Testing Students with Disabilities

1. Testing Students with Disabilities Special Education Administrators Spring Conference March 24, 2011

2. Office of Assessment Suzanne Swaffield Douglas Alexander Chris Webster

3. South Carolina Assessments

4. Top 10 Testing Quotes from 2010 10. “Johnny broke his wrist last night. Can he use dictation for the writing test?” 9. “We didn’t like the way the man was signing on the DVD, so we just turned it off and signed it ourselves.” 8. “The CD-ROMs didn’t read all of the answer choices, so the TA read them to the student.” 7. “I thought cueing meant that I could rephrase the questions.” 6. “ We ran out of CD-ROMs, so we just read all of the questions and all of the answers to the student.”

5. Top 10 Testing Quotes (cont.) 5. “She refused to spell every third word in her writing composition.” 4. “The teacher let them use the computer for the writing test and forgot to disable spell-check.” 3. “ We didn’t order test booklets for the students using CD-ROMs.” 2. “They were not supposed to get an oral administration, but the teacher read it to them anyway.” 1. “He was supposed to get an oral administration, but we forgot!”

6. Test Security Violations 60 to 70 percent of all test security violations relate to testing students with disabilities.

7. Resources

8. Accommodations Manual The five-step process : • STEP 1: Expect students with disabilities to achieve grade-level academic content standards • STEP 2: Learn about accommodations for instruction and assessment • STEP 3: Select accommodations for instruction and assessment for individual students • STEP 4: Administer accommodations for instruction and assessment • STEP 5: Evaluate and improve use of accommodations

9. Accommodations Manual http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Accountability/Assessment/old/assessment/programs/amc/documents/AccomManualJan11.pdf

10. Accommodations Selection Process (AccSelPro) A research-based Web tool designed by the SCDE through the AVAAD Enhanced Assessment Grant to assist IEP and 504 plan teams with making appropriate decisions regarding individual student accommodations. www.accselpro.org

11. Test Administration Manuals Appendix C: Testing Students with Disabilities Appendix D: ESOL/LEP Students http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Accountability/Assessment/

12. Customized Materials • Order customized materials including oral administration CDs and any scripts for a specific student through pre-code. • Order oral administration scripts per test administrator through on-line enrollment.

13. Alternate Assessments on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS) 1% Assessments – No more than one percent of all students assessed can be counted as proficient for AYP on AA-AAS. SC-Alt is the state assessment on alternate achievement standards.

14. Alternate Assessment on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) 2% Assessments- No more than two percent of all students assessed can be counted as proficient for AYP on AA-MAS.

15. Use of Accommodations and Performance of Students with Disabilities on PASS 2010

16. Participation of Students with Disabilities in Statewide Testing • 43,257 students with disabilities (SWD) were tested in grades 3-8 in 2010 (includes PASS and SC-Alt students) • SWD made up 13.4% of all students tested in grades 3-8 • 6.0% of SWD were tested with SC-Alt • The number of students tested with SC-Alt was 0.8% of all students tested with PASS and SC-Alt (SWD and Non-SWD)

17. Standard AccommodationsAll Content Areas Grades 3-8 with Exceptions Noted Setting Timing Scheduling Oral or Signed Administration (except ELA grades 3-4) Use of calculator with Math (except grades 3-4) Response Options Supplementary Materials or Devices

18. Non-Standard Accommodations Oral Administration of ELA Grades 3-4 Writing Extended Response –Non-standard Procedures Use of spell check, grammar check, word prediction software Use of calculator in math Grades 3-4

19. Use of Accommodations with PASS 2010

20. Oral Administration 20.0% in 2005 26.3% in 2006 26.2% in 2007 26.6% in 2008 30.7% in 2009 24.9% in 2010 Calculator Use 8.6% in 2005 11.7% in 2006 14.3% in 2007 15.7% in 2008 15.0% in 2009 14.4% in 2010 Six-year Trends for Oral Administration of ELA and Calculator Use with PACT/PASS

21. Use of Oral Administration with ELA • 24.9% of all SWD students received oral administrations for PASS ELA in 2010. • Oral administrations were predominantly in grades 5-8 where they are standard accommodations. • The overall rate of oral administrations for grades 5-8 was 37.2%.

22. Percent of SWD ReceivingOral Administration of ELA by Grade2008-2010

23. Rates of Oral Administrationby Disability Groups • By disability group percentage, students with mild and moderate cognitive disability had the largest oral administration rates (53 – 65%). • Used by 29% of students with learning disabilities, and being the largest disability group, made up approximately 70% of all students receiving oral administrations.

24. ELA Performance of SWD TestedWith and Without Oral Administration (OA)

25. Use of Calculators with PASS • 14.4% of all SWD used a calculator with PASS mathematics • Calculator administrations were predominantly in grades 5-8 where they are standard accommodations • The overall rate ofcalculatoradministrations for grades 5-8 was 22.5%

26. Percent of SWDUsing Calculator Administrationsby Grade 2008-2010

27. Rates of Calculator Use by Disability Groups • By disability group percentage, students with mild and moderate cognitive disability and students with traumatic brain injury had the largest calculator use rates (19 – 25%). • Used by 16% of students with learning disabilities, and being the largest disability group, made up approximately 68% of all students receiving calculator administrations.

28. Math Performance of SWDTested With and Without Calculators

29. South CarolinaAccountability Workbook Link for information on AYP inclusion: See Critical Element 5.3 http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Accountability/Federal-and-State-Accountability/old/fp/title_i/documents/SCAccountabilityPlanJune92010.pdf

30. Including Students with Disabilities in NAEP To Help Ensure Validity of Results

31. Overview • National Assessment of Educational Progress • Only ongoing nationwide assessment • Representative sample across states • State- and national-level results • State grades 4 and 8 • National-grades 4, 8, and 12 • Valid cross-state comparisons

32. Overview (continued) • Designed primarily to provide data to state- and national-level policy makers • With passage of ESEA/NCLB, state’s participation became required • The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the U.S. Department of Education is responsible for NAEP implementation • NAEP policy is set by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB)

33. New NAEP Inclusion Policy • New policy becomes effective with NAEP 2013 • Focus on states’ inclusion of students with disabilities (SD) and English language learners (ELLs) • As a percentage of total population, total excluded (SD/ELL) should not be more than 5%. • As a percentage of the identified group, excluded should not exceed 15%.

34. Recent Exclusion Rates: NAEP 2009

35. Inclusion Rates: State vs. National (2009 NAEP Data)

36. Increasing Inclusion • NAEP participation is now addressed in the online IEP tool. –Other key points– • NAEP provides most accommodations typically offered on state tests. • Federal law requires that schools notify parents of their child’s selection. • No student-level scores reported. Results only reported for the nation, states, and groups within states.

37. Suzanne Swaffield Accommodations and SC-Alt sswaffie@ed.sc.gov Douglas Alexander SC-Alt dgalexan@ed.sc.gov Chris Webster NAEP cwebster@ed.sc.gov Contact Information