After almost one year's experience in carrying out the mandates of the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment, and Accountability Program (ACTAAP), the senior management team at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) is recommending the revisions found on the attached pages (indicated by underlined and strike-through remarks). Only those pages from the June, 1999 document to which changes have been suggested are included. A complete text of the original ACTAAPdocument can be found on the ADE Web Site.
Comments on these proposed changes will be accepted through May 24, 2000. Contact Janinne Riggs at any of the following:
e-mail jriggs@arkedu.k12.ar.us
fax 501-682-9026
letter Room 402A
4 State Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201-1071
Final recommendations will be presented to the State Board of Education at the June 12, 2000 meeting.
These changes are necessitated by the following:
1. With accountability now focused at the school (as opposed to school district) level, additional data will be required for schools to accurately identify at-risk students and to reasonably and adequately focus instruction on low-performing students.
2. Although test scores for special education and limited English proficient students have been reported separately for years, changes in state and federal law and regulations, as well as our state's experience in working with special populations, require modifications to our original plan.
3. Alternate assessments required by federal legislation and state regulations will be in place beginning July 1, 2000.
4. With stricter accountability now expected from our schools in the area of student academic achievement, higher standards for identified student classifications will not be achieved unless their progress is more closely monitored.