more typical student populations. Flexibility can mask issues of teaching and learning unless it is carefully structured and controlled. Similarly, standardization as a solution risks reducing the integrity of the assessment results when the methods do not match the population being assessed and how that population demonstrates competence in the academic domains; (Validity Studies) Building on the issues of transparency and integrity, we have an obligation to monitor carefully the effects of alternate assessments over time, as well as to ensure the claims we are making for the use of the results are defensible; and (Planned Improvement over Time) In building a validity argument, we study whether the interpretations and uses of the test are defensible, and whether consequences that are hoped for and those that are to be avoided are in fact falling into their respective places. An important part of validity studies is the ongoing day-to-day oversight of the assessment development, implementation, and use of testing results, and high quality data collection and continuous improvement based on the data are absolutely necessary for these assessments. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.) [This report is an adaptation from a paper first presented at the Maryland Assessment Research Center for Education Success (MARCES) conference (College Park, Maryland, October 2007).].
Author: Rachel Quenemoen Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 38
Book Description
This synthesis report provides a historical look back over the past 15 years of alternate assessment, from the early 1990s through the mid 2000s, as reported by state directors of special education on the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) state surveys, and augmented by other research and policy reports published by NCEO and related organizations during that time frame. It is meant to be a resource to state and federal policymakers and staff, researchers, test companies, and the public to help us understand why and where we have come from and where we may be going in the challenging of work of alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The work of the National Alternate Assessment Center and related projects and centers has focused on a validity framework as a heuristic for state practice, and that work is described here. The report ends with four recommendations to guide state practices at this point. Because of the number of uncertainties still in play, we need: (Transparency) We need to know what varying practices and targets yield for student outcomes, and the only way to build that knowledge base is to ensure that assessment development, implementation, and results are transparent and open to scrutiny; (Integrity) Building on the need for transparency is the need for integrity. The amount of flexibility needed to ensure that all students can demonstrate what they know and can do is higher in alternate assessments for this group of students than in more typical student populations. Flexibility can mask issues of teaching and learning unless it is carefully structured and controlled. Similarly, standardization as a solution risks reducing the integrity of the assessment results when the methods do not match the population being assessed and how that population demonstrates competence in the academic domains; (Validity Studies) Building on the issues of transparency and integrity, we have an obligation to monitor carefully the effects of alternate assessments over time, as well as to ensure the claims we are making for the use of the results are defensible; and (Planned Improvement over Time) In building a validity argument, we study whether the interpretations and uses of the test are defensible, and whether consequences that are hoped for and those that are to be avoided are in fact falling into their respective places. An important part of validity studies is the ongoing day-to-day oversight of the assessment development, implementation, and use of testing results, and high quality data collection and continuous improvement based on the data are absolutely necessary for these assessments. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.) [This report is an adaptation from a paper first presented at the Maryland Assessment Research Center for Education Success (MARCES) conference (College Park, Maryland, October 2007).].
Author: William D. Schafer Publisher: Paul H Brookes Publishing ISBN: 9781598570373 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Discover what really works in alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards. This book gathers cutting-edge knowledge and best practices in seven states to help readers work toward accurate assessment of students with severe disabilities.
