Assessments for Students with Disabilities

1. Assessments for Students with Disabilities "Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible." -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

2. STAAR Alternate STAAR Alt window is January 9 – April 20

3. What is STAAR Alternate and who is it for? • An alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards • Different passing standard than STAAR • Not a paper/pencil test… observation-based assessment and results entered in online system • For students receiving special education services who meet participation requirements

4. ARD Process for STAAR Alternate • Review the participation requirements to determine eligibility, note the justification for the determination on the form, and select the assessment from the state options. • Review the assurances as a group to make sure that all critical considerations were discussed before the decision was made. • Select the subjects/courses that the student will take and what corresponding assessments are required. • Summarize the decisions and determine the instructional accommodations that will serve as the basis for the supports and materials documented on the state-required documentation form. • Develop IEP goals and objectives for the • academic instruction that will be provided.

5. Available Resources What resources are available to help with STAAR Alternate? http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staaralt/

6. STAAR Modified "In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last.  You can say, 'I have finished.'  There is a lot of satisfaction in that."                                                 --Fred Lebow

7. What is STAAR Modified and who is it for? • An alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards • Different passing standard than STAAR • Different test questions… based on STAAR • For students receiving special education services who meet participation requirements • For the 2011-2012 school year, applies to students in grades 3-8 and entering grade 9 • Students repeating grade 9 and in grades 10-12 are still held to the requirements of the TAKS program

9. What subjects are assessed with STAAR, but are not assessed with STAAR Modified? TEA - 2011 Texas Assessment Conference 9 STAAR Modified World History will be administered in 2013 STAAR Modified English III and U.S. History will be administered in 2014 Algebra II, chemistry, and physics will NEVER be assessed with STAAR Modified.

10. Modification Quidelines • Begin with STAAR and simplify reading selections, test questions, and answer choices by: • Reducing the number of questions tested and deleting one answer choice • Simplifying sentence structure, vocabulary, digits, and grid for griddable questions (mathematics only) • Revising or adding context for clarification • Examples: pre-reading text in reading and writing, definitions, formulas and/or conversions • Deleting extraneous information • Examples: reduce number of ariables/steps/operations, delete one part of compound answer choices • Organizing information differently • Examples: chunk (separate into parts) reading and editing selections, bulleting information, additional spacing

11. Or… delete certain things from STAAR so that they are not tested on STAAR Modified • Delete “not” or “except” questions • Delete griddable questions (science tests only) • Students will be assessed with only one type of writing prompt in each tested grade (writing tests only) • Student compositions are scored on a three-point rubric (writing tests only)

12. Will test administrators be allowed to read any word in the selection that they already read in the pre-reading text like in TAKS-M? No. This is a difference between TAKS-M and STAAR Modified reading tests. • Test administrators (TA) may read the pre-reading text to students but may not read anything in the reading selection. • The TA must read aloud the pre-reading text and may read the test questions and answer choices if the student is eligible for an oral administration. • Test administration directions will explain that the TA can read the pre-reading text as many times as necessary, as long as it is prior to the students reading the selections.

13. Participation Requirements How does an ARD committee determine whether STAAR Modified is the appropriate assessment? Review the student’s present level of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP). Review the student’s instructional plan, which includes the goals, objectives, accommodations and/or modifications the student will need in order to access the grade-level/ course Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Determine the appropriate assessment for the student based on the instruction the student is receiving and whether the student meets the participation requirements. Document the assessment decision, including any accommodations.

14. Is it a testing irregularity to give STAAR Modified to a student who doesn’t meet the participation requirements? • Yes. If the student was administered the wrong assessment, the district testing coordinator must contact TEA to receive in structions on how to • Fix the error • Give the correct test • Document the irregualrity • There are no further ramifications once the error is reported and has been appropriately corrected.

15. Does an ARD committee need to complete the participation requirements and retain the document if a student is receiving modified instruction in a course in which STAAR Modified is not available? • Yes. Applies to English III, World History, U.S. History, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra II • If the student meets participation requirements, then he/she does not test since an assessment is not available. • If the participation requirements are not reviewed or the answer to any of the three questions is No, the student takes STAAR.

16. Other Modified Questions… • Once a student begins taking modified coursework and STAAR Modified, is that student able to opt back into the Recommended High School Program (RHSP)? • Answer per Federal and State Education Policy • The ARD committee will determine whether the course should be taught by a general education teacher with special education supports, or in a “self-contained” class taught by a certified special education teacher. • The special education supports may be a co-teaching role (two teachers of record, or 1 teacher of record and one assistant) or a support teacher role. • If the course is taught by a general education teacher, there should be clear documentation showing the special education supports that are provided to students to ensure a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). • See PEIMS data standards related to the 305 Record for more information.

17. If a student takes STAAR Modified in high school but is dismissed from special education before graduation, will the student now have to take STAAR? Yes. The student is now held to the same requirements as all other general education students.

18. Will students taking STAAR Modified have four hours to test or will they get extra time? • Students taking STAAR Modified will have four hours to test just like students taking STAAR • The accommodations of extra time will be available to those students taking STAAR Modified who meet the eligibility criteria for the Extra Time (XT) Accommodation.

19. Available Resources What resources are available to help with STAAR Modified? http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staarm/ "I think some of the most celebrated moments in human achievement should be those times when everything is going against a person and they are down in the dumps but they simply choose to get up. That's real greatness!"                                                --Ryan Hall, Olympic Marathoner