Jacqueline Farmer Kearns

Accountability for All Students: Kentucky's Alternate Portfolio Assessment for Students with Moderate and Severe Cognitive Disabilities

One of the keys to ensuring high expectations for all students is the requirement for inclusive measures of educational accountability. Recognizing this need, Congress enacted Title II, National Education Reform Leadership, Standards, and Assessments, calling for the development of state assessment systems that fully include all students, as a major component of the 1994 Goals 2000: Educate America Act. At present, Kentucky is the only state in the nation that fully includes all students within a statewide educational assessment and accountability system. Students with moderate and severe cognitive disabilities participate in Kentuckys assessment system via the Alternate Portfolio. This article describes the development of Kentuckys alternate assessment, including the content and scoring standards for the Alternate Portfolio. Specific examples of entries at each grade level (4th, 8th, and 12th) are given as well. Initial implementation data, including reliability, validity, and instructional impact measures, are presented. Finally, critical issues in the development of alternate statewide assessments are discussed, with recommendations for future research efforts in this area.

Characteristics of and Implications for Students Participating in Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Academic Achievement Standards

Little research has precisely defined the population of students participating in alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). Therefore, the purpose of this article is twofold: (a) explicate the findings of a multistate study examining the characteristics of the population of students participating in AA-AAAS, and (b) discuss the implications of those findings for instruction and assessment that move us closer to understanding what these students know and can do. The article discusses the results of our study within and across these seven states, implications for practitioners, and future research directions that should be considered for both instruction and assessment.

An Analysis of the Learning Characteristics of Students Taking Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards

This study examined the learner characteristics of students in alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards in three geographically and demographically different states. On the basis of the results, it can be argued that students in alternate assessments fall into at least two distinct subgroups. The first set of learners have either symbolic or emerging symbolic levels of communication, evidence social engagement, and possess at least some level of functional reading and math skills. The second set of students have not yet acquired formal, symbolic communication systems; may not initiate, maintain, or respond to social interactions consistently; and have no awareness of print, Braille, or numbers. The authors provide implications and considerations of the findings of the Learner Characteristics Inventory for states and practitioners in developing alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards.

The Use of Accommodations Among Students with Deafblindness in Large-Scale Assessment Systems

The provision of accommodations for students with disabilities is mandated by amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 1997) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; 2002); and as states are moving to adapt their assessment practices to include all students, it is essential that appropriate accommodations be determined. Implementing the appropriate accommodations serves to maximize the students performance, while also providing fair access to the general curriculum and statewide assessment measures.This study attempted to describe the use of accommodations among students with deafblindness, both in the general curriculum and during statewide assessments, to illustrate how policy affects practice. The three major findings to emerge were that (a) students were provided accommodations that were not specifically tailored to their needs; (b) self-determination among students with deaf-blindness was not actively observed in the classroom; and (c) there was a lack of congruence among accommodations used in class, during assessment, and among those documented on the IEP or 504 Plan.

Alternate Assessment Scores and Life Outcomes for Students with Significant Disabilities: Are They Related?

This study investigated the extent to which alternate assessment scores for 12th- grade students in Kentuckys Alternate Portfolio Program for students with significant disabilities correlated with a measure of post-school outcomes for these students approximately one year after completing school. Forty-one former students participated in the study and in a comprehensive interview with their families. Life outcomes were measured through an author-developed tool, the Life Dimensions Scoring Rubric. No significant relationship was found between these two measures, indicating that for this sample alternate assessment scores were not related to post-school outcomes. Factors that may have contributed to these results are discussed, as well as some of the recurrent themes that emerged from the interviews. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

Instruction and Assessment: How Students with Deaf-Blindness Fare in Large-Scale Alternate Assessments

The purpose of this article is to report the results from a study examining the relationship between educational experiences for students with deaf-blindness and large-scale alternate assessment outcomes. Individualized education plans (IEPs) and instructional practices for 24 students were observed for indicators of best practices for students with deaf-blindness and severe cognitive disabilities. Results indicate that students who had greater opportunities for developing communication and social skills also had better outcomes on a statewide large-scale assessment, yet there was no relationship between assessment outcomes and the quality of a students IEP or overall instructional programming.

An Analysis of State Alternate Assessment Participation Guidelines

The purpose of this study was to examine all states’ participation guidelines for alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) and to analyze these guidelines for common and contrasting themes. State alternate assessment participation guidelines were found for all 50 states. Participation guidelines were coded, and 12 categories emerged. These categories fell into four major patterns: not included in almost all states’ participation guidelines, evenly distributed between being included and not included, included in the majority of states’ participation guidelines, and included in almost all states’ participation guidelines. This research can help state-level personnel revise and improve their own participation guidelines by providing information about current language used in participation guidelines and can inform the field of the level of consistency in the language used to describe the population who participate in AA-AAS.