Most Students With Disabilities Take State Exams
GAO urges states to create more models of alternate assessments.
Most students with disabilities took state reading tests during the 2003-04 school year, but states are struggling to create and give alternate assessments that measure grade-level and below grade-level standards for at least some special education youngsters, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
State education officials told the congressional watchdog agency that the alternate tests, required under the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to be in place by 2000, were still fairly new, and that training teachers to use and administer such exams took a long time.
In a report released July 20, the GAO singles out Oregon for its innovative approach to state exams. For example, the state permits all students, with or without disabilities, to use certain accommodations when...
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