NCEO - Brief #4 - Understanding subgroups in common state assessments: Special education students and ELLs

2012

One in a series of briefs for the Race to the Top Assessment Consortia, addressing the opportunities, resources, and challenges that cross-state collaborative assessment efforts face as they include students with disabilities and English language learners. This Brief presents information on the characteristics of special education students, English Language Learners (ELLs), and ELLs with disabilities. It highlights the variability in these populations, variability that is multiplied when states are grouped in the Consortia. The Brief provides several recommendations for the Consortia to help ensure that they understand the characteristics and variability that exist in their member states. These characteristics and variability should influence their assessment design choices, which in turn will support the validity of the assessment system for all subgroups.

State assessments, Special Education students, English language learners

Reports and monographs

Professionals, Policymakers

Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/NCEO/OnlinePubs/briefs/brief04/brief04.html

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