Author: Michael Russell Publisher: IAP ISBN: 1617353167 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 493
Book Description
The importance of student assessment, particularly for summative purposes, has increased greatly over the past thirty years. At the same time, emphasis on including all students in assessment programs has also increased. Assessment programs, whether they are large-scale, district-based, or teacher developed, have traditionally attempted to assess students using a single instrument administered to students under the same conditions. Educators and test developers, however, are increasingly acknowledging that this practice does not result in valid information, inferences, and decisions for all students. This problem is particularly true for students in the margins, whose characteristics and needs differ from what the public thinks of as the general population of students. Increasingly, educators, educational leaders, and test developers are seeking strategies, techniques, policies, and guidelines for assessing students for whom standard assessment instruments do not function well. Whether used for high-stakes decisions or classroom-based formative decisions, the most critical element of any educational assessment is validity. Developing and administering assessment instruments that provide valid measures and allow for valid inferences and decisions for all groups of students presents a major challenge for today’s assessment programs. Over the past few decades, several national policies have sparked research and development efforts that aim to increase test validity for students in the margins. This book explores recent developments and efforts in three important areas. The first section focuses on strategies for improving test validity through the provision of test accommodations. The second section focuses on alternate and modified assessments. Federal policies now allow testing programs to develop and administer alternate assessments for students who have not been exposed to grade-level content, and thus are not expected to demonstrate proficiency on grade-level assessments. A separate policy allows testing programs to develop modified assessments that will provided more useful information about achievement for a small percentage of students who are exposed to grade-level content but for whom the standard form of the grade-level test does not provide a valid measure of achievement. These policies are complex and can be confusing for educators who are not familiar with their details. The chapters in the second section unpack these policies and explore the implications these policies have for test design. The third and final section of the book examines how principles of Universal Design can be applied to improve test validity for all students. Collectively, this volume presents a comprehensive examination of the several issues that present challenges for assessing the achievement of all students. While our understanding of how to overcome these challenges continues to evolve, the lessons, strategies, and avenues for future research explored in this book empower educators, test developers, and testing programs with a deeper understanding of how we can improve assessments for students in the margins.
Author: Karrie A. Shogren Publisher: Taylor & Francis ISBN: 1317566246 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 525
Book Description
The Handbook of Research-Based Practices for Educating Students with Intellectual Disability provides an integrated, transdisciplinary overview of research-based practices for teaching students with intellectual disability. This comprehensive volume emphasizes education across life stages, from early intervention in schools through the transition to adulthood, and highlights major educational and support needs of children and youth with intellectual disability. The implications of history, recent research, and existing information are positioned to systematically advance new practices and explore promising possibilities in the field. Driven by the collaboration of accomplished, nationally recognized professionals of varied approaches and philosophies, the book emphasizes practices that have been shown to be effective through multiple methodologies, so as to help readers select interventions based on the evidence of their effectiveness.
Author: Renee Cameto Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 297
Book Description
This study is examining student eligibility for and participation in alternate assessments, the technical quality of the alternate assessment instruments and implementation procedures, the alignment of assessments with content and achievement standards, and the use and effectiveness of alternate assessments in measuring student outcomes. The report describes individual state approaches to designing and administering alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards, key features of individual state alternate assessments, and student participation and performance data for each state for the 2006-2007 school year. The NSAA is a comprehensive, integrated study that is organized around three central objectives related to alternate assessments that are based on alternative achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities: (1) Develop state and national profiles of the 50 states' and the District of Columbia's alternate assessment policies and practices; (2) Conduct in-depth case studies and report on selected states' approaches to alternate assessment; and (3) Conduct quantitative analyses of data related to alternate assessment. Two appendices are included: (1) Methodology; and (2) Data Tables. (Contains 62 figures and 2 footnotes.) (State Profiles on Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards: A Report from the National Study on Alternate Assessments. NCSER 2009-3013, see ED506078).
Author: Barbara Bateman Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 113626597X Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 497
Book Description
Enduring Issues in Special Education is aimed at any course in the undergraduate or graduate special education curriculum that is wholly or partly devoted to a critical examination of current issues in special education. The book organizes 28 chapters into seven sections using familiar structuring principles—what, who, where, how, when, why, and whither. Each section begins with an introduction that provides historical, legal, and theoretical background information and organizing commentary for the chapters that follow. The book’s objective, in addition to informing readers about the issues, is to develop critical thinking skills in the context of special education. Key features include the following: Dialectic Format – Each of the 28 chapters presents compelling reasons for addressing the issue at hand and specific ways to do so. Because each issue is written from different perspectives and focuses on a variety of aspects, readers are encouraged to weigh the arguments, seek additional information, and come up with synthesized positions of their own. Organizing Framework – The book’s seven sections have been arranged according to a scheme that is the essence of most investigative reporting and provides a coherent, easy-to-understand framework for readers. Expertise – All chapters are written by leading scholars who are highly regarded experts in their fields and conclude with suggested readings and discussion questions for additional study.
