Improving Accommodations Outcomes

87 Pages·2009·1.18 MB·English

Improving
Accommodations
Outcomes:
Monitoring Instructional and
Assessment Accommodations
for Students with Disabilities
AASES
N A T I O N A L Assessing
C E N T E R O N Special
Educationn
EDUCATIONAL
Students
O U T C O M E S
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ACCOMMODATIONSMANUAL
HOWTOSELECT,ADMINISTER, AND EVALUATE
USE OF ACCOMMODATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION AND
ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Sandra J. Thompson, Amanda B. Morse, Michael Sharpe, and Sharon Hall
SECOND EDITION Glossary of
AUGUST 2005
Assessment Terms
DEVELOPED BY THE CCSSOSTATECOLLABORATIVE ON ASSESSMENT and
ANDSTUDENTSTANDARDSASSESSINGSPECIALEDUCATIONSTUDENTS Acronyms
Used In Assessing Special Education Students
Policy to Practice Study Group
Assessing Special Education Students (ASES)
Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS)
COUNCIL
OF
CHIEF
STATE
SCHOOL
OFFICERS
Improving Accommodations
Outcomes:
Monitoring Instructional

and Assessment Accommodations for
Students with Disabilities

Laurene L. Christensen, Martha L. Thurlow, and Ting Wang

June 2009
All rights reserved. Any or all portions of this document may be reproduced and
distributed without prior permission, provided the source is cited as:

Christensen, L. L., Thurlow, M. L., & Wang, T. (2009). Improving
accommodations outcomes: Monitoring instructional and assessment
accommodations for students with disabilities. Minneapolis, MN: University of

Minnesota, National Center on Educational Outcomes.

Deb Tanner, publication design
N A T I O N A L
C E N T E R O N
EDUCATIONAL
O U T C O M E S
The Center is supported through a Cooperative Agreement (#H326G050007)
with the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education
Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Additional support for targeted
projects, including those on English language learners, is provided by
other federal and state agencies. The Center is affiliated with the Institute
on Community Integration at the College of Education and Human
Development, University of Minnesota. Opinions expressed herein do
not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Education or
Offices within it.
NCEO Core Staff
Martha L. Thurlow, Director Ross E. Moen
Deb A. Albus Michael L. Moore
Jason R. Altman Rachel F. Quenemoen
Manuel T. Barrera Christopher Rogers
Laurene L. Christensen Dorene L. Scott
Christopher J. Johnstone Vitaliy Shyyan
Jane L. Krentz Miong Vang
Sheryl S. Lazarus Yi-Chen Wu
Kristi K. Liu
National Center on Educational Outcomes
University of Minnesota • 207 Pattee Hall
150 Pillsbury Dr. SE • Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone [phone] • Fax [phone]
http://www.nceo.info
The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs,
facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status,
disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
This document is available in alternative formats upon request.
This project was commissioned by the Accommodations Monitoring Study Group of the
Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessment and Student
Standards (SCASS). The members of the Accommodations Study Group, over the three-year
span of this project, included:

Vincent Dean, Michigan (co-chair, 2006-2008)
Courtney Foster, South Carolina (co-chair, 2006-2008)
Janet Valentour (Alaska)
Tom Hicks (Arkansas)
Donald Killmer (California)
Dena Coggins (Colorado)
Joseph Amenta (Connecticut)
Brian Touchette (Delaware)
Karen Denbroeder (Florida)
Melissa Fincher (Georgia)
Noah Wartelle (Lousiana)
Trinell Bowman (Maryland)
Peggy Dutcher (Michigan)
Donna Tabat (Minnesota)
Jaqueline James (Mississippi)
Jo Ann Malone (Mississippi)
Adrienne Williams (Mississippi)
Carla Osberg (Nebraska)
Dan Farley (New Mexico)
Pam Biggs (North Carolina)
Sheila Brown (North Carolina)
Shula Nedley (Pennsylvania)
Cynthia Corbridge (Rhode Island)
Elizabeth Gordon (South Dakota)
Linda Turner (South Dakota)
Judy Kraft (Washington)
Eva Kubinski (Wisconsin)

Associates/Partners:
Eileen Ahearn (NASDSE)
Sue Bechard (Measured Progress)
Anne Chartrand (Southeast Regional Resource Center)
Sue Rigney (USDOE)
Jane Krentz (NCEO)
Sandra Warren (CCSSO)
Sponsored through:

