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Statewide Assessment Comparison Paper

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Statewide Assessment Comparison Prior to 1975, no federal requirements existed for students with disabilities to attend school, or requirements for schools to attempt to teach students with disabilities (Salvia, Yesseldyke, & Bolt, 2013, p. 25). However, upon the enactment of several federal laws, such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB), student with disabilities received access to free, appropriate public education which in turned required students with disabilities to participate in statewide assessments. According to Public Law 94-142 (now included in IDEA), it requires an individual education program (IEP) for students with disabilities. As part of the IEP, it contains items such as present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, measurable annual goals, criteria of progress, special education and related services as well as documenting any necessary accommodations needed for statewide assessments. The author provides a comparison of statewide assessments including items such as participation, accommodations and types of assessments between the states of Texas and Massachusetts.
Participation in Statewide Assessments
According to the Texas Education …show more content…

An accommodation is considered standard when a change in the routine conditions under which students take MCAS tests and does not alter what the test is intended to measure. MCAS defines a nonstandard accommodation as an accommodation that changes the way an MCAS test is presented or changes the way a student responds to test questions; and alters a portion of what the test is intended to measure. Nonstandard accommodations, such as a test administrator reading aloud the English Language Arts Reading Comprehension test, are intended for use by a very small number of students with disabilities who meet certain

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