The 1% Rule: Alternate Assessment Participation November 20, 2007

1. The 1% Rule: Alternate Assessment ParticipationNovember 20, 2007

2. What is the 1% rule and …How can we make sense of it? • Under NCLB, federal rules place a 1% cap on the numberof students at the state and district levels, in the grades tested, who may demonstrate proficiency through an assessment based on alternate achievement standards.

3. Federal Register NCLB Final Rule: 12/9/2003 “These regulations clarify that a State is permitted to use alternate achievement standards to evaluate the performance of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and to give equal weight to proficient and advanced performance based on the alternate standards in calculating school, district, and State AYP, provided that the number of proficient and advanced scores based on the alternate achievement standards does not exceed 1.0 percent of all students in the grades tested at the State or LEA level.” (Page 68699)

4. Federal Register NCLB Final Rule: 12/9/2003 “Although the 1% cap is applied to the number ofproficient and advanced scores that may be included in AYP determinations, rather than the number of students taking an assessment against alternate achievement standards, this regulation clarifies the Department’s position that alternate achievement standards are acceptable only for the small number of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.” (Page 68699)

5. But …. on 8/14/2006,the Federal Register on IDEA said the following: “Under 34 CFR 200.1(d), States are permitted to assess up to one percent of students against alternate achievement standards.” (IDEA comments on page46745)

6. Did you notice? Slides 3&4 disagree with slide 5. Both statements are printed in the Federal Register.

7. Confused yet? You should be.

8. Making sense of this for NH… • First things first - • NH accepts as accurate the 12/3/2003 Final Rule definition of the 1% cap. (Slides 3-4). • NH considers the 8/14/2006 statement in the comments section of the Federal Register to be in error. (Slide #5) • Use the definition given in slides 3 & 4.

9. The Problem of Scale Many school districts in NH are very …small. For this reason the percent of students in the NH-Alternate (NH-Alt) from the grades tested in any one district can vary a great deal across districts.

10. The Problem of Scale, cont’d. • Still, as a whole state, the percent of students who take the NH-Alt remains about 0.9% with only about 0.6% of the students in the state demonstrating proficiency on this assessment of alternate achievement standards. • As a state, NH remains well below the 1% federal cap.

11. NH intends… • To do what’s in the best interest of kids. • To ensure that, whenever possible, students are taught and assessed on grade level curriculum and achievement standards. • 3. To ensure that all students whoqualify be taught and assessed on alternate achievement standards participate and count in NH Alternate Assessment.

12. The Right of Access to Instruction To paraphrase NH RSA 193-E (1) & (2): Every student educated by the NH public school system has the right to receive meaningful instruction and the opportunity to learn the content knowledge and skills described in the NH Curriculum Frameworks. 2006-2007 Ed.

13. The Right of Access to Instruction, cont’d. • When a student is identified by his or her IEP team for inclusion in the state’s alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards, it means that for this child, exposure to the content curriculum will be reduced in depth, breadth, and complexity so that the unique instructional needs of this student can be most fully met.

14. The Right of Access to Instruction, cont’d. • Alternate achievement standards, though linked to grade-level content expectations, are greatly modified from the high expectations held for the vast majority of NH students. • Identification of a student for inclusion in the NH Alternate Assessment means that this student will receive a very constricted and simplified form of access to academic content.

15. The Right of Access to Instruction, cont’d. • The decision to place a student in alternate assessment represents a very serious downward adjustment of academic expectations for the student. • It is, therefore, the profound responsibility of the IEP team to make this choice with the greatest care and deliberation on behalf of each and every student considered.

16. Who Qualifies for NH-Alt? • Under federal rules and state policy, only those students who have the most severe cognitive disabilities and are unable to demonstrate achievement of grade-level academic standards, even with the best instruction and with appropriate accommodations, may participate in the Alternate Assessment, which is based on alternate achievement standards.

17. Four criteria must be met to qualify for participation in NH-Alt: • The student must be currently enrolled in grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 or 11, and- • The student must have an active IEP for the curriculum year being assessed, and-

18. Four criteria, continued… • There must be evidence that the student’s demonstrated cognitive disabilityand adaptive behavior skills prevent him or herfromdemonstrating achievement of the grade-level proficiency standards described in the New Hampshire Curriculum Frameworks, even with best instruction and with appropriate accommodations, and- • There must behistorical data (current and longitudinal across multiple settings) that confirm the student criteria listed above.

19. Who Decides NH-Alt Participation? • Under IDEA, 2004, and under NCLB, 2001, only IEP teams are given authority to make alternate assessment participation decisions for individual students.

20. Who Decides NH-Alt Participation? • Based on this, no single individual, including school administrators or even a parent, acting outside the IEP team process, may make this decision for any student.

