2008-09 Publicly Reported Assessment Results for Students with Disabilities and ELLs with Disabilities. Technical Report 59
Author: Thurlow, Martha L.
Date: 2011-08-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Disabilities,Data Analysis,Accountability,English (Second Language),Language Proficiency,Student Evaluation,Federal Legislation,Achievement Gap,Age Differences,Special Education,State Standards,Student Participation,Testing Programs,Academic Achievement,Testing Accommodations

This is the thirteenth annual report by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) that analyzes public reporting practices of assessment data for students with disabilities in K-12 schools in the United States. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required states to disaggregate performance data at the state and district level. This year marks the tenth annual reporting period since this requirement was established, and the seventh reporting period since the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). For school year (SY) 2008-09, the number of regular states publicly reporting disaggregated data for both participation and performance for students with disabilities taking regular assessments maintained at 46 states from the previous year. However, this year marked the first time that all 50 states disaggregated data for at least some regular tests for ESEA accountability systems. For regular states reporting on alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS), 45 states had at least some data reported, up from 36 the previous year. Among these, 44 states reported both participation and performance data. Although reporting practices for regular assessments have changed little for 2008-09 compared to the previous years, this year did mark the first time all 50 states reported disaggregated data for at least some state assessments in ESEA accountability systems. Reporting on AA-AAS also improved over the previous two years. Further, all states with AA-MAS reported participation and performance data. For performance, although there were increased mean gaps for students with disabilities and regular students on regular assessments across all grades and content areas, the mean performance for students in both populations showed improvement in all grades and content areas, but regular students showed larger mean gains compared to last year. Unique states held steady with reporting on regular assessments, and made some improvement in the number of states reporting on AA-AAS. Further, with the inclusion of ELLs with disabilities in this report, the authors saw that although fewer states report on these students for regular assessments, this number also is increasing over prior reports. Nearly half of the regular states report on AA-AAS for this population. For Title III ELP assessments, half of the regular states that publicly reported data for ELLs did so for ELLs with disabilities. Finally, the publicly disaggregated participation and performance data described in this report covered a variety of state assessments based on state content standards. States have increased the breadth of their reporting over the years, to some extent due to additional testing options but also due to more detailed reporting and reporting data not reported previously. Appended are: (1) Example Letter to Assessment Director; (2) Example Letter to Special Education Director; (3) Status of Disaggregated Data (Participation and Performance) for Students with Disabilities and ELLs with Disabilities on Regular State Tests in the Fifty States and Unique States for 2008-2009; (4) Status of Disaggregated Data (Participation and Performance) for Students with Disabilities and ELLs with Disabilities on Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards in the Fifty States and Unique States for 2008-2009; (5) Status of Disaggregated Data (Participation and Performance) for Students with Disabilities on Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Achievement Standards in the Fifty States and Unique States for 2008-2009; (6) How Participation was Reported for Students with Disabilities on Regular Assessments in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (7) How Participation was Reported for ELLs with Disabilities on Regular Assessments in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (8) How Participation was Reported for Students with Disabilities on Alternates Based on Alternate Achievement Standards in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (9) How Participation was Reported for ELLs with Disabilities on Alternates Based on Alternate Achievement Standards in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (10) How Performance was Reported for Students with Disabilities on Regular Assessments in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (11) How Performance was Reported for ELLs with Disabilities on Regular Assessments in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (12) How Performance was Reported for Students with Disabilities on Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (13) How Performance was Reported for ELLs with Disabilities on Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; (14) Status of Disaggregated Data (Participation and Performance) for ELLs with Disabilities on Title III English Language Proficiency Assessment Data in the Fifty States for 2008-2009; and (15) Status of Disaggregated Reporting for Students Using Accommodations on State Assessments in the Fifty States for 2008-2009. (Contains 9 tables and 34 figures.)