Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS)

AA-MAS Overview | Publications and Resources

Publications and Resources

NCEO Resources

Lessons Learned in Federally Funded Projects that Can Improve the Instruction and Assessment of Low Performing Students with Disabilities PDF document - NEW!

An Evaluation of the Extent to Which Teachers Used the IEP Quality Tutorial-South Dakota After Training (Technical Report 63) - NEW!
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Learning Progressions in K-8 Classrooms: How Progress Maps Can Influence Classroom Practice and Perceptions and Help Teachers Make More Informed Instructional Decisions in Support of Struggling Learners (Synthesis Report 87) - NEW!
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Tennessee Special Education Teacher Survey: Training, Large-scale Testing, and TCAP-MAAS Administration (Technical Report 61) - NEW!
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 Characteristics of States' Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards in 2010-2011 (Synthesis Report 85)
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States' Participation Guidelines for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2010 (Synthesis Report 82)
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Participation and Performance Reporting for the Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) (Technical Report 58)
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Who are the students who may qualify for an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS)?: Focus group results (Synthesis Report 79)
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Accommodations: Results of a Survey of Alabama Special Education Teachers
(Synthesis Report 81)
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Characteristics of States' Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards in 2009-2010 (Synthesis Report 80)
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Developing and Improving Modified Achievement Level Descriptors: Rationale, Procedures, and Tools
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2009 Survey of States: Accomplishments and New Issues at the End of a Decade of Change
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States' Participation Guidelines for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA‑MAS) in 2009 (Synthesis Report 75)
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States' Accommodations Policies for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2008-2009 (Synthesis Report 74)
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NCEO Brief: The Characteristics of Low Performing Students on Large-Scale Assessments
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Characteristics of States' Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards in 2008 (Synthesis Report 72)
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States' Participation Guidelines for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2008 (Synthesis Report 71)
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A Principled Approach to Accountability Assessments for Students with Disabilities (Synthesis Report 70)
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States' Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2007 (Synthesis Report 67)
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Thinking About the Students Who May Qualify to Participate in An Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS): A Tool for Study Groups
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Identifying Students with Disabilities who are Eligible to Take an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards
PDF document

A Technical Design and Documentation Workbook for Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards
PDF document

Reporting the Results of Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards
PDF document

Learning Opportunities for Your Child Through Alternate Assessments: Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards
PDF document

Previous Studies that Examine Who the Students Are Who May Qualify to Participate in an AA-MAS
PDF document

State Analysis Planning Form: Investigation of the Characteristics of the Students Who May Qualify to Participate in an Alternate Assessment based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) (Word document)

Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards
Webinar for Parent Training and Information Centers & Community Parent Resource Centers (Conducted October 9, 2007)

 

Additional Resources

(Published in the Journal of Special Education Leadership, 26(1) pp. 25-30, 2013; used with permission)

 

AERA (May, 2010):

Structured Poster Session: How Can Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards Improve Student Learning and Outcomes?
Session Handout

Developing Valid and Accessible Technology-Enhanced Assessments
Sue E. Bechard (Measured Progress)
Judy Snow (Montana Office of Public Instruction)

A Multistate Approach to Development of AA-MAS: Removing Disability-Imposed Barriers to Student Performance
Wendy I McLaughlin Stoica (Ohio Department of Education)

Where Are We Going and What Have We Learned? Research Related to Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards
Renee Cameto (SRI International)
Katherine M Nagle (SRI International)

What Have We Learned About Student Characteristics, Accommodations, and
AA-MAS?

