Reporting of Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How are the data that states report used?
2. What is the best way to report on the participation and performance of students with disabilities?
3. How is it possible to report on the performance of students with disabilities when they may take tests under different conditions from other students?
4. What is the justification for aggregating data as well as disaggregating data?
5. Will students be identified in public reporting?
6. What is the difference between public and federal reporting?

1. How are the data that states report used?

Generally, the purpose in reporting state level performance data is to determine the extent to which educational programs are helping students, including students with disabilities, to achieve positive results from their education.

2. What is the best way to report on the participation and performance of students with disabilities?

For public reporting, states should clearly report both participation data and performance data, so that performance data can be interpreted in light of participation rates. For participation, states should explain how rates or percentages are derived (e.g., all students in the school at the beginning of the year are included in calculating participation rates). For performance, states should indicate whether any scores are removed when reporting on performance (e.g., data include only those scores from students who took the test under standard procedures).

3. How is it possible to report on the performance of students with disabilities when they may take tests under different conditions from other students?

Some students with disabilities take the general assessment with [accommodations] or modifications. Other students take alternate assessments based on alternate, modified, or grade-level achievement standards. It is possible to combine scores from the general assessment taken with and without accommodations because accommodations do not change what a test measures. When a student uses modifications that change what the general assessment measures, the state needs to make a policy decision on whether or how to report the scores. States also must make policy decisions about how to combine results from alternate assessments with the general assessment results. Most states combine scores by proficiency level instead of by scores, indicating that a proficient on one tests counts just as much as a proficient on another test, for example. 

4. What is the justification for aggregating data as well as disaggregating data?

How data are reported affects how students are perceived and how we track progress. Students with disabilities are part of the total student body and should be treated as such. Their data must be treated as part of the data from the total student body. Their data are also disaggregated because we need to pay special attention to their progress, just as we do for students from certain ethnic groups, economic groups, and students with different language backgrounds.

5. Will students be identified in public reporting?

No. States do not report public data that identify individual students. In circumstances where there are very few students assessed on a particular assessment, a state will restrict the reporting of data based on a minimum number assessed to protect student confidentiality. This minimum number varies by state.

6. What is the difference between public and federal reporting?

Public reporting of state assessment data refers to the reports that states publish annually to document participation and performance of all students in their state; often these reports are Web based. They may be provided in summary form or using variables of interest to a state, but report on all students and on subgroups of students (including students with disabilities). Federal reports are reports required by federal funding, such as the Annual Performance Reports (APRs) for funds from the Office of Special Education Programs. APRs require that data be reported in a specific way, using specific tables and forms.

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