The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) require that school–aged students with disabilities participate and be accounted for in the statewide student assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) mandated the inclusion of students with disabilities in its statewide student assessment program beginning in 1998.
It must be indicated for students identified under the IDEA as special education students that they are an IEP student. However, during the 2003/04 testing many IEP students were not coded properly resulting in a federal reporting concern about student participation rates and resulting performance outcomes. Therefore, districts are required to submit corrections to the ADE Special Education Unit.
To submit test coding corrections, please provide the ACTAAP School Roster Report for Literacy and Mathematics for grades 4, 6 and 8, and the end of course literacy exam for grade 11. On each grade level subject Report, identify each special education student that should have been coded as having an IEP that was inadvertently coded under another testing category such as general, gifted, ELL, and so forth, by circling his or her name. Additionally, submit the name and grade level of any special education student not tested, along with the reason that the student was not tested.
Submit corrections via US Postal Service no later than January 31, 2005 to:
Dr. Jody Fields
ADE Special Education
1401 W. Capitol Avenue, Suite 450
Little Rock, AR 72201-2936
If no corrections are required, please e-mail Dr. Fields at jfields@arkedu.k12.ar.us and include the district name with the statement No ACTAAP corrections required in the subject line. Direct questions to Dr. Jody Fields, Special Education Unit at 501-682-4221.