Participation of Students with Special Needs in State Assessments

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Participation of Students with Special Needs in
State Assessments

• Department of Public Instruction
• Spring, 1999

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Questions to think about...

• What do you know about the participation of the
  following students with special needs in
  Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS)
  assessments?
• Students with Limited English Proficiency
• Students with Disabilities under IDEA
• Students Receiving Services under Sec. 504

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Key Points in the Guidelines for Facilitating
Participation

• Law(s)
• Who makes decisions
• How decisions are made
• Unique considerations for Wisconsin Reading
  Comprehension Test (WRCT) Wisconsin Knowledge
  and Concepts Examinations (WKCE)
• Alternate Assessments Resources
• Additional Considerations

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Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

• Improving Americas Schools Act (1994)
• 115.96 and 118.30 of Wisc. Statutes
• PI 13 and 16 Wisc. Administrative Code
• Participation based on the students English
  language proficiency level as determined by a
  comprehensive, local, English language
  proficiency assessment

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Students with LEP Guidelines for Specific Tests

• For the WRCT
• Levels 1-4 do not take the test. DPI recommends
  that these students participate in alternate
  assessment
• Level 5 participates in the WRCT without
  accommodations
• For the WKCE
• Levels 1-3 participate in alternate assessment
• DPI recommends that Levels 4-5 participate in all
  content domains with appropriate accommodations

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Additional Considerations for Students with LEP

• Guidebook regarding alternate assessment and the
  use of APIs will be released in 1999
• Parents must be notified 30 days prior to testing
  of participation status (Grades 8 10 only)
• If necessary to facilitate parents
  understanding, notice and results are to be
  provided to parents in their native language
  (Grades 8 10 only)

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Students with Disabilities Under IDEA

• 1997 Reauthorization of the Individuals with
  Disabilities Act (IDEA)
• 115.77 and 118.30 of the Wisc. Statutes
• PI 16 Wisc. Administrative Code
• Decisions made by Individualized Education
  Program (IEP) team that includes students parents

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IEP Team Considerations in Assessment Decisions

• The IEP team must be knowledgeable about the
• child, including educational goals and present
  level of educational performance
• general curriculum
• format and content of the test
• alignment between the curriculum and standards
  assessed by the test

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Assessment Decisions, cont.

• It is the responsibility of the IEP Team to
  determine HOW a student with a disability
  participates in the assessment system
• This determination is NOT an all or nothing
  decision
• Rather, there are multiple options for
  facilitating the participation of students with
  disabilities in the assessment system

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Multiple Options for Participation

• Multiple options include the following
• participation in the standardized assessment with
  no accommodations
• participation in the standardized assessment with
  accommodations
• participation through alternate assessment
• It is estimated that 80-90 of students with
  disabilities will be able to participate in the
  standardized assessment with or without
  accommodations

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Specific Options for the WRCT

• For WRCT
• The three broad options are exclusive because
  WRCT only assesses one skill area (reading
  comprehension)
• Thus, students participate...
• without accommodations
• with accommodations
• in alternate assessment

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Specific Options for the WKCE

• For WKCE, participation options must be
  considered for each content area of the test.
  Thus...
• some students will not require any accommodations
• some will require accommodations for some areas
  but not others
• some will require accommodations for some areas
  and alternate assessment for others
• a small percentage of students with disabilities
  will participate through alternate assessment only

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Identification of Appropriate Accommodations

• Consider instructional accommodations as possible
  accommodations for the state test
• Select accommodations that do not invalidate the
  test (change the skills or content tested)
• If a student cannot demonstrate some of the
  knowledge and skills on the state test, even with
  accommodations that would not invalidate the
  test, the student should participate through
  alternate assessment

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Justification for Participation through Alternate
Assessment

• The only appropriate justification for
  participation through alternate assessment is a
  decision by the IEP team that, even with
  appropriate accommodations, a student would be
  unable to demonstrate at least some of the
  knowledge and skills tested by the standardized
  assessment
• It is estimated that approximately 10 to 20 of
  all students with disabilities will participate
  through alternate assessment

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Basis for IEP Team Decision

• The decision regarding participation through an
  alternate assessment must be based on a thorough
  review of child-specific data

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Considerations for Thorough Review of
Child-specific Data

• A thorough review includes consideration of the
  following
• existing student records
• recent evaluation data
• formal informal assessments
• parent and teacher reports
• classroom work samples
• independent educational evaluations
• any other data available to the IEP team

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Use of Review Data as Alternate Assessment

• If, based on the thorough review of
  child-specific data, the IEP team decides that a
  student must participate through alternate
  assessment, the review data can serve as the
  alternate assessment

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Requirements to Use Review Data as Alternate
Assessment

• The review data can serve as an alternate
  assessment only if it is
• recent, reliable, and representative of the
  students present level of educational
  performance
• documented and provided to parents
• evaluated within 3-4 months prior to the
  administration of the state test

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Alternate Assessment Additional Considerations

• Alternate assessments should be based on the
  academic standards for all students
• One tool for facilitating connections between IEP
  goals and academic content standards is alternate
  performance indicators (APIs)

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Additional Resources for Students with
Disabilities

• Bulletin 98.14 is a reference on alternate
  assessment for students with disabilities
• Department also will be publishing a guidebook on
  assessment in1999

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Students Receiving Services Under Sec. 504

• Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act
  of 1973
• Most students covered by Section 504 are also
  students with disabilities under IDEA
• A limited number of students qualify under Sec.
  504 only

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Participation Decisions for Students Receiving
Services Under Sec. 504

• Teams of educators responsible for developing
  Individualized Accommodation Plans (IAPs) are
  responsible for making decisions regarding need
  for accommodations in assessment
• Decisions are based on students current
  performance relative to standards for all
  students and the format and content of the test

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Accommodations for Students Receiving Services
Under Sec. 504

• Students under 504-only are eligible for the same
  range of accommodations as students with
  disabilities under IDEA
• As such, the decision-making process regarding
  need for accommodation is similar to the process
  for students with disabilities under IDEA

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Unique Considerations for Students Receiving
Services Under Sec. 504-only

• State law, however, does not provide assessment
  provisions for students under 504-only
• According to the Office of Civil Rights, it would
  be extremely rare that a student under 504-only
  could not participate in a state assessment with
  appropriate accommodations

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Unique Considerations, cont.

• It is possible that these extremely rare
  circumstances do exist, and as a result, the IAP
  team may determine that it is inappropriate to
  have the student participate in the test
• At present, no provision in the state law
  requires students under 504-only to be provided
  alternate assessment