Teleconference 13: September 25, 2006

11:30 am Pacific, 12:30 pm Mountain, 1:30 pm Central, 2:30 pm Eastern.
1.5 hours duration.

Accommodations validity checks: What can states do to improve assessment accommodations decision-making and to document the fidelity of implementation on test day?

Title I peer review letters posted on the Department of Education Web site cite evaluation and monitoring of accommodations use as an issue in almost half of all states. These issues threaten the validity of assessment results for students who need assessment accommodations in order to show what they know. As noted in May on NCEO’s last telephone conference, there are complex issues that affect the use of accommodations, and state guidelines should be based on documentation that testing accommodations do not affect valid interpretations of the results. On this follow-up September telephone conference, our presenters will review research on patterns of accommodations use and make recommendations for state policies, describe training materials that states can adapt to their own use, and share an approach to monitoring use of accommodations on test day. Key questions that will be addressed include:

• Why are issues related to accommodations training and implementation monitoring important to the validity of test results?
• What training can be provided to IEP teams to improve the quality of assessment accommodations decision-making?
• How can districts and states monitor the fidelity of implementation of these decisions on test day? 

E-mail Rachel Quenemoen at quene003@umn.edu with your questions, comments, and ideas for future telephone conferences, before or after our September 25 call.

In order to get the most out of our September 25 telephone conference, please review these materials online, or if you prefer, download them to your computer, or print them out.  Thank you.

Note: Some of the files below require Acrobat Reader. If you don't have this software, go to the Acrobat Reader Web site for a free download.

I. Materials for Teleconference 13

a. Jim Shriner’s materials:
IEP Team Decisions and Implementation Data: Influences of IDEA 97, NCLB, and IDEIA (PowerPoint)

Project IEP-D Data Tables and Figure (PDF)

Project PAR Data Summary Tables (PowerPoint)

b.  Sharon Hall’s materials:
Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities (PowerPoint)

OSEP Toolkit: ASES SCASS Accommodations Training Materials

c. Susan Kennedy’s materials:
Connecticut Comprehensive System of Monitoring the Use of Accommodations in Testing (PowerPoint)

Connecticut examples (print in full slide view for readability) (PowerPoint)

II. Additional Resources

May 1 Teleconference: Investigating the Effects of Accommodations on Use of Student Scores: What Empirical Understanding Means for NCLB Accountability Purposes

Panelists for the September 25, 2006 Teleconference

Researcher Panelist

Jim Shriner, Associate Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Illinois, and Principal Investigator of the IEP Quality Improvement: Research and Development of Web-Based Decision Support Project.

State Panelists

Sharon Hall, Section Chief in the Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services, Maryland Department of Education
Susan Kennedy, Education Manager – NCLB Office, Connecticut Department of Education

Federal Panelists

OSEP:  David Egnor and Cynthia Bryant
OESE:  Sue Rigney

Co-hosts

Sandra Warren, ASES SCASS, Council of Chief State School Officers
Rachel Quenemoen and Martha Thurlow, National Center on Educational Outcomes

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