The National Study on Alternate Assessments

The National Study on Alternate Assessments (NSAA) will describe the status of the development and implementation of alternate assessments that are based on alternative achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The NSAA is conducted under the authority of the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA, Section 664(c), and funded by the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) in the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. SRI is conducting this study in partnership with the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the University of Minnesota and with Policy Studies Associates.

The study is examining student eligibility for and participation in alternate assessments, the technical quality of the alternate assessment instruments and implementation procedures, the alignment of assessments with content and achievement standards, and the use and effectiveness of alternate assessments in measuring student outcomes.

The NSAA is a comprehensive, integrated study that is organized around three central objectives related to alternate assessments that are based on alternative achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities:

  • Develop state and national profiles of the 50 states’ and the District of Columbia’s alternate assessment policies and practices.
  • Conduct in-depth case studies and report on selected states’ approaches to alternate assessment.
  • Conduct quantitative analyses of data related to alternate assessment.
(U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research, 2005-2010)

Key Staff

Principal Investigator: Jose Blackorby

Project Director: Renee Cameto

Project Manager: Anne-Marie Knokey

Staff: Roxanne Jones, Debbie Kim, Kathryn Morrison, Katherine Nagle, Diane Poole, Christopher Sanford, Juliet Tiffany-Morales, James Van Campen

 

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