Teleconference 3:
April 29, 2002

Issues and Opportunities for Students with Disabilities in Technology Based Assessments

Process for Developing Inclusive Technology-based Assessments

The process for developing inclusive technology-based assessments takes careful and thorough work that includes the collaborative expertise of many people. It is not enough to simply transfer test items from paper to screen. Not only will poor design elements on the paper test transfer to the screen, additional challenges may result in reducing the validity of assessment results. Some of the challenges traditionally present with accommodations could be minimized through universally designed technology-based assessment, while others might remain or present even greater challenges. Here are some steps to follow in addressing these issues.

Step 1. Assemble a group of experts to guide development. This group needs to include experts on assessment design, accessible Web design, universal design, and assistive technology, along with state and local assessment and special education personnel.

Step 2. Decide how each accommodation will be incorporated into the technology-based assessment. Examine each accommodation in light of technology-based administration. Some of the traditional paper/pencil accommodations will no longer be needed (e.g., marking responses on test form rather than on answer sheet), while others will become built-in universal design features that are available to every test-taker. Some accommodations will be more difficult to incorporate than others, requiring careful work by test designers and technology specialists.

Step 3. Consider each accommodation or assessment feature in light of the constructs being tested. For example, what are the implications of the use of a screen reader when the construct being measured is reading, or the use of a spellcheck when achievement in spelling is being measured as part of the writing process? As the use of speech recognition technology permeates the corporate world, constructs that focus on writing on paper without the use of a dictionary or spellchecker may become obsolete and need to be reconsidered.

Step 4. Consider the feasibility of incorporating the accommodation into the technology-based assessment. Questions about the feasibility of the accommodation may require review by technical advisors, or members of a policy/budget committee, or may require short-term solutions along with long term planning. Construct a specific plan for building in features that are not immediately available, in order to keep them in the purview of test developers. Extensive pilot testing needs to be conducted with a variety of equipment scenarios and accessibility features.

Step 5. Consider training implications for staff and students. The best technology will be useless if students or staff do not know how to use it. Careful design of local training and implementation needs to be part of the planning process. Special consideration needs to be given to the computer literacy of students and their experience using features like screen readers. Information about the features available on technology-based assessments needs to be marketed to schools and available to IEP teams to use in planning a student's instruction and in preparation for the most accessible assessments possible. Practice tests that include these features need to be available to all schools year around. This availability presents an excellent opportunity for students whose schools have previously been unaware of or hesitated to use assistive technology.

These materials are excerpts from a draft NCEO report developed with support from NCS Pearson