How State Policies and Practices for Alternate Assessment Impact: Who Is Included in NAEP State Assessments.
• States have taken a variety of approaches in the development of their alternate assessments and the policies and procedures that support them. This has resulted not only in alternate assessments that differ from state to state in their characteristics, but also in variations in the characteristics and percentages of students who are targeted for participation in the alternate assessments from one state to the next.
Examining Teachers’ Decisions on Test-Type Assignment for Statewide Assessments
Recent studies have raised concerns about the vagueness of alternate assessment eligibility guidelines, specifically, that students with mild disabilities (SWMD) have been inappropriately assigned to alternate assessment–alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). In this study, special education teachers (N = 317) were surveyed about SWMD in vignettes to explore (a) perceptions of the clarity of eligibility guidelines, (b) teachers’ test-type decisions, (c) factors considered when making test-type decisions, and (d) teachers’ priority rankings of these factors. Teachers’ test-type decisions varied by state, subjectivity, and noninstructional factors. Findings raise concerns about the inconsistency and lack of specificity of the current state guidelines, their vulnerability to subjective interpretation of eligibility, and states’ different alternate assessment systems. Directions for future research, implications of the current findings, and limitations are discussed.
The evaluation of the competency perception of inspectors in using new instructional technology
Abstract The purpose of this study is to find out the evaluation of inspectors in regards to their competency perceptions towards the use of new instructional technologies. This is a qualitative model research. The target population of this study consisted of 25 inspectors serving within the borders of TRNC in 2011. Data was collected by an “interview form” developed by the researcher. The interview form consisted of 6 items. Content analyze, frequency (f) and percentage (%) techniques were used to analyze the data. This research pointed out that: “concerns on falling behind the teacher”, “training needs”, “decreasing training support within the years” and “non existing policy on IT support” are critical factors affecting an inspector's competency perceptions in using new instructional technologies.