Inclusive assessment and accountability systems: Issues and opportunities for students with disabilities in standards-based reform

1
Inclusive assessment and accountability systems
Issues and opportunities for students with
disabilities in standards-based reform

• Rachel F. Quenemoen
• National Center on Educational Outcomes
• University of Minnesota
• quene003_at_tc.umn.edu

2
PRESENTATION OPTIONS

• Overview of standards-based reform principles,
  and how students with disabilities fit in
• Assessment Participation
• Accommodations
• Alternate Assessments
• Reporting
• Accountability and Consequences
• Challenges and Strategies

3
OVERVIEW OF STANDARDS-BASED REFORM PRINCIPLES
4
Standards-based reform
OCR High Stakes, 2000 (July 6 draft) p. ii,
Letter from the Assistant Secretary In fact, the
promotion of challenging learning standards for
all students-coupled with assessment systems that
monitor progress and hold schools accountable-has
been the centerpiece of the education policy
agenda of the federal government as well as many
states.
5
A Common Theme . . . Assessment and
Accountability for All Students

• Improving Americas Schools Act Title I
• IDEA 97
• Others Office of Civil Rights, STW, Perkins

6
These Laws Require

• Participation of ALL students in state and
  district assessments
• Reported information about the performance of
  special populations, relative to other students
• Measurement against common standards for ALL
  students

7
Accountability System Components
Goals (Content Standards)
Indicators of Success (Performance Standards)
Measures of Performance (Assessment System)
Reporting
Consequences
8
. . . The purpose of assessment and
accountability is to improve the quality of
instruction in schools and school systems, rather
than simply to measure and report school
effectiveness.
Committee on Title I Testing and Assessment
Report, 1999
9
Bottom Line!
High Standards
All Students
--- Everything else is negotiable ---
schedules, place, time, structure, instructional
methods, methods of assessment. . .
AcCOUNTability
10
ASSESSMENT PARTICIPATION
11
Measures of Performance
Eligibility Assessments
Classroom Tests
Large-Scale Assessments
Districtwide Statewide National
12
Measures of Performance The Ideal
Relevant to instruction
Impetus for change and improvement
Multiple measures used for decisions
Designed to accommodate all students
High stakes for system before high stakes for
student
13
Consequences
Student Accountability students are held
responsible and consequences are assigned to
them. Examples students must pass a test to
graduate, move from one grade to next, etc.
System Accountability educators, schools, or
districts are held responsible and consequences
are assigned to them. Examples schools rated
according to test scores, teachers receive
rewards for student performance, etc.
14
Assessment ParticipationAll Comes Down to

• How do we know
• All Students
• are making progress toward
• High Standards
• ?

15
4 Ways to Participate in State/District
Assessments

• Standard Participation
• Participation with Approved Accommodations
• Participation with Non-approved Accommodations or
  Modifications
• Participation in Alternate Assessments

16
ACCOMMODATIONS
17
Accommodations
Accommodations are changes in testing materials
or procedures that enable the student to
participate in an assessment in a way that allows
knowledge and skills to be assessed rather than
disabilities or limited English proficiency
Kinds of Accommodations
Presentation Setting Timing Response
Scheduling Other
18
Appropriate Accommodation Practices Should . . .


Increase the
Participation of Students in Assessments

• During Assessment
• During Instruction
• Ideal Accommodating tests might reduce need for
  accommodations

19
Why the Controversy About Accommodations?
Norm-referenced perspective
Fairness to others
Logistically difficult
Accommodation policies and concerns about
validity are based on opinion, not data.
20
Selecting Accommodations
Who? IEP team (and ALL of the students
teachers may have input, even if they are not at
the IEP team meeting) What? Both instructional
and assessment accommodations, with some
alignment between the two When? During IEP team
meeting, and any other time a decision is needed
for an assessment How? IEP team considers
student characteristics in light of test
requirements, then consider implications of
accommodations policies
For students with disabilities
21
ALTERNATE ASSESSMENTS
22
Alternate Assessment

• A substitute way of gathering information about
  the performance and progress of students who do
  not participate in typical state assessments

23
Alternate Assessments

• Are used in place of general state and district
  wide assessments
• Serve as an index of student progress toward
  meeting standards held for all students

