Including students with disabilities in the performance assessment system helps to ensure that these students will be included in the strong, rigorous curriculum that will be offered in schools throughout Missouri. Tests are important because they provide information to teachers and parents that is essential to a student's education. Assessments allow teachers to gauge what students know and what they can do relative to the standards set by the school and the state. Assessment results provide information that teachers need to monitor student progress and adjust their instructional techniques. Assessment results also allow students to see their progress in learning the knowledge and skills that teachers are striving to teach them.
Tests serve several purposes, and different tests are used for different reasons.
Building-level results are sometimes used to make comparisons with district, state, or even national results. A lot of information was collected to determine if your child was eligible for special education services. However, any assessment or test cannot serve all needs, nor should it be used to judge student performance at later times. If your child does not participate in all student assessments offered by the district or the state, then information about your child's performance relative to local, state, and national standards will not be available. When the performance of students with disabilities is not included in the overall school performance, educators are less aware of the learning needs of all students.