Inclusive Assessment and Accountability: A Guide to Accommodations for Students with Diverse Needs(Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools)

Practitioners need reliable methods for accurately measuring the progress of all K-12 students in district- and statewide assessments--including those students who face obstacles to ordinary testing. This important book provides step-by-step guidelines for choosing appropriate accommodations and alternative testing practices for students with mild to severe disabilities as well as English language learners. The authors also outline strategies, including universal design principles for instruction and assessment, to ensure that students with diverse needs are given access to the general education curriculum. Practical and user friendly, the book includes up-to-date information on policy mandates, detailed case studies, and reproducibles. The large-size format and lay-flat binding facilitate photocopying. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series.

Table of Contents:
No Child Left Behind and Standards-based Reform and Accountability. Making Participation Decisions for Diverse Students. Testing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities. Testing Accommodations for English Language Learners. Alternate Assessments for Students with Disabilities. Facilitating and Evaluating Access to the General Education Curriculum. Universal Design for Instruction and Assessment. Conclusions.

About the Author :
Sara E. Bolt, PhD, is Assistant Professor of School Psychology at Michigan State University. While completing her graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant at the National Center on Educational Outcomes and as a school psychologist at Heartland Area Education Agency. Dr. Bolt currently conducts research on testing accommodations for students with disabilities, as well as on educational assessment practices for special populations more generally. Andrew Roach, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University. His research focuses on alternate assessments and the alignment between standards, assessments, and classroom instruction. He is a recipient of the Early Career Publication Award from the Division for Research of the Council for Exceptional Children. Before receiving his doctorate, Dr. Roach taught elementary and middle school for 9 years.

Review :
"Bolt and Roach have deep knowledge of the options for including students with disabilities in large-scale assessments. This book provides clear and balanced coverage of research, practice, and policy. Chapters on universal design and general curriculum access also provide a link between assessment and instruction...An excellent resource for professional development." - Diane Browder, College of Education, University of North Carolina Charlotte, USA "This book is well written, comprehensive, and extremely useful. It provides guidelines on how to make assessments accessible to students with disabilities and English language learners, emphasizing the importance of giving these students equal opportunities to learn. Useful recommendations include ways to monitor performance over time and provide needed professional development to educators. Issues concerning the accountability provision of NCLB are carefully discussed, and sound suggestions for compliance are given." - Jamal Abedi, School of Education, University of California, Davis, USA "It gave me great pleasure to read this book...I have no doubt that educators will find this resource extremely useful as they make decisions about instruction and assessment for these students, who previously were often excluded from assessments." - Martha L. Thurlow, Director, National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota, USA "This book is broad enough to provide educators with a conceptual and contextual frame of reference, yet specific enough to offer practices and procedures with immediate applicability. It is systematic, empirically based, and grounded in current legal and policy mandates. Thorough discussions of issues in testing students with diverse needs are illustrated with practical examples. I would use this text in an introductory graduate-level special education or school psychology course that deals with assessment. Students will benefit from the effective balance of breadth and depth, which will allow them to 'see the forest through the trees.'" - Gerald Tindal, Castle--McIntosh--Knight Professor of Education, College of Education, University of Oregon, USA