Handbook of Accessible Achievement Tests for All Students, 2012
Bridging the Gaps Between Research, Practice, and Policy

The Handbook of Accessible Achievement Tests for All Students: Bridging the Gaps Between Research, Practice, and Policy presents a wealth of evidence-based solutions designed to move the assessment field beyond ?universal? standards and policies toward practices that enhance learning and testing outcomes. Drawing on an extensive research and theoretical base as well as emerging areas of interest, the volume focuses on major policy concerns, instructional considerations, and test design issues, including:

• The IEP team?s role in sound assessment.
• The relationships among opportunity to learn, assessment, and learning outcomes.
• Innovations in computerized testing and the ?6D? framework for standard setting.
• Legal issues in the assessment of special populations.
• Guidelines for linguistically accessible assessments.
• Evidence-based methods for making item modifications that increase the validity of inferences from test scores.
• Strategies for writing clearer test items.
• Methods for including student input in assessment design.
• Suggestions for better measurement and tests that are more inclusive.

This Handbook is an essential reference for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in education and allied disciplines, including child and school psychology, social work, special education, learning and measurement, and education policy.

Introduction.-Accessible Tests, Inclusive Assessment Systems, & Needed Innovations.-I. Federal Policies & Legal Considerations.-Federal Policies that Support Inclusive Assessments.-IEP Team Decision Making for More Inclusive Assessments.-Legal Issues in Testing.-II. Classroom Connections.-Opportunity to Learn What is Tested.-Classroom Learning and Students with Persistent Academic Difficulties.-Instructional Accommodations and Modifications that Support Learning.-Test-wiseness and Test Preparation.-III.Test Design Principles and Innovative Practices for More Accessible Tests.-Validity Evidence for Accommodated and Modified Tests.-Item Writing Research.-Universal Design and Cognitive Load Theories Influence on Item and Test Design.-Testing Accommodations and Item Modifications: Research to Guide Practice.-Students Input: Cognitive Labs and Surveys.-Computerized Tests Sensitive to Individual Needs.-Defining Proficient Performances and Setting Standards.-Conclusions: Accessibility Challenges, Innovative Answers.-Implementing Modified Achievement Tests: Cost / Benefits.-Accessible Tests of Student Achievement: Why now and How

Stephen N. Elliott, PhD is the founding Director of the Learning Sciences Institute, a trans-university research enterprise at Arizona State University, and is the Mickelson Foundation Professor of Education. He received his doctorate at Arizona State University in 1980 and has been on the faculty at several major research universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Vanderbilt University. At Wisconsin (1987-2004), Steve was a professor of educational psychology and served as the Associate Director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. At Vanderbilt (2004-2010), he was the Dunn Family Professor of Educational and Psychological Assessment in the Special Education Department and directed the Learning Sciences Institute and Dunn Family Scholars Program. His research focuses on scale development and educational assessment practices. In particular, he has published articles on (a) the assessment of children's social skills and academic competence, (b) the use of testing accommodations and alternate assessment methods for evaluating the academic performance of students with disabilities for educational accountability, and (c) students’ opportunities to learn the intended curriculum. Steve's scholarly and professional contributions have been recognized by his colleagues in education and psychology research as evidenced by being selected as an American Psychological Association Senior Scientist in 2009. Steve consults with state assessment leaders on the assessment and instruction of PreK-12 students, and serves on ETS’s Visiting Research Panel, and is the Director of Research and Scientific Practice for the Society of the Study of School Psychology.

Ryan J. Kettler, PhD is a Research Assistant Professor in Special Education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He received his doctorate in Educational Psychology, with a specialization in School Psychology, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005. Ryan’s

Provides comprehensive coverage of the concept of accessibility and its application to the design and use of tests with all students

Covers in depth the topics of test accessibility and test design

Addresses the subject within the context of NCLB, including the modified alternate assessment amendments of April 2007, and item modification research

Details the most current research in testing accommodations, large-scale assessment, and educational accountability

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras