No Child Left Behind Act: Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved

In December 2005, the Department of Education posted a link to information on "Assessing Students with Disabilities" to the "NCLB Guidance" feature on the No Child Left Behind Web page. This link takes you to the Department's Elementary and Secondary Education Policy Guidance Web page, which provides regulations, guidance, frequently asked questions, research on assessments, and other information to help states improve assessments for students with disabilities. As items become available, the Department will add new items to this Web page. In addition, in April 2006, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services released a "Tool Kit" of information and resources to help them improve instruction, curricula, and assessments for students with disabilities. According to Education, the "Tool Kit" is maintained on a dedicated Web page and updated as new resources become available, so that materials that may provide helpful information on improving assessment practice for students with disabilities will be more accessible.

During the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments, NAEP state coordinators and field staff worked with schools to make sure that school officials understood the nature of the NAEP program, including the fact that no individual student results are produced. The state coordinators worked with the field staff to make sure that they were aware of the accommodation policies and practices of the states in which they were working. Materials were developed to show field staff, school officials, and the public the difference between state tests and NAEP, including differences in accommodation policies. School officials were provided with a letter from the Department's Office of Special Education Programs and Office of English Language Acquisition encouraging participation of students with disabilities and English language learners in the NAEP assessments. According to anecdotal reports, this letter was effective in persuading school staff to allow students with disabilities to participate in NAEP who otherwise would have been excluded. An ad hoc committee on testing students with disabilities and English language learners, formed by the National Assessment Governing Board, will bring preliminary recommendations to the Board at their August 7 meeting. These recommendations will set forth policies designed to enhance participation in the assessments and reduce the discrepancies between states in their exclusion rates in NAEP. The Board is expected to adopt the recommendations at its November meeting.