21. NH IEP teams are making good decisions. • The IEP team process allows decisions to be informed from multiple perspectives. • This team process increases the likelihood that students in the alternate assessment are correctly placed, that access to the general curriculum is not unnecessarily constricted, and that the individual rights of students are fully protected.

22. NH IEP teams aremaking good decisions. Observations of scorers confirm this. • Since May of 2005, over 3000 portfolios were submitted for NH Alternate Assessment for scoring. Scorers rarely found students to be inappropriately placed in NH-Alternate.

23. Characteristics of students appropriately served by NH Alternate Assessment: • Limited Communication: The student may be considered nonverbal or may have very limited expressive vocabulary and language skills. The student may use simple language structures to communicate and seldom acquires new communication skills through incidental learning; …and

24. Characteristics of Students in NH-Alt,cont’d… • Very Low Levels of Academic Achievement: Performance in the subject matters of reading, writing, and mathematics is significantly below that of same age peers (e.g., performance-level expectations must be modified to a reduced orsimpler level of performance from the curriculum standards set for general education or “typical” New Hampshire students).

25. Characteristics of Students in NH-Alt,cont’d… • When typical general education peers are reading paragraphs and answering questions, the Alternate Assessment student might be matching objects, pictures, or symbols, and when typical peers are writing and solving equations, the Alternate Assessment student might be using objects, symbol systems, or pictures to show more basic connections; …. and

26. Characteristics of Students in NH-Alt,cont’d… • Highly Specialized Instruction: The student generally requires systematic instruction with tasks broken into small steps. In addition, the student needs deliberate instruction to apply learned skills across multiple settings (e.g., school, home, work, and other settings); …and

27. Characteristics of Students in NH-Alt,cont’d… • Ample Supports: The student requires individualized instructional, technological, or interpersonal supports to make progress in learning. The student requires accommodations to demonstrate proficiency of even the modified (linked to butbelow grade level) performance expectation levels described above, such as modeling and repeated demonstration, physical hand-over-hand guidance, specially designed prompting procedures, and alternate or augmented communication systems.

28. Examples of Students who are NOT appropriately served by NH-Alt: • Any student who ‘needs ample supports’ but has no clear evidence of severe cognitive disability • Most students working 1 or 2 years below grade-level - especially true for older students • Any student with ‘limited communication’ who has no communication system in place or under active development • Any student with ‘very low levels of academic achievement’ who has not had full opportunity to benefit from empirically sound instructional intervention …and

29. Students NOT appropriately served by NH-Alt… cont’d. • Any student who has, as documented in IEP team meeting notes, had a cognitive disability “ruled out” in order to expressly identify the student as a child with a learning disability and not mental retardation Note: Although under federal rule, there is no specific special education eligibility category required, if a team qualifies a student for services by ruling out exactly that cognitive disability, then they cannot also make a case for including this student in an assessment for students with the most severe cognitive disabilities.

30. Common Question: Under NCLB rules, if 1% of my district test population is 100 students, but 120 students participate in alternate assessment, was the cap exceeded?

31. Common Question, cont’d: Answer: …It depends on how many score proficient or above in this below grade-level assessment. Here’s how it works…

32. Common Question,cont’d. If only 60% of these 120 participating students achieve test scores at the proficient level or above (.60 x 120 = 72), then you will have only 72 students in alternate assessment with scores of proficient or better and you will, therefore, remain under the 1% cap of 100 on proficient alternate assessment scores for your district.

33. Common Question,cont’d. However, if your cap is 100 but 90% of your 120 alternately assessed students (.90 x 120 = 108) score proficient or above, then you will exceed your 1% cap for proficient or better scores based on alternate assessment by 8 student scores. The cap is on the number of students participating who earn proficient or better scores on alternate assessment.

34. Let’s Discuss This…

35. Transitions between NECAP and NH-Alt • Remember 2 things: • We must assess student progress made during each ‘teaching’ year. • And… • NH-Alternate Assessment is completed during the teaching year prior to the fall NECAP.

36. Transitioning from NECAP to NH-Alt • Example: • A student takes the NECAP in fall 2007 (assessing progress made in teaching year 06-07). • The student still needs to be assessed on progress made during teaching year 07-08. • Therefore, the student must also begin a NH-Alt Portfolio in fall 2007 (to be submitted in May 08) to show progress made duringteaching year 07-08.

37. Transitioning from NH-Alt to NECAP • Example: • A NH-Alt student submits a portfolio in May 2007 (assessing progress made in teaching year 06-07). • The fall 2007 NECAP assesses progress made during that same teaching year (06-07). Because this student already has an score in NH-Alt for that teaching year, they do NOT have to take the fall 2007 NECAP. • The student must take the fall 2008 NECAP to assess progress made during teaching year 07-08.

38. Questions& Discussion What does this all mean for me?

39. For more information - Please Visit the NH Alternate Assessment Web Page at: www.ed.state.nh.us/assessment Once there, choose: NH Alternate Assessment