An Analysis of Accommodations Issues from the Standards and Assessments Peer Review. Technical Report 51.
A report commissioned by the Accommodations Monitoring Study Group of the Assessing Special Education Students State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards. It is the second in a three-part series providing information to states about the monitoring of accommodations to address the question of how states meet the NCLB requirement to routinely monitor the extent to which test accommodations are consistent with those provided during instruction, specifically for students with IEPs. This technical report provides a comprehensive analysis of the peer review guidance information and the methodology used in the research, as well as summarizing themes found across multiple peer reviews of state assessment systems. The first report in the series is Hints and Tips for Addressing Accommodations Issues for Peer Review.
Test Accommodations and Standardized Assessment for Students with Learning Disabilities who are Second Language Learners
Federal mandates require that all students participate in large-scale assessments. A population of students with learning disabilities and who are second language learners are emerging within the schools. The purpose of this descriptive study was to gain additional knowledge about accommodation use by determining what accommodations were provided and whether the accommodations used were related to student achievement. Information was collected on accommodation use by 6 th and 7 th grade students who participated in a large-scale assessment. A post hoc data analysis was conducted to investigate accommodation use during the AIMS-DPA reading assessment. A questionnaire completed by teachers provided additional data on accommodations use by English language learners. In this descriptive study, the frequency data indicated the type and number of accommodations received and any relation to reading scores. The collected data indicated a high percentage of accommodations were provided to English language learners, who have learning disabilities in 6 th grade than 7 th grade. A higher number of non-linguistic accommodations were provided than language-related accommodations. Language-related accommodations were provided more frequently to 6 th grade students. Analyses indicated that reading performance and accommodations were not significantly related. Students who were identified with a learning disability and who were second language learners had the lowest reading scores among the student groups.
Characterization of Aqueous Dispersions and Gels Made of Sodium Caseinate and Basil Seed Gum: Phase Behavior, Rheology, and Microstructure
The interactions between sodium caseinate (NaCas) and basil seed gum (BSG) in the presence of calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) were investigated. The phase behavior of the mixed aqueous dispersions and their gels revealed a homogeneous mixture, obtained at the higher concentrations of both CaCl 2 and BSG. The Herschel-Bulkley model sufficiently fitted the flow behavior of the mixture solution data. Apparent viscosity increased significantly ( p  < 0.05) by increasing the concentration of BSG, where the addition of CaCl 2 had no significant effect on the viscosity of the samples ( p  > 0.05). Furthermore, there was an increase in thixotropy due to the higher concentrations of BSG and CaCl 2 . Based on the frequency sweep test, at the low frequencies, a more gel-like behavior was observed in the case of the higher concentrations of either BSG or CaCl 2 . The rheological and SEM data suggested that the stronger structure of NaCas-BSG gel in the presence of the higher concentrations of CaCl 2 was related to the induction of complex formation between the two biopolymers.