What is the role of the IEP team in making assessment decisions?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams to make decisions about assessment participation and accommodations. IDEA requires that students with disabilities take part in state and districtwide assessments. IEP teams must decide if students can participate in the general assessment with accommodations or if they qualify for an alternate assessment.

Students with disabilities can participate in statewide assessments in three ways.

  1. Participate in a general grade-level assessment without accommodations.
  2. Participate in a general grade-level assessment with accommodations.
  3. Participate in an alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS).

What are accommodations?

Accommodations are tools used to support students in accessing classroom and testing materials. Accommodations reduce the impact of a disability by changing the learning or testing conditions. This may mean changing the way information is presented or how students respond to questions. IDEA requires states to provide accommodations that allow students with disabilities to be included in statewide grade-level assessments. Accommodations are individually determined by IEP teams. IEP teams must follow state guidelines for accommodations and alternate assessment participation.

Accommodations tend to fall into four categories:

Graphic with a blue header titled “Types of Assessment accommodations.” Below the header, four columns are displayed horizontally. Each column includes an icon, a heading, a short description, and examples. From left to right: Presentation Accommodations describe changes to how the test is displayed, such as read aloud, large print, or braille; Response Accommodations describe different ways students can answer, such as speech-to-text or dictation; Setting Accommodations describe changes to the testing environment, such as small group or individual settings; Timing Accommodations describe changes to testing time or schedule, such as breaks or extended time. The NCEO logo appears in the top right corner.

Assessment accommodations should be similar to instructional accommodations. Students should practice with the accommodation before using it during testing. However, some accommodations allowed during classroom assessments may not be allowed during standardized tests. For example, “text to speech” might be appropriate for some classroom assessments. However, text to speech is often not allowed on statewide reading tests.

What are modifications?

Modifications are different from accommodations. Modifications change the difficulty of the content and expectations for learning. Accommodations do not change the content or expectations. Modifications are not allowed on most standardized assessments because they change the content being tested. Modifying a standardized assessment would make the test scores invalid.

Modifications may be available on some classroom assessments. Many alternate assessments are flexible and allow for modifications.

What do federal laws say about assessment?

Aligned to Standards

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires each state to adopt academic content standards in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science.

  • Standards must align with higher education and career-technical education requirements.
  • Standards apply to all public schools and students in the state, including students with disabilities.

ESSA requires states to administer assessments aligned to state standards in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science. The U.S. Department of Education does not review or approve states’ standards. Therefore, standards and assessments vary from state to state.

Statewide Assessments Required by ESSA

  • Mathematics is required annually in grades 3 through 8; and at least once in grades 9 through 12.
  • Reading or language arts is required annually in grades 3 through 8; and at least once in grades 9 through 12.
  • Science testing is required at least three times. It is required once during grades 3 through 5. It is required once during grades 6 through 9. It is required once during grades 10 through 12.
  • English language proficiency testing is required for English learners and English learners with disabilities.

 Accessibility

ESSA requires states to include all students in statewide assessments. States are required to provide students with the accommodations as described in IEPs. The goal is to include as many students as possible in general assessments. ESSA requires states to provide an alternate assessment. ESSA also requires states to provide accommodations to students covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. For more information on ESSA, visit ESSA | Every Student Succeeds Act. 

State assessments must meet the following requirements.

  • Designed for all students, including students with disabilities and English learners
  • Developed using the principles of universal design for learning
  • Use multiple methods to assess what students know and can do
  • Provide clear information about student learning of grade level standards
  • Enable results to be grouped by student, school and other criteria

How are assessments different in each state?

ESSA requires states to create standards and aligned assessments. Because state standards differ, so do statewide assessments. Content areas like writing and social studies are optional for ESSA assessments. State assessments differ not only in the content they assess, but even the format can be different. For example, some states include open-ended writing questions in all content areas. Some states have interactive drag-and-drop electronic items. Assessments also differ in the accommodations that are available. Many assessments make online features, like highlighting and zoom, available to all students. Some accommodations, like text-to-speech, may be limited.

Parents and families should check state education websites for details on state policies. Use NCEO’s state map to link directly to state websites.

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