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| Designing Alternate Assessment to Improve Educational Outcomes for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities |
| Monday, May 30, 2005 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Stevens 2 (Lower Level) |
| Area: DDA; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Timothy A. Slocum (Utah State University) |
| Discussant: Fred Spooner (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) |
| Abstract: Federal legislation requires every state to administer an alternate assessment to students who, due to significant cognitive disabilities (SCD), are unable to participate in the general accountability testing. If these alternate assessments are well conceptualized and carefully designed, they can offer educational benefits beyond simply meeting a federal reporting requirement. The information provided by alternate assessments is critical to ensuring that educational programs and outcomes for these students remain visible and important to parents, community members, and those in the position to allocate resources. Further, a well designed alternate assessment can support ongoing progress monitoring and can be linked to curriculum materials and instructional practices. The papers in this symposium will describe Utah’s Alternate Assessment and discuss the (a) rationale underlying design decisions; (b) results from a validity study of this assessment, including content, performance standards, implementation fidelity, scoring reliability, and generalization; and (c) behavioral principles involved in large-scale alternate assessment, including the effects of contingencies attached to the alternate assessment outcomes. |
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| Utah’s Alternate Assessment: Design and Rationale |
| BARBARA FIECHTL (Utah State University), Karen D. Hager (Utah State University), Timothy A. Slocum (Utah State University) |
| Abstract: Federal legislation mandates that each state implement an alternate assessment system for students with significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in the general accountability testing. Alternate assessments must be appropriate for a small, yet widely diverse population, making the design of alternate assessments a challenging undertaking. Thus, it is critical to provide a clear rationale for the choices made during the design of these assessment systems. This paper describes the underlying rationale for decisions made during the design of a performance-based alternate assessment system, including (a) negotiating a balance between standardization and individualization, (b) developing specified assessment tasks from which assessment targets are selected, (c) identifying performance criteria, (d) requiring independent performance of the tasks, (e) requiring evidence of generalization, and (f) administering the assessment in naturally occurring routines. |
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| Validity of an Alternate Assessment: Research Results |
| KAREN D. HAGER (Utah State University), Timothy A. Slocum (Utah State University) |
| Abstract: This paper will describe results from a comprehensive validity study of a performance-based alternate assessment system. The design of this study reflects the current understanding of validity as a unified concept, comprised of many different aspects that must be evaluated together in order to make a judgment. Validity questions in this study focused on (a) the relevance and representativeness of the content of the assessment, (b) the appropriateness of the performance standards, (c) the reliability of testers following the administration and scoring procedures, (d) the stability of the performances across time and other variables, and (e) the likely effects of implementation of this assessment. The results will be presented, including overall conclusions regarding the validity of this instrument for assessing adequate yearly progress for students with significant cognitive disabilities. |
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| Behavioral Principles Involved in Large-Scale Alternate Assessment |
| TIMOTHY A. SLOCUM (Utah State University), Karen D. Hager (Utah State University) |
| Abstract: This paper examines alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities from the perspective of contingencies. Alternate assessment is a component of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB can be seen as a set of rules that describe a set of contingencies. These contingencies include some very significant aversive consequences for schools contingent upon failure to achieve “adequate yearly progress” (AYP). Alternate assessment results contribute to AYP and therefore maximizing these results would be expected to be highly motivated. The key question regarding the impact of NCLB on students with significant cognitive disabilities is whether the behaviors that maximize AYP also improve educational outcomes for the students. To the degree that alternate assessment results reflect actual improvements in students’ skills, the contingencies specified by NCLB would be expected to motivate behavior that improves students’ skills. However, to the degree that these assessment results reflect factors other than improvements in students’ skills, NCLB may motivate behavior that does not improve outcomes for these students. Thus, the validity of alternate assessments, that is the degree to which they reflect student learning of important skills, is a critical factor determining the impact of NCLB on students with significant cognitive disabilities. |
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