Author: Dan Wiener Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 18
Book Description
Alternate assessment acts as a mechanism for inclusion in large-scale educational assessments for those students with disabilities who cannot participate in regular state and district assessments, even with accommodations and modifications. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the Individuals with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), and subsequent regulations reinforce the requirement that states develop alternate assessments for students who need them in order to be appropriately included in assessment and accountability systems. To ensure full participation in assessment and accountability systems, whether for NCLB accountability purposes or for graduation or promotion, students with disabilities unable to take statewide paper-and-pencil tests may require alternate assessments. Some of these students have significant cognitive disabilities and are working substantially below the performance expectations of other students in their grade. Sometimes, though, the nature of the student's primary disability is not cognitive, though still complex and significant enough to require an alternate assessment, for example a student with cerebral palsy or an intensive emotional disability. This latter group of students may be working at or close to a performance level comparable with typical peers, but cannot take the on-demand paper-and-pencil test, even with accommodations, due to their disability. The alternate assessments taken by these students must be able to measure their performance against grade-level achievement standards, rather than the alternate achievement standards normally associated with students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The focus of this discussion is on those students who require alternate assessments based on grade-level achievement standards, and how such alternate assessments can reliably measure their achievement in a manner that is equivalent to students who are taking the regular state assessment for that grade. The Massachusetts Department of Education (the "Department") has developed an alternate assessment based on grade-level achievement standards consisting of a structured portfolio of student work collected over a period of time, and reviewed by experts in the content area. This option can be used for two purposes: (1) to ensure appropriate participation for all students in system accountability for NCLB purposes; and (2) to ensure appropriate assessments for all students for the purpose of competency determination for a diploma. In this paper, the "competency portfolio" is discussed, including how the model was developed and validated, and how a small but growing number of students are using this format as an alternative pathway to participate in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and, ultimately, satisfy the state's graduation requirement. Appended is: MCAS-Alt Grade 10 "Competency Portfolio" Requirements in ELA [English language arts] and Math. (Contains 2 figures.).
Author: James McLeskey Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1136242422 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 489
Book Description
Over the last decade, the educational context for students with disabilities has significantly changed primarily as a result of mandates contained in NCLB and IDEA. The purpose of this book is to summarize the research literature regarding how students might be provided classrooms and schools that are both inclusive and effective. Inclusive schools are defined as places where students with disabilities are valued and active participants in academic and social activities and are given supports that help them succeed. Effectiveness is addressed within the current movement toward multi-tiered systems of support and evidence-based practices that meet the demands of high-stakes accountability.
Author: Leonard C. Burrello Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 0415524687 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 255
Book Description
Unifying Educational Systems encourages leaders to move beyond the traditional forms and rituals of leadership for special education that are caught within traditional definitions of a continuum of services. Grounded in public policy debates, research on teaching and learning, and an emerging consensus throughout the leadership community that calls into question our current practices, chapters in this volume provide a discussion of the purpose, principles, and paradoxes extant in the implementation of current special education policy. Chapter authors discuss how students are currently served, the feasibility of re-conceptualizing special education leadership in the current policy context, and the challenges for the future. Ultimately, Unifying Educational Systems calls for a new policy framework to integrate special education within the larger instructional support system in schools, in order to support a social justice and inclusive practices agenda.
Author: Rachel Quenemoen
Author: Rachel Quenemoen
Author: Deb Albus
Author: William D. Schafer
Author: Michael Russell
Author: Karrie A. Shogren
Author: Renee Cameto
Author: Barbara Bateman
Author: Dan Wiener
Author: James McLeskey
Author: Leonard C. Burrello