New CCSSO Accommodations Manuals

Three Accommodations Manuals are being published by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). They were developed in collaboration with NCEO, state partners, and the Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessment and Students Standards (SCASS), the English Language Learners SCASS (ELL SCASS), and the two SCASS groups working together. One manual addresses students with disabilities, a second one addresses English language learners (ELLs), and the third manual addresses ELLs with disabilities.

The manuals can be customized by a state, and then used by teachers, administrators, and assessment staff to select, administer, and evaluate  instructional and assessment accommodations. The accommodations manuals describe five steps that can be used for decision making for either classroom or state assessments. Whether for students with disabilities, ELLs, or ELLs with disabilities, each manual used the same accommodations decision-making process:

1. Expect students to achieve grade-level academic content standards.

2. Learn about accommodations for instruction and assessment.

3. Select accommodations for instruction and assessment of individual students.

4. Administer accommodations during instruction and assessment.

5. Evaluate and improve accommodation use.

Numerous tools are included in the manuals to support the decision-making steps.  Each manual also includes a glossary of accommodations, along with an alphabetized list of the accommodations.

Once consortia policies are set, states that are consortia members will find that the 5-step process works well for accommodations decision making at the instructional and classroom assessment levels. States that are not members of a consortia can also use these manuals.

Links to 3 manuals:

Students with Disabilities:
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/NCEO/OnlinePubs/AccommodationsManual.pdf

English Language Learners (ELLs):
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/NCEO/OnlinePubs/ELLSManual090612.pdf

ELLs with Disabilities:
http://www.ccsso.org/Resources/Publications/Accommodations_Manual__How_to_Select_Administer_and_Evaluate_Use_of_Accommodations_for_Instruction_and_Assessment_of_English_Language_Learners_with_Disabilities.html