Council of Chief State School Officers
One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20001-1431

and

National Center on Educational Outcomes
207 Pattee Hall
150 Pillsbury Drive S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

This project was commissioned by the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student
Standards (SCASS) Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) consortium. It was completed
with partial support through cooperative agreement # H326G050007 between the University of
Minnesota, National Center on Educational Outcomes and the Research to Practice Division,
Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. The opinions expressed
herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, the Council of Chief State
School Officers, or the other associate members of the SCASS group. No endorsement by the
U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Special Education Programs, or the other
supporting organizations should be inferred.
What is a SCASS?
________________________________________________________________
SCASS stands for State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS). The
mission of the SCASS is to provide leadership, advocacy, and service in creating and supporting
effective collaborative partnerships through the collective experience and knowledge of state
education personnel for the purposes of developing and implementing high standards and valid
assessment systems that maximize educational achievement for all children. This mission
statement is in alignment with the overall vision and mission of the Council of Chief State
School Officers (CCSSO).
Program specialists from the state education agencies continue to be the principal
representatives in each of the SCASS partnerships with supplemental representatives from
districts, federal agencies, higher education, research, and private sector consultants.
Additionally, each of these partnerships continues to allow state education agencies to draw
from a greater pool of experience not easily available when a state confronts the same
challenge alone. Each partnership also allows a larger scale operation that supports a more
collegial atmosphere and the deployment of economic resources more efficiently.

What is the ASES SCASS?
________________________________________________________________
The Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) SCASS addresses the inclusion of students
with disabilities in large-scale assessment, standards, and accountability systems and the
effects of these systems on related educational reform efforts. The ASES SCASS has been
carefully monitoring the implementation of Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for impacts on states and students with
disabilities.
ASES capitalizes on the synergy of the shared efforts of member states to improve practices for
students with disabilities and accomplishes this mission in these areas by:
 increasing awareness among state education agency staff of issues, trends, promising
practices, and resources,
 development and/or review of potential policy statements that can be adapted or
adopted by state and federal agencies, and
 developing other products, research, and resources useful for reference or adaptability
to state educational agencies
ii
During the period in which this project was undertaken, the ASES SCASS involved teams from
the following 31 member states:
Alaska Kansas North Carolina
Arkansas Kentucky Ohio
California Louisiana Oregon
Colorado Maryland Pennsylvania
Connecticut Michigan Rhode Island
Delaware Minnesota South Carolina
Florida Minnesota South Dakota
Georgia Nebraska Texas
Hawaii New Hampshire Utah
Iowa New Mexico Washington
Wyoming

Background of this Document
________________________________________________________________
In 2006, the Accommodations Monitoring group requested that the National Center on
Educational Outcomes (NCEO) undertake an analysis of the federal peer review comments
relating to accommodations for students with disabilities. The Accommodations Monitoring
group wanted to find out the emergent issues from peer review with regard to accommodations
for students with disabilities. The initial analysis of peer review comments resulted in two
documents:
1. Christensen, L.L., Lail, K.E., & Thurlow, M.L. (2007). Hints and tips for addressing
accommodations issues for peer review. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota,
National Center on Educational Outcomes.
2. Thurlow, M.L., Christensen, L.L., & Lail, K.E. (2008). An analysis of accommodations
issues from the standards and assessments peer review (Technical Report 53).
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, National Center on Educational Outcomes.

A key finding of this initial analysis was the need to monitor accommodations. Thus, the
Accommodations Monitoring group asked NCEO to further investigate monitoring in order to
develop a document that could be used by states to evaluate and improve their monitoring of
accommodations.
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Table of Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 7
Important Note to States .................................................................................................... 8
Step 1: Know the Rules and Regulations for Accommodations ............................................... 9
Step 2: Document Decisions about Accommodations ............................................................ 15
Step 3: Document the Use of Accommodations .................................................................... 23
Step 4: Review Accommodations Decisions and Use ............................................................. 31
Step 5: Evaluate and Report on Accommodations ................................................................. 41
Appendix A: IEP Forms ....................................................................................................... 59
Appendix B: Student Demographic Forms ............................................................................ 63
Appendix C: Certification Forms .......................................................................................... 69
Appendix D: On-Site Monitoring Forms ................................................................................ 71
Appendix E: Glossary of Accommodations Monitoring Terms ................................................. 75

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