No Child Left Behind Act

1
No Child Left Behind Act

• Inclusion of Students with Disabilities
• In Statewide Assessments

2
Introduction

• More than 6 million students, with a wide rage of
  physical and psychological disabilities, attended
  U.S. public schools in the 2003-04 school year.
• The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) and the
  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA) require that students with disabilities
  participate in statewide assessments.

3
Introduction

• Under NCLBA, students with disabilities can be
  assessed using
• a regular assessment without accommodations.
• a regular assessment with accommodations.
• an alternate assessment based on either
  grade-level or below grade-level standards.

4
Research Questions

• To what extent were students with disabilities
  included in statewide assessments in 2003-04?
• What issues did selected states face in
  implementing alternate assessments?

5
Methodology

• To conduct the study we
• reviewed and verified State Consolidated
  Performance Report statewide reading assessment
  data for the 2003-04 school year.
• visited four statesFlorida, Iowa, Massachusetts,
  and Oregon.
• interviewed Education officials, national
  education organization representatives, and
  assessment experts.

6
Research Question 1

• To what extent were students with disabilities
  included in statewide assessments in 2003-04?

7
Most Students with Disabilities Participated in
Statewide Assessments

• Most students with disabilities participated in
  statewide reading assessments in 2003-04.
• Participation rates were similar to nondisabled
  students.
• Most participated through regular reading
  assessments relatively few participated through
  alternate assessments. (page 14)
• Two states we visited used innovative approaches
  to assess students with disabilities.

8
Research Question 2

• What issues did selected states face in
  implementing alternate assessments?

9
Designing and Implementing Alternate Assessments
Was Difficult

• States faced challenges in designing alternate
  assessments and preparing teachers to administer
  them.
• New
• Widely Varying Abilities
• Training and implementation were challenging for
  teachers.

10
Example of How an Alternate Standard Differs in
Complexity from a Grade-Level Standard
(Massachusetts)
11
Conclusions

• NCLBA and IDEA emphasized the importance of
  assessing the academic performance of all
  students.
• Students with disabilities are a complex and
  diverse group that requires a range of options to
  assess students academic knowledge.

12
Conclusions

• Some state officials reported not using alternate
  assessments based on grade-level standards,
  because they were uncertain as to how to design
  and implement the assessments.
• Some students with disabilities may not have been
  provided the most appropriate type of assessment
  to measure their achievement, because of a lack
  of alternate assessments based on grade-level
  standards.