Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA '97) mandate that all students with disabilities be included in each state's measures of accountability. There are three ways in which learners with special needs typically take part: 1) they participate in the general education assessment methods; 2) they use accommodations or modifications to the general education assessment methods; or 3) they participate in performance-based portfolio assessment.
In theory, these strategies represent a hierarchy of assessment options. However, in many states, protocols for creating performance-based portfolios to be used for alternate assessment have yet to be agreed upon. Further, the protocols that have been established vary from state to state, so there is no universal process for collecting portfolio elements, determining relevant content or defining evaluation procedures. This article will define needed contemporary terminology as well as discuss how Stages alternate assessment software takes advantage of assistive technology to facilitate authentic assessment.
Assessment is a critical component in today's education system. However, in order to make meaningful use of the results, it is important to make sure that the assessment truly measures actual learner performance within a relevant curriculum. Because learners with special needs sometimes follow a modified or more custom curriculum, a typical standardized test is unlikely to provide a meaningful measure. Not only do standardized inventories measure a more universally mandated content but they can also present barriers for learners with special needs: for example, they may not be able to see the test or be able to respond by holding and using a pencil.
Therefore, one of today's most challenging issues has arisen. If standardized inventories, even with accommodations, are not appropriate to measure some learners' actual performances, how then do we comply with IDEA and include all learners in meaningful and appropriate assessment programs?
Assessment is most meaningful when it is ongoing and conducted on a regular basis. Learners gain new understandings all the time. Progress might happen in small increments and can be documented to show skill mastery and also to help guide the next teaching steps. From this perspective, assessment embedded into the teaching and learning process helps educators and therapists to individualize curriculum specific to a learner's unique needs.
The following definitions are used in discussions of alternate assessments. It is imperative that special education decision-makers use this terminology with common understanding in order to best address these contemporary issues.
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Accommodations: Changes in the routine administration of either the standardized test itself (such as providing a large print version) or to the testing environment (such as providing extra time), but does not include changes to the content. Accommodations provided do not affect the results of the assessment. Alternate (or Alternative) Assessment: A process for assessment other than standard testing procedures. Assessment: A formal procedure for collecting information about a learner for the purpose of evaluating progress and making decisions. Authentic or Performance-based Assessment: Competency-based strategies that demonstrate a learner's ability to apply skills to real-life or simulated real-world activities. Benchmark test: Results are not intended to provide a comparison to a broader group nor to a test publisher's criterion for mastery, but instead look at a learner's rate of growth within a skill set. Modifications: Changes to a standardized assessment test that substantially affect the results, such as providing fewer or simplified questions. Norm- or Criterion-Referenced Assessment: Results are interpreted by comparing a learner's performance with that of a specific group (such as age equivalent) or predetermined standard acceptable level of mastery (such as test publisher criterion). Portfolio Assessment: A compilation of a learner's work or documentation of a learner's performance collected by those who support the educational goals. Portfolios are typically presented in a print format, but the contents may be gathered and organized in electronic portfolios. Primary Evidence: Products that document a student's mastery of concepts, skills, or content (such as samples of student work, regularly collected student performance data, and video of a specific circumstance). Secondary (Supporting) Evidence: Products that are not adequate to document learner achievement but which explain learner behavior (observation checklist), describe an activity that occurred (photograph), or document other circumstances that guide reviewers (comments). Standardized Tests: Instruments with specific requirements for administering, timing, scoring and interpreting results that must be abided in order for the results to be considered valid. |
Stages is a developmental framework that provides a broad stroke look at a learner's cognitive and language abilities. This sequence of seven Stages is progressive in nature and is not age or grade specific. The appropriate Stage for a learner is the one where he or she is challenged, but not overwhelmed or frustrated. Stages materials include a book, assessment software and curriculum software recommended for practice between benchmark testing sessions.
Stages materials include universally accessible activities that facilitate an alternate assessment strategy. Because the software is deliberately designed to support the use of adaptive computer access devices, it is an important tool for collecting primary evidence from learners with the most intensive special needs. Stages content reflects the research of educational experts and is correlated to national academic standards on an elementary level.
Over ten years went into the research for the design of the assessment activities and content being measured throughout all seven Stages. Child development milestones were investigated from experts such as Piaget. Language development benchmarks were gathered from the writings of Chomsky, while Beukelman's augmentative communication research helped to guide the content of the first three Stages.
Stages is not a formal assessment tool, but rather a set of benchmark activities designed on an instructional model that provides feedback and coaching. During Stages benchmark activities, the evaluator can print directly from any screen to capture a learner-generated product to place in the learner's portfolio. At the end of each activity, a report with instructional data about the time spent, choices made, response accuracy or work product, input method, prompt type, and time/date stamp are displayed with the learner's name. The evaluator can then print that screen or save the information as a text-format electronic file. In the portfolio instructional team members can also include specialized Observation Forms used to collect supporting evidence during an assessment. There is a unique Observation Form especially designed to reflect learner characteristics at each specific Stage.
