Teleconference 5: January 27, 2003

Opportunities of Identifying Significant Content Standards and Using Universally Designed Assessments for Students with Disabilities

Universally designed assessments are typically portrayed as one aspect of assessments that is designed to support instruction and accountability for all students. Nevertheless, the identification of a small number of “extremely significant” content standards to be the focus on large-scale assessments in itself can be viewed as an aspect of a universally designed assessment.  The following are benefits of merging these ideas for students with disabilities:

1.      By identifying and clearly defining a reasonable number of content standards that are of high importance and challenging, it becomes easier for educators and IEP teams to understand what they need to hold inviolate as they consider and prioritize the focus of a student’s learning time.

2.      Clear definitions of high importance content standards will also make it easier to see the link from grade to grade, so that students will not miss content needed for higher grades simply because educators and IEP teams did not know of its importance when the student was in an earlier grade.

3.      When we have clear descriptions of the high importance content standards, it will be easier to describe what accommodations are appropriate in instruction and in assessment.

4.      When the high importance content is identified, it should become clearer how to define and develop the needed research base for accommodations. That is because assessments of higher-level complex learning are less likely to focus on numerous little skills measured by items that may test the very skills that a disability blocks, e.g., decoding at higher grade levels.  We may find that students with disabilities perform at higher levels when the assessments truly focus on higher-level knowledge and skills.