The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 require that school-aged students with disabilities be included in the statewide large-scale student assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education has mandated the inclusion of students with disabilities in its student assessment program since 1998.
Students receiving special education services are generally assessed in the same manner as students without disabilities. They take the assessment under standard conditions or with approved accommodations as determined by their Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team. When an IEP Team determines that the standard assessment, with or without accommodations, is inappropriate for a student with disabilities, an Alternate Portfolio Assessment is conducted.
Beginning with the current 2002-2003 school year, the Arkansas student assessment program will include school-aged students with disabilities who have been placed by local education agencies (LEA's) in DDS day service/developmental centers within the state for receipt of their special education and related services.
Each LEA must arrange for any enrolled student who resides in its jurisdiction and attends such a DDS day service/developmental center to be a part of the assessment program. Each student’s IEP Team must have determined and recorded on the student’s current IEP the manner in which the student will be assessed. It is not to be automatically assumed that all such students will be assessed using Alternate Portfolio Assessment.
A live video training session on how to conduct Alternate Portfolio Assessment with students with disabilities will be broadcast to the Education Service Cooperatives (ESC) on Thursday, September 26, 2002, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. LEA's are asked to notify teachers in Day Service Center facilities to attend this training session at an Education Service Cooperative.
Please direct questions pertaining to the requirement or training to Tom Hicks at 682-4221.