Feds propose eliminating scores from modified testing as part of AYP
By Tom Chorneau
Monday, August 26, 2013
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| NCLB Reorganization |
As part of a long-standing and controversial commitment to holding all students to challenging content and achievement standards, the Obama administration proposed late last week ending a practice allowing states to use scoring on modified assessments for students with disabilities as part of their overall performance calculation.
The so-called “two-percent” rule permits states to develop alternative testing for special education students and use some of those results for accountability purposes under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Currently, the maximum number that states can count toward their proficiency benchmark is 2 percent of students in the grades assessed using the alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards.
In a proposal published in the Federal Registry Aug. 23, the U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan would do away with the rule and require students with disabilities who had been taking the modified assessments to transition to the new national curriculum standards and general testing by the 2014-15 school year.
“We have to expect the very best from our students and tell the truth about student performance, to prepare them for college and career,” Duncan said in a statement. “That means no longer allowing the achievement of students with disabilities to be measured by these alternate assessments aligned to modified achievement standards. This prevents these students from reaching their full potential, and prevents our country from benefitting from that potential.”
The idea is likely to provoke much debate within the disability community, which has long supported the concept of inclusion within the education system but also has vigorously protected the rights of students to receive appropriate accommodations especially when it comes to high-stakes testing.
In California the alternative test is called the California Modified Assessment and about 200,000 students take it each
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