The assessment of students with disabilities is an integral part of the Arkansas educational accountability system. Provisions in both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act require that students with disabilities be included and accounted for in the state assessment program. According to the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Accountability and Assessment Program (ACTAAP), students with disabilities are to be assessed in one of three ways: by taking the regular grade level benchmark exams with or without accommodations, or with an alternate portfolio assessment intended for a very small number of students exhibiting “significant cognitive disabilities.”
Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, students in grades 3-8 will be assessed with the benchmark exams. Alternate portfolio assessment must be available for students with significant cognitive disabilities in each of these grades. The IEP team must determine when this is the appropriate assessment for a student with disabilities and document that decision on the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).
In an effort to prepare teachers for alternate portfolio assessment, the Special Education Unit will conduct regional workshops to address alternate portfolio development. It is strongly recommended that new teachers and teachers who have not conducted alternate portfolio assessment attend one of these training sessions. Actual hands-on activities will be demonstrated as a part of this critical training. Other teachers, supervisors, and administrators also are welcome to attend.
A statewide videoconference will be broadcast on September 9, 2004, from 9:00am – 11:00am to each of the Education Services Cooperative sites. This videoconference will present an overview of the Arkansas Alternate Portfolio Assessment System, to be followed at later dates by in-depth regional training sessions.
Sites for the regional training sessions will be located throughout the state for your convenience. Each session will begin at 9:30am and will adjourn by 3:00pm. Please arrange for teachers and other interested staff to attend one of these regional sessions.
September 27, 2004 (Monday), Holiday Inn Convention Center, Springdale, AR
September 28, 2004 (Tuesday), Hammerschmidt Center, North Arkansas College, Harrison, AR
September 30, 2004 (Thursday), City Civic Center, Forrest City, AR
October 1, 2004 (Friday), U of A Community College, Independence Hall, Batesville, AR
October 12, 2004 (Tuesday), DeGray Lodge, Arkadelphia, AR
October 13, 2004 (Wednesday), Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative, Monticello, AR
October 15, 2004 (Friday), Wildwood Center, ASERC, Sherwood, North Little Rock, AR
Copies of the ACTAAP Teacher Handbook: Arkansas Alternate Portfolio Assessment System for Students with Disabilities, and the ACTAAP Administrator’s Manual will be sent to each school district before the videoconference broadcast. Persons participating in the videoconference and regional training sessions are encouraged to bring a copy of each of these documents with them to the training sessions. These documents may be downloaded to print from the Department’s website at http://arkedu.state.ar.us/
For additional information on these training opportunities, contact Tom Hicks at 682-4221 or thicks@arkedu.k12.ar.us.