Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, the Arkansas student assessment program will extend to school-aged students receiving educational services in therapeutic day treatment programs within the state. This includes all such students, the ones with identified disabilities as well as the non-disabled peers.
A local education agencies (LEA) with a child or children in a therapeutic day treatment program must arrange for the student(s) to participate in the statewide student assessment program at the school district on the day(s) of testing. For students identified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as special education students, each student’s Individualized Education Programs (IEP) Team must have determined and recorded on the student’s IEP for the 2004-2005 school year the manner in which the student will be assessed. It must not be assumed that students will be assessed using only Alternate Portfolio Assessment. The manner in which a student with disabilities will be assessed must be determined individually using the decision-making process provided for in special education rules.
The Arkansas student assessment program was extended in the 2002-2003 school year to include school-aged students with disabilities placed by LEAs in DDS day service/developmental centers, with ADE approved special education services, for receipt of special education and related services consistent with their IEPs. These students will continue to participate in the assessment program.
School-aged students receiving homebound instruction or served in residential settings are not participating in the statewide student assessment program at this time, with the exceptions of the Arkansas School for the Blind, the Arkansas School for the Deaf and the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences.
As a reminder, students receiving special education services are generally assessed in the same manner as students without disabilities. The students take the state’s benchmark assessments under standard conditions or with approved allowable accommodations. When an IEP Team determines that a standard benchmark assessment, with or without accommodations, is inappropriate for a student with disabilities, Alternate Portfolio Assessment is conducted.
Questions may be directed to Tom Hicks, Special Education Office, Arkansas Department of Education.