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Session Title: Are States' K-12 Assessment Policies Inclusive? Using Established Principles and Characteristics to Find Out
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Panel Session 661 to be held in the Agate Room Section C on Friday, Nov 7, 3:25 PM to 4:10 PM
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Sponsored by the Special Needs Populations TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Martha Thurlow,
National Center on Educational Outcomes,
thurl001@umn.edu
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| Abstract:
For over a decade, our nation's schools have refocused their efforts toward high standards for the learning of all children, supported by assessment and accountability systems that will ensure that the public knows about the progress of all students toward those standards. Inclusion of all students in accountability systems is now reflected in public education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. How are these changes reflected in policies and practices that affect students with disabilities? This panel will address the need to evaluate special education policies at the state and district level with an emphasis on inclusion. The panelists will describe a set of principles and characteristics for inclusive assessment systems that can be used for evaluation purposes, and then show how these principles were used to evaluate states' assessment accommodations monitoring procedures.
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The Components of an Inclusive Assessment System
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| Martha Thurlow,
National Center on Educational Outcomes,
thurl001@umn.edu
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There has been remarkable progress during the past 15 years in moving toward more inclusive assessment systems. Positive consequences of including students with disabilities emerged and performance increased; expectations for students rose; access to the curriculum increased; teachers became more skilled at teaching students with disabilities. However, unintended negative consequences were identified as well.
Enhancing the positive consequences and reducing the negative consequences can be accomplished by carefully examining and evaluating the assumptions on which assessment and accountability systems are based. In this presentation, the panelist will provide the background context in which the principles and characteristics for inclusive assessment systems were created. The principles and characteristics represent seven core principles, with underlying characteristics, that represent the essential components of an inclusive assessment system. These seven principles will be presented, along with their underlying rationale.
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Using Principles and Characteristics for Inclusive Assessment Systems to Evaluate States' Accommodations Monitoring Policies and Procedures
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| Laurene Christensen,
National Center on Educational Outcomes,
chri1010@umn.edu
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Beginning in 2004, the United States Department of Education began a peer review process for states' standards and accountability systems. In this review, it was observed that many states did not adequately address accommodations policies for students with disabilities. Furthermore, states were concerned that they did not have appropriate procedures in place to monitor accommodations including whether a student receives the accommodations on his/her Individualized Education Plan and if the student actually uses the accommodation he or she receives.
At the request of states, we began a review of state accommodations monitoring policies and procedures, using the principles and characteristics for inclusive assessment systems as the basis for our evaluation. This panelist will report on this project, including the project design and its findings.
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