Welcome
Greetings from NCEO in a new year – 2019! How quickly it arrived. In this newsletter, we highlight several publications that have been released since our October, 2018 newsletter. They include a brief on approaches to examining district alternate assessment participation rates, a proceedings document on the 1% Cap National Convening, and a brief on suggestions for showing that proficiency on a state’s alternate achievement standards are consistent with the requirements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Also in this issue is an update on news from the TIES project (including recent publications and the project’s Facebbook page). Finally, in this issue, we provide information on sessions at the annual conferences of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).
– Martha Thurlow, NCEO Director
Examining District Alternate Assessment Participation Rates
The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) and the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment (NCIEA) recently jointly published a Brief titled Guidance on Examining District Alternate Assessment Participation Rates. This Brief addresses important questions that arise for states as they implement federal alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) participation requirements.
Proceedings of the 1% Cap National Convening
More than 200 individuals gathered in Boston on October 18 and 19, 2018 to listen to each other, share ideas, and develop state-level action plans. The purpose of the National Convening was to support states as they work with local education agencies to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirement of a 1% cap on the participation of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the alternate assessment aligned with alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS).
Aligning Alternate Achievement Standards with WIOA
The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) with support from the Research and Training Center on Community Living (RRC-CL) recently published a Brief titled Suggestions for Aligning Alternate Achievement Standards with WIOA (NCEO Brief #16). This Brief provides information on alternate achievement standards and WIOA, then makes several suggestions about ways to show that a student who meets a state’s alternate academic achievement standards is on track to pursue postsecondary education and integrated employment.
Latest TIES Center News
The NCEO-affiliated TIES Center (The National Technical Assistance Center on Inclusive Policies and Practices for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities) has two new publications and a Facebook page.
NCEO Presentations at Council for Exceptional Children Conference
NCEO staff were involved in several presentations and posters at the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) annual conference held from January 29 through February 2, 2019, in Indianapolis, Indiana, many of which are available at the NCEO website.
Upcoming NCEO Presentations (NABE, AERA, and NCME)
This Spring NCEO staff will be presenting at conferences of the National Association on Bilingual Education, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education.
NCEO’s National Assessment Center is supported through a Cooperative Agreement (#H326G160001) with the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. The Center is affiliated with the Institute on Community Integration at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. The contents of this report were developed under the Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, but do not necessarily represent the policy or opinions of the U.S. Department of Education or Office within it. Readers should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Project Officer: David Egnor