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
NCEO recently added a new webpage to its information on state policies. The new page provides information on those states that have selected an assessment-related State-Identified Measureable Result (SIMR) as part of their State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)-required SSIP is a comprehensive multi-year plan that states develop and report on annually to improve results for children with disabilities.
NCEO’s DIAMOND project, a collaboration of nine states, is entering its final year. The project is an Enhanced Assessment Grant awarded to the Minnesota Department of Education. The project has completed (or is close to completing) activities designed to provide information for the development of learning modules to support educators’ understanding of accessibility features and accommodations, and how to make good decisions about them.
The 2018 annual convention of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) takes place February 7–10 in Tampa, Florida. NCEO staff members are presenting on several topics. For the entire list, see the article.
The 2018 conferences of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) are great forums for researchers and policymakers. The 2018 conferences, which are held at approximately the same time and in the same location, are being held in New York City on April 13-17. NCEO staff members will participate in both meetings.
Text readers are now available in many states for all students. On June 27, 2017 NCEO, the Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessments and Student Standards (SCASS), and the English Learners (EL) SCASS held a joint forum on issues surrounding the use of text readers on tests. This a report on the discussions about availability of text readers for everyone on all tests, the differences in terminology for text readers, ways to develop common language around text readers, and challenges associated with text readers.
NCEO has published its 2016 state survey report, titled 2016 Survey of States: State Activities Amid Evolving Educational Policies. This report presents the results of the 15th survey of states by NCEO. The purpose of the report is to provide a snapshot of the new initiatives, trends, accomplishments, and emerging issues in states during a period of new education laws and initiatives.
NCEO has published Meeting the Needs of ELs (English Learners) with Disabilities in Your State: Making EL Exit Decisions (NCEO Brief #13). This Brief summarizes key findings from a 2016 survey of Title III directors that asked about state policies and practices for exiting ELs with disabilities from EL services.
NCEO staff members, Martha Thurlow and Sheryl Lazarus, will lead two YOU PICKS discussion sessions at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). YOU PICKS sessions are designed to be interactive sessions where states have the opportunity to reflect, share, question, and so forth.
Please join NCEO’s Kathy Strunk for a session at the Teacher Education Division (TED), Council on Exceptional Children (CEC) Conference in Savannah, Georgia, titled Using Formative and Interim Assessments to Improve Student Learning. This session will be held on November 9 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.