Onscreen report sample
Reports indicate performance-based data and help educators and therapists to gain real insight into a learner's skill acquisition. Learners with cognitive and/or language delays will not generally fall within a typical range. Therefore Stages reports reflect more useful data than norm-referenced scores. This is because the learner's individualized curriculum is being examined and then reported back in language that focuses on specific skills. The software documentation provides detailed information on how to interpret results and connect the data directly back to the curriculum. This facilitates the direction to take in creating a customized course of content for each individual learner. Educators can see where support is needed, and the manner in which a learner performs most successfully. The learner's individualized goals are always considered over a publisher's criterion, which might not be appropriate.
In Staten Island, NY Stages software is being used as the strategic tool for creating portfolios for alternative assessment. One 7 year-old student with autism and limited speech could not be assessed using any other instrument due to the nature of his learning challenges. As a result of the interpretation of learner-generated data to document skill acquisition, this student is now placed successfully in a full-time inclusion program. Similarly, several other students have been placed in less restrictive environments. In select locations all over New York City, special classrooms are using these tools in this manner.
In thirteen counties in Florida there is a similar program for alternative assessment using Stages. The Pinellas County Schools assistive technology team tells a very compelling story about uncovering a wealth of information on a learner who they all thought was significantly more delayed that the assessment results indicated. As a result of their assessment they discovered that a 19 year-old learner with considerable language delay had mastered the skills needed so that she could be considered for a supported work placement. They were able to document her abilities to handle money and tell time for her potential employer and her job coach. After this experience, this learner's life options changed significantly.
Stages assessment software allows us to collect Primary Evidence that documents a learner's performance regardless of barriers to a standardized inventory. In fact, learners who have never been able to be tested can be measured in this technology-based, more meaningful content. In addition, Stages activities generate data on an ongoing basis in an environment significantly more suitable for learner independence and first-hand functioning. Stages also facilitates the collection of Secondary Evidence through use of the Observation Forms that are designed to guide watching for specific behaviors during each benchmark activity. Educators, therapists, parents, paraprofessionals and other members of the learner's instructional team can make organized and guided analysis of behaviors that can have significant impact on both the learning as well as the assessment process.
Whether the alternate assessment portfolio is stored in print or electronically, it is important to collect accurate learner performance data over time and in a meaningful way. These results can help guide learning as well as evaluate and document a learner's performance and skills. Stages takes full advantage of adaptive technologies and the computer to create the most effective alternate assessment environment for learners with significant barriers to an evaluation process. Learners can tell us themselves exactly what they have accomplished and then help us understand how to plan ahead for next steps in the learning process.
Alternate assessment is no longer an overwhelming challenge once we use a deliberate and organized approach to resolve the barriers for learners with special needs. With consideration of the definitions above, Stages provides an appropriate vehicle to help us comply with IDEA and include learners with special needs in meaningful and appropriate assessment programs.
Stages is published by:
Assistive Technology, Inc.,
7 Wells Avenue
Newton, MA 02459
800/ 793-9227
http://www.assistivetech.com
Madalaine Pugliese is the author of Stages and Director for the Assistive Technology Graduate Program at Simmons College in Boston. She was recognized as a Laureate in the 2001 Smithsonian-Computerworld Honors Program for her work on Stages.
email: pugliese@attbi.com
Beukelman, D. and Mirenda, P. Augmentative and Alternative Communication:
Management of Several Communication Disorders in Children and Adults. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks, 1992.
Bybee, R. and Sund, R. Piaget for Educators. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.: 1982.
“CAST Focuses on Universally Designed Assessment”. In Interfaces, Newsletter of CAST (Winter, 2002): 3–5.
Chomsky, Noam. Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1986.
Chomsky, Noam. “On the Nature, Use and Acquisition of Language.” Mind and Cognition: A Reader. 627-646. Ed. William G. Lycan. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1990.
Denham, Anne and Lahm, Elizabeth. “Using Technology to Construct Alternate Portfolios of Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities.” Teaching Exceptional Children, Vol. 33, No. 5, 2001: 10–17.
Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. Meaningful Assessment. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2002.
Kleinert, H., Haigh, J., Kearns, K., and Kennedy, S. “Alternate Assessment: Lessons learned and roads not taken.” Exceptional Children, No. 67, 2000: 51–66.
Pierangelo, R. and Giuliani, G. Assessment in Special Education. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2002.
Pugliese, M. Stages: Software Solutions for Special Needs. Newton, MA: Assistive Technology, Inc., 2001.
Weiner, Dan. The 2002 Educator's Manual for MCAS Alternate Assessment. Massachusetts Department of Education, 2001.
*Editor's Note: Versions of this article have also been published in Closing The Gap and Special Education Technology Practice.
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