Assessment Systems must ensure Nondiscrimination and High Participation for All Students.
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The recent trend toward high-stakes testing holds both promise and peril for our nation's 2.8 million students with identified learning disabilities (LD). Currently 48 of 50 states have implemented some type of large-scale assessment. The stakes vary widely. Twenty-three states require students to pass a high school "exit exam" to receive a high school diploma. Many others use these tests to make decisions about equally critical issues such as eligibility for scholarships, advanced placement, honors classes, and grade promotion. Despite the stakes involved, the impact of such testing can be particularly harsh for students who struggle to learn because of neurological differences.
The rush to develop and implement many of these high-stakes assessments has resulted in poorly validated tests, limited access to accommodations, and inadequate lead-time. The parallel development of alternate assessments that measure the same skills has been virtually nonexistent. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 97) required all states to have, by July 2000, alternate assessments for students with disabilities who cannot participate in standardized assessments, many are still in development. States that have developed an alternate assessment program have provided an assessment limited only to those students with severe developmental disabilities. Consequently, students with LD are experiencing limited success in many of these newly implemented high stakes assessment systems.
Policy Recommendations
- Test Validity and Reporting: Students with disabilities are usually not included in the sample population used in test development nor are students with disabilities, when included, given appropriate accommodations. This results in a lack of test validity and the development of assessments that are, in fact, assessing the students' disability, not his or her ability. Assessments should be designed and validated so as to ensure that the normative sample includes students with disabilities using appropriate accommodations. Testing results should report both aggregated and disaggregated data and should be reported at the state, district, and school level. Data should be used to determine the effects of high stakes assessment on students with LD.
- Access to Accommodations: Students with learning disabilities must be provided the same accommodations on the assessments that they have used during their educational careers. Decisions about the accommodations to be provided on assessments is the sole responsibility of those involved in the formulation of the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan, generally a team consisting of the student, his or her parents, and appropriate school personnel. Such decisions should not be limited by any predetermined list of accommodations formulated at the district or state level. Accommodations should not be labeled as "standard" or "non-standard." The test results of students with learning disabilities who participate in an assessment with accommodations should count for whatever purposes the assessment system has been validated and the scores of these students should not be "flagged" in any way that will have a stigmatizing effect.
- Alternate Assessment: Most students with LD do not require a different set of standards, but they do require both instruction and assessments that are better suited to their unique needs. Just as these students require differentiated instructional approaches in order to learn the same material as their non-disabled peers, they should have access to a meaningful alternate assessment system that is based on the same standards as the regular assessment. Alternate assessments should allow students with learning disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge, rather than the effects of their disabilities.
- Parent and Student Involvement: Parents and students should be given clear and accurate information about the assessment system, accommodations, alternate assessments, and appeals. The short and long-term effects of non-participation should be fully discussed with parents and students to ensure a complete understanding of the consequences of any large-scale assessment system.
- Political and Administrative Considerations: Considerations, such as how the inclusion of students with LD in high stakes assessments will affect reporting of scores of schools and districts, must not be allowed to override the rights and needs of students with learning disabilities nor adversely affect the benefits of the students once included.
- Use of Test Scores: In designing and implementing remediation options for students failing or performing poorly, educators, and administrators must protect the rights and needs of students with learning disabilities.
- Limit on Use of High Stakes Tests: Multiple measures of student performance should be utilized in the assessment system, and no one measure or test score should determine the educational future of students.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities believes education reform efforts, including large scale assessment and accountability, are important and useful for all students, including students with learning disabilities. States are confronted with the difficult task of developing and implementing systems that are challenging, motivating, and fair and that lead to improved outcomes. Students with learning disabilities should be given every opportunity to participate fully in these reform efforts and to benefit from them. Educators and legislators must ensure that students with learning disabilities have equal access to the heightened standards and improved outcomes expected to flow from these reform efforts, and that they not experience any negative consequences resulting from their disabilities.
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NCLD provides national leadership in support of children and adults with learning disabilities (LD) by offering information, resources and referral services; developing and supporting innovative educational programs; promoting public awareness and advocating for more effective policies and legislation to help individuals with LD.
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