Handbook of Accessible Achievement Tests for All Students: Bridging the Gaps Between Research, Practice, and Policy

✍ Scribed by Stephen N. Elliott, Peter A. Beddow (auth.), Stephen N. Elliott, Ryan J. Kettler, Peter A. Beddow, Alexander Kurz (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 357
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Handbook of Accessible Achievement Tests for All Students: Bridging the Gaps Between Research, Practice, and Policy presents a wealth of evidence-based solutions designed to move the assessment field beyond “universal” standards and policies toward practices that enhance learning and testing outcomes. Drawing on an extensive research and theoretical base as well as emerging areas of interest, the volume focuses on major policy concerns, instructional considerations, and test design issues, including:

• The IEP team’s role in sound assessment.
• The relationships among opportunity to learn, assessment, and learning outcomes.
• Innovations in computerized testing and the “6D” framework for standard setting.
• Legal issues in the assessment of special populations.
• Guidelines for linguistically accessible assessments.
• Evidence-based methods for making item modifications that increase the validity of inferences from test scores.
• Strategies for writing clearer test items.
• Methods for including student input in assessment design.
• Suggestions for better measurement and tests that are more inclusive.

This Handbook is an essential reference for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in education and allied disciplines, including child and school psychology, social work, special education, learning and measurement, and education policy.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Creating Access to Instruction and Tests of Achievement: Challenges and Solutions....Pages 1-16
Front Matter....Pages 17-17
U.S. Policies Supporting Inclusive Assessments for Students with Disabilities....Pages 19-32
U.S. Legal Issues in Educational Testing of Special Populations....Pages 33-67
IEP Team Decision-Making for More Inclusive Assessments: Policies, Percentages, and Personal Decisions....Pages 69-81
Australian Policies to Support Inclusive Assessments....Pages 83-96
Front Matter....Pages 97-97
Access to What Should Be Taught and Will Be Tested: Students’ Opportunity to Learn the Intended Curriculum....Pages 99-129
Instructional Adaptations: Accommodations and Modifications That Support Accessible Instruction....Pages 131-146
Test-Taking Skills and Their Impact on Accessibility for All Students....Pages 147-159
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Accessibility Theory: Guiding the Science and Practice of Test Item Design with the Test-Taker in Mind....Pages 163-182
Validity Evidence for Making Decisions About Accommodated and Modified Large-Scale Tests....Pages 183-200
Item-Writing Practice and Evidence....Pages 201-216
Language Issues in the Design of Accessible Items....Pages 217-230
Effects of Modification Packages to Improve Test and Item Accessibility: Less Is More....Pages 231-241
Including Student Voices in the Design of More Inclusive Assessments....Pages 243-254
Computerized Tests Sensitive to Individual Needs....Pages 255-273
The 6D Framework: A Validity Framework for Defining Proficient Performance and Setting Cut Scores for Accessible Tests....Pages 275-292
Front Matter....Pages 293-293
Implementing Modified Achievement Tests: Questions, Challenges, Pretending, and Potential Negative Consequences....Pages 295-317
Accessible Tests of Student Achievement: Access and Innovations for Excellence....Pages 319-328
Back Matter....Pages 329-341

✦ Subjects

Child and School Psychology; Educational Psychology; Social Work; Teaching and Teacher Education