Forty-one state teams and 14 partnering guest organizations participated in the February 6th teleconference call on using data based strategies for making good policy decisions about students with disabilities within NCLB. The teleconference was co-hosted and facilitated by Rachel Quenemoen, from the National Center on Educational Outcomes, and Eileen Ahearn, from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

Scott Marion, Associate Director of the National Center on Improvement of Educational Assessment (NCIEA), and Jason Glass, Principal Consultant/Coordinator of Student Achievement for Students with Disabilities for the Colorado Department of Education (on behalf of Terri Rogers Connolly, Director), each presented studies demonstrating strategic use of state level data-mining.

Scott reviewed an NCIEA study conducted with colleagues Mary Ann Simpson and Brian Gong (2005) that focused on five states’ assessment data for English language arts and mathematics. Their analyses also included a closer look at the student performance of two states by detailed IDEA classification categories.

Highlights included these points:

The second presentation, by Jason Glass, focused on students in the "gap" in Colorado’s Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests in reading and math. Findings from the state’s legislatively-mandated study (HB 05-1246) showed that not all of the lowest performers on the state assessment are students with IEPs.

Looking at growth over time for the lowest performing students, those with IEPs did show considerable progress in reading for those they were able to match scores for in the following year. However, among the very lowest performing students with IEPs, only 60% had matching scores, indicating that mobility for these students may also be related to achievement.

A summary of the study recommendations specifically related to Colorado’s state assessment system were:

The presentations and other related readings are available on the NCEO Web site at http://education.umn.edu/nceo/Presentations/presentations.htm.

May Teleconference

Our next teleconference topic will be about the effectiveness and validity of state tests under modified administration conditions for students with disabilities. The call will feature research being done in Georgia, and will be supported by national and state measurement experts, including Steve Sireci from the University of Massachusetts. Please join us on May 1^st at 2:30 ET.

NCEO has recently published two state synthesis reports related to the topic of alternate assessments for students with severe cognitive disabilities.

Synthesis Report 57: One State’s Story: Access and Alignment to the GRADE-LEVEL Content for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities.

The author, Dan Wiener, Assessment Coordinator for Special Populations for the Massachusetts Department of Education, gives a descriptive account of the positive effects that the development and implementation of the Massachusetts state alternate assessment for students with severe cognitive disabilities has had in his state. He describes the fundamental shifts in expectations and practices among state educators as they started to grapple with and succeed in what it means to provide all students with the opportunity to engage in grade-level academic content. The report emphasizes that all policymakers and stakeholders be involved from the start of the process in order to ensure a unified, coordinated message among state leadership.

Synthesis Report 59: Alternate Assessments Measured Against Grade-Level Achievement Standards: The Massachusetts "Competency Portfolio."

This report clarifies why alternate assessments need to be provided for students who are working on grade-level achievement standards, and discusses the challenges of determining what "equivalent" performance is with regard to performance based on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). A description of the state’s "competency portfolio" review process is provided with an example of how different levels of complexity were captured in a scoring rubric. Also included is a copy of the MCAS-ALT Grade 10 requirements for ELA and Math.

These reports are available at: http://education.umn.edu/NCEO/OnlinePubs/onlinedefault.html#synthesis.

Announcement of Inclusive Assessment Seminar Option

Instead of offering a pre-session to the CCSSO Large-scale assessment conference (LSAC), our technical assistance and research partners have decided to offer an intensive seminar. This format will require smaller groups to focus in on research, best practice, and then specific state problem-solving.

The seminar will be offered in two locations, east and west, in late summer or early fall to allow for reflective work across assessment and special education offices as assessment systems are refined following peer review. We hope this early announcement will help states plan for the time. We will have more details available soon.

Seminar Topic: States have multiple options for including students with disabilities in their assessment and accountability systems. Do you have the right combination of options in place? How can you judge the technical quality and educational soundness of the options you have chosen, particularly focusing on alternate assessments on alternate achievement standards?

Format: Research/technical assistance presenters will conduct a collegial seminar on the options for assessing students with disabilities and implications for technical quality and educational soundness of assessment and accountability systems, using tools and strategies developed by measurement, curriculum, and special education expert teams over the past 18 months. We will provide advance readings; some preparation by attendees will be helpful (for example, papers by Gong and Marion, 2006; Annotated Technical Manual/Guide for Alternate Assessments, NHEAI/NAAC 2006; other papers based on NRC work on the assessment triangle—Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001).