Testing Students with Disabilities: Practical Strategies for Complying with District and State Requirements

"This is the ultimate guidebook for validly including special education in a school and district assessment program. It will allay teacher and parent concerns about testing students with disabilities . . . Can be used immediately by teachers."
Lynn Winters, Assistant Superintendent
Long Beach Unified School District, California

"What a perfect gift at the right moment! With this book, we have the tools we need to include all students in district and state accountability systems."
Steven Kukic, Utah State Director of Special Education

"Cuts through the fog on conflicting viewpoints and procedures to provide sound advice."
Edward Roeber, Director
Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C.

Soon, most states will mandate testing for all students. How should students with disabilities participate in district and statewide tests? How will educators make sure the requirements are met and ensure that each student′s Individualized Education Program (IEP) is followed?

This new guide translates the issues surrounding state and district testing of students with disabilities into what educators need to know and do. You′ll find the tools to begin the process of implementing meaningful tests for all your students.

Includes critical information to help you make sure you′re getting an accurate indicator of all your students′ success. You′ll find out:

• How to decide which tests students with disabilities should take
• What assessment accommodations are, their purpose, and who is eligible for them
• How to ensure that any assessments used in your school or district are comparable to state standards
• How to blend the assessment process with each student′s IEP

The authors include checklists so that you can determine the ways to balance requirements with needs. Use the overheads, tip sheets, and electronic sources to guide others through the tough issues. Give the reproducible fact sheets to classroom teachers and parents to help them understand the issues and what questions they need to ask.

An essential resource for school leaders, district level administrators, and other educators who are interested in ensuring through, fair assessment of student outcomes based on testing of all students.

Martha L. Thurlow, Ph.D., is Director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes in the Institute on Community Integration (University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities) at the University of Minnesota. In this position, she addresses the implications of contemporary U.S. policy and practice for students with disabilities and English Language Learners, including national and statewide assessment policies and practices, standards-setting efforts, and graduation requirements. Dr. Thurlow has conducted research for the past 35 years in a variety of areas, including assessment and decision making, learning disabilities, early childhood education, dropout prevention, effective classroom instruction, and integration of students with disabilities in general education settings. She has published extensively on all of these topics, and also recently completed serving as co-Editor with Bob Algozzine of Exceptional Children, the research journal of the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Thurlow is a co-author of several books, including Testing Students with Disabilities, Improving Test Performance of Students with Disabilities, Alternate Assessments for Students with Disabilities, and Critical Issues in Special Education. Dr. Thurlow was one of the original developers of the dropout prevention program Check and Connect, which was empirically tested, and replicated in several settings. She is the author of numerous reports, journal articles and chapters on the topic of dropouts and dropout prevention, and also addresses the dropout problem within the current context of federal legislation, high stakes testing, and standards-based education.

Jim Ysseldyke, Ph.D., is Birkmaier Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, director of the School Psychology Program, and director of the Center for Reading Research at the University of Minnesota. Widely requested as a staff developer and conference speaker, Ysseldyke brings more than 30 years of research and teaching experience to educational professionals around the globe.

As the former director of the federally funded National Center on Educational Outcomes, Ysseldyke conducted research and provided technical support that helped to boost the academic performance of students with disabilities and improve school assessment techniques nationally. Today, he continues to work to improve the education of students with disabilities.

The author of more than 300 publications on special education and school psychology, Ysseldyke is best known for his textbooks on assessment, effective instruction, issues in special education, and other cutting-edge areas of education and school psychology. With A Practical Approach to Special Education for Every Teacher, Ysseldyke seeks to equip educators with practical knowledge and methods that will help them to better engage students in exploring―and meeting―all their potentials.