24
Alternate Assessments are Performance Based

• Data are collected through
• Observation
• Recollection (checklist/interview)
• Record Review
• Testing (Performance events)

25
Alternate Assessment Approaches Selected by States

• Portfolio/body of evidence 28 states
• Checklist/Rating scale 4 states
• IEP analysis 5 states
• Other 6 states
• Uncertain or not reported 7 states

26
REPORTING
27
Why Publicly Report Student Outcomes?

• Each community (all of its members) has an
  investment in our public schools. Our public
  school system needs to inform the community on
  how its doing.
• The standard reform movement emphasizes
  accountability to well-defined outcomes. A basic
  accountability strategy is to publicly report
  performance on these outcomes.
• Informed communities are involved communities

28
ACCOUNTABILITY and CONSEQUENCES
29
SYSTEM ACCOUNTABILITY

• Are ALL students learning to high standards?
• Need to pull apart results - are there GROUPS of
  students failing? What are possible reasons?
  No access to general education curriculum? No
  accommodations to learn or to show what theyve
  learned? No appropriate interventions to ensure
  learning? Low expectations?

30
The Challenge

• Alignment between content/performance standards
  and assessments for all students is the issue.
• Construct validity is a primary problem.
• Comparability of results is a central concern.
• FAIRNESS OCR High Stakes document

31
IS THE PROBLEM THE KIDS OR THE TESTS?

• The problem One size fits all approach
• The solution More inclusive development of
  tests and defining an approach which allows for
  flexibility in how academic information is
  collected, while at the same time producing
  results which are comparable, aggregatable, and
  generalizable.

32
Addressing the challenge with two streams of
activity

• Defining the challenges, defining a research
  agenda to investigate them, and working together
  on policy and practice that work!

• Developing recom-mendations to en-sure higher
  validity in assessments for LEP students and for
  students with dis-abilities

33
STUDENT Accountability

• AFTER system is held accountable, THEN we hold
  the student accountable
• Appropriate assessment measures
• Multiple measures, includes large scale test
  scores, but also other performance measures as
  appropriate
• Decisions made by team, documented

34
THE CORE TOPICS

• Participation in regular assessment
• Accommodations
• Alternate Assessment
• Reporting issues
• USE of results
• OTHERS?

35
CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES
36
CRITICAL ISSUES /BARRIERS

• High-stakes assessments
• Resistance to accommodations
• Denial of responsibility
• Gray area issues

37
STRATEGIES high stakes

• Address high stakes for systems and students
  adjust accountability system to recognize
  improvement in performance of lower performing
  students
• Allow a slower phase-in for inclusion of scores
  of students with disabilities to allow for
  previous limited opportunities

38
STRATEGIES, high stakes (2)

• Diploma options have the same options, not just
  for SWD (end of course, certificate of mastery,
  certificate of completion, comprehensive
• Recognize all students do NOT demonstrate
  high-level knowledge and skills the same way,
  different ROUTES to diploma
• Credentialing as an option
• Input from stakeholder groups
• Media outreach to explain diploma options

39
STRATEGIES resistance to accommodations

• OSEP Questions and Answers, plus OESE
  clarifications
• What is fair?
• Are we OVER accommodating?
• Are we enabling or are we accommodating?

40
STRATEGIES denial of responsibility

• NEEDED professional development on how to make
  good decisions on HOW students with disabilities
  participate in and benefit from assessments, from
  accommodations, and from appropriate instruction
  toward standards. We have to obtain and make use
  of good data in order to improve schooling for
  all students.

41
STRATEGIES Gray area issues

• Study the assumptions of your
• overall assessment program
• state standards
• participation and accommodations policies
• assessment formats
• the stakes of accountability system.
• Ask of these assumptions - Do ALL kids count?

42
STRATEGIES Access to the general curriculum

• ALL children can learn,
• all children have the right to learn, all
  children can be successful.
• They must have the opportunity.

43
Bottom Line!
High Standards
All Students
--- Everything else is negotiable ---
schedules, place, time, structure, instructional
methods, methods of assessment. . .
AcCOUNTability
44
BUT WHY BOTHER?

• ONE system, ALL learners
• acCOUNTability
• Increase expectations
• Increase success

45
www.coled.umn.edu/NCEO quene003_at_tc.umn.edu