AERA Paper
Yi-Chen Wu, Sheryl S. Lazarus and Martha L. Thurlow (National Center on Educational Outcomes)
Linda Turner (South Dakota Department of Education)

Accessibility Reviews to Improve Test Score Validity
Peter Beddow, Stephen N. Elliott and Ryan J. Kettler (Vanderbilt University)

Using Cognitive Interviews for Item Development and Identification of Cognitive Characteristics of Students Eligible for AA-MAS
Caroline E. Parker (Education Development Center, Inc.)
Sue Bechard (Measured Progress)
Joanna Gorin (Arizona State University)

Toward a Validity Framework for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards
Edynn Sato (WestEd)

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Additional 2010 Poster Sessions:

Using AA-MAS to Improve Instruction and Assessment

Where Are We Now? Issues and Options Related to the AA-MAS, and Accommodations Decision Making

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Considerations for the Alternate Assessment based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS): Understanding the Eligible Population and Applying that Knowledge to their Instruction and Assessment (AA-MAS White Paper)
This is an edited report with multiple authors on various aspects of the alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) produced by the Center for Assessment under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education through the New York Comprehensive Center in collaboration with the New York State Education Department.
Executive Summary / Full Report

Regulations on Alternate Assessments based on Modified Achievement Standards
These Regulations allow states to develop modified academic achievement standards that are challenging for eligible students and measure a student's mastery of grade-level content, but are less difficult than grade-level achievement standards.

Federal Register April 9, 2007 Regulations

• Fact Sheet: Measuring the Achievement of Students with Disabilities What Families and Schools Need to Know About Modified Academic Achievement Standards
• Non-Regulatory Guidance: Modified Academic Achievement Standards-Draft (July, 2007
• Additional Title I Provisions Included in the Regulations Package on Modified Academic Achievement Standards: Non-Regulatory Guidance (July, 2007)

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Cho, H. J., & Kingston, N. (2011). Capturing implicit policy from NCLB test type assignments of students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 78(1), 58-72.

Elliott, S. N., Kettler, R. J., Beddow, P. A., Kurz, A., Compton, E., McGrath, D., Bruen, C., Hinton, K., Palmer, P., Rodriguez, M., Bolt, D. & Roach, A. (2010). Effects of using modified items to test students with persistent academic difficulties. Council for Exceptional Children, 76(4), 475-495.

Filbin, J. (2008). Lessons From the Initial Peer Review of Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards . Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Student Achievement and School Accountability Program.

Kettler, R. J., Rodriguez, M. C., Bolt, D. M., Elliott, S. N., Beddow, P. A., & Kurz, A. (2011). Modified multiple-choice items for alternate assessments: Reliability, difficulty, and differential boost. Applied Measurement in Education, 23(3), 210-234.

Lazarus, S.S., Cormier, D.C., & Thurlow, M.L. (2011). The relationship between states’ accommodations policies and the development of alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS): A discriminant analysis. Remedial and Special Education. 32(4), 301-308. doi: 10.1177/0741932510362214.

Lazarus, S.S. & Quenemoen, R.F. (2011). Instructing and assessing students who may be candidates for alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). In Russell, M. & Kavanaugh, M. (Eds.), Assessing students in the margins: Challenges, strategies, and techniques. Charlotte NC: Information Age Publishing.

Lazarus, S. S., & Thurlow, M. L. (2009). The changing landscape of Alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS): An analysis of early adopters of AA-MAS. Peabody Journal of Education, 84(4), 496-510.

Peabody Journal of Education. (2009). Special issue on alternate assessments bases on modified academic achievement standards: New policy, new practices, and persistent challenges. 84(4).

Project Forum. (2007). A Seven-Step Process to Creating Standards-based IEPs . Arlington VA: National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).

Project Forum. (2007). Standards-Based Individualized Education Program Examples . Arlington VA: National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).

Rigney, S. (2007). Federal Policy and Statewide Assessments for Students with Disabilities (PowerPoint). Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Shaftel, J. & Rutt, B.T. (2011). Characteristics of students who take an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards. Journal of Disability Policy Studies. (Published online November 7, 2011: DOI: 10.1177/1044207311424909

Standards and Assessments Peer Review Guidance: Information and Examples for Meeting Requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Revised December 21, 2007 to include Modified academic achievement standards
(Revised with technical edits January 12, 2009)

Thurlow, M. L. (2008). Assessment and instructional implications of the alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 19, 132-139.

U. S. Department of Education Fact Sheet

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